GLENDALE, Ariz. - Before offering himself up for public consumption in the annual rite of madness known as Super Bowl Media Day, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady playfully turned the tables on the ravenous horde lying in wait for him at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Hounded by paparazzi since the day after the AFC Championship, when he showed up at the New York apartment of supermodel girlfriend Gisele Bundchen with flowers in hand and a walking cast on his right foot, Brady for a moment joined ranks with the camera-toting stalkers.
"I gotta do this," Brady said, producing a small digital camera and snapping a photograph of the horde. "I'm not going to remember this one day."
The first question, naturally, was about Brady's ankle. It came from the NFL Network's Deion Sanders, whom Brady photographed and addressed as "Prime."
"My ankle feels good. My ankle feels great," said Brady, who practiced Monday with his teammates for the first time since sustaining a high ankle sprain in the AFC Championship game. "I practiced a full day [Monday]. I think we had one incompletion in practice. It feels great."
He went on to field a number of offbeat questions, including a marriage proposal from a Mexican reporter from TV Azteca who distinguished herself from the ink-stained wretches by the racy number she wore: a strapless white mini-dress with a white veil, white lace stockings, and red high heels.
"I'm wearing Macario Jiménez, a very famous Mexican dress designer," said Ines Gomez Monteclaro of Mexico City. "It's a very sexy dress."
However, it wasn't sexy enough to elicit the desired response from Brady, who initially was blindsided by the question.
"Wow, I've never had a proposal," he said. "What's your name, first?"
"Ines," she said.
"That's a beautiful name, Ines," Brady said.
"I want to be Miss Brady," she said.
"I've got a few Miss Bradys in my life," replied the quarterback, trying to let Miss TV Azteca down gently.
"Can I be one of them?" she pleaded.
"You could be, but naw, I'm a one-woman man," Brady said, chuckling. "But you're beautiful, and anybody who would have the opportunity to marry you would be a lucky man."
Leave it to the smooth quarterback to deftly turn an unsolicited pass into a public relations score.
The glitterati flocked to Brady yesterday, as much to be seen as heard. Kevin Frazier of "Entertainment Tonight," accompanied by a briefcase model from "Deal or No Deal," presented Brady with an award for being "Top Male Model" for his work with Stetson. Medford native Maria Menounos, attired in a Brady jersey, asked him about Gisele's game-day plans on behalf of "Access Hollywood."
"I don't know where she's going to be," he said. "Maybe somewhere."
Meanwhile, John Salley, of "Best Damn Sports Show," tried to persuade Brady to let him replace Randy Moss in the Patriots' receiving corps.
Brady wasn't as gentle with Salley as he was with Miss TV Azteca.
"You just need to stick to dunking a basketball," Brady said. "Football's not your sport. You're too big. That's the problem. Basketball players want to try to play football, but you're too tall. Imagine if someone came in and hit your legs, you'd get chopped down like a big oak tree."
"Wow, I just got shot out by Tom Brady," Salley replied.
WBZ-TV reporter Steve Burton asked Brady, "Tom, what's the dumbest question you've ever been asked on Media Day?"
Brady shrugged. "Someone have a dumb question?" he asked the media horde. An avalanche ensued.
"I don't know, I'll have to get back to you later on that one," Brady told Burton.
When someone asked later if he considered himself an A list or B list celebrity, Brady had his winner.
"Now that's the dumbest question," he said.
A sampling of others Brady fielded:
What's worse to deal with - Michael Strahan or the paparazzi?
"Michael Strahan is much bigger and much meaner and much faster. I sure as heck can't outrun Michael, and that's the problem. Everyone else I could probably outrun."
You're so perfect, handsome, and talented, do you have any faults?
"There's plenty, trust me. There's plenty of people that would find some things."
What's your favorite all-time band?
"U2."
What's your favorite all-time movie?
"Braveheart - not for the love story, though."
What did you do with the boot?
"I've got it on
Who are you rooting for in the Six Unions Rugby Championship on Sunday, England or Wales?
"England. I have to stay true to my English roots."
If you could be someone else, who would you be?
"I wouldn't change places with too many people."
Asked what the toughest part was about having his private life play out in public, Brady turned from playful to introspective. "Well, there's a lot of things in my life that turned out public, whether it be on the football field or off the football field," he said. "Both of them, you just try to do the very best you can do with whatever you're dealt with, whatever situation, you try to deal with it with respect and humility. I think I have a great mother and father who taught me a lot of valuable lessons throughout my life.
"You deal with the cards that you're faced with and don't make excuses. I've been fortunate in my life and I have no complaints, I really don't."
Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com. 
