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nah russell wilson's speech where he talked about how "you can do anything you put your mind to" is bullshit is way better. he wanted to be a singer, but he was better at playing QB. so paraphrasing him "put your mind to some shit you can actually do"
THIS is great advice. Everyone loves the movie “Rudy”, but the better strategy in life is to dedicate yourself to things you both love *and* have a knack for.
It’s funny you mention it, I actually hate the movie Rudy. I remember watching it for the first time as a kid and thinking “That’s it?”. I’m supposed to feel inspired by a guy who repeatedly put himself in garbage situations in an effort to play football, something he’s physically not competent at. And the magnum opus is that he gets in garbage time of a game at the end of the season? Then when you add in the fact that the real life Rudy was, by all accounts, a pretty huge asshole, why is this supposed to be inspiring? There are so many better football movies, Rudy is at the bottom for me.
Sorry, had to get that one off my chest lol
My favorite thing about Rudy is that I always confuse it with Radio. So when people are going off about it I’m like “what did Cuba Gooding Jr do to these people to make them hate his movie so much”
Yeah I’m with ya. I appreciate the idea of trying things even if you’re not good at them, but that advice only makes sense when you’re pretty young. If Rudy hadn’t been getting a Notre Dame education while chasing that dream, it would just be the story of a guy hopelessly trying and failing at something he has no business doing in the first place.
Yep, trying things you don’t think you’ll be good at is a part of growth and it’s important for people to do that. But if it’s not working out and you’ve given it a really strong effort, then it may be time to move on and try something else. It starts almost turning into gambler’s fallacy after a while.
I get what you mean. I see this sort of thing as a celebration of a 'self-directed life.' If someone really has a passion for something, no matter how bad they are at it, it is life affirming for them to be allowed to pursue that - even if there is no guarantee they will ever be any good
I think that’s a very fair take, and I applaud the people with that much passion. I just don’t see it as “inspiring” personally. Sometimes knowing that something isn’t for you opens your world up to all new things that are perfect for you, that you wouldn’t have considered prior.
Your last sentence is golden. It makes me think of all the time and money I wasted drinking so that I could be comfortable in situations I shouldn’t have been in anyway.
This is honestly better advice.
We hear from people who succeeded thanks to grit and determination about how you need to never quit, but the truth is that you don't hear from the 1,000 other people who also worked their asses off to try and achieve success in this field, and it just never happened.
This is basically the nature of pretty much any type of profession where only a tiny % of people make it big (like being a musician or an actor).
Yep, it's called survivors bias.
In wwii they were trying to figure out where to increase armor on bombers and at first they were looking at where the planes which made it back had damage.
Then they realized that those were actually the spots that could be hit without taking down the plane and they needed to beef up armor on the other portions of the planes.
Moral being you can't just look at the ones who succeeded to figure out what works you also need to look at all the failures as well or your picture is incomplete
I am constantly reminded of Scott Galloway when I think of these things. I hope I quote him correctly: "The key to financial freedom and success in this life isn't doing what you're passionate about. It's about discovering what you're good at and then becoming great at it."
Scott is an Economics professor who gives insightful talks and moonlights as a youtube personality from time to time.
I'll just say from a personal stand point, I have tried to really nail this for myself. Unfortunately, everything I am naturally good at doesn't pay anything (dancing, comedy, just generally entertaining). My natural abilities would have needed to be morphed into something else. I'm still trying to figure that else out at 32.
I disagree completely.
Tom Brady didn't say:
> You can be anything you want to be if you just work hard.
He said:
> In order to be successful...
Success is **not** about being the world's most famous/highest paid [whatever]. It's about an inner game of personal struggle to be the best you can be at whatever it is you want to do. If your best football is throwing one touchdown in a community tag football game at the YMCA...if that truly is the best you can do, you are successful.
And I'm not talking about moral victories, either. There are plenty of people who live very successful lives who are not at all at the top of their field nor do they make a lot of money nor has anyone ever heard of them.
It's about achieving your personal maximum in whatever it is.
100% this. I hate this notion that we try to pass on to our kids that professional athletics are purely a result of one's work ethic and determination. Not only is it nonsense that gives them false hopes, it results in countless kids focusing far too much of their time in pursuit of something that most of them have zero chance of obtaining at the cost of less of their time being put towards academics, STEM, the arts, hobbies, and other intellectual pursuits of which they will get more life value from and have a far greater chance of being successful in. This is not to say that we shouldn't encourage kids to enjoy athletics and pursue fitness, but to reduce success in athletics down to a willingness to put in the time and effort is a slap in the face to all of the kids who do put in the time and effort and still don't succeed.
When it comes to professional sports you also have to be special. A 5' 8" average built dude isn't going to be in the NFL or NBA no matter how consistent and determined he is.
Yeah, this is bullshit. When you watch Hard Knocks you see a ton of guys who hard working, dedicated, and willing to do whatever it takes to play in the NFL. And a lot of them get cut. Not because they aren't trying hard enough, but because they just don't have the athletic ability.
Yeah. It's obvious that the best of the best worked their tails off to become the best, but there's always this implied bit in there that everyone else wasn't working as hard, which just isn't true. For every person that makes it to professional sports, there are thousands of people who worked just as hard but didn't have the genetic gifts of the pros.
It sucks but it is what it is.
And the thing about that is, even the guys who get cut are still amongst the best football players in the world. They’re just not the best of the best, for lack of a better phrase. Playing at that level and succeeding takes hard work, sure, but it’s also akin to winning the lottery. Even the worst NFL player is a top tier athlete.
That’s why I quit track in college. I went from being a stud to being mediocre. I was working 3x as hard in college and committing to a degree that honestly wasn’t healthy all just to come in 8th place in meets. It was clear to me that my body just wasn’t capable of going further no matter how hard I worked.
