Lord of the Rings: A Conversation With Five-Time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady

welcome to Mike duck with Jim Gray in conversation with Tom Brady thank you sup guys how you doing Thank You Tommy hi guys how you doing first off I want to thank Mike Milken for once again having us here to the global conference I've been coming since the very beginning and gets better and better every year and he's doing wonderful things and well on his way to helping cure cancer and education and so forth so we thank Mike Milken it's my honor to be here with who I consider and many consider something that he hates to be told and hates hearing so cover your ears the greatest quarterback and football player history of the National Football League okay you're right I do hate that why well I think that some never something I've really aspired to be I don't have you know much of an attachment to that in my belief system I've always tried to be the best I could be so you know it's been a long process to get to this point and I've never made comparisons I had idols that I looked up to sports idols when I was young and I know kids are looking up to me in the same way so it's just pretty heavy for me to think about things like that I still feel like you know I'm trying to do the best I can do I gotta show them like I put the work in everyday and it means so much to me you know I want my teammates to feel the same way that of it I'm as invested today as I was when I first started numbers don't lie you got five of them no one else has five leader the team's the quarterback so when you hear it I know you want to reflect and say it's a team game and it truly is yeah the organization and the coaching staff might you be more accepting of that moniker if you were finished no I it's it's you know sports you know certainly in my journey you know I feel like I brought to the table to our team what we needed at the right time and I was been surrounded by so many great players great coaches a great organization great ownership and it's just we're all trying to look for that in our life puts you know put you in a position where you could be surrounded people that bring out the best in you so how can you look it as an individual when you've got so many other people that's there to support you and and take you no more credit than whatever one seven yet of what you know the you know you as an individual are in in correlation to the team so I just I love team sports I love being able to share it with so many people you know that's that's the greatest fulfillment for me that you know after you win you go hug all the guys that you've done it with because you know you're climbing mountains you're climbing mountains every week and every year in every season and you're climbing with different people and it's hard to get to the top and it's every bit of energy you have it's every bit of determination you have and you know two years ago it ended the perfect way and last year kind of sucked but you know that sports so as we get started here let me ask you a question are we gonna be cliche ridden and mamby pamby or are we gonna light it up you're used to doing boxers all the time they could light them up I am I know and I'm used to doing football players too I know I know we have a show on Westwood one and hope y'all can listen this will be our 10th season we'd like to thank Macy's and Landry's morton's and Mastro's atonement for Tito who I think is out here today our great sponsor but I think we're gonna light him up today yeah you know I think keeping it real and end up being authentic is the best way so hopefully you guys enjoy it so have you recovered then from the Super Bowl and the loss yeah that's yeah you start with that one with that you just said it sucks so did what do you want to come back to it in 20 minutes I know it now now let's get out of the way yeah I think you know part of it is gonna be my 19th season of coming and you know when you're young you don't have the perspective on you know your career and and I'd certainly didn't we were you know I played you know the Patriots my entire career we won three Super Bowls before I was I was 26 years old so we had all this success and I was like what is you know this is my life had changed so much never went a long period of time without winning a Super Bowl cuz it's hard to do and then we won in 2014 and you know there was so much appreciation because I had experienced so many adversities you know in my career in different ways so because I had that perspective after this season you know I I finished the game did the interviews after with the press and then was walking to the locker room I had my wife there and I had my three kids and my daughter who's five my son who my middle son who's eight they were crying you know and then I'm like I'm the one that I can't be crying you know so you know I saw him and I gave him a big hug I said guys this is sports daddy doesn't always win you know daddy doesn't always win you try the best you can try and sometimes it doesn't go the way that you want it to but that doesn't discourage you from trying again and you know my oldest son he was you know he said dad you did your best and I looked at him I said you know it was a good moment for a father so I think the point is is you know those things have changed me in my life I've evolved I've grown so much since I started and you know just based on the circumstances of my life you know I can deal with them better than I have in the past where it was really the only thing and it's not that it's not that an important thing it's just there's a lot of other important things that in my life especially you know my family and you know my kids and teaching them the lessons that I hope that they'll learn just from watching me do something I love to do so you've won five Super Bowls and you've now lost three do you think more about the victories and the time on the championship pedestal or do you spend more time thinking about David Tyree or Mario Manningham or the end of the game against the Eagles whether I think it's a competitor you know you when you win it's it's amazing feeling it's you've reached the top you know you you're in this competitive sport you sacrifice year-round and and it fell isn't obviously extremely competitive it's the most you know intense you know five months of my life you know going through those seasons so you know it's hard to judge the whole season by one game you know and it's by one player one series you know it's all about the the season the journey and the commitment that you made so you know you would I rather win of course I'd want to win that's why I'm playing I'm playing to win but I'm also playing to get the most out of myself you know because that's you know of a very fortunate of something I love so much as my career so I give it everything I can and and you know when they make those incredible plays you know I give them credit man good for them it sucks but good for them you know because because they did it you know and it's you know the great thing about sports is there's a scoreboard you know at the end of the game you can figure out who won and who lost and it's a lot of other careers in life that are difficult you know we're you know evaluated on a on a weekly basis and on a yearly basis whether you won the last game and we've set such high expectations for our team that unless you win the last game it's a it's a failed season you know which you do feel like that in a way but I'd much rather have it that way then you know to try to be a Nate or two and 14 or you know some one of those teams all those teams that you happen to love right yeah I love one really which one well the only team I played for okay he gave up on the 49ers I mean that was your first love I don't give it you know what about the 49ers trying to beat those guys let's go back to the Superbowl