Paul Pierce knows exactly when he’ll jump off the New England Patriots bandwagon.
The Boston Celtics legend revealed to the Boston Herald’s Steve Bullpett last week he’ll change his NFL allegiance from the Patriots to the Los Angeles Rams once Tom Brady retires. Pierce hails from Los Angeles, but he called the Boston area home for most of the last 20 years, which coincided with the emergence of the Patriots’ dynasty.
“When Brady retires is when I retire and go to the Rams,” Pierce said. “When Brady goes, then I’m coming home.”
The Rams represented Los Angeles between 1946 and 1995 when they departed for St. Louis. The Oakland Raiders called Los Angeles home between 1982 and 1995. The Rams and Raiders teams abandoned Los Angeles three years before Pierce arrived in Boston, and the Patriots’ success coincided perfectly with his football free agency.
Pierce insists he didn’t hedge on his Patriots fandom when they took on the team that represented his hometown between 1946 and 1995 and again since 2015.
“Everybody hated me wearing my Patriots stuff around here,” he said. “It was an ugly game, but, shoot, they got it done. They got it done.”
Brady, 41, wants to play until age 45, and no one in this region should doubt his ability to do so. That leaves Pierce four more years as a Patriots fan, giving him plenty of time to reconsider whether it’s wise to switch the Rams at all.
