WALTHAM, Mass. — Decades from now, millions of fans will say they were at Gillette Stadium and stayed to the end to see Tom Brady throw a game-winning touchdown to Kembrell Thompkins with five seconds left to beat the Saints. Almost all of them will be lying.
Gerald Wallace won’t be one of them. The diehard Patriots fan owned up to leaving Sunday’s game early, kicking himself for giving up after Brady threw what appeared to be the game-sealing interception with 2:15 on the clock. It wasn’t until Wallace was in the car, following the game on his phone, that he realized he had made a terrible mistake.
That wasn’t the only bad call Wallace, who also roots hard for the Red Sox, made on Sunday.
“I was [ticked] because when Brady threw the interception, I left Gillette Stadium,” Wallace admitted at Celtics practice on Monday. “I left, so I missed the game-winning touchdown pass. Then, when [the Red Sox] gave up the two home runs in the sixth inning, I cut the TV off and started playing Xbox.”
Fortunately for Wallace, he did not miss anything important in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. He flipped the game back on in the eighth inning, just in time to see David Ortiz‘s game-tying gland slam.
“Something just told me, I had that feeling in my body, to turn the TV back on. When I turned it on, it was bases loaded and Papi’s coming up.”
Wallace was not the only member of the Celtics who didn’t stay glued to the TV for the full nine innings on Sunday night. Coach Brad Stevens said he fell asleep during the game and woke up just as the Red Sox were celebrating. He still had not caught any highlights of what happened as of Monday afternoon, but he planned to check them out on YouTube.
Regardless, Boston fans can’t judge Wallace too harshly for packing it in early. By the looks of the stands at Gillette and Fenway Park, quite a few folks joined Wallace in streaming for the exits when their teams looked finished. In fact, his reaction was probably similar to a lot of longtime New England sports fans.
“It was amazing,” Wallace said, “considering I had just been cussing and arguing with the TV.”
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