Canton, Ohio – Add "meteorologist" to the titles Drew Brees holds because the New Orleans Saints quarterback, poised for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, offered a precipitation forecast more reliable than any given by the local stations in Canton, Ohio.
He said there's a "99.9 percent chance" he'll shed tears during his induction speech, a labor of love during which he'll attempt to compress 20 seasons of NFL memories — plus college, plus high school — into a 12-minute speech that will be delivered inside Tom Benson Stadium.
"By the time I go on Saturday, people are going to have been sitting in the sun for two hours," Brees said, smiling. "You've got to be respectful of everyone who's there and make it entertaining. I just know this: You're probably going to laugh, you're probably going to cry."
Brees plans to credit the cast of hundreds (thousands?) who have helped along the way.
"The way I really look at it is, this is my opportunity to convey my appreciation, gratitude to so many of the people and places that were a part of this journey," he said. "That's what I'm most looking forward to, is all the people I'm going to have a chance to see and appreciate and let them know just how valued they are. And also, every interaction I have with the current Hall of Famers, it just sinks in even more of what an incredible honor this is and just what the game of football has meant not just to me in my life, but to so many people and to so many communities. It just reinforces what an incredible game this is."
Brees said the competitive nature that drove him came from his family background in athletics and the military.
"I think there was always this feeling of service, of sacrifice, of being a part of something greater than yourself," he said. "Being part of a team, being a great teammate, but also just this love of sports and competition."
He said overcoming adverse situations in athletics was a powerful teacher.
"But it also gives you a belief and a confidence that no matter what, with the right people and with the right mindset, you can find a way," he said. "Think about how that mindset aplies to anything in life. I went to a high school program that was a very well-known high school program in the state of Texas, but we had never won a state championship. And I remember we had a special group of seniors, we said let's be the first ones to go win a state championship for our high school. And sure enough, we were able to do that.
"I show up at Purdue University, we're dead last in the Big 10 my freshman year as far as our recruiting class, and we all look at each other and say 'By the time we leave here we're going to be Big 10 champs,' and we were. Show up in San Diego and we were 1-15 the year before. They had the first pick in the draft and they drafted LaDainian Tomlinson, they bring me in in the second round, we look at each other and say 'By the time we leave here, we're going to be champs' and two years, three years later, we're division champs.
"And when we get to New Orleans, New Orleans is coming off Katrina and never had a ton of success and we say 'Let's win one for the city,' and we win one. It's just every step of the way, it's always been there's a new set of challenges, there's a new goal and yet that mindset of belief, confidence and developing trust and chemistry and kind of rallying with the guys around you and just feeling like you can do anything together, that's what it's all about."
