As Tom Brady prepares for his first Super Bowl as a broadcaster for Fox, he sought advice from Al Michaels, who has called the game 11 times. Spending part of his gap year between playing and broadcasting, Brady reached out to select media members for insights on making a successful transition. Ahead of his first Super Bowl broadcast this weekend, Richard Deitsch of The Athletic contacted various broadcasters, including Michaels, to gather advice for Brady.
“I think he’ll feel much the way he did when he played. He’ll be ready to go and can’t wait for the buildup to end and for the game to start,” Michaels told Deitsch. “Once he gets going, he’ll settle in and get into that comfort zone. The platform will be his biggest challenge, but the game will guide him as a broadcaster.” He also suggested, “Maybe in the commercial breaks, lean back once in a while and savor the moment. That’s something he couldn’t do as a player. It’s exhilarating, so try to soak it all in.”
Michaels, who deemed Brady’s Fox debut “terrific,” first called the Super Bowl in 1988 alongside Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf, witnessing a 42-10 win for Washington over the Denver Broncos. He went on to call 10 additional Super Bowls throughout his career. Notably, this marks Brady’s 11th Super Bowl, though it is his inaugural broadcast after posting a 7-3 record in the game as a player. While it might seem surprising to consider that Brady could feel nervous about broadcasting a Super Bowl after playing in it ten times, doing commentary to an audience of over 100 million is a quite different experience than being on the field himself.
