The Greatest: Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes last night winning his seventh Super Bowl and confirming at age 43 that he’s the greatest quarterback of all time.

  Tampa Bay beat Kansas City 31-9.

  Kansas City hobbled itself with critical penalties in the first half and by the second its offensive line had nearly collapsed. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was in Kindergarten when Brady entered the National Football League, was repeatedly left scrambling deep in his own territory looking for somewhere to throw the ball. 

  At 43, Brady should have been long retired. But this season he threw for 40 touchdowns, the second highest total of his career. This was his 10^th Super Bowl, nine of them with the New England Patriots.

  John Branch wrote for The NY Times that, “Brady’s skills have never been obvious, but he was always there, smiling and holding the trophy. It could seem a bit much — his persistent winning, his sunny but vapid California disposition, his supermodel wife, his Uggs.”

  Brady attributes his athletic longevity and muscle flexibility to his diet, which is low on meat. He has a line of nutrition products and gear sold under the name “TB12.” His website describes lunch as follows; “About 20 percent of his plate is a healthy protein (like a piece of fish), and the rest is vegetables — ‘lots of vegetables,’ he notes — whole grains, and dark leafy greens. For the rest of the day, it’s nuts and seeds as a snack, 2 to 3 more protein shakes, a plant-packed dinner, and — not infrequently — a steaming cup of bone broth.”

  He also eats the opposition for lunch.

Family Ties: President Biden’s son, Hunter, is publishing a book, “Beautiful Things,” about his lifelong struggle with drugs and alcohol. At 51, Hunter is Joe Biden’s oldest child, having lost one to a car accident and a second to cancer.

  The President said in a Super Bowl interview with CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell, “My boy’s back.”

  Hunter has in his adult life been an embarrassment and political liability to his father. He was ejected from the Navy Reserve after failing a drug test in 2014. His business involvement with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma has been fodder for conservatives sniping at his father.

  Nevertheless, an emotional President Biden told O’Donnell, “The honesty with which he stepped forward and talked about the problem. And the hope that — it gave me hope reading it.” 

Viral News: Chicago Public Schools announced a tentative agreement with the teachers union for a return to in-person teaching starting as early as Thursday. The Chicago teachers have been tough about returning to school without everyone getting vaccinated. 

  The school system said it’s planning for pre-K and special education classes to begin again Thursday. Kindergarten through fifth grade would return March 1st and students from sixth through eighth grades would return March 8th.

  About 20 million American children have not been in the classroom for nearly a year. President Biden said in his interview with CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell, “I think it’s time for schools to reopen safely. Safely.” He said, “You have to have fewer people in the classroom. You have to have ventilation systems that have been reworked.”

  Over the weekend, the US crossed the threshold of 27 million cases of Covid-19.

Disaster: At least 14 people are dead and more than 150 missing after a glacier burst in northern India yesterday, sending ice and water crashing through two hydroelectric projects, and causing flash floods along the river. The water and debris swept away buildings and people in its path.

The Bulletin Board: Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said she will not resign despite being censured by her state Republican Party because she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump. — Four backcountry skiers were killed Saturday in Utah by an avalanche that struck eight skiers in the mountains 13 miles east of Salt Lake City. Four were able to dig themselves out, but the others died before they were found. — In some parts of the country the pandemic anti-mask crowd is giving way to the anti-vaxxers who claim the Covid-19 vaccine will kill you, steal your soul, or both. — Ten pounds of high-powered C-4 explosives disappeared from a Marine Corps training base in California. The stuff was taken from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. Given what’s going on with the extreme right wing and the military these days, keep this one in mind.

The Obit Page: George Shultz, the Secretary of State under President Reagan who also served in three other cabinet positions during an influential government career, has died at 100.

  Prior to becoming secretary of state, Shultz had served as secretary of labor, budget director, and secretary of the Treasury under President Nixon. A man of principle and knowledge of how things work, Shultz as Secretary of the Treasury angered Nixon when he refused to use the IRS as a weapon against the president’s political enemies.

 — Leon Spinks, the Olympic gold medal boxer who surprisingly defeated Muhammed Ali to take the heavyweight title, has died of cancer in Nevada at age 67.

  Spinks and his brother Michael burst into world fame in the 1976 Montreal Olympic games. Leon won the heavyweight, Michael the middleweight.

  In 1978 Leon shocked the world beating Ali after only seven  professional bouts. It was a split decision after 15 rounds. Ali took the title back only seven months later and Spinks never rose to those heights again. 

The Weekend Off: Anyone who watched the Super Bowl halftime show featuring the guy who goes by the name “The Weeknd” please let us know how it went after the first 30 seconds.

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