Ahead of the Super Bowl, Tom Brady addresses criticism of his broadcasting skills
“I always thought it was gonna be a challenge and has certainly been that, and a very positive challenge, he said.
After 23 seasons as an NFL quarterback, Tom Brady embarked on his rookie year as a football analyst on FOX this season. He’ll conclude his first season as a broadcaster by calling the Super Bowl on Sunday.
The former Patriots quarterback was asked by Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina if he has read any of the reviews and criticisms of his work.
“Naturally, you hear different things on social media and such,” Brady said. ”And I have friends that will kind of give me little briefings about how it was. Again, all I’m trying to do is deliver for the fans. “
“They’re the ones we’re trying to serve and I’m trying to elevate the game the best way I can,” he added. “I tried to do that as a player by doing things the right way. I was just using my body to do that. Now I’ve gotta use and articulate through my words to do it.”
Brady received mixed reviews during his first season as a broadcaster, and he said that his inexperience was a factor in how he sounded on TV.
“I always thought it was gonna be a challenge and has certainly been that, and a very positive challenge,” Brady said. ”Part of the experience of life is challenging yourself and getting outside your comfort zone to experience new things where it can be more of a transformational experience for you.”
“To use your voice and your vision for a live television audience, there’s a lot of adrenaline in that,” he continued. “It was very different from when I played where I would see all these things, I just didn’t have to verbalize them. I knew subconsciously what to do and my body just took over because ultimately, that’s how I trained it.”
Brady said he’s been learning as he goes along. Sharing his insights during the Super Bowl broadcast is a dream come true, he said. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been mistakes along the way.
“I think the mistakes that I’ve made, and I’ve made plenty, I’ve learned from all of them,” he said. “You’re not happy they happen, but at the same time, you understand that when they do happen—and I mispronounce words or I forget a certain statistic or the preparation’s a little off in terms of my thoughts on something and I screw up the analysis.”
“I go back and I want to get it right the next time,” he said. “And without the mistakes, you don’t learn from them and apply them going forward. And I think all the mistakes I made, although I wish I didn’t make them, the fact that I can learn from them and move forward with a greater sense of awareness just allows you to improve.”
Brady called his first 18 months as a broadcaster an “awesome journey.” He said he plans to stick with it for at least another nine years.
There have been positive messages along with the criticism, and Brady listed a number of broadcasters including Tony Romo, Al Michaels, and Jim Nantz who have reached out to give him feedback.
“I’m forgetting 25 others,” Brady said. “I get the nicest messages….People watch the game and listen and send me messages, ‘Hey, this is what I think you can do a better job of.’ Those are people in the industry that I have always looked up to and respected and I always tried to be available to them in my playing career and they’ve really given back to me in so many ways.”
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