Earlier this week, I posted a little something on Tom Brady’s response to golfer Scottie Scheffler’s comments about work-life balance.
On Friday’s edition of PFT Live, Michael Holley and I took a deeper dive.
Holley made a great point. To the extent that Brady tried to justify throwing his own balance out of whack because it sets a good example for his kids regarding how to provide for his family, Brady embarked on the all-work-and-no-play path years before he had his first child. As a rookie in 2000, Brady became obsessed with getting everything he could out of his innate talent, no matter the time or effort required.
As Holley was speaking, I remembered something Brady previously said. It came from the Tom vs. Time documentary. And it undercuts, and also guts, any effort to suggest he was in any way attempting to be selfless when it comes to the amount of time devoted to his craft.
Said Brady: “What are you willing to do and what are you willing to give up to be the best you can be? You only have so much energy and the clock ticks on all of us. If you’re going to compete against me, you better be willing to give up your life because I’m giving up mine.”
Now, take another look at Brady’s more recent remarks: “Scottie said he’d rather be a better father and husband than a good golfer. And my question is: why are those mutually exclusive? Sure, they’re different blocks on the pyramid, but they’re part of the same pyramid. They’re connected!”
They’re not, based on what Brady said during the latter years of his playing career. You better be willing to give up your life because I’m giving up mine.
Brady’s work-life balance consisted of throwing out the scale and maniacally pursuing what was always his favorite Super Bowl ring: The next one.
And that’s fine. That’s the choice he made. But he shouldn’t pretend two seasons after calling it quits that he was trying to find a sweet spot between work and family. It was work and more work. And more work.
And more work. Whatever the consequences may be.
