If you are a fan of In The Thick, you know that our co-host Julio Ricardo Varela is a big Boston sports fan (even known as "The Bronx Judas"). For this special bonus drop on our feed, Julio and his family are featured in a new 10-part podcast series called The Man in the Arena from Religion of Sports and ESPN that looks at two decades of Tom Brady through the eyes of the fans and the haters, those in the arena and those outside. In 2001, Tom Brady became the Patriots’ savior when he helped the franchise win their first Super Bowl. But why did the city embrace a guy that might not have fit the profile of a blue-collar Boston fan? How did Brady help redefine what it means to be a Boston sports fan? And how much do the players we think of as “ours” really belong to the community that roots for them? Guests: Boston sports fans the Varela family, Seth Wickersham, Playwright and Boston fan Tori Sampson, and a Pats fan who converted to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Brady left. Thanks to Columbus 81 Productions, ICM Partners, Worldwide Pants, CBS, 60 Minutes and Veritone for the clips used in this episode. To subscribe to "The Man in the Arena," click here.  

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