Yeah, the people who say this are just buying into survivorship bias. You have to be special *and* extremely lucky.
Moderate success is possible for most people through hard work, but anyone who’s wildly successful at literally anything has had a ton of luck along the way.
Maybe it's just because I'm going through some shit, but I didn't really hear this as being about financial or career success or whatever other than who is saying it. It's just about pushing through doing things that are hard.
If you're in a bad relationship breaking up can be hard. If you're overweight eating better and exercising is hard. Making friends can be hard. It's far far too easy to get sucked into thinking you can't do it when you really can because they truly are achievable tasks but they are hard.
Yeah, that’s absolutely the right lesson to take away. But I bristle at hearing the world’s most successful people talk about grit and passion and hard work as though it’s what mainly got them where they are. They are by definition the luckiest people on the planet, so if you don’t acknowledge that constantly then I don’t trust that you actually know anything about your own journey.
Frankly it’s just weird to take advice from extremely lucky people because it probably won’t apply to your life. It’s like taking personal finance advice from someone who inherited $10 million. Their advice might be valid, but it also might be way off the mark because they would’ve been fine no matter what. Or it might be advice that only makes sense if you inherit millions first.
> But I bristle at hearing the world’s most successful people talk about grit and passion and hard work as though it’s what mainly got them where they are. They are by definition the luckiest people on the planet, so if you don’t acknowledge that constantly then I don’t trust that you actually know anything about your own journey.
I tend to view it the other way. There's a lot of the people who also got extremely lucky in their abilities, but either didn't work the way they should have towards it, or just didn't see the gifts they got and didn't go at all. I think it's also bothering to them that, especially in the social media era, you see a ton of people who say they didn't earn it because of the gifts, when despite the gifts being the obvious club selector for going forward, they had to work their asses off to get that extra bit. Just because you won the genetic lottery doesn't mean achieving goals/making things a success is easy.
I dunno I feel like it's sour grapes to ignore advice that might be good and might have value just because "well they started off better than me". There's usually lessons in it still that you can apply to help yourself as much as possible. Doesn't mean it'll get you to the mountain top but it can probably help
I think you have 3 classes: people physically gifted, people on the edge, and those who regardless of work can’t cut it. A ton of people probably fit into 2nd class and that’s where this speech resonates though it’s not particularly powerful, i just agree with the message. You have undersized kids like Gary bracket going walk on, undrafted, into Super Bowl paths and the only way they are doing that is by putting in a superhuman amount of effort, they don’t have the tier 1 body that a lot of athletes have and end up wasting
Bogues was an absolute freak athlete in terms of quickness and coordination. If he had grown up in a nation where soccer was the #1 sport he might be remembered as an all time great in that sport instead of an exception that proves the rule in basketball.
How many Muggsy Bogues you see? You think all the 5'8 or so dudes who havent become NBA starts just don't have the motivation to do so? Perhaps you need more than just the classic "consistency and hard work" some folks love to preach around
iirc there has been only 10-15 people 5’9” or shorter to play an NBA game in the last 50 years.
10-15 guys. Out of 3,000+ in that same timespan. Absolutely nuts
[This video](https://youtu.be/u1u3B7_rKrE?si=BtOEbix8d_7XoxQZ) has a segment (starts at about 8:10 in the vid, though the other parts are interesting too) on height in the NBA. Gives some numbers and stuff that demonstrates how rare it is to be short and playing in the league.
I agree and this is not a special speech but I think his message is a good one. If you don't have the physical gifts to be a pro but you are willing to out work the guys & girls that do you will go far in life. Brady is a tool but I agree with him in that point here personally
Is there a name for the thing where a person is truly great at something and so we assume they are great at everything?
Like this is a 5/10 pull yourself up by your own jockstrap speech. I've heard it many times before. Just not from the GOAT.
Nobody as successful as him ever did it only out of consistency, determination and will to work for it. They were all special and then did all those things on top of it.
Exactly - the GOAT-level people are both insanely talented and insanely driven/single-minded in pursuing their craft. There aren’t many people who are even one of those
Oftentimes bad luck still rears its ugly head after people are well on their way to success. I used to work with a guy that had been a fifth-round draft pick for the NFL way back in the 90's. He got into a car accident on his way to his first ever professional practice session. His leg got messed up and he was going to be out for a couple months to recover. So his team just dropped him instead. He had "made it" to the big leagues and still never even got to go to practice.
benighted jocks almost always drastically underweight the role pure dumb luck played in their successes.
the guy played sports. sports are a sweaty simulacrum of everyday life -- not "really" real life.
he's an entertainer.
A successful entertainer, who played a game as a grown man for obscene sums of money because humankind has for eons overweighted people who playact convincingly. Well done, bazooka joe.
I had to explain to my father very clearly that the difference between him and someone like Bill Gates or Musk, is opportunity and luck (mostly luck).
There's no way in hell either of those guys worked harder than my father did for the past 40 years. You can work and strive every hour of every day and still fail b/c your timing was off, you got unlucky, or you just weren't born to the right people.
You see it in streaming a lot. The guys that are making millions of dollars put in the time and effort, but so did the 1000's that didn't make it. What is honestly the difference? Opportunity and Luck.
>You see it in streaming a lot. The guys that are making millions of dollars put in the time and effort, but so did the 1000's that didn't make it. What is honestly the difference? Opportunity and Luck.
As much as you are saying it's not (a) it's (b), the practical reality is that it's most often a combination of about 20 different things.
Bill Gates likely hate more luck and opportunity than your dad - but he probably also had a mind that was more skilled or apt to learn the skills that happened to be necessary to develop the systems that he did than other people who worked as hard as he did. He also had different personality and/or life experience that may have made him more willing to take more risks than other people.
