Rick Field, the founder of Rick’s Picks pickles and a lifelong New England Patriots fan, vividly remembers the moment that changed his favorite team’s destiny.
On Sept. 23, 2001, he gathered with friends in front of a TV to watch a Patriots home game against the New York Jets.
Drew Bledsoe, the Patriots’ beloved quarterback at the time, was knocked out of the game by an injury, and when a relatively unknown backup jogged out to replace Bledsoe, Field joked to his worried friends, “Let the Tom Brady era begin.”
The remark was brushed off as another example of Field’s sense of humor.