Tom Brady has come a long way from his days of stiffly reading cue cards on “Saturday Night Live.” On HBO’s “The Shop,” the greatest of all-time looked at home among his fellow A-listers, dishing about the travails of being a modern-day superstar. He was funny, introspective and revealing.
One could argue we learned more about Brady in 27 highly edited minutes than 20 years of interviews. At this stage in Brady’s life, this is the kind of forum where he wants to express himself.
And who can blame him? Talking about celebrity with Chelsea Handler seems more engaging than reviewing missed throws in a post-game Zoom press conference.
Brady admitted as much, estimating that 90 percent of what he tells the media isn’t truthful. “What I say versus what I think are two totally different things,” Brady said. “I would say 90 percent of what I say is probably not what I’m thinking. … I really admire people that actually can do that, and say what they think, because they invite a lot of other things into their life.
And I think there’s part of me that doesn’t like conflict. So in the end, I just always try to play it super flat.”
While that’s not exactly breaking news, it was telling to hear Brady say he’s been putting on an act for more than two decades. It was his way of breaking down the fourth wall.
After 20 years of being one of the most scrutinized athletes on the planet — right next to LeBron James — it’s apparent Brady is done playing the game. It’s a natural reaction after being burned so many times.
I’ve always contested the breaking point for Brady came during the 2016 presidential election, when his innocuous comment about pulling for Donald Trump so there would be a “putting green on the White House lawn” turned into a yearlong controversy. Brady shut it down after that, even refusing to reveal for whom he voted.
Since then, the glimpses we’ve received into Brady’s life and psyche came on his terms. He mused about losing conviction in “Tom vs. Time,” and infamously pleaded the fifth to his good buddy Jim Gray. Brady chooses when he wants to be interesting, such as when he’s sitting in a staged barbershop with Kid Cudi and Maverick Carter.
His most fascinating comments came when he said he sometimes wishes he could bypass his media obligations. “Like Marshawn Lynch, that was the most beautiful thing saying, ‘I’m just here so I won’t get fined,’” Brady said. “It’s a very hard thing to do, I wish I could just go, ‘I’m just here so I won’t get fined.’ I’ve said that 50 times, but I’ve never done it. One day I’ll do it before I retire.”
Brady’s remarks followed a brief discussion about Naomi Osaka, whom he supported for taking a break from tennis amid her mental health struggles. Handler said it’s antiquated for athletes to be forced to participate in press conferences, and Brady agreed.
Yet, he said he keeps up his media obligations, because he views himself as part of the NFL machine. “I think you’re in an enterprise, and I’m one employee of that enterprise,” Brady said. “I’m not an entrepreneur where I can make my individual choices.”
But those days are coming for Brady, who publicly acknowledged for the first time he won’t be able to play football forever. It’s now easy to imagine what Brady’s post-football life will look like: lots of TB12, and little conventional media. He doesn’t need us at all.
And he wants the world to know.
