BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Sometimes, John Romero, a police officer in Oakland, Calif., likes to surprise his friends and acquaintances, those who know him only so well.
They’ll be talking about football, and Tom Brady’s name will come up, because it’s difficult to talk about football without mentioning Brady. And of course, if you are familiar at all with Brady and his accomplishments, you are familiar with his incredible backstory: that he was once the longest of long shots, that the Patriots selected him in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft with the 199th overall pick. The 198 players selected ahead of Brady included Courtney Brown, a defensive end from Penn State, the draft’s first pick.