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Tom Brady Talks Watches, Football, And Legacy

Published on Mon, 10 May 2021 10:00:00 +0000

The perennial Super Bowl champ (and legit watch enthusiast) chats with Ben Clymer and Stephen Pulvirent.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, hosts Stephen Pulvirent and Ben Clymer sit down with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady for an engaging conversation about watches, life, and what drives one of the greatest athletes of all time. Brady opens up about his journey as a watch collector, which began with a commemorative high school graduation gift from his parents and evolved into a serious passion. He shares the story of how an IWC GST automatic alarm became his screensaver in college, and how he eventually purchased his first significant watch—an IWC Rattrapante—after his first Super Bowl win in 2002.

The conversation goes beyond horology to explore Brady's philosophy on time, discipline, and maintaining balance between his legendary football career and family life. He discusses the challenges of moving to Tampa Bay during the pandemic, the surreal nature of his fame, and how he stays grounded despite being one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet. Brady reflects on the importance of mentorship, both receiving it early in his career and now providing it to younger players. He shares insights about dealing with expectations, finding joy in the present moment, and the therapeutic nature of being on the football field where time seems to fly by.

Brady also touches on his future ventures, including his new NFT company called Autograph, while confirming he'll be returning to the field for another season. He discusses his recent knee surgery and rehabilitation process, his views on the emerging digital collectibles marketplace, and how the pandemic has shifted people's spending toward tangible assets they're passionate about. Throughout the conversation, Brady's thoughtfulness and genuine enthusiasm for watches shine through, particularly his love for IWC's Top Gun collection, which resonates with his identity as a quarterback with a strong arm—someone who, as he puts it, "wants to be the top gun."

Transcript

Speaker
Tom Brady I wasn't born like a prodigy, you know what I'm saying? I wasn't born like a three year old that the world just bestowed greatness on, you know. It was like I had a process I went through. I had a lot of normal moments in my life to have create some type of baseline against. Yeah. Maybe the most challenging people are the people that don't have those things. You know, they really don't have anything that's relatable to anybody. I have a lot of things that are relatable to a lot of people just based on my experience in my life. So I feel like I'm pretty grounded in that sense
Stephen Pulvirent . Hey everybody, I'm your host Steven Polverin and this is Hodinky Radio. This week's guest is the kind of guy who doesn't need any introduction, but that wouldn't be very fun, would it? So today I'm joined by seven-time Super Bowl champion, four-time Super Bowl MVP, fitness and wellness entrepreneur, IWC Ambassador, and serious watch collector, Tom Brady. Even for a Giants fan, I'll admit that's pretty damn exciting. Tom sat down to talk to Benemy just a few weeks after winning his latest Lombardi trophy, and boy, did we cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. We get into all the classic watch guys stuff, including what he looks for in a great watch, how Tom shares his hobby with friends and family, and what's next on his grail list. But we also get into some more unique conversations, like what it's like to actually be Tom Brady. Tom opens up about dealing with expectations over the years, how he keeps himself in the right place mentally and physically, and how the heck you respond when someone names their kid after you and tells you about it. He also tells us what might be coming for him after life on the football field, but don't worry, he is coming back next season, no question about that, and we'll have to wait a little while to see what happens next. Whether you're a football fan or not, this is a can't miss episode. Tom's thoughtfulness and passion come through immediately, and you're quickly gonna forget that Ben and I are chatting with one of the most famous men on the planet. This is just three guys sitting around talking about life and watches. And honestly, I don't think it gets much better than that. So without further ado, let's do this.
