Matt Cassel told a story about a prank war with Tom Brady
"I was like 'OK, it's on.'"
In “Thanks Tom,” a video series released this week by The Boston Globe, Tom Brady’s former teammates share stories about the quarterback that are insightful, inspiring, and, sometimes, a little mischievous.
In one video, former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel tells the story of the time a prank war with Brady went horribly wrong. Cassel, who backed up Brady from 2005 to 2007 before taking over as the starter in 2008 following Brady’s knee injury, says the prank war with Brady began when Brady stuck his foot up against a meeting room door, causing Cassel to spill his lunch.
“I was like ‘OK, it’s on,'” Cassel says in the video.
Cassel says he escalated the pranks, putting protein powder in Brady’s sneakers and adding muscle balm to his underwear. After a couple of minor pranks back and forth — Brady threw a protein shake at Cassel, who dumped a full trash can onto Brady’s car — Brady raised the bar.
“The next day I come in and I was like, ‘Oh boy, what’s gonna be next?’ says Cassel. “Well we go through meetings and it’s a little bit quiet, and as we start walking out to the field, he starts saying, “You know you’re gonna call me ‘Captain Longshanks,’ or something bad is gonna happen.’ I was like ‘OK guy, I’m not calling you ‘Captain Longshanks.'”
After Cassel refused, the backup QB says Brady removed all four tires from Cassel’s car, put three in front of his locker, and hid the other somewhere around Gillette Stadium. Cassel hitched rides to and from practice for two days until he found the fourth tire.
“I learned a valuable lesson,” says Cassel. “You don’t mess with people that have more money than you, and particularly, you don’t mess with Tom.”
See the entire Thanks Tom series on BostonGlobe.com, including:
- Willie McGinest on what he saw from Brady as a rookie
- Tedy Bruschi on what Brady told him at the 2005 Pro Bowl
- Randy Moss on the first touchdown pass Brady threw to him
- Wes Welker on a particularly memorable Los Angeles-to-Boston flight with Brady
- Matthew Slater on what Brady said to him after the Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX
- Rob Gronkowski on why he’s joining Brady in Tampa Bay
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