do you know why Malcom Butler didn't play so when all of you want to know you could moan and groan all you want they want to know the answer to that end well I don't make you know I don't make the decisions mamby-pamby I shake telling you the truth you know we I I wish you had a plate but you know the coach decided not to play him and you know we saw the chance to win how do I look at that I know why he didn't play though to be about major my haven't here I haven't you know I haven't gone to discuss those things do you know why he didn't play you like to tell me I don't have access that you did yeah why I don't ask so ok do you believe that the fans deserve an explanation the guy played 98 percent of the plays during the season and then all the sudden he's standing there crying during the national anthem yeah doesn't play yeah you believe the people who pay for the game who've watched the game who've invested their time and money should have an explanation um to the fans correct well I don't know that's that's probably a better question for the guy who owns our team you know I think that for a B is here today yeah I know I think for me it's you know you you don't make all the decisions you know I can control what I can control you know I so much of what my performance has been over the years is how do I maximize what I can do you know I can't you know I can't run I can't catch I can't block I can't tackle I can do my job and I'm gonna do it the best well I can't I gotta trust everyone else to do the same thing and sometimes it works out and you know for our team it's worked out better than every other team for you know a long time so how do you you know nitpick one or two things or you know everyone's trying and my belief to do the best thing it just doesn't always work out you know and you know I love that particular player Malcolm I have a great relationship in history with him and you know he's moved on to his life he's on a different team and you gave him a truck didn't you I did when he was the Azzurri I guess yeah Malcolm was a young player and he made the play one of the greatest plays in the history of any Super Bowl and you know they always complain about you know why didn't the Seahawks hand the ball off this was an end of 2014 season and I said that was a great it takes away from how incredible that play was there's a few players in the history of the game that could have made the play that Malcolm did so I'm like Malcolm you have my truck whatever you want for the rest of your life good I said you got me a ring baby I don't care what you did like whatever you want I got you for your whole life so he goes that too we can wrap this portion up but you said you would have liked to seen him play yeah I did I did you know yeah obviously obviously Bill Belichick's not trying to lose the Super Bowl I wants to win the Super Bowl yeah it just seems so mystifying yeah years - I think you know the thing that upset is the fur for a team this is you know this side of the room is the offense in this side of the room is a defense we don't interfere with them much I didn't know Malcolm kept coming over to me during games that come on TV let's go you know and I kept going what defense are we and where Malcolm's not on the field are we is it like sure you're a goal line and then after the game I found out so I just didn't know and I asked Malcolm and Malcolm said I know coaches just decided something different that's okay so I don't know what was a part of that decision-making but you know I know we were trying to win the game I don't think we were trying to do anything but win it and it's unfortunately lost but give the Eagles a great deal of credit they deserved it and we'll be back next year trying to kick their butt next year you said in our Westwood one interview you will definitely see me playing next season - 2018 2019 there's been a tremendous amount of speculation confusion that you're not going to play this season you did not show up for the voluntary workouts even though you're voluntarily working out on your own yeah are you gonna play in 2018 is anything changed from that interview that we did on Super Bowl Sunday no you know no it hasn't oh you will be playing you know I'm gonna not be yes playing oh no I'm gonna be playing so yes I'm going to be playing would you clarify what you just said I'm starting over done your question so yes I will be because you know I I have personal goals I want to keep playing you know I've said for a long time I want to play to my mid-40s you know and I was told three years ago 38 I was when I was 36 37 you can't keep playing like you can't no one wins Super Bowls like John Elway he wasn't super well I think 3738 like you know why why would you keep playing you're not gonna lose it well and um you know that's a great challenge for me I think I've been challenged my whole life and I feel like I can do it I feel like a lot of things I've learned over the years in terms of the evolution of my routine and how efficient I am you know I can keep doing it because I love to do it I'm willing to make the commitment to doing it and I have a great plan I have a great you know system in place that works well for me in order to keep me performing at my highest level so you know I want to keep doing you know the things that I love to talk about outside of sports because I think I've you know grown in different ways is you know how do athletes how do people you know in every career you know maximize their protect their potential and how can you if you commit to the right things be the best you can be because that's what I feel like I've learned I've used you know the things that I've learned in football and trying to educate not only athletes but other people you know how can you feel your best how can you be your best you know and that's part of the you know second career in my life but I what I want to do in the meantime is I want to inspire people through my action not you know tell them what to do but just show it and I think part of you know I did a docu-series last year that you know was alluded to here is to just show a little more insight into my life and you're right for all of us you know you reach a certain point your life you give everything you have it's the biggest commitment and you know unless you're willing to make that commitment you know for me it's I was very blessed with those things I want to make the commitment I love working hard and you know I want to continue to do it for as long as I can to inspire other people who don't think they can do it or people that weren't told that they could do it whether they were 22 or they were 16 or whether 40 that they can do it too so let's clear up a few things then that have happened since you've just read eclair that you're playing in Tom versus time which is an excellent series and everybody should go to Facebook watch and check it out if you haven't seen it it's not too late someone saw and the terrific director a great director Gotham Chopra is here with us today and Ben Roberts who works with Tom who put the whole thing together but in the final episode you asked a couple of questions of yourself why do we do this who are we doing this for and what are we trying to accomplish and I'm paraphrasing it so if you answered those questions since you asked yourself those questions yeah in your dock you series I think for me it's you know I'm obviously still thinking about those things that every year I've have a chance to evaluate you know how things went for the season I think part of this offseason for me you know is is more is certainly about still preparing for what's ahead in my next journey my next mountain to climb with this group of teammates but it's also you know a lot of people are getting the short end of the stick in my life like my you know certainly my wife and my kids and I've told them even before the season