Forgetting for a second about how the world is in complete and utter chaos, of the likes to which nobody could have ever imagined, something has become evident more than ever during this calendar year. While the areas of professional sports are currently every shade of gray ever created, we are becoming witness to two of the greatest athletes in generations actually becoming...human?
Tom Brady is the greatest football player who ever lived (said using Benny Rodgriguez's voice from The Sandlot). Tiger Woods is the most popular golfer who ever lived (steering away from saying the greatest for the Jack Nicklaus crowd) not only as an in-person golfer, but also to what he refers to himself as a 'YouTube Golfer'. His children can attest to this description, as can many who forget how great he was from 1997-2008ish? YouTube? This could make for an interesting segway, so let's start there. Social media allows for a special insight into someone's life, either in extreme and often uncomfortable detail, or in minute and miniscule glimpses. As we've noticed over the last 10 years, two formerly incredibly private lives in Brady and Woods are now becoming spotlighted via social media. Thinking in years past, when Brady was winning his first three Super Bowls, or Tiger was winning every tournament imaginable, it was often the job of the paparazzi or the newspaper tabloids to sneak a shot of these two world-reknown superstars when they weren't competing. I am certainly not interested in going into greater detail on how this virtually ruined Tiger's life for a number of years from 2009 and even before, but this was simply the only way we could tap into what Tiger was doing when he wasn't raising trophies.
The point of the blog is this: there have been multiple examples over the last two or three years where Tom Brady and Tiger Woods have stepped out from their historically private lives and have finally allowed the fan, the skeptic, the reporter and the next generation into what is somewhat going on inside their mind. The amount of times I've listened to podcasters, satellite radio hosts and even co-workers mention something like "never in a million years did I ever think Tom Brady would make a documentary for Facebook" or "if you told me Tiger would actually agree to a one on one pay-per-view match with Phil fucking Mickelson" back in 2004? 2005? It wouldn't happen, you'd be considered clinically nuts. Yet, here we are. All of these things happened, but that's just the start of how we have finally been awarded access into the lives of these two GOATs for the first time since, well, 1997?
Brady.
Social Media Draft:
Tom Brady wrote on Facebook in early January of 2017 that he will be choosing another form of social media to better connect with fans and develop somewhat of a presence online. I remember when he joined Facebook it was a total shock because he had always been laser focused on nothing but football for years. It seemed from the second he beat the Rams in the Super Bowl in 2002 until around roughly 2010-11 that nobody knew what he was doing away from Gillette Stadium. Shit, he was so private that the only time anyone saw him outside his house was when he was involved in a car accident circa 2010 sporting the Alabama football haircut. He was driving a black Audi (obviously) and was on his way to none other than the practice facility. There was no drama, nobody was hurt, but it was something that perked your ears up a little bit. It didn't exactly generate the level of interest that the whole Brandon Spikes abandoned car story did, but it's the Patriots and people are going to read. Fast-forward seven years and, while posting on Facebook to make his announcement, Brady alerted the masses he was 'joining Instagram' and he and his 7.5 million followers have taken off ever since. Something we all have noticed since joining the platform, contrary to what all local sports talk radio hosts have decided long ago, is Tom Brady has personality. In fact, he's fucking hilarious. While he posts his share of motivational content, the thing I notice most on his Instagram account are the comments he makes on other athlete's pages (mainly Julian Edelman). The guy is as active as any 22-year old influencer and while he may not be getting a sponsorship deal from #awayluggage his engagement certainly qualifies him for consideration.Tom vs. Time:
Next, there was Tom vs. Time, aka the documentary series which sort of came out of nowhere in 2018 and was filmed during the Patriots Super Bowl run in 2018 (eventually losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in a shootout). You can imagine how this series played out in Tom's head as he emerged again as a Super Bowl champion, but shockingly enough they fell short. Some argue (not me) that it made the series better from a viewer standpoint because of this loss, but imagine if we won that game? It'd win every independent documentary award possible because you just can't script a guaranteed Super Bowl win. I guess my two cents on the series starts with Facebook Watch in general. It's too clunky and difficult to find exactly what you're looking for. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Justin Bieber's latest series he filmed for YouTube rolled easily from one episode to the next if you're binge watching of course. The Tom vs. Time production was just too difficult to easily find, as are all videos on Facebook Watch. If you're going to do a project like this, just partner with Facebook's cousin YouTube and make it a more seamless experience for everyone. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't launch his own digital platform to release it on (TB12 productions coming soon!)Howard Stern Interview:
My last example, is the Howard Stern interview which was live on Sirius XM last Monday April 6. This thing was TWO HOURS! Imagine Tom Brady doing a two hour interview at any point in his career? I thought it was totally unorthodox of him to do a podcast, which he conducted with Peter King back in 2017, let alone an interview with the notorious Stern. Now granted, this isn't Howard Stern of the 90's, and this isn't Brady of his 20's. This was a very much watered-down Stern who is still making millions at this day and age and he had mentioned he'd wanted Brady on the show many times over the previous decade. Whether there is truth to the Patriots not allowing Brady on the show as pointed out in the interview, we'll never know. However my honest opinion of the entire thing (yes I heard it all) was that Brady opened up and he offered some glimpses into how his final year in New England stood. I'm fully aware his time in NE is over, and I'll never forget the moments he gave us as fans, but it was just incredibly surreal and shocking to hear how he moved his family to freakin FLORIDA and shuffled right into Derek Jeter Properties Inc. Now that I think about it, really the only takeaway I have of the interview a week later is that Jeter has crazy high walls/gates in front of the house to limit the fine folks down there. Where Brady lived basically in seclusion with his family in Chestnut Hill, MA for so many years, it's comical to hear him mentioned how his neighbors can just walk up to his driveway while walking the dog like it's everyday American life. He better get used to it.
