Massachusetts

Tom Brady Named One of TIME's 100 ‘Most Influential People'

The accolades keep pouring in for Tom Brady.

The New England Patriots quarterback was named one of TIME magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World," in a list released Thursday. The list includes politicians, musicians, athletes and movie and TV stars, among others.

Brady was one of several people with local ties who made the list. Others included U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, celebrity chef Barbara Lynch, former Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein and George Church, a genetics professor at MIT and Harvard.

Each person on the list is introduced in an essay written by a famous figure.

Talk show host Conan O'Brien, a Massachusetts native, explained why Brady merited a mention in the "Titans" category.'

"Tom Brady all but wrote his own tribute when he won his fifth Super Bowl ring and became the greatest quarterback of all time. Even the most virulent haters have no answer for that stroke-inducing overtime win over Atlanta. The mic was dropped," O'Brien wrote. "But Tom's real achievement is that he willed himself to be. When Tom was drafted in the second-to-last round, he was slow and scrawny, and buried on the depth chart below Drew Bledsoe, Michael Bishop and the drummer for the Cars. With a monastic diet, intense training and a relentless, inspiring positivity, Tom built himself from the ground up. Great people, like mountain ranges, can feel inevitable, but Tom Brady didn't have to be this good. He simply refused to be less than the best ever, and no essay by anyone but me is necessary. Thank God I'm here."

Other athletes included on TIME's list included NBA star LeBron James, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, soccer's Neymar and UFC fighter Conor McGregor.

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