Unpacking Tom Brady's 11-day absence from training camp | You Pod to Win the Game
In this edition of You Pod To Win The Game, Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab humanize the legendary quarterback, including how this could impact him throughout the upcoming season. Hear the full conversation on the You Pod to Win the Game podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
[CHEERING]
- I did want to get to Tom Brady. Obviously, the piece of footage rolling around, he finally had a chance to talk to the media again, following this 11-day hiatus from training camp. Pretty interesting, Brett, if you want to roll the audio and then we can comment on it.
- It's all personal. Everyone's got different situations they're dealing with. So we all have really unique challenges to our life. And I'm 45-years-old, man. There's a lot of [BLEEP] going on. So you just try to figure out like the best you can and it's a continuous process.
- Frank, it was interesting. I heard the audio, I thought it was interesting and decided to send out a tweet. Now, it'd been out there for a while and I just said, hey, this is not a Tom Brady I've seen behind the podium, something to that effect. And it's got like thousands of retweets, 10,000 likes, all the stuff. And I'm like, man, this video is really resonating with people for whatever reason. What is it about this that is-- like, did you hear it and hear-- what I heard was it's like some emotional territory. And he was pretty subdued and it felt like something that you just don't normally hear from him.
He's a very glass is half full sort of individual and always has an answer for something. And in this particular case, it didn't even sound like he was riffing, it sounded like he legitimately was just like, hey, I'm 45, man. There's a lot of [BLEEP] going on in my life and I'm just trying to figure it out like everybody else. I was like, oh yeah, that sounds familiar.
- He's always been, because of the Patriot way and all that, he's always been very reserved. He doesn't share a lot with us and with the public with that. I remember the clip of him, the kid asking at the Super Bowl. Hey, who's your hero, and he says his dad and he tears up.
So the rare times we do get to see the human side of Tom Brady, I think it's a little jarring because we're so used to him just being so I'm not going to say anything, I'm not going to make any waves. So for him to be very real about this. And, I mean, as real as it gets. I mean, he wasn't opening up about exactly what's going on. But him just say, hey man, this is life.
I mean, he's a regular dude like everybody else. Yeah, he's got nine figures in a bank or whatever and he's a superstar quarterback and a very famous celebrity, it goes beyond football. But at the end of the day, he deals with stuff just like everybody else. I think that resonated, I do. And it was also the part of-- I mean, the curious part of people trying to figure it out. Like, and it's not just Brady. I mean, Brady's married to a very, very famous woman, obviously. So there's that aspect of it.
I think even though it was a very short clip and it didn't reveal that much, it was still a little bit telling it a little bit jarring and I think people want to know what's behind it. Or just that they were kind of fascinated almost that, hey, Brady's kind of a normal dude that's just up there saying, hey, you know what, man? I'm in my mid-forties and, like a lot of us, just got a lot going on in your life.
- I thought it was interesting because it clearly connected with a lot of everyday normal people. They were just like, man, I know that tone. Man, that takes me back to a place of feeling like when I went through my own stuff or whatever. It's remarkable the number of things we've heard from him the last couple of months. It's interesting to me he went on a podcast and he talked about his kids and being worried about whether his kids are going to understand what life is really like, what reality is.
And he made the comment about like we have people who cook for us, who clean for us, who drive us to the airport when we need that. And looking at his kids, I want them to understand this isn't reality, this isn't how it really works. So he talked about that. This comment that he made here.
There was another thing too where, I mean, this is a while back. I think he's talking to "Sports Illustrated" and he was talking about how much longer would he play. And he, once again, start talking about his kids and he was like I don't want to be missing out on things that I got-- I'm looking at my kids right now and I'm like I've got to be here with my kids, I have to be with my family. And it's getting to that point now where there's this trade-off.
It feels like something is off kilter with him. Like, I don't know what it is. I can't explain. There's something definitely different about him right now, right here than it was a year ago, OK? Like, every other time he talked about football, this just feels like a different situation.