ended you know football is year-round for me you know it's a lot of thought it's a lot of energy and emotion I'm putting into it but I need to invest in them too you know my kids ten eight and five and they're not getting younger so I need to take time you know so I could be available to them too and I think being a good dad I had the best out in the world I want to be the best dad to my kids so I can't use football as an excuse and work as an excuse always to you know allow them just to you know not get the time they need because they're gonna look back and go dad you weren't there for me you weren't at that UN driving school you didn't do this you know and the the model I had as the father was he was there for all the things and I'm not there for all the things I can't because I'm there for a lot of other people when the time is you know every Sunday for the last 25 years I've been playing in the fall and winter and you know I need these opportunities to invest in my kids too and my wife to it so I can be available to them so I've really spent last two or three months doing those things and I think I'm really trying to fill my tank up so that when I do go back you know I can go back and I say gosh you know in my mind a better player or a better teammate because you know I'll be really rejuvenated in the fact I want to be they're still doing the work with them this is still very enjoyable to me and your wife Giselle who will join us later this afternoon in a session with you asked a very interesting question and made a very interesting statement as well in the final installment of Tom versus time she said I just want my husband to be happy and to feel appreciated yep are you happy my moment I do are you happy with the people you work with and for yeah I would say absolutely and in general you know I'm a very happy person I'm a very positive person it's just my personality I always look at things as you know the glass is half-full and yeah I mean I I think there's different times when you've been on the same team for a long time you've had relationships for a long time they you know ebon flow like every relationship but there's no people I'd rather play for or be committed to than the team that I've been with for a long time and really the fans a community I mean I grew up in Kalin California's biggest 49er fan when I got drafted by the Patriots and they called and they were like tom is New England Patriots we're gonna draft you and I was like unbelievable thank you and I golf I go where's New England I had no idea and you know to spend the same amount of time in my life there now than I did growing up in Northern California is a different experience and my family my kids were born in Boston and it's become you know it's my life so it's a great sports town it's you know incredible to be there and perform for them and you know again I I'm glad I still have the opportunity continue to do it and obviously in any relationship particularly one that's been successful and and had such a long run whether it's a friendship a marriage a working environment there's going to have peaks and valleys yeah and so when Giselle says feel appreciated this brings to mind coach Belichick and mr. Kraft do you feel appreciated by them and do they have the appropriate gratitude for what you have achieved I plead the fifth Hey look I man that is a tough question yeah I mean hey you know your wife your wife seems to date I think everybody in general wants to be appreciated more at work you know in their professional life but there's a lot of people that are appreciate me more than you know way more than I ever thought you know was possible as part of my life so so you take it from them well I guess you know I think it's you have different influences in your life and I think the people that I work with they're trying to get the best out of me so they're trying to treat me in a way that they feel is gonna get the best out of me and you know I've got to get the best out of myself I think what I'm learning as you get older is it comes from within the joy the happiness those things come from inside and you know to seek that from others to seek that from outside influences people you work with people you that cheer against your cheer with you or you know I feel I feel like it comes from within for me so I'm trying to build up what's what's within me so that I can be the best for me so that I can be the best for other people and that's you know part of his growing I you know I'm learning these things too this is not you know I don't feel like I was the one you know as I talked about for a long time I don't feel like I was the chosen one you know I I was like late developer I mean you would if you saw me in high school you'd like there's no way that guys playing you know flag football recess you know and it and I'm like 19 years in the NFL and it's it's still you know it's it's been so many so much growth over the years and again I've been supported by so many people I've learned so much and you know I want to continue to do because I can and then beyond that I want to teach other people what I've learned and see if that can inspire them we've gotten past mamby-pamby this is you're keeping it real yeah and everybody appreciates that you had also stated and so I guess we need a reaffirmation or a reconfirmation you want to keep doing this through your mid 40s yeah I do I've talked to years with my wife I've negotiated that thus far a little further to go but um you know she's a obviously I mean I have a great life and great partner in life and you know she's a she's a mom and she sees me and she wants to protect me and football's a violent sport I mean guys used every day is I'm retiring cuz this and that you see people injured you know she has two boys so she's doesn't want those boys to get into her and playful it's hard for them it's hard for my parents to sit there and watch me you know take hits and you know when I tell them I come home and I said look I you know I got hit in the head or I got you know broke this or tore this I mean that's hard for people that love you to go hey keep doing it you know back out there let's roll dirt on it get back out there and play so I think though she's like you know look take it you're in great health take you know take care of yourself I said I take care of myself better than anybody you know like I feel like I do so you know she's very supportive in and you know again mid-40s would be my goal as long as I'm still playing at a very high level and that requires a lot of effort and that's the effort I want to put into it how hard is it for your family and your friends you just went into it a little bit but but your parents as well to have seen you achieve this great success yeah yet on Sunday afternoons you know they've got to turn away and cringe you know because here's their little boy yeah they're only boy I know you know sometimes getting crushed yeah and the toll it takes on them yeah it's it's hard I think it's hard for parents in these sports to watch their kids you know like I said you're in those car crashes in a way and you know I sympathize with them a lot you know and it was interesting because this year like when Gotham would film in the docu-series we did he was up there in the suite a lot you know and that's I've never been up in the suite when I'm playing obviously you know so I don't know what people are saying and doing and it was very enlightening for me to see you know the ebbs and flows and you know my wife is very positive and so with my dad my dad in some ways is like you know we we go ahead and my dad's like yes and then we behind he's like we're gonna lose you know over the course of the whole game my wife will turn back Tom I want you to be positive you know and it's just part of you know that you can feel the you know they're not in control if they're watching you know when