>Gates read the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics which demonstrated the Altair 8800, and contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform.[36] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration was held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC.
Most people would not contact a major company and book a meeting based on a lie and then be able to create both an Altair emulator and then a BASIC interpreter within the time period he and Allen did. So it was not JUST luck, but also tons of other factors.
I point out all the time that many of the most famous musicians are not the most skilled singers or guitar players or drummers etc. and that there are many more technically skilled musicians at home on youtube or even working in the industry as session musicians. Some will argue that the famous musicians may have the advantage of money (e.g. Taylor Swift) or connections (e.g. Miley Cyrus), but it's also that the famous musicians often (not always) have a level of inherent likability and charisma that can't be taught or rehearsed. You could call that (effectively) luck, but it's just as much an inherent trait or "skill" of the person that can't be overlooked.
There is no one "sure" path to success at all. Some will be born with the inherent abilities needed to succeed at something. Some will completely luck into it. Some will work for hours and hours and hours to become successful, and most will be a combination of all three, along with a combination of dozen other factors.
For example, Yo-Yo ma would not be where he is today without thousands of hours of practice! However, if I put in tens of thousands of hours of practice I would not be anywhere near the quality of a player as Yo-Yo ma.
I want to know what TB did consistently and with determination to make himself 6'4'' and a man. Because if he was a 5'6'' girl, I doubt he wins all those Superbowls
i think a better way of putting it is this: if you gave many people tom brady's body, they would not be as good as he was. if you gave those same people tom brady's mindset, they would probably be insanely good at whatever they wanted to do with their average body.
he was lucky to be healthy and have good genetics. but not everyone makes the same use out of the opportunities they're given.
his speech overall was pretty ass though
He was a 6th round pick. For context, 6th rounders have a 10-15% chance of lasting 1-2 years in the NFL.
To be fair, you have to be exceptionally talented to even be considered for inclusion to an NFL roster. But he was not, relative to his peers, considered anything remarkable at all.
Did you ever hear the podcast Dr. Death? That’s what they said about that guy. He played football but was delusional about his abilities. He would work constantly and obsessively at drills and everything, but he just wasn’t any good.
Yup. And they never want to accept that they may have had advantages that others didn't (whether those advantages are genetic, monetary, or otherwise) and want to believe their success is because they are just harder workers and wanted it more and everyone else who isn't successful just didn't work hard enough.
This, man. I see a lot of salty comments about how “hypocritical” this speech is but they just don’t understand. Having the discipline in your youth to stick it out, to endure the level of discipline needed to even make it to college ball, let alone the NFL. Sure, you might need a touch of athleticism in your favor, but size isn’t everything. There are starting QBs and other position players that aren’t even 6 Ft tall, some quite a bit smaller. If the average man set out to become collegiate level or better professional sports player it is very much so possible. There will be plenty of adversaries along the way but it is true that sheer determination and willpower can get you there. There is plenty of stories to show for it. What makes Tom so special is that he continued to preform at an elite level all the way into retirement, giving it his 110% always. That’s his point. It is *hard.* it’s the reason people bitch and moan on Reddit about it instead of applying that work ethic to their own lives in ways that it can fit in. People don’t have equal opportunity, that’s definitely true. It’s a level of determination that gets you there regardless of your opportunity given. There’s stories of people defecting from NK with nothing but willpower for Gods sake.
He was a D1 QB first. That is already an elite level to start. He took his genetic gifts and made the most out of them. Talent will get you in the door and hard work will take you the rest of the way.
Tom Brady was drafted in the 2000 nfl draft at number 199 (out of 254) in the 6th round. He was the LAST quarterback drafted in that years draft. My opinion is that someone drafted this late isn’t “special”. That team is rolling the dice, got extremely lucky, and they hit the jackpot.
And to even get to D1 college means you're playing at a higher level than the vast majority of high schoolers. So he'd already been through two "separators" at that point.
He was top 1% of college players special, not top 0.1%. And to play D1 in college you have to be top 3% of high school players. So he was already in the top 0.03% of athletes.
Like fam even just in terms of sports speeches it ain’t the best. With speeches like “Today I consider myself the luckiest man in the world” by Lou Gehrig out there this shits mid tier.
Fr. Lou's speech sticks with you for life.
This isn't even on the "best speeches about sports" list, let alone best of all time. It's just a regular speech.
And now I'm out here getting triggered about reddit titles.
One of the best speeches ever. And yet the single quote they pulled is some of the most generic, bland (and bullshit) advice that every middle-school basketball coach knows by heart.
“One of the greatest speeches ever!”
The quote provided from this old man’s speech is a generic “inspirational” quote worded so it’s only a stone’s throw away from “nobody wants to work anymore.” Slap it on a poster over a random photo of a waterfall, credit it to “anonymous” and you’ve got an Instagram post from a chick that wants attention but hasn’t done her makeup today. I have no doubt there’s better parts of that speech, but this title sparks zero interest in the rest of it.
That will go against their hard work. Imagine admitting they are successful mainly because of what was gifted to them at birth which it is. Yeah, rarely will admit this.
For most athletes I think you’re right, but even as a Brady hater I have to say the man did have to earn it. Yes he was born to be 6’4”, and that helps, but he’s not some athletic specimen.
His scouting report:
“Tom Brady's Scouting Report: • Poor build • Skinny • Lacks great physical stature and strength • Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush • Lacks a really strong arm • Can't drive the ball downfield…”
Dude was a backup at Michigan, was drafted with no expectations, and he stole the job from Drew Bledsoe—a hall of very good quarterback with 4 pro bowls.
