Early one Sunday evening, fresh off 18 uneventful holes at a golf course near his Tampa home, Steve DeBerg switched on his phone in the clubhouse to find a flood of texts and voicemails from various friends, all of them reacting to the breaking news that was then blowing up the sports world. “They had mixed emotions,” DeBerg says. “They were excited, then disappointed.”
The excitement stemmed from the news itself, that Tom Brady was ending his short-lived retirement to return for a 23rd season. “A lot of my best friends live down here, so they’re big Tom Brady/Buccaneers fans,” DeBerg explains. The chagrin was due to the decision’s implication for their pal: With Brady turning 45 on Aug. 3, a month before Week 1, DeBerg will soon relinquish his longstanding title as the oldest quarterback to start an NFL game.
Andy Lyons/Allsport/Getty Images
