Getty Images
The fact that no one knows the current whereabouts of Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady during an extended hiatus from training camp for “personal” reasons invites speculation as to where he is and what he is doing. The longer it takes, the crazier the speculation.
And Friday’s speculation has officially moved to the land of the damn nuts.
Someone (or people; I can’t really tell) has theorized that Tom Brady left training camp to work at Fox’s The Masked Singer. The facts offered to support the theory are scanty and superficial, and the whole thing seems to have a tongue-in-cheek air.
While Brady has a contract with Fox that extends beyond being the network’s No. 1 NFL analyst, he reportedly won’t start until he retires from football. Also, the idea that they would expect him to give up nearly two weeks of training camp for something he could do after he’s done football seems like a ridiculous stretch.
But that’s what happens when one of the most well-known players in league history leaves camp without a glance, and when his team doesn’t manage the news properly. The Bucs tried to put the toothpaste back in the tube a little on Friday, with coach Todd Bowles saying he knows when Brady will be back – a day after Bowles said he didn’t know.
Horror vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum. Human nature does too. And with no information to explain Brady’s inexplicable hiatus at training camp, we’re looking for anything that helps make sense. With Brady saying nothing and circumstances fanning the flames of speculation, it kind of makes sense that something this odd would emerge and spread.
That’s the only reason we decided to publish an article on it. This crazy theory and the intense media coverage surrounding it has become too big to ignore. And the big winner is Fox, who will now have even more people watching next season of The Masked Singer to see if Brady comes out of costume.