If Waterworld, the F-35 fighter jet and Tesla’s Cybertruck have taught us anything, it’s that gargantuan price tags can’t ensure quality products.
Tom Brady fans never had to worry about this sort of thing during his playing career, when he amassed $332.9 million while winning seven Super Bowls over 23 seasons.
But now that Brady is signed to a 10-year, $375 million deal to serve as a Fox Sports announcer, his salary is now viewed in a far different light.
‘At this point, the highest-paid broadcaster in broadcasting, Tom Brady, is distracting me during games because he’s still bad at this,’ former ESPN reporter Dan Le Batard told his podcast audience on Thursday. ‘It’s not even that he’s neutral or mediocre or milquetoast or just there, and I don’t notice him. I’m noticing, and he’s distracting me with it not being good.’
The message throughout Brady’s rookie season in the booth was that he was improving. Brady, himself, acknowledged he needs to grow as an analyst, describing it as a ‘very positive challenge.’
But Brady’s sophomore campaign hasn’t given Le Batard any reason for optimism.
Tom Brady is in the second year of a reported 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Sports
Podcaster Dan Le Batard has attacked Tom Brady’s progress in the Fox Sports booth
‘If he hasn’t improved yet, what gives you the indication that he’s going to improve?’ Le Batard asked, as quoted by Awful Announcing. ‘Because I’ve seen no indication so far … that he’s capable of making memorable content.’
Fans have complained about Brady’s use of cliches and his overreliance on certain terms, often calling players ‘studs.’
But the biggest criticism he’s faced is over his dual role as Fox Sports analyst and Las Vegas Raiders minority owner.
He recently addressed those complaints in a bizarre rant, mentioning the ‘paranoia’ and ‘distrust’ of viewers accusing him of breaking the rules.
‘I love football,’ he wrote in his 199 newsletter last month. ‘At its core it is a game of principles. And with all the success it has given me, I feel I have a moral and ethical duty to the sport; which is why the point where my roles in it intersect is not actually a point of conflict, despite what the paranoid and distrustful might believe.
‘Rather, it’s the place from which my ethical duty emerges: to grow, evolve, and improve the game that has given me everything.’
Brady then added: ‘I believe that if I do my job as a broadcaster the right way, as best as I know how to do it, with passion and openness, with a helpful, positive, optimistic mindset, the result will be more informed fans who grow to love football the way I do. Fans who understand the game better. Fans who come to identify, appreciate, and expect the kind of we-first team play that was a central part of my success as a player and a key factor in the joy I got out of the game.’
