Tom Brady let if fly during his commencement speech on Saturday, failing to resist the urge to dig at some figures from this NFL career.
The seven-time Super Bowl champ and three-time MVP had the mic at Georgetown University’s business school graduation and largely spoke about facing and conquering adversity.
The topic, of course, led to comments about former Patriots coach Bill Belichick. While the duo brought six Super Bowls to New England, they did have their share of head-butting over 20 seasons.
After receiving compliments from speakers before him, Brady took his first shot at the current University of North Carolina coach.
“I don’t do well with compliments,” Brady said. “I had a coach for 20 years tell me how s—ty I was every day.”
Warning: Graphic language
He also encouraged students to surround themselves with those that help them grow, even if that means “one of those people is a cranky old coach who cuts the sleeves off their sweatshirt and screams at you all day.”
The mockery only continued.
Brady went on to take aim at the Jets while saying he felt “grateful” to be with the Georgetown graduates and their families.
“Even the ones who are Jets fans,” he added.
He also didn’t fail to leave out Eli Manning.
“Sitting here looking out at this crowd of amazing business majors, I realized something — sports was a very strange way to make a living,” Brady said. “People screamed at me all the time, they gambled on my performance, and they celebrated all my failures. One way that sports is a lot like business, though, is that when you do it long enough, your life gets defined by numbers.
“Twenty-three, that was the number of pro seasons I played. Seven, those were my Super Bowl wins. Three, those were the Super Bowl losses. Damn it, Eli Manning.”
Brady harped on the importance of the Patriots’ Super Bowl comeback when they fought through a 28–3 deficit to beat the Falcons in 2017.
“Not exactly how I thought the way things would go when I woke up that morning,” Brady continued. “But you know what? It happens sometimes. You guys are going to see that. You’re going to think you’re better than your competition, you’re going to work really hard and it’s still not going to go the way you want. You’re going to find yourself on the short end of that 99.7 percent wondering just how the hell you got there.
“Overcoming fear and doubt in the face of those challenges is where you’re going to gain the confidence to make your best choices when things aren’t going the way you want.
“When the odds are stacked against you, when you’re facing your own 28-3 moment, and believe me it’s coming, you have a choice to make: to quit or to fight your ass off. … I said to myself, “Don’t be a little bitch. Go out there and fight your ass off. Whether you win or lose, fight to the end. At that moment, we had no idea what the outcome of the game would be, but the one thing I’ve learned through sports is the only time you’re sure to lose is when you quit. … The only thing worse than losing the biggest game of your life is losing respect for yourself along the way.”
Brady, who serves as an NFL anaylst for Fox, will be calling his first Patriots game this season.
He will be a voice behind the Week 9 game when his former team faces the Packers on Sunday, Nov. 8.
It was a busy day for Brady, who Saturday night walked a runway in Times Square as a model for Gucci’s Cruise collection show.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
