Tom Brady has a friend in one of Boston sports’ biggest rivals.
Magic Johnson, who attended the Jeffrey Osborne Celebrity Softball Classic on Monday in Pawtucket, R.I., voiced some pretty rabid support for the New England Patriots quarterback. In fact, the former Los Angeles Laker doesn’t even want to watch the Patriots if Brady isn’t on the field for the first four weeks because of his Deflategate suspension.
“I’m a Tom Brady fan,” Johnson said, per WEEI. “I don’t want to see Tom Brady miss one game. Because then I’m not watching. I’m just telling you like it is, I want to see Tom Brady and the Patriots.”
Johnson said any Patriots opponent should want Brady on the field, too, because a win without him wouldn’t be a real one.
“We’re all competitors,” Johnson said, per The Providence Journal. “We don’t want to see New England without Tom Brady. If you’re a great football team and a great football player, you want to have them at their best. It’s like me saying, ‘Larry Bird, please, (NBA), disqualify him and make him sit down!’ No. I didn’t want that. I wanted Larry Bird, I wanted (Kevin) McHale, I wanted (Robert) Parish, I wanted (Dennis Johnson), I wanted (Scott) Wedman off the bench, I want (Cedric) Maxwell, I want M.L. Carr waving that damn towel around. I wanted everybody.
“That’s what it’s about. I want to beat you with your best.”
As for the rest of Deflategate, Johnson doesn’t believe underinflated footballs had any effect on Brady and the Patriots’ AFC Championship Game performance.
“One thing that people have to realize is that players have to play,” Johnson said. “I don’t care about videos, balls, they don’t decide the game. It’s players who decide the games. I don’t care what anybody says. They went out there and won the game, point blank. They won the Super Bowl.”
Thumbnail photo via Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports Images
