Was the media responsible for Tom Brady announcing his retirement, then changing his mind 45 days later?
That’s what Tom Brady Sr. told Dan Hausle of 7News in Boston in a phone interview for Monday night’s newscast on WHDH.
“I think people kind of put him into a corner and all these rumors and things before he was ready to make a decision and he had to say something just to get the news people off his back,” said Brady Sr.
After Brady initially refuted the report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington which said he was going to retire, only to make a personal announcement two days later, many speculated that the future Hall of Famer wasn’t ready to make or share his decision, but the news getting out compelled him to move his timetable up.
That might explain why Brady’s father and agent Don Yee quickly said that the ESPN report was premature.
Brady Sr. called into Mike Greenberg’s ESPN Radio show, Greeny, on Tuesday afternoon to follow up on his remarks to Hausle.
“What happened eight weeks ago was that a bunch of people reported that he was retiring, before he was ready, right after they lost,” said Brady Sr. “These losses are painful. You don’t just roll over and get up and get going. It’s painful at the end of the year, putting six months in and all of the heartbreak and all of the joy. It’s hard; it’s emotionally wrenching.
“It’s like your car’s out of gas, then somebody asks you a question and everybody’s telling you, telling everybody that they know what they were doing. They were announcing his retirement before he had even retired. The media made the news.”
Perhaps it’s true that Schefter and Darlington’s report made Brady feel as if he had to announce his decision sooner than he intended, maybe before he could think it through more than he preferred. But if Brady didn’t want to retire, he could’ve just kept quiet about it. He told Jim Gray on his podcast that he hadn’t made a decision and would do so “when the time is right.” Why not just stick to that?
For that matter, why not just admit he changed his mind? That he wanted to retire for his family but everyone realized he could still play? Essentially, that’s what Brady Sr. told Greenberg.
”After he had time to reflect with his family, you know, what gives him the greatest joy in his life, and they all agreed that this is the path forward that works best for the Brady family,” he said. “It just took a little bit of time to sort this thing out.”
So why blame the media? To be fair, this is Brady’s father saying this, not Brady himself. But is he speaking for his son in any way? Is there some resentment over feeling forced to make an announcement, rather than do so on his terms? It appears so, but be accountable for the decision, announcement, and change of heart. He could have waited.
Does it tarnish Brady’s legacy in any way to have reversed himself? Are people going to call him a flip-flopper? And if so, what does that matter? The one who seems to care about that the most — at least most vocally — is Tom Brady Sr.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