Woods.
I recently purchased a book by writer Michael Bamberger entitled "The Second Life of Tiger Woods" and it couldn't be a more perfect depiction of the era we are currently witnessing play out with the most popular golfer in generations. Nothing needs to be said on 2009, and the days, weeks and months thereafter. We know, we get it. Now you flash forward a couple years in dealing with back injuries, his routine blog posts announcing he is yet again not ready to return to competitive golf will forever be a staple in those years in the mid-2010's. On Twitter, I still remember commenting on a tweet of his which filmed him hitting an iron shot for the first time since spinal fusion surgery (over 500 likes how do you like that) and thinking he had turned a corner. Imagine seeing a tweet of him hitting one iron shot in October 2017? In shorts no less? We knew we were in for a long period of waiting, similar to the worldwide population with the shit we're going through right now. Yet, we waited, and we watched, and finally we saw him win at the Tour Championship in 2018. And for the grand finale (for now) with a fifth green jacket last April. However, much like Brady, Tiger has started coming to light in the eyes of the fan. He's routinely started giving more interviews (more on this soon), also posting on social media, becoming more animated during press conferences and really beginning to show the average golf fan what life is like for Eldrick Woods.
Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson Thanksgiving 2018:
I did not watch this, just throwing that out there first. I was skeptical from the start, mainly because I was going to be traveling for Thanksgiving in 2018 and wasn't sure if I'd even be in position to watch this match. The match in question here, was a pay-per-view event which was intended to provide sports fans with a totally unorthodox at the end of the calendar year event that was destined to be full of shit-talking, caddie insight and heavy sponsor presence surrounding the making of this Las Vegas spectacle. From what I gather, Shadow Creek is very photogenic and was a strong candidate to host something like this. The issue was, it was Thanksgiving weekend. Aka the heart of football season. The reviews mention there was entirely too much silence during the broadcast and there are still opinions out there to this date of people giving their two cents on how this match could have been better. With talks of a re-match in the works and the inclusion of none other than Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, there are scenarios abound on how this can be a homerun especially at a time where sports are totally 100% non-existent.Tiger Woods Golf Digest Podcast (April 9)
As long as I can remember in recent memory, Tiger had appeared on only one podcast during his career (Geno Auriemma's podcast three years ago). This provided somewhat of an inside look in how Tiger was preparing to play competitive golf again and the status of his health. Well, flash forward to this year where absolutely nothing makes sense, the week before Tiger should be preparing for Augusta, he appeared on a podcast produced by Golf Digest and conducted by Henni Zuel. If anyone is wondering what Tiger is up to at this time, he mentioned he's trying to help daughter Sam and girlfriend Erica with this "Un-Godly puzzle, which is difficult because I'm partially color-blind." Never knew that. Tiger also mentioned he's helping Sam and son Charlie with home-schooling. Ten years ago I couldn't imagine Tiger giving any sort of update on his children (granted Charlie was born in 2009) but hypothetically if he had children during the mid-2000's there would be zero chance of allowing this type of look into his life.
Masters 2019 Recap with Jim Nantz
The Masters is a tradition unlike any other, and it just so happens this is a calendar year already unlike any other in some of the most disappointing and negative ways possible. Mainly, there was no Augusta this year. There was no champions dinner, no drive chip and putt competition, no par-3 contest and no four rounds of the greatest golf played all year. In hopes of providing some type of nostalgic and normal moment for sports fans globally, CBS, YouTube and ESPN have been re-airing old final rounds of the tournament and fittingly, on Easter Sunday, re-ran the 2019 Masters that brought literally generations together in one moment. While everything seems to be digital and online these days, CBS actually had Jim Nantz and Tiger collaborating during the broadcast together, as various interviews throughout the round was conducted. The most telling, and most emotional segment of even the entire calendar year, were the remaining five minutes once the broadcast showed Tiger winning his fifth Masters. Where there wasn't a dry eye when he won, there were an equal number of dry eyes hearing him talk about embracing his family on the last hole. For Tiger to be available over the course of a five hour broadcast, this truly marks a new era and a much, much more real Eldrick Woods.
In closing, this was a pretty surreal blog to write. Where nothing makes sense these days, Tom Brady and Tiger Woods have been at the tops of their games consistently throughout their entire careers. So much has been said about the privacy they choose to withhold over the year, and when we're able to get a peek over the fence, or through the window of what their lives might be like, now both in their 40s it sounds like they are becoming more comfortable at not shutting themselves out from reality. While we only have YouTube these days to relive some of these cherishable moments in sports, maybe once this is all over it'll only be just the beginning to truly learn what types of people Tom and Tiger really are.
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