you're a spectator you can't control the action on the field but we can so I don't have any nerves when I'm out there but certainly I've won who else was watching does have them and they haven't to and but I think the good outweighs the bad for them too and he's a wonderful man your dad's a perfect guy Bill Belichick is a fascinating man he really is he is consumed with professional football not fascinating you know he's very fascinating to me okay fascinating to me and he's respectful to me yeah and I I really believe the man's a football genius yeah he is yeah how would you describe him what's it like to be around him yeah he's very respectful me too you know I think that he's we can tell yeah we've had a great you know we've had a great relationship a very respectful relationship for a long time and you know I feel like he's the best coach in the history of the NFL you know and he has a management style of players and it's you know he would say that you know look I'm not the easiest coach to play for and I agree he's not the easiest coach to play for it but you know he's the best for me and I think what he's proven is that whatever talent he has he maximizes talent I mean what more could you ask of you know some a coach than that that's what I want as a player you know when I you know I'm sitting in there I don't want a coach I just want to play you know and you need the coaches to do their job they need the coaches to do their best and that's what you expect that's what you want they want me to do my best I want them to do their best you you know I can't do their job they can't do mine and then it all works it all comes together and it's a hard it's a hard journey over the course of the season and um but it's incredibly fulfilling or else I wouldn't be continuing to do it I wouldn't be continuing to want to play so you know I'll uh he's he's an incredible coach she's been an incredible mentor from he's taught me so much football like I said be a 22 year old kid and to come and learn from him I mean I wouldn't be sitting here without you know his coaching I wouldn't have the success without how incredibly talented he was along with a lot of the other coaches a lot of the other players a lot of the other people in the organization because it takes everybody to do it everybody the guys who are you know cleaning the locker room at practice it takes them two you better have respect and appreciation for them because I'm not the one doing that job but we all expect that the job needs to get done so you know that's part of being in a great culture and as part about you know for us continued success on our team and everyone is looking for continued to success in their business and you know that culture really sets the tone for everybody you said something really interesting to me you said it's very difficult to be critical of yourself and those around you when you're winning all these games and you've also said you know we're not trying to be perfect we're just trying to win the game yeah here's a guy in coach Belichick who's constantly critical of everybody and has results so there is a method to this madness because perhaps by your own assessment it's impossible to look at yourself because you look at the scoreboard yeah yeah is that part of the factor that goes into this whole equation and why sometimes there can be tension well I think he's he tries to balance out what he's the external forces and you know for a long time we've been the team that everyone favors oh you know you guys are whatever the favourites to win this and you know especially you know the the media that we're surrounded a lot of questions you know why play the regular see you get to the playoffs and it's like August and you're like we haven't had a practice yet you know there's a lot that goes into it and I don't think we can just mail it in and expect those things to happen so in 2007 you know I believe we had you know one of the greatest football teams ever to play and we 18 you know and then we lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl and over the course of that season we were blowing teams out and every Monday we would come in after the game and coach Belichick would be we did you know we sucked on defense you know we can't cover a kick you know we're four of eight on third down and what a joke you know and I'm like we won by 35 points points and you know that was his way we always used to walk out of the meeting and we'd say humble pie was served and we traced we had t-shirts made and we had how to make the humble pie on the back of the t-shirt and it was just you know is a very grounding force for all of us because if you do listen to your wife or your girlfriend or your family they're not giving you the truth you know they don't know why your win or losing but you know you need people to critically evaluate why good things or bad things are happening in even when you win you're not doing everything perfect and when you lose you're not doing anything wrong and there's always you know the middle ground and the scoreboard great that's what we're trying to do but you know you're always coaching for the next game too so I you know that's a that's what we need that's why I think we've had you know this this great run of success you get that from your friends do you get that from outside people or a lot of people we see who have tremendous success have yes men around them yes women and they're only giving them confirmation of what it is that they think that person wants to hear do you have those people in your life who will tell you the truth even if it even if it hurts and then they don't get banished yeah absolutely well I think that you know you have unconditional love with your family I've parents sisters and in my wife she keeps it real with me oh I don't think I can ever stray too far from you know where you know she thinks we need to go and you know for all of us when you get married it's a lot of family decisions that you're making and and then I have a lot of friends who are just you know my friends they love me and support me and they continue to support me as I'm you know going through life like we all are you know we're all dealing with different challenges at different times in our life and you know I for me to have a great foundation of people that love me and care about me and support me that's the only reason why I'm able to continue to do it you know because it's just it would be impossible not to have the other people assist you in you know pursuing your dreams and I'm still pursuing my dreams and you know just I love that the fact that I have those people around me to support me do you love football more the same or less than you did when you first came into the league you know it's more for me because I've learned more and and I think a lot of great athletes you know you know like Kobe Bryant I mean I I look up to athletes too you know Kobe Bryant's one of my favorite players Michael Jordan's one of my favorite players I mean talk about love for the game you could see it in their eyes see it in the competition and you see it every night you know every day of practice and you know there's boxers that I've loved there's baseball players that I've loved there's football players that I loved and I appreciate the guys that love it in the way that I love it you know it's you know it's definitely you know been the first love of my life and you know it continues to be you know right there and you know enough for me willing to make you know the decisions that continue to play so what if what is it then that that would motivate you at this point is it more wins more money more thrills or titles more internal satisfaction can you pinpoint what exactly motivates you yeah is it your age and you want to say told you I could do this at 40 41 43 56 yeah that's too old did he say you know when I would circle that yeah when I