Tom Brady Hey Tom, thanks so much for uh coming on Hodinky Radio. My pleasure. It's great to uh be speaking with you guys. I've been a longtime fan and you know just appreciate the great work that you guys do and the amount of information you know you spread, you give to people in really this emerging space over the years. There's a lot of great watch collectors out there. You guys have had most of them on at this point. And I think you're just bringing a lot of great information together and there's no better place or more trusted place than Hodinky for what's going on in the world of watches. Okay, we we can stop right there, guys. We're done, right? We got what we needed
Stephen Pulvirent . Thank you, Tom. We we appreciate that. Yeah, and that is our founder, Mr. Ben Climber on the other mic here, coming in hot. But uh yeah, it's this is super fun. We're really excited to have you here, Tom. And yeah, I mean, let's let's just get right into it. I mean, people might know that you're currently an IWC ambassador. You've worked with some other watch brands in the past, but what people might not know is that like you're an actual watch guy. So I thought we'd start at the beginning. Like, how did you first encounter and first get into watches? W
Tom Brady ow, it's uh it's it goes way back. I remember graduating from high school, my parents got me a pretty special kind of commemorative watch at the time. I was going to University of Michigan and I I kept that watch for three or four years and just valued it every time that I did something important I seemed to reach to put it on. And it was just kind of a love for that piece of jewelry, you know, for myself to dress up an occasion, to make a occasion seem a little bit more important than maybe it was. But that commemorative piece was something that really stuck with me for a long time. And in about my fourth year of college, this is kind of when the internet really started, you know, coming into its own. You know, this was the worldwide web, and you can begin to, you know, search different things and so forth. And on my screensaver, I actually had an IWC GST automatic alarm that I ever thought, if I ever made money, I gotta buy myself one of these watches. Because I thought it was just the most beautiful, elegant, classy watch. And it's it would sit on my I had this Dell Inspiron computer that I mean I don't even know what the speed of that thing was, but it was super slow. Yeah. When I was downloading all my Napster songs for free, you know, I'd I'd have this this beautiful you know screensaver, which was a watch of all the things. I mean, so you know, fast forward a few years after that, I made a few bucks and I it was about two thousand two and I wasing walk down the 57th Street, New York to the Truneau store, and uh walked inside of the store, and there were IWCs, and I couldn't even believe it was I couldn't believe it. And I bought my first real watch. It was um beautiful piece. I still have it. I wish I had all my IWCs with me today so I could show you guys in the camera here. But it was just a beautiful, I think it was a Ratro Ponte, just a steel, classy, beautiful look that you know, I still have 20 years later, it's still in incredible shape, or 18 years, 19 years later, it's an incredible shape. You know, it's been one of the great, you know, time pieces for me that have really been a part of a lot of really cool moments for me in my life. So that that watch has been amazing, uh kind of uh telling a great story of in and of itself. So yeah, I definitely fell in love with watches then. And it's amazing what the internet's done for watches, what Instagram's done for watches. You know, it's just everything's a digital world. So people really understanding the global marketplace that there is now. It's a lot of fun to see these different pieces, to see the different creations, the artistry, the you know, the technical movements, the aesthetics, everything is presented to you now on the internet. And uh it makes it really fun to see all the all the new things that are happening.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. Well, was that a big part of your watch journey early on? Was like kind of using again, like the early internet to kind of like go out there and learn and research, or are you more kind of a like you see it in person and it's instinctive. A
Tom Brady little of both, but definitely the internet was where it kind of came to life for me. So you know I didn't have a lot of especially being in Boston, you know, there's not a lot of watch stores up there. You know, it's really boutique jewelers that would have them or sure. I had a relationship with one of my great friends from Betteridge Jewelers in uh Greenwich, Connecticut, my friend Scott Ledoux. And uh he's been a longtime friend and you know really introduced me early on to you know, watches and historical importance to them. And it's been a friend of mine designed my wedding ring. So, you know, that's kind of where you found your watches back then. And now, I mean, it's just wherever you want to find your watches, you can go online. I mean, there's so many different places to find them. A lot some of them you can trust, a lot of them you can't. So there's always a buyer beware when it comes to watches on the internet too
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I mean it's also that first IWC that you got. I mean, you very humbly didn't say why you bought it, which I know was after your first Super Bowl win. Yeah. Which very humble of you. But uh has buying watches to commemorate things been a part of your life? Has that carried through where you use these things to kind of mark important moments? Absolutely. I have
Tom Brady really cool engravings on quite a few of them too. My friend Johan Rupert who's the chairman of Richemont after we beat Atlanta, made me this beautiful big pilot watch. It was this rose gold and he's got a helmet with the number on it on the back. It was kind of a one-off piece. So there's been a lot of cool engravings on them that signify different points in life. When I look at those watches, you know, they they mark a history for me also. So I remember, yeah, this is when I got it. This is why I got it. This was the mood I was in. And they tell a really cool story for me. So I don't collect many things. At the end of the day, when I open up, you know, my collection of of watches, you know, there's just a big smile on my face 'cause it's been a really fun journey for me over a period of time and something creatively you can really sink your teeth into. It's an endless world. You can keep going deeper and deeper, deeper, and and I love working with IWC. I think they make some of the greatest watches in the world. Great innovation. I mean, at the end of the day, for me, I'm a bigger guy, 6'5, 230 pounds. You know, I like a big watch, you know, the big pilot's watch for me has always been an amazing look. You know, I got a lot of different versions of it. You know, it's a great brand and I love being associ
