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Tom Terrific - Mike Lynch Reflects on Tom Brady  Tom Terrific
By Mike Lynch
 Anyone who has been around Tom Brady at any point in his
life should not be surprised by his performance in the season opening win over
the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.
Tom Brady is as clutch a performer as
you will find. It was the 29th time in his career that he has brought
his team back to victory from a fourth quarter deficit. But what stuck in my
head was the comment from Randy Moss after the game. He stated that when Tom
stepped into the huddle, trailing 24-13 with
5:25 to play, Tom looked every player in the eye and
calmly stated ,”we’re going to win this game.”
This was not a cocky, chest
thumping, conceited statement. He’d
been doing it his whole life and when he makes a statement like that at crunch
time it’s as if the entire team swallowed a confidence pill.
Tom Brady has told
me numerous times that when he was a kid he wanted to be the guy at bat with the
bases loaded in a tie game. He wanted to be at the foul line with two shots
trailing by one, the kid who needs to make a six foot putt to win the match, the
kid who needs to win the draw. Winners want the ball in their hands or the puck
on their stick at crunch time. How many times do you think he’s played out a
winning drive in his head? Ask any of the great clutch players and they will
tell you the same thing. If you visualize it over and over in your head then you
will be prepared when the moment presents itself. It’s a great lesson for young
athletes to visualize and dream of success because we all know that many times
dreams do come true.
About Mike Lynch
Mike
Lynch has been the principal sports anchor at WCVB-TV Channel 5 in
Boston since September 1985. He reports Sunday through Thursday on
NewsCenter 5 at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. He joined Channel 5 full-time in
April 1983 as weekend sports anchor after working part-time for the
station for one year.
Since 1995, Lynch has hosted the weekly
sports program "Patriots All Access," a behind-the-scenes look at New
England's NFL franchise. During the NFL pre-season, Lynch serves as a
broadcast commentator during Patriots games. He has also done
play-by-play coverage for the Boston Celtics, New England Patriots and
college football.
For 11 years, he hosted the Boston College
weekly football coach's show "Eagles Preview" on Channel 5. In 1985,
Lynch initiated "High Five," a weekly NewsCenter 5 report highlighting
the achievements of high school student athletes. The unique segments
have been lauded by critics and received numerous honors for a
continuing commitment to covering high school athletics.
From
1985 to 91 and again in 1998 and 1999, Lynch was voted Massachusetts
"Sportscaster of the Year" by the National Sportswriters and
Sportscasters Association. In 1987, SportsCenter 5 won the United Press
International Award for "Best Sports Reporting" in the country.
Prior
to coming to WCVB, he was sports director for Boston's WMRE Radio,
formerly WITS, from 1977 to 1983. During this time, Lynch was
responsible for the station's Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins pre-game
shows. In addition, he hosted a weeknight sports talk show and was the
radio voice of Harvard University's football broadcasts.
Lynch's
broadcasting career began in 1974 at WLYN Radio in Lynn, where he
served as a color commentator for high school football and basketball
broadcasts. Lynch was brought up in the Boston suburb of Swampscott.
He
graduated from Harvard in 1977. While in college, he quarterbacked and
kicked for the Harvard team that won the 1975 Ivy League Football
Championship.
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