Where Everybody Knows His Name: Boston Bartenders Reflect On Tom Brady’s Impact

BOSTON — “You’re Tom, right?” Tom Brady stood waiting — by himself — in a line outside a Boston bar called The Place. The year was 2000. He was a rookie with the New England Patriots, selected 199th overall in the draft and the QB4 for his new team. With veteran Pro Bowler Drew Bledsoe the incumbent quarterback, Brady was an afterthought on the field — and unknown around Boston. But by coincidence, bar owner Billy Fairweather recognized Brady. Fairweather was also a TV producer, and he had recently spent a day interviewing Patriots rookies at training camp. “I just see one tall kid standing in the middle of the line — head and shoulders above everybody else. So I say, ‘Wait a minute, I recognize that kid,'” Fairweather told me. With Brady set to return to Gillette Stadium for the first time as a broadcaster, calling Packers-Patriots on Sunday on FOX, it’s the perfect time to look back at how the legend of TB12 started. And what better way to measure his impact on the New England sports community than to talk to the local bartenders? So let’s get back to The Place in 2000. Brady re-introduced himself to Fairweather, who explained how he knew the QB — and invited him to skip the line and join him for drinks at the bar. “Keep in mind, he’s nobody. He’s less than nobody, right? Nobody in town even knows who he is at this point, right?” Fairweather said. “But he didn’t know a lot of people in Boston, and now he’s at a bar where he feels comfortable and knows some people. “He started coming in all the time.” That year, Fairweather kept an eye on the Patriots rookie, who really wasn’t much trouble. But he did require an introduction. “This is Tom. Tom plays for the Patriots,” Fairweather would say. One night, the bar was packed. People were dancing on the bar. “Great energy,” Fairweather said. Madonna’s “Music” was probably blasting on the speakers. Fairweather threw his arm over Brady’s shoulder and shared a word of encouragement. “You’re gonna have your day in the sun someday,” Fairweather remembered saying. “You really think so?” Brady asked. Wait, seriously. Did Fairweather really think so? Actually, he thought — but did not say: “No, you’re a sixth-round pick and the fourth-string quarterback on the team.” So instead, Fairweather said: “I guarantee it.” Fast-forward eight years. Fairweather, the producer, gets an assignment from ESPN to work with Chris Berman at a Patriots game. And Brady was now a superstar, with three Super Bowl wins and a clear path to GOAT status. Which meant he was no longer dropping into Fairweather’s place, now called The Greatest Bar, which has a mural dedicated to Brady on one of its four floors. When it’s time to interview Brady, the producer steps into the locker room. And Berman introduces Fairweather. “I know Billy,” Brady said. “He’s the guy that told me I was gonna have my day in the sun someday.” Fairweather was floored. “F—ing eight years later, he remembered that moment,” Fairweather told me. “That moment will stick with me forever, because I think it just showed a lot about the kid. He remembered that somebody believed in him, and he appreciated it. And even after all the fanfare, all the stardom, all the celebrity, all the riches, he remembered that moment. I just think it’s a pretty cool thing that I’ll hold on to forever. “Guy became the greatest player in the history of the NFL, and he used to be a kid standing in my bar. … I still see the 22-year-old kid standing in my bar by himself, just looking for a place to call home. And it seems like yesterday.” That’s just one of the stories I collected from bartenders and bar owners from the Patriots’ dynasty, a run of 20 years of unparalleled success. Even for the folks who never met Brady, Bill Belichick or any member of the organization, the Patriots had a massive impact on the Boston sports community, especially on the fans who spent so much time in these sports bars from downtown Boston to Fenway to Foxborough. Roughly 10 years ago, a Patriots linebacker sat down in Mick Morgan’s Irish Pub with his family. The owner, Finbar Griffin, can’t remember exactly which Patriots linebacker — in part because New England’s stars are always dropping in. Mick Morgan’s is the first bar you’ll pass as you make the turn onto Route 1 — the last road that connects people headed to Gillette Stadium from Boston. There’s a 30-foot exterior bar that has a massive TV built-in. And there’s the interior — thousands of square feet. None of it would be possible without Tom Brady. None of it would be here without the Patriots’ success. But anyway, this linebacker sat down to eat with his family. And he ordered four Irish Stews. The server left the table to put in the order — but the linebacker called her back. “How can I help?” she asked. “You didn’t get the order for the other three people?” The linebacker was ready to eat four Irish Stews. It was more or less random that Griffin pulled into the lot where he’d eventually put his pub. He needed a place to get off the road for a moment with his friend … Mick Morgan. And they spotted the empty Dick’s Sporting Goods store where the pub would eventually be. “I didn’t know what I’d bought,” Griffin told me, “which is perfectly honest.” Griffin, who was raised in Ireland, wasn’t an “American football” fan at the time. But as Patriots fans poured into his pub every Sunday — and as Brady’s teams kept winning championships — Griffin became more and more invested in the team. The restaurant is now a shrine to New England, with thousands of pieces of memorabilia throughout — including a painting and plaque for Brady. The plaque reads: “Gone but not forgotten.” Griffin’s son lives in Spain, but even the ex-Pat isn’t an ex-Patriot fan. He played football in Dublin. He’s a diehard — just like Griffin’s grandson, who might be the biggest Pats fan in the family. That’s the legacy Griffin accidentally created. “He is just besotted with the Patriots,” Griffin told me about his grandson. “Yeah, and you know we have our Sunday and Monday phone calls every week and go through all the s— that went on.” Griffin admitted that the bar changed his life, financially and fanatically. He’s just one of the business owners in the area who has a hall of worship for Brady. The other Foxborough spot that the Patriots frequented — particularly in the second half of New England’s dynasty — was Bar Louie, just up the steps from Gillette Stadium at 1 Patriot Place. Some members of the team would often get dinner in a private room after wins and losses. Just imagine being a bartender, fan or manager — and in walks a handful of Patriots players immediately after a game. Must have been a rush? “It was really cool. Everyone was super nice, and it was really cool to meet everyone and their families,” Bar Louie bartender (and Patriots fan) Brittany Lacascio told me. “The McCourtys [twins Devin and Jason] were really awesome. They’re some of my favorites. We’d just turn the music up, and even if they did have a loss, they always stayed positive about everything.” Though the Patriots went to the Super Bowl last season with a rising new cast of stars led by quarterback Drake Maye, Boston bar owners and bartenders say it’s not quite like the dynasty days. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why. Brady isn’t there. Belichick isn’t there. Randy Moss, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Wes Welker are retired. “The crowds were electric, you know what I mean? This fan base has been unbelievable,” said Jimmy Rooney, owner of the now-closed bar The Baseball Tavern. “We had a great run for 20 years — Tom’s Patriots especially.” Just how important was Brady? “We’d be up almost 30% or 40% each game if Tom Brady was playing,” Rooney told me. “I just know that for 20 years, it was just electric between the football team and the baseball team. The hockey team was even good. The Celtics were even good.” But nothing compared to the Patriots. When that dynasty fell, it left an absence in its wake. But you can’t take away the memories from the folks who spent basically every Sunday afternoon for two decades in a sports bar. It built communities throughout the city. “It was pretty cool to see,” said Chris Wharton, a bartender at The Bell in the Hand, the oldest bar in Boston. “Just building that connection with everyone over the years and watching the Pats win.” And during the Super Bowls? “The Bell used to erupt. The place would shake when there was a big play. Everybody is hugging random people they don’t know. They’re high-fiving,” Wharton told me. “The Patriots really brought the city together in those winter months where we don’t have too much to look forward to. “But we always got to look forward to Tom and the Patriots.”