Dan Patrick discussed the “human” moment Tom Brady had when answering questions about his absence from Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp. Patrick said that at that moment at the press conference, it all felt more personal.
Patrick went on to talk about how Brady seems to be dealing with something at home and in so, likely dealing with pressures about continuing his career vs returning to be a full-time father. In doing so, Patrick was reminded about similar feelings he had when he decided to leave ESPN.
“Maybe I was sad for Tom,” Patrick said. “In my small little world, I can understand. I was so afraid to leave ESPN. I thought, ‘that’s my identity. What am I going to do? What if I fail? What if I go home and I don’t want to be home?'”
“Here’s Tom who has everything,” Patrick said. “But does he have everything? Is he addicted to football and the role your family plays? I would think, ‘everything’s good, I see my kids’ then my wife would say ‘you need to be at home’. ‘Yeah, I’m at home’. But are you really at home?”
Patrick said the pressures are only going to continue when he leaves football and decided to broadcast.
“He’s going to work for FOX. But once again, how dedicated, all-in, preparing for a broadcast (are you)? You can’t turn it off. I prepare for this like the way I did SportsCenter. You can’t cheat people. You got to prepare the same way…. this is all encompassing.”