was when I was at Michigan the college I went to we had a yeah Oh blue baby there was a equipment the head of our equipment room his name was John Faulk he always told me and he had won a lot of Big Ten championships at the time I think 18 or 19 and he always say Brady you know which ring is my favorite one and I said which one big Johnny and he'd say the next one the next one and for me it's the next one it is [Applause] would there be a number that way you would say well that's enough or is it just an insatiable appetite well next one is there ever gonna be a next one that has the biggest diamond and you say no that one what kind of looks good yeah that's enough already yeah it's not I'm not pushing you to retire I'm just wondering what the Apple with that what would be the appetite that would say I'm full yeah that's more in line when I know asking when I know that I can't contribute in the way that my team needs me to contribute and I'm trying we're not trying to go eight and eight you know we're trying to win the Super Bowl and when you're trying to win a Super Bowl is a championship level of effort it's a championship level commitment that it takes and I've got to be willing to give that and I still want to do it and I'm still committed to that and I think I can still do it so in that case try to go out there and do it again what do you attribute the decline in the numbers of people viewing National Football League games you have the highest number of jerseys sold most apparel for two out of the last three years including this year so you're the most popular player in the National Football League and you are the face of the game why do you think that there has been this erosion in ratings correct um there's so much for us to consume I mean I as we all know I mean it's just there's so much happening there's the amount for you know that I'm doing you know I don't fault I mean I hate to say I don't follow it like I used to because so many other things to follow and it's just what can grab your attention and there's a lot more competition today than there's ever been I think you know especially with social media for people to consume information or to consume content and the NFL has had a great product you know people love watching the game I think it's still doing better than I would say every other program out there but um compared to a time where there was less things to do you know it's it doesn't live up to those standards but I don't notice that other than maybe people television ratings but you know I feel like still people that I'm around or still as intense about it as ever and you know I think they're NFL's got to do a great job we'll continuing to build you know build the game out and built you know obviously having a great relationship with the players is important and how can the players you know create a better product how can the coach create a better product so that Kate that the Lea can continue to build a great business kneeling for the national anthem and the attention that the president brought to that and colin kaepernick not having a job now in the national football league is cited by many of the surveys as a contributing factor yeah you and your Patriots held several meetings with the players and decided how to come up with a formula to to deal with that issue what are your feelings on that and take us through what what the team went through during the season yeah it was a lot of it was a lot of great conversations we had we got a chance to have in our locker rooms and our meeting rooms you know I have a lot of friends that I played with and everyone's from different backgrounds everyone's from different parts of the country everyone has different stories and you got to have respect for everybody you know you gotta have respect for everybody's opinion and you know the way that they you know want to present themselves and the opportunity that they have to you know make a difference I mean again we all have an opportunity to make a difference in our own way and people are gonna use those opportunities how they see fit and you got to have respect for them and you look they gotta have respect for you and I think part of having conversations to understand why people are doing what they're doing and sports for me has been the most unifying part of my life I mean we I had like I said I go to different countries I played you know with people from all over the country it's the most brings us together and we shouldn't forget that we're being brought together to do something that's very pure to do something that's very fun and people are you know they want to show up and they want to watch us do something great and we should never you know never forget that we're you know we are play football I know we're not curing cancer but we do provide in my view great entertainment for people from you know they work so hard all week long Monday through Friday and it's tough jobs and tough relationships and they want to get to the weekend they want to sit down with their friends and socialize you know and they want to have a great you know this experience to take them away from how hard our lives can be at times and I think for us I always tell our guys come on let's go put on a show that's what we're here for you know they want to see us be at our best you want to walk out of a movie and go man that movie sucked so waste of time and I feel like for me when you're out there you're onstage you're performing go do a great job and go show people and and you know they're making the investment in us let's go get back to them and um you know I think we've done a great job of bringing joy to people's life how do you handle such a public life that everything is subject to a microscope and and every time you walk out 24/7 somebody may have a phone to take a picture or recording your movements or writing on social media a lot of it that comes out much of it can be an assessment that you haven't made but it's attributed to you how do you just deal with your wife is a terrific supermodel and a worldwide icon and here in this country you're so popular is the best player in the face of the NFL how do you deal with this 24/7 onslaught yeah I'd say it's it's it's um it's tough I think it's tough I think people had their there's no down time I think when you're in public you know it's you've got to understand that everyone's watching all the time and it's instantaneous and fortunate out past the 22 year old Tom Brady and you know like I had some fun times in there that the guys I always tell the guys now I'm like man that sucks for you guys you know everything you do you know is there's you know but when I was young you know I had the it wasn't like this and I think now I'm very happy I'm married with three kids so it's a little bit easier do you advise them I do a little bit I just say guys like just know what you're doing like don't make it whatever happens like there's things that can be bad but you never want them like permanently bad you can't make those bad decisions because you're still young still a kid still you know learning and immature in a way and you know I hopefully can influence them in a bit of a positive way but I've you know you can make bad choices you can make really bad choices so I just think don't make the really bad ones and you'll make it through and you know hopefully you'll you know you can you know not do anything to really tear something down that you're trying to build up so we're gonna spend the next twenty to twenty-five minutes talking about health and wellness and how you've been able to at 40 years of age continue in the National Football League you've only sustained really one major injury in your career and that was to your knee back in 2008 yeah which cost you to miss the season after the first series against the Chiefs and the tom has written this book it's a terrific book it's a New