Tom Brady, if you haven’t heard, starts working for Fox this fall. On Monday, he appeared on Colin Cowherd’s show (his studio staff apparently gets #NoDaysOff) to discuss the next phase of his career.
At one point, Brady addressed how he’ll approach his next job, especially since (as Brady said) he was “hypercompetitive” as a player.
“Certainly, as a broadcaster, I don’t think for me it’s about competition,” Brady said. “I think it’s — for me, it’s about, ‘Did I put everything I could into it? Did I give the fans everything that they tuned in for? That’s really how I’ll end up gauging myself and I’ll have to look at myself at the end of every Sunday night going, ‘Did I do a good enough job? Did I live up to the belief that Fox had in me? Did I live up to the expectations of my teammates Kevin Burkhardt and Erin [Andrews] and Tom [Rinaldi] and Richie Zyontz and Rich Russo and our entire truck and our entire team? That’s ultimately how I’ll judge myself in that new role.”
That’s a noble goal. It’s a high bar. Brady knows a thing or two about setting, and clearing, the highest bars.
But there’s that nagging question of whether he’ll have the kind of access that will allow him to “give the fans everything that they tuned in for,” if/when his attempt to purchase a chunk of the Raiders goes through. Last week, the Commissioner seemed to indicate that they’ve devised a strategy for handling the obvious conflict of interest that an owner of a team will have when it’s time to watch practice and otherwise learn about secret information held by any team that the Raiders potentially will face, during the regular season or the postseason. (This year, for example, the Raiders play the Chiefs one week after Brady works the Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl rematch.)
Although the NFL declined to get into specifics regarding the solution that apparently has been devised to let Brady take a cake-and-eat-it approach to both owning a team and working as a broadcaster for all of them, any restrictions placed on his access will necessarily prevent him from meeting his standard.
Obviously, we don’t expect Cowherd to pose such a difficult question to his colleague. That’s why we’re here. To point out the things that those around Brady aren’t willing or able to say. From why do you have to both own part of the Raiders and work as a broadcaster to why did you do that stupid roast? You know, the one you later said you regret doing.
As to the roast, Brady said he was naive. Apparently, he’s also a little naive about his ability to do the best broadcast he possibly can while not having the best pre-game access that he can. And if he’s not naive, he just doesn’t care.