Being from Boston, I’m partial to thinking Tom Brady is the man. Aside from his sheer talent and record breaking accomplishments over the past decade, I think he stands out for another reason- his pure love of the game. In a world full of million dollar endorsements, magazine covers, and name branding, Tom Brady is one of few men to overlook the opportunities and focus on playing the best game he can play.

It seems like we can’t go ten minutes without a pro athlete commercial hawking us something. Manning is the behind Sprint, Sony, MasterCard, Gatorade, DirecTV, ESPN. One minute he’s slinging HD TVs with Justin Timberlake, the next Oreo Bowl with Eli. I swear the man spends more time shooting commercials than playing football. According to CNN Money he raked in $13 mill from endorsements alone in 2007.

We’ve got Brett Favre all over Wrangler Jeans and Prilosec. D Wade- Gatorade, Lincoln, T-Mobile among others. Jeter- Nike, Gatorade, Discover Card, Visa, Skippy, Ford. In 1996, Kobe signed a 6 year contract with Adidas worth $48 mill. That doesn’t even include Sprint, McDonald’s and more current contracts. Most of it is crap these athletes would never use; sure Manning might drink Gatorade but I highly doubt Kobe eats McDonald’s more than once a year. But he has no problem saying he does for a few mill- hey he’s got lawyers and lambos to pay for. The 2007 CNN endorsement list names Lebron as the third top endorsement earner in sports, and first highest in the NBA, earning $25 mill in 2007 alone- must be his attempt to fill the void only a championship can fill.

And there are the Matt Leinhart’s of the industry, which don’t even care about endorsements or starting a game as long as they can continue the college party scene and brag that they are in the NFL. The guy doesn’t even want to play, he just wants the notoriety. Or the players who just want more, more, more paycheck. Vinatieri helped the Pats win 3 Superbowls and establish a dynasty, then bails to the rival for more money. Damon helped the Sox finally break the 86 year curse, and then bails to the rival for more money. Honestly, is that extra 5 mill worth it to turn your back on your team?

Not to Tom Brady. He has stuck by his Patriots, even taking a pay cut in order to acquire the solid teammates that he knows is an integral part of the organization’s success. Back in 05 Brady had low key endorsements with Gap and Nike. Since then, basically the only companies lucky enough to sway him have been Movado watches and Stetson cologne. And all they got were some print ads, no speaking commercials. When asked about his strict endorsement standards, ESPN quoted Brady as saying, “The most important thing for me is to be able to win football games and to make sure nothing gets in the way of that. I think all of the decisions off the field are based with that goal in mind, so if you are going to be too involved with a company or your time commitments, you better make sure you are getting your work done.” Brady is definitely getting the work done, and we in Boston love him for his football, not his commercials.