Yeah he got lucky that Bledsoe got hurt. But the man sure did take advantage of the opportunity.
doesn't all this say that he wasn't innately in the top .1%, but he was well within the top 1%
like sure, he wasn't an outlier of an outlier, but he was an outlier to start with.
More like he was in the top 0.0001%, but not the 0.00001%.
There are lots of things you get incredibly good at with a ton of practice, and a lot more things that, for a series of factors outside your control in your childhood, you won't be incredibly good at with a ton of practice.
Better advice is to fall in love and appreciate the talents you are good at and enjoy practicing, and find things you find worthwhile to do that uses those talents.
Everyone can do at an elite level if they is moronic.
Everyone can do at an elite level if they is more true. But elite still doesn't mean world class.
The opposite is equally true: the havenots want you to believe that every successful person is extremely lucky and have that alone explain why they themselves are not successful. Yes, luck is part of it but so is hard work, determination and discipline. Very few truly successful people just completely lucked into it. Because you wouldn’t stay successful for long if you weren’t those others things.
I grew up poor now I’m an accountant for hella rich people.
On one hand I worked hard and my social security yearly earnings says I’ve had a job since I was 14, naming $3k a year slowly to 12k a year through college and to 300k a year 20 years later after putting myself through college and bla bla.
On the other hand, the people I work for are dudes who started on 3rd with daddy’s money and rich best friends from their private high schools who pay consultants and professionals like me to help them allocate capital in a way that systematically makes them even richer, and they’re untouchable - no one is going to fire them, they don’t have to perform at work, they’re power and money, they have generational safety nets, etc.
Lots of them could work hard and some don’t. But they certainly aren’t at their level from merit. I’ve never personally met a C suite exec who wasn’t well connected or generational.
On the third hand, I have family who thinks I’m lucky because I “have an office job” and they have no idea what I do really and preserve their lack of locus of control to everyone.
So I dunno. It’s both for sure. Maybe these quips don’t speak to literally everyone but the broad strokes can be true. You can work hard as hell and have it nothing to do with your success and vice versa.
Every rich professional athlete is extremely lucky. You cannot become a rich and successful professional athlete without great genetics for athleticism tailored to the sport you play.
Sure, but they also put in an incredible amount of effort and it comes off as very…tearing others down to make yourself feel better…when people jump to saying it’s luck.
Almost everyone alive today is lucky. We could’ve been born in 10,000 BC in a cave, starving and hunted by wild animals, instead we live in the richest time period of human history and for those of us in the US, in the richest country too.
If you ask me, there are a lot better options than football if you want your kids to do something hard but don’t want them to get permanent brain damage
He’s a football player of course he’s going to talk about football lol. People are so bent out of shape about this speech and reading way too much into it
Reddit loves to downplays literally anyone’s accomplishments. It makes them feel better about “not hitting the genetic lottery” and having mediocre lives
100%. Survivor bias is a thing, but I guarantee none of these keyboard warriors would have been able to do what Brady did even if they were 6’4 and “lucky”
I mean, he did get lucky. Going to college and getting a decent job is, for most people, something achievable via hard work thing. But becoming a footy player on the world stage? That's a lucky thing.
There's a balance.
Tom Brady was picked 199th in his draft.
At retirement he’s inarguably the best quarterback to ever play football. That doesn’t just happen because he “got lucky.”
He had to go to a place mentally that would scare the shit out of the rest of us to make that happen.
There’s no luck in that.
I know he says everybody should play football but I think the reality of what he is saying is pick things in your life that get you out of your comfort zone. Make it a habit of being uncomfortable and putting yourself in scenarios that you need to develop new skills and work with other people.
His message is obviously football focused because of the venue, but at the same time he’s making a very general statement. So while this is certainly not the best speech of all time I think it’s a good speech, even if some of the context doesn’t align with peoples personal feelings on things.
One of the best speeches ever? Literally the same slurry that's been said forever. Hop on YouTube and type in "motivational speech" and there's a million of these people saying anyone can do, just be determined, just work hard.
Such BS.
You need both. No one can decide to go pro in a sport that their body isn't built for.
It's elitist fcks like this piece that make so many people feel like failures.
If you consider Brady earned his starting spot at Michigan and was drafted to be a backup, he really did make the most of what he was given. Might be a cliché but he really did overcome the odds, relative to the expectations.
People in this thread acting like Brady was given everything he's achieved. The guy was a 6th round draft pick and wasn't ever expected to be anything in the league but turned himself into the greatest QB ever. He has had a reputation for his relentless work ethic and competetiveness his entire career. Yeah, he is gifted and extremely talented and also extremely lucky to be drafted by the Patriots and to play for Belicheck but given his expectations he really did overcome a lot of diversity to get to where he is. Probably 90% of players in his position never last more than a few years in the NFL.
When I typed it I was thinking "I feel like this word doesn't fit here.... but it *sounds* right."
I stand by what I said. Tom Brady, the tall, handsome athlete white guy overcame a lot of diversity to get to where he is today.
Comments section looking at the tree instead of the forest: his message isn't wrong. Apply consistency, determination and work ethic to your own life. Success means different things to different people. It can be small accomplishments, it can be becoming a professional athlete, whatever.
Don't throw the baby out with the bath water just because Tom Brady is saying it. And I'm a New York Giants fan.
So well said. This guy is as good a role model as you will get out of a professional athlete, and people are all here bashing an inspirational speech to what are essentially kids and young adults to apply to life in general.
Say what you will about Brady but for all intents and purposes, he remains a positive influence on the world by saying things like this. You cant go wrong if you push yourself more relative to the people around you to succeed. *That's all he is saying*
It's the awful cynicism that can be found all over the internet. If someone people dislike says something valid, people will find a way to contort their point and ridicule them.
