Tom Brady Comes Clean: ‘90% of What I Say Is Not What I’m Thinking’: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Tom Brady reveals his strategy for dealing with the media and opponents

1. Tom Brady made headlines last week when a promo clip for HBO’s The Shop was released and the quarterback dropped a great line on his free-agency journey, “One of the teams, they weren’t interested at the very end. I was thinking, ‘You’re sticking with that motherf-----?’”

While that segment was obviously juicy, there were many, many highlights during the 27-minute episode thanks to Brady. The best moment may have been Brady revealing his strategy for dealing with the media all these years.

“What I say versus what I think are two totally different things,” said the seven-time Super Bowl champion.

“I would say 90% of what I say is not what I’m thinking. I really admire people that actually can do that and can say what they think because they invite a lot of other things into their life. I think there’s a part of me that doesn’t like conflict, so in the end I always just try to play it super flat.

From a strategic standpoint, I never wanna give away what we’re doing. I usually say the opposite. If they have a sh---y corner, I’ll be like, ‘That guy’s unbelievable. I don’t know how they complete balls over there.’ In my mind, I’m thinking I’m going after that motherf---er all day.”

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Brady also had a great exchange with Warriors star Draymond Green about whether basketball or football was more difficult to play.

Brady started things off by talking about how he revitalized his career by taking care of his body and how much better he has felt physically since adopting his TB12 Method.

“I see all these NBA guys getting hurt all the time and in my mind I’m thinking, it’s so easy, no offense, you don’t have to run that far, there’s not a lot of contact, you got nice comfortable shoes on, nice climate all the time. I always thought if LeBron felt 100 percent every night it’d be scary.”

Green, who has never been shy to share his opinions, was actually a little timid about firing back at the GOAT, which he hilariously explained.

“I just thought about saying something about what he said, but then I felt like I’ll probably get f---ing crushed for saying something back to Tom Brady so I just decided to shut the f--- up,” Green said.

“You’ll see it from your perspective and we’ll see it from our perspective. What we see as a basketball player is, as a football player you don’t have to be in as great shape because you stop after every play. You can get caught on a basketball court and be running for seven minutes straight without a time out, back and forth.

By the way, I’m not getting out there on the f---ing football field. I’m good on that.”

Then, it was brought up that LeBron James once said he thought Brady was the greatest football player, not athlete, of all time, because football players don’t have to play offense and defense.

Brady said he remembered James making that comment and responded.

“It really depends what style you like. You could say, ‘Well, you may be the most accomplished.’ I would say I’ve won a lot of games, Super Bowls and so forth. But my style of play might not fit everybody else’s view of what that position should be. I can really just be the best with the body I was given. There are certain things I certainly cannot do and I have the awareness to realize, I can’t do those things. You can’t do everyone else’s job. I can’t block, tackle, run, catch, sure as hell can’t run. But I can throw the sh-- out of the ball. So let me just do that and let me do that really well and if I can do that, then the team can certainly use me for that.”

It’s a shame Brady didn’t leave the Patriots sooner, because it’s been awesome to see what he’s like without the New England machine keeping him quiet; he’s done more press than ever over the past year and shown that his off-the-field personality is extremely entertaining.

2. Speaking of Brady, it appears that someone found one of his golf balls on a course.

3. If you missed on Saturday night, ESPN's Mike Breen dropped an absolute gem.

"Kawhi Leonard going crazy!"

—Mike Breen 💀 pic.twitter.com/L4YHVLQMPa

— ESPN (@espn) June 27, 2021

4. Chuck and Shaq got into another fight last night. This one was a good one.

5. It will be interesting to see whether the buzz around Shohei Ohtani picks up over the summer because he's providing the greatest show on earth right now.

6. The latest SI Media Podcast features two guests and a new segment.

First up is AEW play-by-play man and senior advisor Jim Ross. The man known as "Good Ole J.R." reveals that he thinks Vince McMahon would sell WWE and explains why McMahon would sell. Ross also discusses the biggest challenge facing AEW, why he loves working for Tony Khan, whether there's anything we don't know about the night The Undertaker threw Mick Foley off the top of the Hell in the Cell, his reaction to the WWE hiring and firing Adnan Virk and much more.

Following Ross, John Ourand from Sports Business Journal joins the podcast. Ourand shares insight into the NBA playoff ratings, the difficulties in trying to watch the U.S. Open, whether Vince McMahon would sell WWE and more.

The show finishes with our new Traina Thoughts segment.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Twenty-eight years ago today. The wildest moment in professional wrestling.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.