Tom Brady long since has become accustomed to drawing crowds, but even by his standards yesterday was big. And this was not one of his most pleasant sessions.

As soon as the Patriots finished practice this afternoon, television camera people set up in a circle in the interview area to get position for Brady. The Pats' quarterback knew what was coming, knew what everyone wanted to ask about. He greeted the crowd with, ``Nice day today, nice of you to come out. All right, so who wants to start?' ''

As expected, the focus immediately was on Brady's name coming up on a list people who have had contact with Greg Anderson, the trainer at the center of the Balco investigation in San Francisco.

``Any time, as an athlete, you're even mentioned in something like this, it's disappointing,'' Brady said. ``But it was long time ago. I was back in the Bay area. I wanted to work out for a day. I knew he had a gym. I called, he wasn't around. That was about it. That was the first of it and the last of it. Five years later, I guess it's a big deal. That's kind of the entire extent.''

Brady said he was not aware his name had come up in the investigation until this morning.

``It's just one of those things. I don't make anything of it,'' he said. ``Something like that is not what I stand for. I represent a lot of things. Certainly fair play and me trying to be a role model is what I'm all about.''

-- Paul Kenyon, Journal sports writer