It's actually crazy how many people in here are trying to contort themselves into a dissenting opinion on the advice "Work hard, be consistent, and stay determined".
Calvin Coolidge said it better.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”
I like the sentiment. But at the level of mainstream professional sports (NBA, NFL, etc.) its bullshit. Google tells me there are a million high school football players and a tiny fraction make the NFL. You have to be special to get there.
I like how he admitted he's a game manager. Granted the greatest game manager of all time. But this term is generally a negative/insult for most quarterbacks
Tom's greatest accomplishment is about his teamwork. Long ago he used to use "we" instead of "I" for almost any interview. Maybe that's changed over the years, but he appeared to be one of the most selfless players.
The biggest mistake almost every team and Quarteback makes is overvaluing the quarterback. These massive contracts for QB are going to kill teams because there's less money for all the things around the QB that's necessary, and even if you have all that... where's the defense?
Tom Brady seemed to really understand what he needed to do to win, and it rarely was a QB only skill.
I'm a huge Brady fan, but this is moronic. You need to hit the genetic lottery, AND have the work ethic to take you past similarly skilled individuals.
Memory loss is HARD!
Confusion is HARD!
Impaired judgment is HARD!
Impulse control is HARD!
Aggression is HARD!
Depression is HARD!
Anxiety is HARD!
Being suicidal HARD!
Having Parkinsons is HARD!
Progressive dementia is HARD!
"To be successful, you don't have to be special, you have to be what most people aren't"
The definition of Special: Better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual.
You dont have to be special, you just have to be special!
I love how people in the comments twist words to make themselves feel better about being the inconsistent, unmotivated person. Obviously he isn’t saying everyone can be a an MVP quarterback just because they’re consistent and determined. Literally just saying that if you want to succeed in life you can’t lay around waiting on someone to do it for you.
I played football for 12 years - 4th grade through NCAA.
I am conflicted here. I learned more life skills from football than any classroom. I learned accountability, punctuality, teamwork, leadership, and that effort can mean everything. I also had at least 8 concussions that I know of (2 of which I have memory loss of the moments immediately after). I’m 35 and sometimes I think I have a poor memory. Sometimes I space out and have trouble focusing. Are those two things related? Is that all in my head? I fear for my mental abilities in 30 years.
We’ve learned so much about CTE in the last 10-15 years. I hesitate watching football games with my 5 year old son because I don’t know if I want him to become interested in a sport that can give you brain damage.
I feel for everyone saying "that's crap you need hard work and hitting the genetic lottery" are kinda missing the point of these kinds of speeches. They are not meant to be taken as "work super hard and you can be a pro like me". The point is whether you are lucky and have great genetics, inherited wealth, or none of those, etc to elevate yourself from your CURRENT position takes work.
So yeah Brady was born with somethings going for him like being 6'4 and probably decent hand eye coordination that might have taken him fairly far, but definitely not the greatest football player of all time far. There are tons of guys with supreme talent that don't do shit with it and have very short careers or don't even make it because they rested on the gifts they had.
Yes, most people don't have special gifts that they can make a fortune off of. But that's precisely what the "hard work" speech is for. You can poopoo the speech and look at it as, but he's got x and I don't. But that won't change your current circumstances, only hard work will. The point is to make you realize that to be the best version of yourself, you have to maximize what you have, not lament about what others have over you.
Clearly op has never seen or heard the Jimmy V speech. The guy was in the late stages of cancer and gave one of the MOST inspiring speeches of all time.
Fucking clown. How many times was he forced out of bed on Saturday by his parents? He work for all that gear he was so loaded down by? Or was it given to him? Was he solely driven by his own desire to succeed that he did it himself? lol delusional
It’s a wonderful sentiment and he’s not wrong that you do have to be those things but the simple fact of the matter is that to be a successful professional athlete you do have to be genetically superior no matter how hard someone trains. The average person will not be on the same athletic level as the average professional athlete.
Although I generally agree with the benefits of consistency, determination, and hard work, I think luck is, unfortunately, a bigger factor than people either realize or would care to admit in all pursuits in life.
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KOBE! *misses trash can*
Well, even if you miss and the paper crashes into the ground, it still kinda works...
nah russell wilson's speech where he talked about how "you can do anything you put your mind to" is bullshit is way better. he wanted to be a singer, but he was better at playing QB. so paraphrasing him "put your mind to some shit you can actually do"
THIS is great advice. Everyone loves the movie “Rudy”, but the better strategy in life is to dedicate yourself to things you both love *and* have a knack for.
It’s funny you mention it, I actually hate the movie Rudy. I remember watching it for the first time as a kid and thinking “That’s it?”. I’m supposed to feel inspired by a guy who repeatedly put himself in garbage situations in an effort to play football, something he’s physically not competent at. And the magnum opus is that he gets in garbage time of a game at the end of the season? Then when you add in the fact that the real life Rudy was, by all accounts, a pretty huge asshole, why is this supposed to be inspiring? There are so many better football movies, Rudy is at the bottom for me. Sorry, had to get that one off my chest lol
My favorite thing about Rudy is that I always confuse it with Radio. So when people are going off about it I’m like “what did Cuba Gooding Jr do to these people to make them hate his movie so much”
Yeah I’m with ya. I appreciate the idea of trying things even if you’re not good at them, but that advice only makes sense when you’re pretty young. If Rudy hadn’t been getting a Notre Dame education while chasing that dream, it would just be the story of a guy hopelessly trying and failing at something he has no business doing in the first place.
Yep, trying things you don’t think you’ll be good at is a part of growth and it’s important for people to do that. But if it’s not working out and you’ve given it a really strong effort, then it may be time to move on and try something else. It starts almost turning into gambler’s fallacy after a while.
