Tom Brady Press Conference Turns Into Media Circus

Full disclosure: I was not in the room for Tom Brady’s press conference. I was sitting comfortably in my room watching on the live feed on Patriots.com. As it turns out, that was close enough to get a full dose of what took place for a half hour at Gillette Stadium.

The reasons I left early were as follows: 1) avoid rush hour traffic, and 2) avoid the inevitable crapfest that was about to unfold. I don’t know what the traffic was like on I-90 at 5:00, but the rewards reaped from reason no. 2 paid off in full.

One by one, the awful questions were thrown at the Patriots quarterback like monkeys throwing poop at the wall, hoping one would hit and cause the cool, collected QB to crack. There were some good questions sprinkled in, but trying to hear them is like trying to find water in a desert.

“This has raised a lot of uncomfortable conversations from people around this country who view you, a three-time Super Bowl champion and a two-time MVP, as their idol. The question they’re asking themselves is, ‘What’s up with our hero?’ So can you answer right now: Is Tom Brady a cheater?”

“What do you say to the skeptics who say, ‘Look, the Patriots have had violations before. How can we possibly believe what Brady and the coach are saying now?'”

“A lot of fans are disappointed in the situation. For those, is this a moment where you should pause and say, whether it was by design or accidental, is this a moment to just say ‘I’m sorry to the fans of the NFL and to the fans of Tom Brady.'”

“Tom, there are people who are going to hear this and say, ‘You’re so familiar with the equipment, how could you not know that the balls were underinflated?’ What would you say to them?”

“TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM TOM”

Yelling and screaming and interrogating and finger-pointing and condescension and anger. At one point, Brady couldn’t help but react to the absurdity of the situation, and the grandiose scene that was taking place.

“This isn’t ISIS,” he said. “No one’s dying.”

He was talking about friends calling him, asking how he’s doing. He could also have been talking about the tone and nature of the questions being asked.

The media has a right to ask questions, but this isn’t a trial. Anyone who arrived at Gillette Stadium expecting to leave with all the answers was sorely mistaken, and has probably never been there before. And will probably not be there again for awhile.

Not, at least, until the next scandal that can be turned into a national story.

Follow @ErikFrenz