Tom Brady is set to make his long-awaited debut as an NFL game analyst for Fox this weekend in Cleveland. It’s the culmination of a process since his retirement that clearly was designed to reintroduce himself to football fans and make him more likable. But why?
Brady is considered by many as the GOAT of the NFL, as true a winner as there ever has been in sports. Yet as ESPN and Meadowlark Media commentator Pablo Torre pointed out in a recent interview on The Press Box podcast, Brady can’t seem to help himself but chase down affection from fans.
Torre believes Brady is thirsty for the power that media provides and has a “hell of a kink” for being liked, one so powerful that he would strip himself down of his legendary reputation on the gridiron in order to get it.
“It’s a hell a kink,” Torre told host Bryan Curtis in a conversation released Thursday. “To be the guy who is so good, so handsome, so all of this stuff, so manicured and himself edited facially, let’s say into just this version of optimal American quarterback and then realize, I need to be made fun of by a bunch of comedians that I’ve never heard of before (on Netflix’s The Roast of Tom Brady) to prove that I can do the thing that John Madden did naturally, that Charles Barkley did naturally, which is to be laughed at and enjoy it at the same time.”
Torre pointed out that even before his Fox debut, Brady flooded the zone with interviews, panel appearances, Netflix roasts and Fox promos to the point that there isn’t a ton of mystery around the NFL takes he might give in the booth anymore.
“Tom Brady is so omnipresent that the idea of novelty here, that’s what’s gone,” Torre said. “I know what he sounds like and feels like and what he’s into. That part, to me, the over-saturation of Tom Brady in our media economy … he’s just everywhere. That part seems like a disadvantage when it comes to how much do I want to watch this guy and listen to him (on Fox).”
While Brady’s $375 million contract offers him a plenty-big reason to embrace broadcasting, Torre believes that can’t be the entire reason Brady (or other sports legends) join the media. Even in an age where celebrities insist they block out the media noise, Torre believes Brady joining Fox is a shining example of just how much famous people still care about getting to control the message and, well, matter.
“There is such power in media,” Torre said. “The titans of industry are obsessively doing a version of reading their mentions. They can’t get enough of it. And I think there is this intoxicating idea of true power being behind a microphone, which is, a corollary to the other theory about why all of these guys are starting podcasts. There is something about this job being the coolest one.”
There are probably many reasons Brady joined the media after a legendary NFL career. But while our eyes and ears will all be on him in Week 1, the why of Brady’s media career is just as fascinating a question as what he says.
As Torre argues, Brady doesn’t need this at all (especially now that his job will be a lot harder due to regulations from the NFL). The fact that he wants it begs bigger questions about the media and how our biggest sports stars think.