York Times best seller the T b12 method how to achieve a lifetime of sustained peak performance written by Tom what's the message of this book and why did you decide to write it well it was it was good timing for me I think a lot of people you know see me as a older athlete and um it's a lot of questions I get from the athletes in general are tell me what do you do you know like what what are you doing that I'm not doing what can I apply in my life that you're doing and most of the time it's just been through my actions you know and last offseason I really thought you know what I really should begin to think about you know putting these thoughts down and and giving the information what good is having the information if you're not given the information to you know the next generation of you know athletes the next generation of kids and it's interesting because a lot of the kids that are like coming in the NFL now they're like me I'm big Tom Brady fan I'm doing all the things he's doing and I think that gives me a lot of joy you know because you know not that they want to be like me it's like they want to work hard and they want to do the right thing and athletes in general people in general they want to do the right thing with their you know health their bodies that's just so much information out there there's so many things to decide and you know a lot of the information one week it's good the next weeks it's bad it's good it's bad you don't know you get so confused so you're never able to make real changes and you know for me to perform at a very high level you know every week and as I've gotten older it requires you know a lot of discipline and a lot of commitment worked I think those are three things I think are very important but it requires doing the right things if you're doing the wrong thing you're working hard at getting worse if you do the right things you always work hard to getting better and over time I've kind of refined the things that I've done to play the sport I love to play to live the life I want to live without being in pain you know you're professional athlete and you know you're play football in all these movies are coming out concussion and you see your idols with back surgeries and knee surgeries and hip surgeries and they're not living the life that they want to live and you know from what I learned and what I've applied I don't I don't want to go through those things I still love to you know play sports I love to be active I love I have these goals in my life I want to achieve and how do I do those things well you know I wanted to you know have that forever one to to uh yeah it's right here 285 pages right there but I think you know all so much of it is when you'll read it if you get a chance to you know you'll go man it's this common sense and it's like yeah why don't we think of our bodies is this common sense you know what you put into it is what you get out of it you know the kind of work you're doing what's most appropriate for your life I know what I need to do to be a professional athlete you know what do you guys need to do working in your careers or your jobs your traveling on planes and how do you feel a little bit better how can you change behavioural things or small little things in your life that you can feel better I think that's a great you know I would say purpose for me as I you know continue to move forward and I thought this was a good first step for me because I was able to really articulate it and a simple way to say you know these are the changes you can make and they don't do them all at once but all the little things add up you know and I had dinner with our friend last night and she was like oh my god I asked the woman you know the chef like Tom Brady doesn't eat anything it's like it was your friend no yeah so she was like you know you don't need anything I said no I do I do I mean I don't know how they didn't you know add up if you can promote the show it's okay to say what you could say we had dinner with really yeah well no I filmed something with Oprah first super soul Sunday on Father's Day which was great I loved her and I loved the show and she it was funny because she said you know what do you you know we eat I eat everything I just you know I don't need a lot of bad stuff I eat mostly good stuff and you know she served a great dinner so well I'd like to follow up to Oprah's thinking avocado ice cream really yeah it's in there really yeah I don't you know how many of you out there have had avocado ice cream a couple of hands up if you've read Tom's book it's great okay so you know some choices that you got to make and you can't do bad stuff all you can't eat bad stuff you can't think bad thoughts all the time you know without having you know this response in your body that isn't gonna be the way you want to be so I think of it you know it's pretty simple it's you know limit inflammation in your body to me well it's diet nutrition your thoughts you know you inflammation is a problem and be functionally strong to whatever you want to do in your life if you want to ski if you want to golf be strong in those areas I think in professional sports for example the when I was growing up everything was like let's let's get in the weight room let's lift as much as we can and you know they're all that you know heavy weights you know caused me a lot of pain and I had to step out of that and say why am i doing that you know it's because I was taught when I was 14 there's what I need to do and then I went to college and there's what I need to do and now I still got to do it but you know that wasn't working for me I said okay how can I think about strength training differently and then what do I need to do to recover quickly you know for the next game and all those things are spelled out in the book and you know I've learned a lot through guys that I've worked with a guy who co-founded the business with me who's a great friend of mine and we you know where we are you know teaching other people how to do those things and I want to do that on a much bigger scale I want to influence everybody whether you're sitting in this room or you know people who may be watching it but that's really what I love to do outside of you know playing I love preparing and I love you know sharing the information and when you're done playing is this what you would like to teach particularly to the youth in America and around the world I would I would cuz I think sports could be so much better if guys felt good all the time I mean when I go on the field I don't want to be hurting you know I want to feel good so I can feel free my mind can feel free no one wants to do anything that they're hurting right if you think oh man going for a 5-mile run that's gonna kill me you're not gonna do it you know but if you can feel good you know I think you'll be willing to be active you're willing to you know do the things you want to do in your life and if you don't want to don't want to do I mean it's your it's your life but so many people to me they want to work they want to get better they want to feel better they just don't know what to do and they've been told by someone or someone at some time that something that may be you know wrong and you again if you work hard at the wrong thing it doesn't work out well but you've said on numerous occasions that playing in the National Football League is a 100 percent injury rate yeah so when you say you don't want to feel bad I mean you've got guys who literally every play are trying to inflict pain so that you are not at your best yeah okay that's again eight more if they inflict more pain - that's kind of messed up for me that's why I learn to throw the ball fast so I got potato with me hit that guy smart no brain damage here how are your teammates gonna feel about that but when you know that that's the game plan and and there is that 100% rate you're used to