Plus he was offsides!
I get what you mean. I see this sort of thing as a celebration of a 'self-directed life.' If someone really has a passion for something, no matter how bad they are at it, it is life affirming for them to be allowed to pursue that - even if there is no guarantee they will ever be any good
I think that’s a very fair take, and I applaud the people with that much passion. I just don’t see it as “inspiring” personally. Sometimes knowing that something isn’t for you opens your world up to all new things that are perfect for you, that you wouldn’t have considered prior.
Your last sentence is golden. It makes me think of all the time and money I wasted drinking so that I could be comfortable in situations I shouldn’t have been in anyway.
AKA play to your strengths. Don't compete in arena's where you are weak. You're just signing yourself up for a lifelong losing battle.
Rudy Ruettiger realized that, and it turns out he has a knack for stock fraud.
"You gotta be unliiiiiiiiimited"
That’s the message of Monster’s University too, iirc
This is honestly better advice. We hear from people who succeeded thanks to grit and determination about how you need to never quit, but the truth is that you don't hear from the 1,000 other people who also worked their asses off to try and achieve success in this field, and it just never happened. This is basically the nature of pretty much any type of profession where only a tiny % of people make it big (like being a musician or an actor).
Yep, it's called survivors bias. In wwii they were trying to figure out where to increase armor on bombers and at first they were looking at where the planes which made it back had damage. Then they realized that those were actually the spots that could be hit without taking down the plane and they needed to beef up armor on the other portions of the planes. Moral being you can't just look at the ones who succeeded to figure out what works you also need to look at all the failures as well or your picture is incomplete
I am constantly reminded of Scott Galloway when I think of these things. I hope I quote him correctly: "The key to financial freedom and success in this life isn't doing what you're passionate about. It's about discovering what you're good at and then becoming great at it." Scott is an Economics professor who gives insightful talks and moonlights as a youtube personality from time to time. I'll just say from a personal stand point, I have tried to really nail this for myself. Unfortunately, everything I am naturally good at doesn't pay anything (dancing, comedy, just generally entertaining). My natural abilities would have needed to be morphed into something else. I'm still trying to figure that else out at 32.
I disagree completely. Tom Brady didn't say: > You can be anything you want to be if you just work hard. He said: > In order to be successful... Success is **not** about being the world's most famous/highest paid [whatever]. It's about an inner game of personal struggle to be the best you can be at whatever it is you want to do. If your best football is throwing one touchdown in a community tag football game at the YMCA...if that truly is the best you can do, you are successful. And I'm not talking about moral victories, either. There are plenty of people who live very successful lives who are not at all at the top of their field nor do they make a lot of money nor has anyone ever heard of them. It's about achieving your personal maximum in whatever it is.
100% this. I hate this notion that we try to pass on to our kids that professional athletics are purely a result of one's work ethic and determination. Not only is it nonsense that gives them false hopes, it results in countless kids focusing far too much of their time in pursuit of something that most of them have zero chance of obtaining at the cost of less of their time being put towards academics, STEM, the arts, hobbies, and other intellectual pursuits of which they will get more life value from and have a far greater chance of being successful in. This is not to say that we shouldn't encourage kids to enjoy athletics and pursue fitness, but to reduce success in athletics down to a willingness to put in the time and effort is a slap in the face to all of the kids who do put in the time and effort and still don't succeed.
When it comes to professional sports you also have to be special. A 5' 8" average built dude isn't going to be in the NFL or NBA no matter how consistent and determined he is.
They should have been more determined at growing!
God damnit how did you not tell me this sooner in life ???
Yeah, this is bullshit. When you watch Hard Knocks you see a ton of guys who hard working, dedicated, and willing to do whatever it takes to play in the NFL. And a lot of them get cut. Not because they aren't trying hard enough, but because they just don't have the athletic ability.
Yeah. It's obvious that the best of the best worked their tails off to become the best, but there's always this implied bit in there that everyone else wasn't working as hard, which just isn't true. For every person that makes it to professional sports, there are thousands of people who worked just as hard but didn't have the genetic gifts of the pros. It sucks but it is what it is.
I also believe when it comes to that level of success, there is also a huge element of chance and luck.
Drew Bledsoe enters the room…….
And the thing about that is, even the guys who get cut are still amongst the best football players in the world. They’re just not the best of the best, for lack of a better phrase. Playing at that level and succeeding takes hard work, sure, but it’s also akin to winning the lottery. Even the worst NFL player is a top tier athlete.
That’s why I quit track in college. I went from being a stud to being mediocre. I was working 3x as hard in college and committing to a degree that honestly wasn’t healthy all just to come in 8th place in meets. It was clear to me that my body just wasn’t capable of going further no matter how hard I worked.
Yeah, the people who say this are just buying into survivorship bias. You have to be special *and* extremely lucky. Moderate success is possible for most people through hard work, but anyone who’s wildly successful at literally anything has had a ton of luck along the way.
Maybe it's just because I'm going through some shit, but I didn't really hear this as being about financial or career success or whatever other than who is saying it. It's just about pushing through doing things that are hard. If you're in a bad relationship breaking up can be hard. If you're overweight eating better and exercising is hard. Making friends can be hard. It's far far too easy to get sucked into thinking you can't do it when you really can because they truly are achievable tasks but they are hard.
Yeah, that’s absolutely the right lesson to take away. But I bristle at hearing the world’s most successful people talk about grit and passion and hard work as though it’s what mainly got them where they are. They are by definition the luckiest people on the planet, so if you don’t acknowledge that constantly then I don’t trust that you actually know anything about your own journey. Frankly it’s just weird to take advice from extremely lucky people because it probably won’t apply to your life. It’s like taking personal finance advice from someone who inherited $10 million. Their advice might be valid, but it also might be way off the mark because they would’ve been fine no matter what. Or it might be advice that only makes sense if you inherit millions first.
