Poor Tom Brady.
Between his storied legacy with the New England Patriots, his $375-million contract to call games for FOX Sports and his ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders, all his substantial successes swirled together to put him in a uniquely sub-ideal situation this Super Bowl week.
Can’t this guy catch a break in life?
All kidding aside, I do respect Brady’s dilemma, but it was actually easily avoidable altogether.
First, let’s tend to the mess itself.
Brady, who of course won six of his seven Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, really stepped in it while joining Jim Gray on the “Let’s Go!” podcast to talk about the Super Bowl matchup between New England and the Seattle Seahawks.
“I don’t have a dog in the fight in this one,” Brady said. “May the best team win.”
One would like to believe that Brady walked away from that realizing he could have probably rephrased that better.
Brady’s Patriots Connections Of Course Run Deep
After all, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was Brady’s teammate and beloved pass-catching-linebacker goal-line target for eight seasons and half of those Super Bowl championships. He’s had a uniquely close star player/team owner relationship with Robert Kraft for two and a half decades.
But most pertinently, he is the most celebrated player in the history of the franchise — the kind of generational icon that usually maintains an enduring, mutually meaningful stature with the team.
So, that quote has gone viral, of course, and it has not gone over well with Brady’s former New England teammates, Patriots fans and even at least one current Patriot took offense to the sentiments.
Meanwhile, Gray addressed the controversy and encouraged critics to look at Brady’s full comment and not just the short snippet that has struck such a nerve with so many.
Fair enough, not only will we present that full quote but we’ll zoom out even further to a comment Brady made a couple minutes earlier in the conversation to full contextualize what he said:
“I think there’s always different chapters in your life, and you have different chapters and moments that you go through where you’re affiliated with a certain team — Michigan and then I was with the Patriots for 20 years, I was with Tampa for three amazing years, I’ve been in broadcasting, now I’m an owner of the Raiders. So those memories that I have are forever ingrained in me, and I’m indebted to all the people who worked so hard to help make our team successful. And now in a different phase of my life, I really root for people and the people I care about, the people who I know the work that goes into what they’re trying to accomplish. So I really want to sit back as a fan and enjoy the game, enjoy the moment, and I always think, may the best team win. It’s not going to be who I’m cheering for and who I think’s going to win — it’s going to be decided by the people out there on the field. …
“I don’t have a dog in the fight in this one. May the best team win. And in terms of the Patriots, this is a new chapter in New England, and I’m glad everyone’s embraced the Mike Vrabel regime, all the amazing players that have worked so hard to get their club to this position. We did it for 20 years. There was a little bit of a hiatus in there, but the Patriots are back and it’s a very exciting time for everyone in New England.”
OK, OK, if you look at it like that then … no, man. Still no!
“That’s bullcrap, Tom,” former Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. “That’s bullcrap, Tom. Come on now. … This ain’t political … At the end of the day, if you’re a Patriot for life you know what it is. Don’t give me that political bullcrap. That’s just what it is.”
“That’s the way Tom feels. I’ve got a big-ass dog in the race, I’m telling you that right now,” former Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi said in response to Brady. “That’s my boy right there. You know, Vrabel, eight-year teammate, like a brother of mine. I mean, all of us, really. It’s like, we’ve got a dog in the fight. My dog is big and I’m cheering for him.”
Meanwhile, current Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane said “personally, it makes me sick.”
“He has a dog in the fight,” Spillane said, per NFL.com. “For him to say that, it is what it is, but at the end of the day, he’s an owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. So he has to do what’s best for him.”
Again, we do sympathize with Brady, really. At least somewhat. Well, kind of.
Broadcasting Career Doesn’t Work In This Scenario For Brady
He takes his budding broadcasting career very seriously. That’s clear just in how much he improved from his unremarkable first season to his more comfortable, more insightful second season on FOX Sports. With that, there is an element of neutrality and unbiased perspective in that position that is prioritized and respected.
Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman has called countless Cowboys games for FOX and ESPN and never gives the impression, let alone outright says, that he’s rooting for the team with which he won three Super Bowls.
Brady isn’t calling this game, though — Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth are on the call for NBC on Sunday night.
And while being a network’s top color analyst is a much different seat with much different standards than being a studio or pregame analyst, Boston/New England fans aren’t putting that level of thought into their reaction to Brady’s comment. They see Red Sox legend David Ortiz on FOX Sports baseball coverage being their familiar ol’ beloved Big Papi.
Or Bruschi in his role on ESPN’s NFL studio show.
“I mean the last couple weeks on Sunday NFL Countdown, I’d just be like, ‘Put my pick up, guys. You know who I’m picking. Put my pick up. Because there’s no other way I’m going,” Bruschi said.
Oh Yes, The Raiders Part
But then there’s also the Raiders ownership element of it.
Las Vegas may not be in the Super Bowl, but its next head coach is as Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has reportedly accepted the position effective after the Big Game.
One can understand the tug-and-pull there of not wanting to create the perception of rooting against the guy you just hired to run your operation. Totally understandable.
Brady also may just truly not care about the outcome Sunday, as he’s known to be as fierce a competitor as any in wanting to prove he was the best of all-time — and this game ultimately has nothing to do with that legacy one way or the other.
After all, he was comfortable leaving New England to finish his career and win a seventh Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rather than protect having a Ted Williams or Bill Russell-like singular connection to Boston sports.
Honestly, all of those reasons are (mostly) acceptable and justifiable.
Less Is More In These Types of Situations
It’s just the saying it out loud so bluntly part that got Brady in trouble and that was avoidable.
All he had to say was, “I’m just excited to watch the game. But it’s incredible to see my former teammate Mike Vrabel, who was a huge part of our Patriots teams winning three Super Bowls, being the guy to lead the franchise back to this spot. I’m proud of him and happy for the Kraft family and the fans who supported me for so long to get to experience a new era on this stage, and all I know is they have a great challenge on their hands Sunday night against a very well-coached and talented Seahawks team.”
Or something like that (which includes some sentiments he did indeed say while leaving out, ahem, at least one other) — just deferential enough but down the middle and, most importantly, not dismissive.
Broadcaster mode achieved, problems averted, all Patriots past and present assuaged, Raiders relations secure, potential fallout pre-empted, etc.
The irony in Brady putting himself in this PR pickle is that he knew as well as anyone throughout his career that there was minimal value in expressing any actual opinions. He was among the blandest interviews in sports.
He does need to let his personality push through in his new TV role, though, and that’s a good thing.
But Brady is always going to be remembered first and foremost as the Patriots legendary quarterback before anything else — and he would have been well-served to also remember that this week.