Ben Clymer ated with them. Yeah. And I mean I IWC is they're obviously friends of the show. We've you know, known them, worked with them forever. I mean so it it really feels and I think this is something that you know we don't often have the chance to ask about. So obviously you're an ambassador for IWC, but it it feels like this is a homegrown interest. It's not like they offered you the biggest check or anything like that. It it really feels like this is kind of where you belong in some way. Yeah, definitely. I mean
Tom Brady , I think they make the most beautiful watches. There's nothing I can do that's um, you know, gonna have a a negative effect on this watch when I'm wearing it. What no matter what I'm doing, what I'm getting myself into. Right. I think they're beautiful. They've really mastered the art of having detail but simplicity as well. There's some more elegant ones, you know, they've they've got a great line of watches. You know, my wife for my 30th birthday bought me this beautiful white gold Portuguese. That was thirteen years ago. You know, the first watch she ever bought me just happened to be an IWC. So yeah, it's very organic. Again, it's it's been a great collaboration over a period of time. That
Stephen Pulvirent 's great. Yeah. I I saw somewhere that one of the things that IWC does that I think they're the only people who do is they make that father and son set of pilot watches. Yeah. And I saw somewhere that you have that set and that you have the, you know, the sun watch was shared with your son Jack, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's a st
Tom Brady unning watch when you have it on. And whenever I wear that watch, I have people that, what are you wearing? You know, because you know, the size, it's a big watch, but there's something about it that when you see it on your wrist, it just it explodes on your wrist. So it's it's very cool to have. And you know, my son has the son version. I have another son, so I gotta figure out how to get a second son version. I think you know a guy. Yeah, I do. The father watch was pretty expensive, so I'm pretty smart about, you know,
Stephen Pulvirent my purchasing. So yeah, I think it's cool that like if your first watch was a gift from your parents and and now you're sharing it with your kids. I mean, you have three kids. Are watches something that you share with them and that kind of has become a family thing and a way to connect, or is it still like pretty personal for you? No, they definitely see me, you know
Tom Brady , with my little watch case that I have that's you know in a safe in the house, but it's they're still pretty young too. So you know they certainly wouldn't fit their wrists at this point. Both my sons are not quite of a the age yet, but I have told them you guys are gonna get some really nice watches when you get to be a little bit older. And I hope you appreciate them as much as your dad appreciates them. So it's sometimes it's a little bit of a tough conversation because they don't fully understand, you know, their their brain hasn't fully developed. But I think at some point in their life they're gonna be very happy that their dad started collecting watches when I was like twenty two years old
Ben Clymer . Yeah. That that's definitely what I tell myself for sure, is that future kids will be very happy that their dad was was who he was for sure. Yeah. It's a it's a good way to justify things, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. You can justify anything if you think hard
Tom Brady enough. You know, exactly. It's a amazing world that, you know, I think through the internet, people are collecting so many different things now. You know, it's where are people going to put their discretionary income? How are they going to spend that? You know, people can collect watches, they can collect cars, they can collect, you know, trading cards. I had a trading card that sold for some ridiculous amount of money last week. And you're sitting there thinking, like, why did this card, this little piece of cardboard with the signature sell for this amount of money. Well, someone created a market for it and people value that. And, you know, watches are very much the same way. It's a I saw that. You know, this NFT craze, which is, you know, kind of taking the world by storm in the last two months. I mean, what are people going to be putting their money toward in this digital age that we're living in? So a lot of people are choosing to invest in watches. That market has really exploded over the last few years. And you know, for men especially who wear a lot of watches, you know, it's it's a lot of fun to participate in
Stephen Pulvirent . I saw that, you know, speaking of digital collecting and kind of the future of collecting, I saw that you're launching an NFT company, Autograph. Yeah. I wonder if you can talk about that a little bit and also how maybe like as somebody who you know learned about watches from the internet but isn't kind of inherently a collector, how maybe you're in in kind of a unique position to contribute to this new space
Tom Brady ? Absolutely. It's really exciting. It's an emerging space and it's an emerging marketplace. You know, in essence, there's a lot of people trying to figure out exactly where this is heading between NFTs, blockchains, cryptocurrency, it's really an emerging marketplace for digital collectibles and smart contracts, which in essence can be applied to a lot of different things. You know, I think it's taking some regulatory control away and thinking more about free markets and allowing people to transact between one another without anything getting the way of that. So the intention of the altruism of cryptocurrency, who knows how that space develops, but I don't think it's going away. I don't think digital collectibles will go away. I don't think cryptocurrency goes away. People are placing value on these things in these spaces. Again, no one knows where it's going to head. It's almost like the early days of the internet. No one could imagine twenty f yeivears later what it would look like. But you know, I think understanding that there's really something behind this, you know, it's nice to be involved with it
Ben Clymer . Yeah. It really feels like th there's a large shift towards almost kind of like using investments or investments becoming kind of in in vogue, whether it is NFTs or sports cards, the golden auctions, or collectors universe, or any of these platforms that are doing it or stockX, everything is kind of becoming a stock market of of things. I mean, that's in fact what stock X kinda is that's their slogan I believe. Uh and it's amazing to see even you know even what we saw with GameStop on on you know in a traditional kind of equity market, it really feels like people are putting their money towards things that that they love and and make them happy. And I wonder if we think like if the pandemic has anything to do with that, I was on a panel, or believe it or not, earlier today that was all about how people that used to spend all their money on travel and great hotels and planes, et cetera, are now putting their money into watches, cars, things that they love because it is more passion kind of oriented and it can kind of return in a different way than a vacation can because you ha you actually have something for your money. You have an asset.