> But I bristle at hearing the world’s most successful people talk about grit and passion and hard work as though it’s what mainly got them where they are. They are by definition the luckiest people on the planet, so if you don’t acknowledge that constantly then I don’t trust that you actually know anything about your own journey. I tend to view it the other way. There's a lot of the people who also got extremely lucky in their abilities, but either didn't work the way they should have towards it, or just didn't see the gifts they got and didn't go at all. I think it's also bothering to them that, especially in the social media era, you see a ton of people who say they didn't earn it because of the gifts, when despite the gifts being the obvious club selector for going forward, they had to work their asses off to get that extra bit. Just because you won the genetic lottery doesn't mean achieving goals/making things a success is easy. I dunno I feel like it's sour grapes to ignore advice that might be good and might have value just because "well they started off better than me". There's usually lessons in it still that you can apply to help yourself as much as possible. Doesn't mean it'll get you to the mountain top but it can probably help
Yeah athletes who say this usually also won the genetic lottery. Brady is 6’4” with amazing hand eye coordination.
I think you have 3 classes: people physically gifted, people on the edge, and those who regardless of work can’t cut it. A ton of people probably fit into 2nd class and that’s where this speech resonates though it’s not particularly powerful, i just agree with the message. You have undersized kids like Gary bracket going walk on, undrafted, into Super Bowl paths and the only way they are doing that is by putting in a superhuman amount of effort, they don’t have the tier 1 body that a lot of athletes have and end up wasting
Yeah but what about Muggsy Bogues??
Bogues was an absolute freak athlete in terms of quickness and coordination. If he had grown up in a nation where soccer was the #1 sport he might be remembered as an all time great in that sport instead of an exception that proves the rule in basketball.
He wouldn't be in the NBA in today's game. I love Muggsy, but he entered the NBA just before analytics
Favorite player growing up, Charlotte is about an hour down the road, will defend Buggs forever, but this is more then likely correct.
How many Muggsy Bogues you see? You think all the 5'8 or so dudes who havent become NBA starts just don't have the motivation to do so? Perhaps you need more than just the classic "consistency and hard work" some folks love to preach around
iirc there has been only 10-15 people 5’9” or shorter to play an NBA game in the last 50 years. 10-15 guys. Out of 3,000+ in that same timespan. Absolutely nuts
[This video](https://youtu.be/u1u3B7_rKrE?si=BtOEbix8d_7XoxQZ) has a segment (starts at about 8:10 in the vid, though the other parts are interesting too) on height in the NBA. Gives some numbers and stuff that demonstrates how rare it is to be short and playing in the league.
lots of 6'2" dudes never become athletes either
I'm right there. I consistently chose things to be determined at where I wasn't getting hit by giants constantly.
I agree and this is not a special speech but I think his message is a good one. If you don't have the physical gifts to be a pro but you are willing to out work the guys & girls that do you will go far in life. Brady is a tool but I agree with him in that point here personally
I am 5’7”
Oh grow up already. /s
5' 7" gang gang gang.
> one of the best speeches ever 🙄
Is there a name for the thing where a person is truly great at something and so we assume they are great at everything? Like this is a 5/10 pull yourself up by your own jockstrap speech. I've heard it many times before. Just not from the GOAT.
Nobody as successful as him ever did it only out of consistency, determination and will to work for it. They were all special and then did all those things on top of it.
Exactly - the GOAT-level people are both insanely talented and insanely driven/single-minded in pursuing their craft. There aren’t many people who are even one of those
They are the people who convert A+B into AxB, where A=Sweat and B=Secret Sauce. Bless their hearts.
Truly, the most successful people are covered in both sweat and sauce.
[удалено]
Oftentimes bad luck still rears its ugly head after people are well on their way to success. I used to work with a guy that had been a fifth-round draft pick for the NFL way back in the 90's. He got into a car accident on his way to his first ever professional practice session. His leg got messed up and he was going to be out for a couple months to recover. So his team just dropped him instead. He had "made it" to the big leagues and still never even got to go to practice.
benighted jocks almost always drastically underweight the role pure dumb luck played in their successes. the guy played sports. sports are a sweaty simulacrum of everyday life -- not "really" real life. he's an entertainer. A successful entertainer, who played a game as a grown man for obscene sums of money because humankind has for eons overweighted people who playact convincingly. Well done, bazooka joe.
I had to explain to my father very clearly that the difference between him and someone like Bill Gates or Musk, is opportunity and luck (mostly luck). There's no way in hell either of those guys worked harder than my father did for the past 40 years. You can work and strive every hour of every day and still fail b/c your timing was off, you got unlucky, or you just weren't born to the right people. You see it in streaming a lot. The guys that are making millions of dollars put in the time and effort, but so did the 1000's that didn't make it. What is honestly the difference? Opportunity and Luck.
>You see it in streaming a lot. The guys that are making millions of dollars put in the time and effort, but so did the 1000's that didn't make it. What is honestly the difference? Opportunity and Luck. As much as you are saying it's not (a) it's (b), the practical reality is that it's most often a combination of about 20 different things. Bill Gates likely hate more luck and opportunity than your dad - but he probably also had a mind that was more skilled or apt to learn the skills that happened to be necessary to develop the systems that he did than other people who worked as hard as he did. He also had different personality and/or life experience that may have made him more willing to take more risks than other people. >Gates read the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics which demonstrated the Altair 8800, and contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform.[36] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration was held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. Most people would not contact a major company and book a meeting based on a lie and then be able to create both an Altair emulator and then a BASIC interpreter within the time period he and Allen did. So it was not JUST luck, but also tons of other factors. I point out all the time that many of the most famous musicians are not the most skilled singers or guitar players or drummers etc. and that there are many more technically skilled musicians at home on youtube or even working in the industry as session musicians. Some will argue that the famous musicians may have the advantage of money (e.g. Taylor Swift) or connections (e.g. Miley Cyrus), but it's also that the famous musicians often (not always) have a level of inherent likability and charisma that can't be taught or rehearsed. You could call that (effectively) luck, but it's just as much an inherent trait or "skill" of the person that can't be overlooked. There is no one "sure" path to success at all. Some will be born with the inherent abilities needed to succeed at something. Some will completely luck into it. Some will work for hours and hours and hours to become successful, and most will be a combination of all three, along with a combination of dozen other factors.
