Even if your knowledge of the NFL is sketchy, chances are you've heard of Tom Brady.
On Sunday, at the age of 39, he could claim an unprecedented fifth Super Bowl Ring as he leads New England Patriots into battle against the Atlanta Falcons in Houston.
But it's not his longevity which makes his story special, it's the fact that he was 199th in the draft pick of April 2000. There were FIVE quarterbacks chosen ahead of Brady who had been making steady if unspectacular progress with Michigan.
Seventeen seasons later, Brady is a megastar not just of the NFL but of American sport with a cameo on The Simpsons to prove it. Under the tutelage of Patriots coach Bill Belichick, the pair have built a dynasty likened by some to Manchester United's dominance of the Premier League through the 1990s into the 2000s.
The Patriots have reached seven Super Bowls in the past 16 seasons, winning four championships. And it's because of the Patriots' success – along with the fact that the Falcons have never won a Championship – that most neutrals will be backing the Falcons on Sunday.
Brady himself has been known to divide opinion and in 2015 he found himself embroiled in a row over deflating match balls. He was banned for four games after an investigation concluded that "more likely than not, Brady was at least generally aware of the intentional deflation."
The story was lapped up by those who were already critical of the Patriots and cemented their reputation – in their eyes at least – as an organisation not averse to bending the rules.
In recent years, his friendship with President Donald Trump has also earned him plenty of column inches. One of Trump's 'Make America Great Again' caps was pictured in Brady's locker though he tries to avoid talking politics.
But some argue the reason Brady attracts so much stick is that he's a handsome all-American hero. He's rich, handsome, has a supermodel girlfriend and a loving family. He's everything they're not. And haters gonna hate.