Tom Brady Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's ev everyone's got a certain amount of money and they get to determine where and how they want to spend it. Now, whether it's a quality of life issue, you know, whether you want to spend on a trip or something that's you're right, can appreciate and value, you know, that's up for everybody to decide. You know, everyone's got a certain amount of time, a certain amount of money. Yeah. And, you know, part of living in a free society is being able to choose how you want to spend your time and how you want to spend your money. Everyone works really hard to accumulate these things at the end of the day. None of us are bringing any of it with us as we know. You know, we'll leave something to the next generation. Hopefully we all make the world a better place as we travel through this world together. And I think for me, you know, that's something that's every year I feel like there's a little more perspective on my life looking back and then looking forward, like what do I want to accomplish with the next 10 years of my life? And you know, as one career kind of comes to an end, you know, how do I want to focus a second career? You know, I'm still relatively young, 43 years old. You know, I'll be 44 in August and certainly old for a football player, but for an entrepreneur, it's still very young. And um, you know, my kids are coming of age, I want to teach them. I we took a trip this last week to the Middle East. You know, I want to show them the world. I want to teach them to, you know, respect everybody, that there are different cultures, there are different incredible ways of living this life that they get to choose. So as long as you expose them to a lot of different things that life has to offer, they can make the choices that best suit them, as well as everybody
Stephen Pulvirent else that's doing the same thing. Yeah. I love this idea of you know, we've talked about things so far, like choosing how to spend your money, but there's also this time element to it, which obviously pairs nicely with watches. And yeah, I saw that you you told Michael Strahan earlier this week, which you know, the fact that like we're having a chat, and earlier this week you chatted to Michael Strahan as you know, as a Giants fan, very humbling for me. But uh I saw you told Strahan that you still want to play and that you've got a little sickness in you that just wants to throw a freaking spiral. And I love that. And I love this idea that it's like it's like in you. And I wonder, like when you're thinking about other ways to spend your time, like what are the other things that are like a sickness for you that you just feel driven and compelled to get up and do
Tom Brady Well, I'd say nothing outside of my family, you know, like you know, it's again like spending time with my kids or something like that. It comes down to to playing football. And that's been my first love. I mean, it was when I was twelve years old. I was talking with a friend the other day about like meditation, you know, and how our phones basically own us. They own our time, they own our our eyes, you know. That's where we put so much time is into these phones. And how do we find a better balance so that that's not sustainable six or seven hours on a phone every day? You know, it doesn't matter what you're doing. It's I mean, I know the phones have become a lot of different things. Your camera, your Walkman, your calculator, you know, you can order basically anything on your phone. But you know, like being mindless and finding ways to center yourself to make good emotional decisions, right? Because, you know, we're emotional beings. And we started talking about football. And I find that in football so much for me. What that space has been is it's been a place for me to really live in the present, you know, to kind of be without thought and to just be on the field with my friends like I always did. It was a very comforting thing for me growing up playing sports. I was always pretty good at them. And when I would time would just fly by when I was playing sports, you know, two hours of practice. Why don't we do three or I'd go to the athletic club and play pickup basketball? Oh, it's just three hours. Man, time flies. Well, it just tells you you're doing something you really love to do. And um sports has been that thing in my life that has just won my heart and it did when I was young and it still does today. I've I always feel like sports, there's so many correlations between sports and business. Sports and families. And sports is very real time. I mean, I think from my standpoint, like what you see from me and what you've seen on the field is really me. It's not an actor. You know, this is my real life. These are my real emotions. This is, you know, real joy. This is real anger. This is real disappointment. You know, those things are really a vulnerable place to be. So when you're out there on the field, when you're doing something you love as much as that and you've worked so hard, you want to put your best out there for people to see. And um I've taken it pretty seriously over a period of time. I know it'll come a time in my life where I take it a little less seriously, but in while I'm still playing, I I owe it to everybody to keep it deadly serious because that is my job and I want to do a great job of it. And sports are very intense and the competition's tough and there's a lot at stake physically and mentally. There's a lot at stake for people's families and lives and and that you treat it as such, you put a very high priority on those things.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah. I think people talk a lot about your career and talk about you kind of like conquering time and fighting time that you've had this relatively long career, very successful career. But I kind of want to like push that idea a little bit. Like, do you think of time as something you're fighting against or do you think it's something that works for you? Is it a give and take? Like how do you think about that as opposed to how everybody else talks about it
