Tom Brady is poised to add another improbable chapter to his two-decade career on Sunday when he leads the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
When the greatest quarterback in NFL history sets foot on the field at Raymond James Stadium, he will be setting a slew of new records – most of which already belong to him – that in all likelihood will never be beaten.
At 43 years and 188 days old, he will become the oldest player to take part in a Super Bowl. His 10th appearance in the NFL showpiece is also a new record, four more than his nearest rivals.
A win on Sunday would give Brady a seventh championship, another remarkable milestone that is hard to imagine being surpassed any time soon.
"I could never have imagined it would be like this. I don't think anybody could have," Brady reflected this week during a video call with reporters.
"The only reason I've got to the point that I've gotten is because of the people I've had in my life. My coaches, my team-mates, family, friends, all the people that have supported me.
"It's been an incredible team effort throughout my life on and off the field. "I've tried to play my ass off every week – and I'm still trying to do it."
By now the plot points of Brady's career have become the stuff of NFL folklore.
He entered the NFL to little fanfare, chosen by the New England Patriots with the 199th pick in the sixth round of the 2000 draft.
Upon arrival in New England, he was ranked way down the Patriots' quarterback pecking order, a gangly freshman with everything to prove.
Yet Brady slowly but surely began thrusting himself into the reckoning as a starting option, driven by a relentless work ethic and competitive spirit that have become the hallmarks of his career.
Team officials would get calls late at night to inform them that Brady had arrived at the team's training facility, to practice by himself.
When an injury to Drew Bledsoe in September 2001 saw Brady elevated into the starter's jersey, he seized his chance.
He kept his place for the Patriots for the remainder of the season and led the team to a first ever Super Bowl win in February 2002.
That win marked the start of a two-decade reign that would see Brady and coach Bill Belichick's Patriots emerge as the dominant force in the NFL, encompassing eight more trips to the Super Bowl, five of them victorious.
While the personnel on those championship-winning teams evolved over time, the one ever-present remained Brady, who year after year, season after season would confound predictions that his career was in decline.
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Gallery: Chiefs beat 49ers at Super Bowl LIV
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"Guys come, guys go. Everything changes. Except one thing – Tom," is how former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann puts it.
Brady's collection of Super Bowl wins included the 2017 defeat of the Atlanta Falcons, when he led the Patriots to the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, overturning a 28-3 third quarter deficit for a 34-28 overtime win.
Another Super Bowl appearance followed in 2018, when he finished with 505 passing yards in a losing effort to the Philadelphia Eagles, before his most recent victory, a dour 13-3 win over the Los Angeles Rams in 2019.
That 2019 win over the Rams, at the age of 41, seemed like a logical place to call time on his career.
Instead, after a difficult 2019-2020 season with the Patriots, Brady stunned the NFL by opting to leave New England for his swansong in Tampa Bay.
With Covid-19 torpedoing most of the pre-season, denying Brady the chance to properly acclimatise to his new surroundings, the odds on a Super Bowl run were stacked against the quarterback.
However, the Bucs recovered from a shaky-looking 7-5 record to reach the playoffs, where Brady's poise once again helped deliver wins over Washington, New Orleans and the Green Bay Packers. All at the age of 43.
His quarterback opponent on Sunday will be Patrick Mahomes, who has been virtually unstoppable since establishing himself at the Chiefs three seasons ago.
Mahomes, who is 44-9 as a starter, took home Super Bowl MVP honors last year after leading his team to a gutsy, come-from-behind win over the San Francisco 49ers to end the franchise's 50-year title drought.
Now he says the team is hungry for more. "The thing I'm most proud is that no one has become satisfied," Mahomes told reporters on Wednesday.
"No one has become happy with winning one Super Bowl championship," he said. "Everybody is trying to make themselves better every single day and not trying to take a day for granted. You don't have that in every single organization or every single locker room.
"It comes with the culture [general manager] Brett Veach and coach [Andy] Reid have instilled in us, and that's to get better 1 per cent every single day. That's why we're in this game and have a chance for another Super Bowl championship."
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo 4-cyl
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Power: 190bhp
Torque: 300Nm
Price: Dh169,900
On sale: now
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
OTHER IPL BOWLING RECORDS
Best bowling figures: 6-14 – Sohail Tanvir (for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008)
Best average: 16.36 – Andrew Tye
Best economy rate: 6.53 – Sunil Narine
Best strike-rate: 12.83 – Andrew Tye
Best strike-rate in an innings: 1.50 – Suresh Raina (for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals in 2011)
Most runs conceded in an innings: 70 – Basil Thampi (for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018)
Most hat-tricks: 3 – Amit Mishra
Most dot-balls: 1,128 – Harbhajan Singh
Most maiden overs bowled: 14 – Praveen Kumar
Most four-wicket hauls: 6 – Sunil Narine
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
More from Aya Iskandarani
PSL FINAL
Multan Sultans v Peshawar Zalmi
8pm, Thursday
Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Courses%20at%20Istituto%20Marangoni%2C%20Dubai
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End of free parking
- paid-for parking will be rolled across Abu Dhabi island on August 18
- drivers will have three working weeks leeway before fines are issued
- areas that are currently free to park - around Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Maqta Bridge, Mussaffah Bridge and the Corniche - will now require a ticket
- villa residents will need a permit to park outside their home. One vehicle is Dh800 and a second is Dh1,200.
- The penalty for failing to pay for a ticket after 10 minutes will be Dh200
- Parking on a patch of sand will incur a fine of Dh300
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Packages which the US Secret Service said contained possible explosive devices were sent to:
- Former first lady Hillary Clinton
- Former US president Barack Obama
- Philanthropist and businessman George Soros
- Former CIA director John Brennan at CNN's New York bureau
- Former Attorney General Eric Holder (delivered to former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz)
- California Congresswoman Maxine Waters (two devices)
Results:
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 (PA) | Group 1 US$75,000 (Dirt) | 2,200 metres
Winner: Goshawke, Fernando Jara (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihe (trainer)
7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas (TB) | Listed $250,000 (D) | 1,600m
Winner: Silva, Oisin Murphy, Pia Brendt
7.40pm: Meydan Classic Trial (TB) | Conditions $100,000 (Turf) | 1,400m
Winner: Golden Jaguar, Connor Beasley, Ahmad bin Harmash
8.15pm: Al Shindagha Sprint (TB) | Group 3 $200,000 (D) | 1,200m
Winner: Drafted, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (D) | 1,600m
Winner: Capezzano, Mickael Barzalona, Sandeep Jadhav
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | $175,000 (T) | 2,000m
Winner: Oasis Charm, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
10pm: Handicap (TB) | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m
Winner: Escalator, Christopher Hayes, Charlie Fellowes
MATCH INFO
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 12’) Liverpool 1 (Minamino 73’)
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties
Man of the Match: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)
Jebel Ali Dragons 26 Bahrain 23
Dragons
Tries: Hayes, Richards, Cooper
Cons: Love
Pens: Love 3
Bahrain
Tries: Kenny, Crombie, Tantoh
Cons: Phillips
Pens: Phillips 2
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Match info
Athletic Bilbao 0
Real Madrid 1 (Ramos 73' pen)
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Scoreline
Syria 1-1 Australia
Syria Al Somah 85'
Australia Kruse 40'
'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
