Tom Brady
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“Let’s Fucking Go.”
Tom Brady’s notorious catchphrase (“LFG” is the PG version) was how Fox chose to end its upfront presentation Monday evening, with Brady on stage joined by his Fox NFL colleague Michael Strahan, and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay (also known for using the F word), shouting it to the rafters.
Brady, who retired officially last year, confirmed that he will indeed join the Fox NFL broadcast booth this fall, working as an analyst alongside play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt and reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi.
Brady was the closing event for the upfront, appearing a week after his Netflix roast made global headlines (fellow roaster and Fox personality Rob Gronkowski was also in attendance).
Brady, speaking to Strahan on stage, said the decision to follow through on his deal two years ago to join Fox after he retired was a “no brainer.”
“Well it was the first way to ultimately be your teammate, I didn’t do so well when I wasn’t,” Brady quipped to Strahan, referencing the New York Giants win over Brady’s New England Patriots at Super Bowl XLII. “But obviously, there are a lot of opportunities that have presented, but walking out of my first meeting with Fox, they reminded me so much of the amazing teammates that I had over a long period of time.
“To be a part of the game that I love with a league that I love and obviously be a part of the greatest telecast in football every single week was also a big part of the decision, and also that amazing robot that spikes the ball on the ground like Gronk in and out of breaks,” Brady added.
Burkhardt, Rinaldi and Andrews would join them on stage, singing Brady’s praises, with Burkhardt calling him the “most clutch” player in NFL history.
“Think about it, two minutes left in a big tie game, who better to analyze it than Tom Brady?” Burkhardt said.
He gave a preview when Strahan announced that his first game would be calling the Dallas Cowboys in week one. Brady called out quarterback Dak Prescott: “Let’s see if he can finally come through,” to laughter from the crowd.
“I love covering them, I have obviously been going against them for a long time, and now I get to talk about how great they are,” Brady continued.
It was a big debut for Brady, who is unproven in the broadcast booth despite his long NFL career. Fox is betting big on the star (it’s reportedly a 10-year, $375 million deal), and Fox’s upfront was the first taste of the media side of the NFL business for Brady, something that the league cares about deeply, encouraging its partners to pursue big names for the booth.
2024-05-13 22:14:11
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