Tom Brady . Well, I think you you know, you gotta find the right rhythm. I think that's a really important part. Sometimes you can feel when you're out of rhythm. Sometimes you can feel when you've got the rhythm with you. Whether that's a you know, personally or professionally. I think there's a important element of that. You don't want to fight sometimes the rhythm. Sometimes you just have to relax a little bit more. Sometimes you gotta push yourself a little bit more, depending on how things are going, how you see yourself in that particular moment. So I don't feel like I'm fighting it. I I would say that. I feel like um, you know, there's a certain period of time when you're younger where you think you have all the time in the world. And I think there's gets to be a point, they probably call it a midlife crisis, when you realize, oh shit, I don't have all the time in the world. It's actually all winding down on us. So, you know, how do I really want to spend my time and energy? And then you get to the point where you're a little tired and worn out from thinking about solving the world's problems or thinking about solving everyone's problems, and you're just like, ye, youah're reserved to let all the young people handle it. You know, you guys figure out how to fix this. So, you know, I'm trying to navigate it just like everybody else. You know, trying to live a balanced life where I, you know, a coach said to me once, you know, I want to win on the field and off the field too. And I think I want to win off the field for my kids and for my family and who I represent. But also when I do play sports, I still want to compete and win too. So I think we done a decent job of that. Ye
Stephen Pulvirent ah. What are the things you do to stay balanced? Like what are those things that kind of keep you winning on the field and off the field, whether they're habits or you know tricks you've picked up or just like making priorities. Yeah, I think
Tom Brady actions reflect your priorities. So you might say, Oh, I wanna w lose ten pounds and then you eat chocolate cake every night, you know, or hey, I wanna be a great football player, but you're at the casino every Tuesday night. Whatever you're prioritizing, people are gonna see that as a reflection of the things that you're actually doing. So one thing I've tried to do over the years is just learn. You know, I try to surround myself with people who are really smart and who have been great mentors for me. And I think some people have really encouraged me along the way, been great supporters of what my goals were. And I found my way into their life, and they found their way into my life. You know, whether that was my wife at a certain time, whether that was a great mentor of mine in college that helped me on my path, whether it was a coach like Coach Belichick early in my career, different players that have come to my life. So I've tried to learn from everybody and try to improve. You know, I seek the things in my life that I want to try to make a little bit better, and I put some time and energy into those things. And you know, the more good behaviors you know you have, you know, the better things turn out. It's just do people have the discipline to repeat those behaviors? That's probably where the tricky part comes in. So if I was really blessed with something in my life, I'd say discipline was something that came relatively easy for me. I didn't have to work hard at being disciplined. It was just
Stephen Pulvirent kind of a natural thing for me. Interesting. And have you found that as your career has advanced and as you've, you know, your family's growing and and everyone's getting older and kind of like settling in, have you found that your priorities and the way you sort of think about structuring your life and structuring your day have had to change, or do you think you're kind of motivated by the same things and just the kind of like nuts and bolts have changed? No, I think it's
Tom Brady I've seen myself pretty much the same way for a long period of time. You know, I think I've tried to incorporate the things that have worked and I've tried to get rid of things that haven't worked. It's nice like when we went to Middle East last week. You know, everything kind of changed. The whole routine changed, you know? You're on a different side of the world, you're in a different climate, the food's different, the traditions are different. You know, what people are wearing is different. It gets you out of your comfort zone, which is we often live these very robotic lives that are predetermined based on you know all the different things we've committed to the day before. You know, we don't wake up and think, oh, what am I going to do today? Usually wake up and you're like, oh shit, I got to do this and this and this, and I committed to this and this. And I'm going to eat the same breakfast and we're going to go here for lunch because I know it will this and I'm going to go to bed and I'm going to watch this show. You know what I mean? And then it's nice to break that sequence of things that become so monotonous. And I think, you know, if you look at what COVID's done, you know, I think people are going to be excited to get back to aspects of their life that they've missed out on. You know, I feel like there's a lot of joy that is in life, and there's a lot of joy that we find in things that uh maybe we're recalibrated now, being more quarantine from other people over a period of time with family holidays or movie theaters or shows or restaurants, you know, I think you don't realize that there's little subtle joys in all those things. And then when you don't have those little subtle joys, there's a lot of things that bubble to the surface that really suck. And life's about finding that balance between, you know, those little joys and the things that suck. And you find your good place. Cause life's always not euphoric, you know what I mean? We don't live lives that are just like, oh man, another great day, like a perfect day. Oh, it was great. You know, you it ebbs and flows. But if you don't have the positive parts, the negative things start to creep in. And I think we've all been dealing in a little of that murky mess of you know, not having the personal interpersonal relationships that we've had. Um not having these very subtle joyful moments that, you know, being in New York City and going to restaurants or going to shows, like that's why you come to New York City. Right. And when you can't do those things, you go, well, New York City is not so great when you don't get to do all the things that you enjoy. So hopefully we can all get back to those things and we can have a little more perspective on that. You know, we could all be a little bit more appreciative of the things that are going well when they're going well. Ye
