A Q&A With Tom Brady

The Bucs QB joins us to talk about a lifetime of football, how he remembers each Super Bowl, and his plans for the future.

Today, the first episode of our series Man In The Arena is out on ESPN+. Each episode of the ten-part series will explore one of Tom Brady's Super Bowl appearances, featuring interviews with Brady and the key figures of each championship run, including Bill Belichick, Rob Gronkowski, and Giselle Bundchen. "It started off as thinking about how these Super Bowl games impacted my career," says Brady, "but it's really how these seasons impacted my life as I evolved from being a 22-year-old kid to being a 44-year-old man." Episode one tells the story of how an unknown Brady came off the bench to replace an injured Drew Bledsoe, and how Brady then led that team straight to a Super Bowl, the first chapter in a legacy that would become the greatest underdog story in sports history. You can learn more about the series here.

Esquire has already called Man In The Arena, "the sports-doc event of the year," and we are so excited for you to see it. But the documentary isn't the only Brady content we have in the works for you. Each week while the series airs, we'll discuss the latest episodes on Friday mornings in this newsletter. We're also launching the 10-episode Man In The Arena podcast, hosted by director Gotham Chopra, which examines Brady through the eyes of his fans and haters, those in and out of the arena, and grapples with the ways that Brady has altered friendships, communities, careers, and reputations over the course of his 20-year career. Listen to the trailer here and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to never miss an episode.

At the virtual premiere for the documentary, Gotham sat down with Brady to discuss the series. As a thank you for being a true believer in the Religion of Sports, you'll find an excerpt of that discussion below, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

Gotham Chopra: I'm curious now that you've been part of the making of this, as you've been looking back at these lessons that you learned, have you been able to apply any of them to your current role as quarterback in Tampa?

Tom Brady: Yeah, but even more so, what I realized in watching these come together is how much I love doing what I do, how much I love the people that I've done it with, and how much I've loved the people who have supported me through it. It's like a time capsule of twenty years. You have twenty years of memories, you have twenty years of games—but the games are just theater. It's really, "What happened the week of the game?" or, "What happened with the way that things unfolded over the course of the season?" 

GC: How do you feel about episode 11? How are we looking?

TB: We're working hard at it. I mean, it's midway through the year. You know me, I'm never one to predict anything. I'll just say that we're going to leave no stone unturned. We're going to do whatever we've got to do to make it successful. It's a hard season. We're in the middle of the marathon. I don't know how it's going to end, but I have a feeling we'll have some say in what happens. I hope it ends up being one of the ones we all want it to be, but we've got to go earn it. That's the best part about sports.

GC: What about episodes 12....13....14? I'm kidding. On a more serious note, I'm looking forward to everybody watching the series and can't wait to hear their feedback.

TB: I think people are going to enjoy it. I think they're going to see a lot of humanity in it from a lot of different people. As I see these people that have come into my life, the people that are part of these episodes, and I reflect on my teammates, I realize that everybody has taught me something. So many people I'm sure say, "What was it like to play with Tom Brady?" Well, I get those questions a lot, too. I look at all the Randy Moss's, Teddy Bruschi's, Willie McGinest's, and Drew Bledsoe's, and I think, "What did I learn from those guys?" That's what I take from it. I've learned from the best people. I've had the best support. And it's still going. We're not done yet.