John Forestell
Guest Columnist
Just this past week in our neck of the woods, the USM men’s soccer team beat perennially ranked Bowdoin College 3-1 behind senior forward Sinisa Bajic’s (Belgrade, Serbia) two goals and an assist.
It’s efforts like the one he turned in last week that make me think that the Serbian Sensation is USM’s version of a much more vaunted New England athlete: Tom Brady.
And while it seems like an odd comparison, the similarities are quite striking.
Bajic, who is from Serbia but attended Portland High School, has been scoring goals at a record-breaking pace since his freshman year.
The two goals he scored against Bowdoin gave him 44 for his career. He is just three away from breaking John Sylva’s record of 46.
With his 14 points this season, Bajic has a total of 100 for his career. Sylva’s record of 108 career points is slowly coming into Bajic’s view.
Sylva, who played during the 70’s, held the records for over 30 years and it seems that when Bajic surpasses his, he’s going to be poised to hold them for another 30.
Bajic, in his own sport, in his own domain, dominates just as Brady does in his.
You need a touchdown on the gridiron, Brady will get it. You need a goal on the soccer pitch, you get the ball to Bajic. It’s as simple as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
In a sport where the success of a team relies largely on a few big plays during the 90-minute match, Bajic provides his fair share. Look no further than the box score of lask week’s win against Bowdoin for evidence of Bajic’s playmaking ability. In a largely stalemated game, Bajic found a way to be in on all three of the Huskies goals, whether it was with a well placed cross or a free-kick boot that sailed by the Polar Bear’s goalie.
Brady has much the same influence on the football field. If you need a big play in a big situation, “Cool Hand” Brady is the one you want leading your team down the field. He’s simply on a different level than other players. He has an uncanny ability to put the team on his shoulder and come up with the big play.
All of the good things that happen with the Patriots are, at some level, a result of Tom Brady. The Huskies are the same.
The big difference between the two is the immediate impact they have on their team when they can’t play or get injured (I am knocking on wood right now, believe me).
Surely you want Brady to be the guy behind center, and when he goes down, your chance of success dramatically decrease. But, in Matt Cassell the Patriots have the chance to use a guy that has been mentored and tutored by Brady for the past three years; has practiced with the team for three years and should know the playbook inside and out.
If Bajic goes down — seriously, my knuckles are bleeding I am knocking so hard — the Huskies simply do not have a player they can pick off the bench that can come into a game and create like Bajic does.
He has no understudy.
The Patriots, with Matt Cassell, who hadn’t started a game since Bill Clinton was president, can still win their division and make the playoffs.
Without Bajic, the Huskies would certainly have a difficult time trying to stay at the top of the highly competitive LEC.
And even though Bajic doesn’t pose seductively in cologne ads and his off-the-field life can hardly draw comparisons to Brady’s (unless someone’s not telling me something), his prowess on the field still warrants the comparison all the same.