Ben Clymer ah. Yeah. It it it's kind of amazing to hear you, Tom Brady, say that life is not always kind of perfect and euphoric. 'Cause I think if you ask most people on the street who has a pretty amazing life, a lot of people would say Tom Brady. So it it's really kind of interesting to hear you say that verbatim. And I think something that that I always ask people such as yourself when when I get the chance to meet these like ultra high performers, if if I if I can say, is do do you ever experienced or have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? Like have you ever thought like I'm I'm not the person that the world thinks that I am or, you know, I got here by by happenstance and the people around me more than myself. Do you ever experience that, even as Tom Brady? No,
Tom Brady I think what you see is what you get pretty much. I think naturally I'm pretty introverted. It's like, you know, you choose to do something like play sports, you know? And along with playing sports, just playing on a field comes with a lot of other things that you have to do. I'm not acting when I do those things, you know? Again, it's me on the field, it's me in the press conference. Some things you don't like about, you know, living a very public life. Absolutely. There's definitely things that it's just, you know, you could do without. But, you know, I I'm not a complainer, you know what I mean? I think nor should I, you know, at the end of the day. So yeah. I am very blessed to do what I love to do. I'm gonna try to help people along the way, help people that that I realize I couldn't get to be where I I am without people that have positively impacted my life and been there at the right times and gave me the right tools to help me grow. So what do I do in return? I want to give back to those people. And I want to give back to other people who are looking for the same thing. So I had so many players impact me. Now I'm an older player. I want to impact them because they're still aspiring in their career. So that's actually part of the joy that I still have in playing football. Yeah, it's part of it's a lot of it's throwing a football. A lot of it's being a mentor. You know, and if you can impact people in a positive way, I think the world's better, a better place for it. Ye
Stephen Pulvirent ah. I mean, obviously your time in New England, there was, you know, lots of changes, players coming and going, coaches coming and going. You know, it it's it's not a set lineup, but what was it like, you know, thinking about wanting to impact others? What was it like for you to go to a completely new team with a completely new group of people, a handful of people the exception? Yeah. And to think like, wow, this is a whole new organization of people I can I can make an impact on. Was that exciting? Was it scary was it both
Tom Brady yeah both no doubt exciting scary I was anxious I wanted to get to work there was a pandemic we couldn't even meet as coaches and players. I was getting anxious. I wasn't gonna know the playbook. The training camp started. I barely knew the plays. Midway through the year, I was still trying to figure out how to call plays. I would just read them off my wristband and try to visualize what was gonna happen, but it's like learning a completely new language. You spoke in English for 20 years. Now suddenly someone's like, hey man, let's go, let's speak some Spanish. And you're like, huh? Like that's that makes no sense to my brain. And then slowly but surely it starts to work a little bit and you gain a little trust. And sometimes you go back to what worked and you're trying to embrace anew. And then both people are meeting in the middle. So when I went to Tampa, I had taken, you know, all this 20 years of experience from one particular place where we had a lot of success and I was going to a different place that I thought I could really help. I could I thought I could help the players. I thought I could help the culture of the team. That's why they brought me there. So there was some growing pains, obviously. I think we met last week with a bunch of the captains and we talked about some of the real cool parts of last season. And really the end of the season was what was the most fun. You know, we kind of came together, but naturally we couldn't come together in the same way. You couldn't start that way in training camp because we were all social distance. We couldn't meet together. We had to sit outside. You know, you couldn't have friends over. You couldn't do anything after the game. So it took a long time for people to get to know one another, much longer than normal. So the last six weeks of the year, it was like, wow, we really started hit our stride, but we gained a lot of confidence in one another. We gained a lot of trust in one another. Yeah. It was a really unique experience, one that I hope I never have to go through ever again. But you know, I think we made the best of it. You could
Stephen Pulvirent say that. You could definitely say that. I think like empirically you made the best of it. I I think that's not I I don't think anyone can argue I wonder, you know, at the beginning of the season there was lots of talk, you know, oh Tom Brady's going going down to Tampa. Like, oh, how crazy would it be if Tampa won the Super Bowl? If like Tom Brady just goes and wins another Super Bowl. Does that stuff weigh on you? Or do you just have to like completely put it out of your mind once the ball's in your hand?
