Tom Brady Has Nothing – And Everything – Left To Prove

The host of the Late Late Show, James Corden, loves to hang out with All-Universe quarterback Tom Brady. A week ago, Corden ran a segment on the show in which he pretended to find himself with a couple of hours to kill and called his BFF Brady to enjoy a little golf. At one point early in the segment, Corden referenced an anecdote Brady related on an earlier edition of the show that aired after Brady won his seventh Super Bowl, this one with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Apparently, after the game was over, Brady’s wife Giselle Bundchen walked on to the field and teased hubby by asking him what more he had to prove. Corden used the anecdote to tee up his own question to Brady.

“Do you ever think, ‘What more have I got to do in this sport?’” Corden asked as they bounded down the cart path between holes.

“It’s hard to walk away from something you feel you can do and you want to do,” Brady replied. “It’s not about proving to others what you can do. It’s about proving it to yourself. And I still feel like even though I’ll be 44 this year, I still have a chance to prove it to myself that I can do it at 44 because I really worked to a point where I can still do it at this age.”

The segment, which seemed light-hearted enough, led sports pundits to parse Brady’s every word, looking for clues about how much longer he’ll play.

But in trying to discern something like Brady’s future, most of those opining on the segment missed a far more important point: Tom Brady wants the world to know he’s beyond trying to prove things to us. Now he is playing to prove things to himself.

I loved that sentence and spent time imagining the direction the rest of us might take from hearing it.

It also struck me how far Brady has come since his Michigan days when he hired a sports psychologist to help him deal with the frustration of being overlooked early in his college years. How far he has come since riding the bench as Drew Bledsoe’s invisible backup on the Patriots before fate, in the form of an injury to Bledsoe, gave him his chance. How far he has come since he used that opportunity to tuck and claw out his first Super Bowl win and go on to win six more and a trove full of MVPs along the way.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the way chips on their shoulders can motivate athletes and business leaders, alike, to quiet the doubts that they or others have in them(selves) and go on to accomplish great things. I stand by this observation today, but I would add that Brady’s story teaches us a complimentary lesson and one I certainly take to heart: that the sooner we can focus on proving ourselves to ourselves rather than to somebody else, the happier and more fulfilled we will be.

I’m not suggesting that we be selfish or self-serving. Far from it. None of us live in a vacuum. As Bob Dylan said, “everybody has to serve somebody.” I am suggesting that intrinsic motivation, motivation we define in terms of our own goals and standards rather than those imposed from outside on us, provides our best shot at doing what we love to do as long as we can do it, which as Brady shows us, may prove a lot longer than the “received wisdom” allows.

So, add work ethic and ability to reinvent himself to the list of Brady attributes all of us can relate and aspire to.

As for the Late Late Show, the segment continued with Corden and Brady arriving at their next hole, a “short par-4.” At this point, Brady speed dials Phil Mickelson, who takes the call. Brady asks whether he should use a driver or 3-wood. (Brady and Mickelson will face quarterback Aaron Rodgers and professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau in a charity golf match on July 6.)

Without hesitation, Big Lefty recommends the driver to Brady. Suffice it to say, there will always be things about Tom Brady we cannot possibly relate to, but who we should be trying to impress is a lesson we can take.