dealing with being hurt yeah so how does this help you deal with it and hurt less I guess is what it is yeah does this contribute to that yeah or is it just the hands of Alex Guerrero that are that are so magnificent yeah well I think the part of it is when I was this is how it all started when I was 26 I said we had been successful won Super Bowls and as a quarterback you know what's you know I always joke with the guy I worked out excited say oh come on baby hit the moneymaker you know my right arm and my right elbow was always hurting so I'm a quarterback and I love football but I have pain every day and I would go into the you know to the training room and I'd say I got arm pain and they'd say okay we're gonna ice it and we're gonna rest it and you know we're gonna see how it feels tomorrow and I'm one of my teammates who grew up actually here Willie McGinnis was a great player for our team he's like Tommy you got to go like if your arms hurtin it's not gonna get better you know go work you know with Alex nice okay finally I did it and um basically what would happen was I you know through all the training through all the actions through all the muscle contractions these muscles in my arm my forearm by bicep my tricep they get tight and they get short and they get dense and they get stiff and I'm asking them to my arm to be very fluid and all the shortening of the muscles you know create more tension on the ligaments that are trying to hold the muscles to the joints so the thought was what if we can lengthen the muscles and soften the muscles there's no tension on the elbow joint you know there's no tendinitis there's no which is what I had you know we can reduce the tendinitis if we just lengthen it soften the muscles and after three days I didn't have any arm pain and I was like wow that's amazing that makes a lot of sense lengthened soften so there's no tension you remove the tension you remove the pain and I can still be functionally strong to do my job it's all that liability and I said well can you did it on my right knee cuz my right knees a little sore too he's like yeah absolutely so lengthen and soften lengthen soften no stress on my joints so I you know fast forward 14 years later that's so much of the routine that's so much what we talked about in the docu-series that people don't incorporate into their workouts we want to work out we want to basically muscle contractions you want to shorten dense and stiffen all of our muscles and then we want to get up and move and do things and we can't because our muscles are short dens and stiff and they're dehydrated and there's a lot of inflammation because of our thoughts that our nutrition so how can you change that how can you eat a little bit better how can you be a little more hydrated and then how can we do workout so don't do those things so that when you're older you don't need you know the really difficult surgeries that you have to come back from or knee surgeries or hip surgeries those suck and think for me I never wanted to be that so I've made a commitment that I'm gonna do those things in advance of getting injured I don't want to get injured if I get injured I don't get to play so what can I do in advance so that my body can be primed for the contact and for me all my muscles are very healthy but they're all pliable in order to absorb the forces and disperse the forces that hit me you know so I try to teach that to other out to other athletes and you know when they experience they go yeah why am I not doing this but it just wasn't we didn't learn it at a young age and when you're younger you're so conditioned to do these other things are strong and our vision of man is the ultimate strength keep more weights more weights which is fine but if you're gonna do that you need to incorporate pliability to how difficult is it to a change the conventional thinking and to take on really the establishment yeah well any systematic change is very hard because there's so many people that are in it and doing it and the education is already there and they're educating the next round but again how do I whatever I felt I want to inspire people by doing it you know I want to be you know teaching them a certain way to you know the things they can do in their life that are really gonna apply to them and it's little things it's you know one thing at a time and the when you feel it you can get better at when you get better and you improve it you know hopefully can make a difference in your life so you have tremendous dedication determination and this commitment to excellence all of us are kind of just like living every day and we have normal average lives and all of us out here aren't getting hit by 350-pound guys and and so forth how can this apply to all of these folks out here who want to make changes who don't want to eat poorly who would like to dance a few pounds who would like to not have any pain how does this work for them it works it works really well I mean it I think there's you know we lay out kind of a programs and things that you can do and what you can coorporate most people you know you read a lot of things you okay I'll try that well that's a good place to start you know but I think you know nutrition is so important and you know again if you're eating food that's not gonna nourish you it's hard to you know for your body to give back to be very hydrated and again the traveling and drinking a lot of things that you know you need to be very hydrated of course a day you need to do the right workouts you need to you know do the things that you want to do in order to to achieve the things you want in your life for me it's a big commitment it's a lot of discipline but again I'm pushing my body at the limits so you know I've got to treat it you know in that in that same way very hard to change habits yeah how do you help people with the mental structure and the mental discipline to change those habits when you're 35 45 55 65 and you've just gotten locked into this yeah I think it's once you have some brain exercises that you do as well and yeah those are does that help change the mental discipline yeah absolutely I think it again it's all for me one thing at a time it's not you know let me change my whole life you know for me it started with the elbow pain and then it worked into a book I mean it's so but that's that's the course of 15 years I think the education needs to take place with the younger generation you know I mean it's easy when you're 35 and you're not feeling good to go oh now I need to make some changes it's hard you know for people when they're young when they're not feeling bad but again when you're feeling bad I always say you have a lot of tread on your tire and you start feeling it when all the treads gone but how can you maintain the tread on your tire for your entire life and you know if you incorporated the pliability to workouts right diet right hydration you know you really could you know concussions are so much in the news and head injuries in the National Football League and other sports as well what do you do to stimulate your brain I know that you have T V T b12 website and they're in brain headquarters and so forth but how much time do you spend working out your mind on a daily basis and what do you do and are you concerned when you see what happens with CTE and so many others have played in the National Football League yeah I think you you know as an athlete you have to understand the risk to a plan and yeah you do you know it's a contact sport and collisions and a lot of hits to the head and so forth but again how can I be proactive about that how can I build up my brain strength so that when I do take a hit there's a little bit of armour there so to speak it would be the best way to describe it so I do brain games you know almost daily five to ten minutes a day that just keep me really sharp if I take a big hit in the