Tom Brady No, as part of it's it's pretty surreal. You know, it's like uh the TV's on and you're watching one of the shows and they're talking about you, you know, and I think maybe because it's happened for so many years now, maybe some of it's expected. But if you really step away, I mean it is hard to imagine. Like, man, they're really talking about me. Now, they're talking about me, the football player. The'yre not really talking about me the person. But, you know, still, it is very surreal to see people wearing your jersey. I mean, that was me as a kid. I was just a typical American kid that loved sports. I had all my idols, Joe Montana, Steve Young. These were guys that I just looked up to. And Jerry Rice. I love Jerry Rice and I loved Ronnie Lott. I loved Barry Bonds. He went to my high school. You know, I love baseball. I love basketball. I love Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin, all the Bay Area teams where I grew up. You know, and now I'm on the other side of that. You know, like I was in New England for 20 years. You know, there's kids that are named Brady. You know what I'm saying? That's like there's dogs that are named Brady too, but it's all good. You know, it's it's very surreal to even have those things. Have someone says, I'm I name my son after you. I mean, I don't even know what you say to that, you know, other than thank you. Like that's yeah, it's it's amazing. So a lot of it is just really unique things that have happened in my life. I still the only thing I could think about is just, you know, how do I how do I help other people? How do I give back when it's my opportunity to do it in the different ways that I can? And again, I learned I can't be all things to everybody either. So you know you got to have the right balance in there where you can satisfy you know what's inside of you to give back and also to take care of yourself so that you can continue giving too. So I have a lot to give. And I think there's a lot of time and energy still focused on being a great quarterback that when that's done, although I'm a little fearful of it ending, I am open to the belief and I and I really believe it'll happen there'll be a lot of opportunities for me to do things that I haven't had a chance to do that I really think I can really help a lot of people. Yeah. I
Stephen Pulvirent love that you brought up like the guys whose jerseys you had as a kid. And it makes me think of this idea of like a there's like a fraternity of greatness, right? There's like this group of people, men and women, who are greats. And I know you would probably never refer to yourself that way. You're too humble, but I'll do it here. Like you're one of the great athletes of all time, you know, and there's only a handful of people whose names could be put alongside yours, the Michael Jordan's, Joe Montana's, those kinds of folks, Serena Williams, those kinds of people. And I wonder, is there something about that experience, about being that sort of person and being in the public eye in that sort of way that you think only that very small group of people can understand something that people might not even think about? It's a great question
Tom Brady . I think there's just probably depends on the personality. You know, everyone's a little bit different, obviously. There's some degree of isolation with those things. You're not really looking for new friends, I would say. You kind of have your friends, and yeah, there's people that come with your life and so forth, but I think once you get to a certain point, you've had a degree of success, you're always kind of questioning what the motivations are of someone. So I'd say it's very comforting to have old relationships that you kind of know inherently they love you, the person, not you, the football player, tennis player, so forth. A lot of those family relationships. I think it'd be very challenging if you didn't have the family foundational support. My family, I had three older sisters. They were always kind of there for me. My sisters were my parents were. But I think people see you as something that maybe you don't see yourself as. You know, it's hard to you see yourself from the inside out. Everyone else sees you from the outside in. So I still feel like I'm a kid from San Mateo, California, you know, grew up on Portola Drive. Like I love playing football on the street. I mean, that's how I see myself from the inside out. A lot of circumstances in my life have changed. I wasn't born like a prodigy, you know what I'm saying? I wasn't born like a three-year-old that the world just bestowed greatness on, you know. It was like I had a process I went through. I had a lot of normal moments in my life to have create some type of baseline against. Yeah. Maybe the most challenging people are the people that don't have those things. You know, they really don't have anything that's relatable to anybody. I have a lot of things that are relatable to a lot of people, just based on my experience in my life. So I feel like I'm pretty grounded in that sense and I've around a lot of people that keep me grounded. Great
Stephen Pulvirent . Well I mean you've you've gestured to the idea that like your football career is, you know, toward the end, if not at the end, right? So what for you is next? I mean, A, are we gonna see on the field next year? And B, what else is coming? What are you excited about today? Like what are you looking forward to
