Long Island's Tom Brady is a Giants fan

BY BARBARA BARKER | barbara.barker@newsday.com

February 3, 2008

Tom Brady has his game-day routine all mapped out.

First he will do a little shopping, getting some chips and other snacks.

Next he might fluff up the two Giants pillows on his couch and make sure his kids are wearing their Eli Manning and Plaxico Burress jerseys.

OK, so this Tom Brady is not the touchdown-throwing, supermodel-dating quarterback of the New England Patriots.

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Rather, he is a 45-year-old former New York City fireman who will be cheering for his beloved Giants with family and friends from his living room in Rockville Centre on Sunday.

"Tom Brady? Can't stand the guy," Brady the fireman said of Brady the quarterback. "I'm sure deep down he's a good guy - all Tom Bradys are - but he plays for the wrong team."

A lifelong Giants fan, Brady the fireman has been the focus of a lot of good-natured ribbing as his team prepares to meet the other Brady's team in the Super Bowl.

Relatives from outside of Boston have sent his kids Brady Patriots jerseys. He has been teased so much this week that when he was first contacted for this story, he was positive it was a joke being played by his buddies at the firehouse.

As it turns out, Rockville Centre's Tom Brady is far from the only Giants fan on Long Island who is finding himself cheering against himself, or rather cheering against a man who shares his name.

Talk about a Brady Bunch: There are 37 voters named Thomas Brady registered in Suffolk and Nassau counties. Rockville Centre alone has three Tom Bradys, one of whom - according to his mother, who answered the phone - is a hardcore Jets fan who actually likes Tom Brady the quarterback.

Another Tom Brady, a banker and devoted Giants fan from Port Washington, said it caused a minor commotion this week when he went into a meeting and passed out his business card.

"Everyone wanted to know why I'm not getting ready for the game, or if I'm just moonlighting as a banker," he said. Brady the banker also is the son of a Giants fan named Tom Brady, who has retired to Florida.

Brady the fireman also has a double-tie name-wise to the Patriots' roster: His 7-year-old son is named Kyle Brady, just like the tight end (a former Jet).

(There is no truth to the rumor that the family considered giving their son Matt the name Junior Seau.)

The Rockville Centre Bradys have gotten used to the jokes over the years. "Everyone keeps telling me they saw me on the news," Brady said. "This week I've been telling them I'm going to have a terrible game on Sunday."

Tom's wife, Kerry, says she often just plays along with people. When she was applying for insurance last week, an operator in the Midwest asked her if she was married to Tom Brady.

"I said yes and went along with it for a while before they realized it was a different Tom Brady," Kerry said. "To tell the truth, I don't know why anyone thought the wife of an NFL player would be calling about health insurance."

Two years ago, Brady the fireman went with his brother-in-law to a Jets-Miami game. (Yes, even the nicest of Giants families can have a Jets fan in their midst.) During the game, he discovered he was sitting next to a guy named Dan Marino.

The two pulled out their drivers licenses, and the college kids sitting behind them were so freaked out that they begin taking pictures with their cell phones to send back to their buddies at the fraternity.

And you thought Jets fans had nothing to get excited about.

If Brady the quarterback has a good night Sunday night, Brady the fireman understands that a few of the guests at his Super Bowl gathering could be shouting out his name followed by a less-than-complimentary verb. No problem. "I could be one of them," he said.

Yet Brady the fireman says there are some things he does admire about Brady the quarterback. He said with a laugh: "I wouldn't mind one of his paychecks."