Getty Tom Brady hasn't said anything about Tony Romo's comments but others have.
As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers negotiated with fan Byron Kennedy to give up Tom Brady’s 600th touchdown ball, NFL commentator Tony Romo threw out a controversial idea.
Brady threw his 600th career touchdown on Sunday, and wide receiver Mike Evans accidentally gave the ball to fan Byron Kennedy. A Bucs staff member negotiated with Kennedy for the ball back, and CBS Sports caught the moment during its broadcast.
Romo suggested a date with Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen, to get the ball back during the broadcast. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback even alluded to that he would want it if he was the fan.
The Bucs had to negotiate to get Brady’s 600th TD ball back from a fan 😂
Yahoo! Sports columnist Shalsie Manza Young called out Romo for the comments and called it “problematic beyond tarnishing” and alluded to it being objectifying of Bundchen amid Brady’s achievement. Young described it at as an offense against Bundchen’s dignity as a woman.
“Every woman, no matter her net worth or amount of fame, has agency and is not her significant other’s chattel, no matter how many Super Bowls he has won,” Young wrote. “It was all so unseemly and crude, the implication that Brady owns his wife and would offer her up in such a way.”
It also flew in the face of Brady’s values. Besides Brady reiterating the importance of his marriage and family often among the media, he shot down a rash proposal from TV host Ines Gomez before Super Bowl XLII.
“No. I’m a one-woman man. But you’re beautiful and anybody who would have the opportunity to marry you would be a lucky man,” Brady told Gomez via NJ.com’s Mike Rosenstein.
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Romo’s Comments a Bad Look for the NFL?
Young added that Romo’s comments look bad for the NFL.
“With the Washington Football Team workplace case still casting a shadow, and with Romo arguably the most visible broadcaster among the NFL’s partner networks, his inappropriate quip served to reinforce the general disregard for women in and around the league,” Young wrote.
Notably, Romo is married to Candice Romo (formerly Crawford), and they have three children. Tony Romo hasn’t said anything about the incident on social media since the game.
Brady and Bundchen also haven’t commented on the incident according to the New York Post’s Jenna Lemoncelli.
How the Negotiation Really Went
Kennedy didn’t know Evans handed him Brady’s 600th touchdown ball.
“I was just so happy to get it — touchdown ball from Mike Evans,” Kennedy told NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano. “I had know idea how significant it actually was.”
What an experience @Buccaneers @MikeEvans13_ @TomBrady
It took some negotiating on the Bucs staffer’s part.
“We went back and forth a little bit, and he’s basically saying, ‘Tom Brady really wants the football,'” Kennedy told Siciliano. “So like I said earlier (in the interview), you can’t say ‘no’ to Tom Brady. He’s asking for his record-breaking 600th touchdown football back. He’s the one who earned it. I just got lucky (and) happened to be there at the right time.”
Ultimately, Brady got the ball back and Kennedy got compensated significantly. Kennedy received or will receive signed jerseys, a helmet, cleats, $1,000 for the Bucs team store, season tickets through 2022, and a bitcoin worth around $63,000.
Brady appreciated Kennedy giving the ball back and told the media on Sunday “that was really cool of him to do that.”
While Kennedy appreciated how the Bucs are repaying him, he also wants to play golf with Brady sometime.
“All he wants Tom is a round of golf,” Siciliano said on Monday’s show.