Tom Brady ? I feel like my yeah, so yes, you are gonna see me on the football field next year. I had pretty serious knee surgery this offseason, which is the first surgery I've had in about twelve years. So I was really interested to see how it was gonna go because last year it just took a lot. Every week I was kind of tending to my knee and I thought I would love to see a season what it looks like when I'm not, you know, when I can really focus on some other strength stuff that I want to do, some other technique stuff where I'm not just focused on protecting my knee all the time. So it's been pretty intense this offseason from that standpoint, because it's been six and a half weeks that I've been dealing with the rehab process. The season went pretty long, obviously, into February. So it's just now I'm starting to feel like the off-season's happening and I'm gonna blink my eyes and the offseason's gonna be over. And you know, I don't think I've created the space in terms of what I'm excited about. Like I haven't really created the space in my life for things outside of football to really take over that level of excitement. I still feel like throwing a football is what I love to do. Yeah, there's other things I'm interested in, but not to the level of professional sports,. you You know when think of 75,000 people sitting at a game, I don't beats that. You know, you that's that's it's there's nothing gonna beat it. And I, you know, I talked to Michael Strahan about that. He's like, Tom, you're never not gonna miss it. You're just not. You know, you're gonna you're gonna miss it to the day you die. You're gonna realize that time came and went. You know, you're gonna have all those memories, you're gonna have all those relationships, but you know, it's gonna come and go and when it's it's gone, it's gone. And I think I'm just hanging on to those last moments where I still feel like I have the competitive desire to train hard, to put myself and our team in a position to succeed. You know, I took on a big challenge going to Tampa and I I still want to see I don't think that final story's been written yet. Yeah
Ben Clymer . And I I think, you know, speaking of the dedication, there was a a rumor or meme or tweet going around, I think, from Charles Barkley that said that he saw you in the parking lot before the match, the golf match, the charity match, and you were running wind sprints. And he said, Tom, what are you doing? And you said, I'm trying to win a Super Bowl. Did did that really happen? So they I mean yes, that that was that was a h
Tom Brady ell of a time by the way. So can imagine. Talk about playing in a golf tournament. I got Tiger Woods and Peyton and I love Peyton to death. And I mean you're playing with Tiger and I got Phil there. And it's a torrential downpour, I mean, for like nine holes. The fairways are this wide. There's like, you know, Florida jungle bush on, you know, both sides of the fairway. I can't hit the driver straight to save my life. So I just am trying to like feed the ball into the fairway somehow. So uh it was an amazing experience. Ultimately, we lost. But yeah, I was still training for football at that time. Maybe that was a little excuse for me of why I wasn't playing great golf, but I was gonna focus on trying to play football at the time. I think it was I was better served preparing for football than I would be for golf. Amaz
Stephen Pulvirent ing. That's awesome. Well, to wrap things up, you know, as we look forward, I gotta ask you a classic Hodinky question which is what watch is next what's the next thing entering Tom Brady's collection? So
Tom Brady it's gotta be an IWC. I always think the coolest IWCs are the top guns. Because if you always think about it, when you were a kid, man, when you said the guy had a great arm, he had a gun, man. That guy had a gun. You know, that's how you describe things. So I always felt like I want to be the top gun. You know what I mean? And how fitting that always was for IWC to have that actual watch. And I bought variations of that watch over the last, you know, 12 years or something like that. And I think it's just a classic piece that you know every watch collector should have is an IWC top gun. There's lots of different versions. I've had this one with the olive green strap. I wear this a lot. Oh yeah. What about you guys? Do I get to ask one question? Yeah, of course, man. What's your next watch? So I'm talking to the two experts right here. I know. I know it's a big deep breath. I see two big deep bre
Stephen Pulvirent aths. All right, Steven, go for it. Uh, what is next? I mean, we're recording this during Watches and Wonders, so I'll I'll go. I don't know. I'm kind of torn between the new 36mm explorer, which I already own a 36 millimeter explorer, but like That's the world of watch collection. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's that's how you know I'm obsessed. But uh maybe the sterling silver tutor, that's that's kind of scratching the itch these days. That's cool. I I don't know. I like that idea. Yeah. How about you, Ben? Yeah, I I I I'm inter
Ben Clymer ested in these meteorite dial Daytonas. I'm just like interested in the idea of them. You know, I'm Daytona guy, uh you know, as many of us are, and the the meteorite yellow gold is is compelling. Also the the Longa One perpetual calendar is pretty pretty sweet. You know, we we talked about it, Stephen, the other day on air, but uh that I definitely want to see the metal for sure. For sure. Yeah. Beautiful
Stephen Pulvirent . I'm just waiting for uh IWC to make a smaller Mojave. So Chris, if you're listening, smaller Mojave. That's that's uh you'll you'll you'll get my business. You heard it here first. Yeah, exactly. Because I'm sure that's what Chris Granger is really worried about is whether I'm gonna buy another IWC or not. Yeah, what Steven thinks. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. He should be. Chris will listen. He's a great listener. Awesome. Well, Tom, thank you so much for joining us. This is so much fun. And uh we'll have to have you back soon. I'm in.
Tom Brady I'm in. I'm always gonna love talking watches with you guys. So I've seen a lot of talk and watches, uh interviews with Ben and his guests over the years. I've been working out with my Apple TV and I just plug it on and I watch and enjoy it. So amazing. Uh I think Ben does an amazing job doing those. Thank you, Tub. It means a lot. Really does for sure. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Thanks, fellas. Thank you.