game you know I go right back to you know certain protocols that I have for you know head trauma so to speak so and I feel like they really do work for me and again to describe those to other people you know how can you aren't people with that information so that you know we at our Sports Therapy Center in Boston we treat a lot of those and I think we have great results so the National Football League just announced that their past owners meetings no more head contact in other words you cannot project with your head diving forward you've been proficient and made a living out of quarterback sneaks is that now we illegal subject to the interpretation there's new rules I hope not that's about by only rushing stats for the game I get a couple yards at a time do you know how this is gonna play itself out no we're aware of it obviously yeah and you were the first one to bring that up to me so how what it's it's unavoidable in professional football for a guy to either dive or move forward without his head leading the way I don't know how you know yeah Bill Russell used to sit in the back of the plane and so did Bob Lanier and I asked him why so we'll know play never backed into a mountain [Laughter] true I don't know how you gain a first down this way when the ball is here yeah and the first down is there yeah you don't and I think this there I think those things will ultimately work themselves out but I think the the reality is the people who make the rules they're trying to make the game a bit safer and you know it's it's still a violent game I mean it's gonna be you got the best athletes in the world at the fastest speeds you know way the most it's a lot of force you know so be proactive about it that's my belief I'm gonna put myself in harm's way let me be proactive about it cuz you know that's that's I'm not gonna rely on someone else to take care of me I'm gonna take care of me so and they're changing your helmet are you allowed to keep your helmet because the Commissioner announced last week yeah that some of the helmets that were in use for all of these years can no longer be used and if you do get a new helmet will that change because maybe it's a different weight specification yeah that's a different comfort or you know the slightest little the things obviously can throw off professional athletes we're talking about the blink of an eye and the snap of a finger yeah does that concern you and what do you know about that no I think that you know too it's again it's a good thing I think they're trying to find helmets that the players can wear that will create you know absorb more force dispersed force better so I think that's a positive I mean I still wear probably a very old helmet just out of habit talk about behavioral changes are hard absolutely you know I've tried new helmets and I'm like doesn't Merck it out of here you know so I think it's just you got to get comfortable something I could wear I kind of created a guy change one more year or year well we'll have all these questions again next year are you playing they're gonna be 42 so I guess to get another year just take it one moment at the time yeah all right what's the religion of sports well it's a production company you know we started myself and Gotham Chopra was here in Michael Strahan and just telling great stories you know Gotham was has always talked about sports is the new religion you know and how many correlations there are between you know sporting events and you know these religious events and it's very cool when you start to think about it and the storytelling around that has been very unique and I think there a lot more great stories to be told so Gotham and his team do a great job I think Michael and I provide support where we need to but um you know we got some great you know you know some really great projects ahead anything we've missed anything else you want to talk about questions from the audience we can take two questions go ahead I'll repeat it thank you thank you so the question is now this man said you're one of two people we wanted to meet and now he's had that opportunity who are the two or three that have formed you well the first the inter Tom Brady yeah I would say you know my dad was you know the best role model a son could ever have you know and he again he taught me so much about you know working hard for his family and you know incredible determination and humility and love and that's what he was all about so I think he's you know would be the first person in my life and thankfully you know to have such a great foundation and that'd be the one yeah that'd be the one dad okay let's take this lady right here Thank You Susan Witt born is psychology and gerontology professor at UMass Boston down the road for you hi huge fan obviously I've written a lot about psychology of sports fans and I really like for you to reflect with the audience what you do for New England for the city of Boston with your inspiring performances whatever happens and everybody watches the fifth quarter I mean they just loved every minute of it and you've just been such an inspiration to our town and an inspiration for aging so we time how long it takes for them to mention your age during a game it's been under 15 seconds and and I think you have done really has been so inspirational to for people who study aging and your philosophy is really wonderful so it's it's a kind of a question but also a compliment and and kind of reinforcement for what you do but if you could talk a little bit about how you feel about Aging yeah great out yeah and how you think your performance at your age what is it again it can help the rest of us yeah and that's again it's I do I do feel like I want to help more than just athletes you know I do want to help a lot of people in it's just it for me it's it's become so much my you know it's just is my lifestyle in a way it's it's it's never been one thing I can't say hey Tom what's the one thing because there's more than one thing you know it's all the little things that really add up and again for me it started with an elbow injury to understand what I needed to do to make my elbow help healthy and then it was to make my knee healthy and then it was to make my system healthy and then it was okay now that I feel healthy how can I build on it without getting injured you know there's so many injuries there's so much you know in in professional sports and I've had to be proactive in the way that I've really been different than everyone else's through the through the pliability treatments that I do and it's always if I'm going to shorten stiffen through all my contractions and working and running and cutting and throwing and jumping and skiing and surfing and they're they're gonna get shorter I've got a lengthen them back out and if I lengthen and soften then I can go do it again and the more my brain understands what I'm asking my body to do the better it gets and the more efficient it becomes so that's where it's I've really made the switch I mean the brain is you know obviously you know connects everything so how do we train the brain to train the body and a lot of the treatments are using my brain as well as my body so that's so much of what is I've been different than I would say a lot of other athletes who came before me a lot of current athletes and that I'm committing the time to you know do things that they're not or haven't committed to yet because they haven't seen the payoff and that's through the pliability treatments want to thank you all for attending today we'll be back in September on Westwood One with our radio show and Tom we'll be back in camp here shortly we thank the Milken Institute and thanks so much time you appreciate it thank you guys

Channel: Milken Institute

Views: 165,595

Keywords: MIGlobal, Entertainment & Sports

Id: S9GbMZkNO70

Length: 62min 32sec (3752 seconds)

Published: Tue May 22 2018