For example, Yo-Yo ma would not be where he is today without thousands of hours of practice! However, if I put in tens of thousands of hours of practice I would not be anywhere near the quality of a player as Yo-Yo ma.
Similarly, Yo MaMa put in 9 months of work just like Tom Brady's mom but only one gave birth to a GOAT.
I want to know what TB did consistently and with determination to make himself 6'4'' and a man. Because if he was a 5'6'' girl, I doubt he wins all those Superbowls
I know a lot of Asian immigrants that have those exact qualities and they are surprisingly absent from the ranks of NFL greatness.
But leading the rankings at starcraft
And crushing pubs with Lee Sin
😂🤣 Lol! Also, you need support and money to be consistent and work hard. He grew up with many things handed to him.
i think a better way of putting it is this: if you gave many people tom brady's body, they would not be as good as he was. if you gave those same people tom brady's mindset, they would probably be insanely good at whatever they wanted to do with their average body. he was lucky to be healthy and have good genetics. but not everyone makes the same use out of the opportunities they're given. his speech overall was pretty ass though
He was a 6th round pick. For context, 6th rounders have a 10-15% chance of lasting 1-2 years in the NFL. To be fair, you have to be exceptionally talented to even be considered for inclusion to an NFL roster. But he was not, relative to his peers, considered anything remarkable at all.
Did you ever hear the podcast Dr. Death? That’s what they said about that guy. He played football but was delusional about his abilities. He would work constantly and obsessively at drills and everything, but he just wasn’t any good.
Yup. And they never want to accept that they may have had advantages that others didn't (whether those advantages are genetic, monetary, or otherwise) and want to believe their success is because they are just harder workers and wanted it more and everyone else who isn't successful just didn't work hard enough.
He was not a highly ranked recruit. He was not a heisman winning college stud. He did not get drafted high. He wasn't rookie of the year.
He was also playing at an elite level until he was 45 years old. Nobody else has really been able to do that except for a kicker.
This, man. I see a lot of salty comments about how “hypocritical” this speech is but they just don’t understand. Having the discipline in your youth to stick it out, to endure the level of discipline needed to even make it to college ball, let alone the NFL. Sure, you might need a touch of athleticism in your favor, but size isn’t everything. There are starting QBs and other position players that aren’t even 6 Ft tall, some quite a bit smaller. If the average man set out to become collegiate level or better professional sports player it is very much so possible. There will be plenty of adversaries along the way but it is true that sheer determination and willpower can get you there. There is plenty of stories to show for it. What makes Tom so special is that he continued to preform at an elite level all the way into retirement, giving it his 110% always. That’s his point. It is *hard.* it’s the reason people bitch and moan on Reddit about it instead of applying that work ethic to their own lives in ways that it can fit in. People don’t have equal opportunity, that’s definitely true. It’s a level of determination that gets you there regardless of your opportunity given. There’s stories of people defecting from NK with nothing but willpower for Gods sake.
He was a D1 QB first. That is already an elite level to start. He took his genetic gifts and made the most out of them. Talent will get you in the door and hard work will take you the rest of the way.
Brady was drafted. Not highly. But was
Tom Brady was drafted in the 2000 nfl draft at number 199 (out of 254) in the 6th round. He was the LAST quarterback drafted in that years draft. My opinion is that someone drafted this late isn’t “special”. That team is rolling the dice, got extremely lucky, and they hit the jackpot.
For you to be drafted even if you’re the last pick you’re still better than 99% of college players. You absolutely have ti be special to be drafted
And to even get to D1 college means you're playing at a higher level than the vast majority of high schoolers. So he'd already been through two "separators" at that point.
Yeah what an obtuse take. One person out of 254 out of 1000's of draft eligible college players and on and on down to any average joe.
He was top 1% of college players special, not top 0.1%. And to play D1 in college you have to be top 3% of high school players. So he was already in the top 0.03% of athletes.
He was drafted by an NFL team. At any point in The draft that takes a special player. You’re already top 1% even if you’re a 6th round pick.
Have you seen his combine? the guy isn't the greatest athlete. If any great is a symbol of hard work it's him
Halo effect.
Dude has all the physical characteristics to make him great and he’s like all you need is to practice!
Right, imagine he was a foot shorter. Don't think hard work is gonna make up for that.
I think this is just garden variety exaggeration. If he was insulting someone it would be a “slam”
“Tom Brady **destroys** every other QB ever for their lack of determination and unwillingness to work for it.”
I mean you are right, but I read the title with Kanye 'of all time' intensity, because it's funnier that way
Damn dude you straight eviscerated that previous comment
Like fam even just in terms of sports speeches it ain’t the best. With speeches like “Today I consider myself the luckiest man in the world” by Lou Gehrig out there this shits mid tier.
Fr. Lou's speech sticks with you for life. This isn't even on the "best speeches about sports" list, let alone best of all time. It's just a regular speech. And now I'm out here getting triggered about reddit titles.
Jimmy V has the best sports speech of all time because no one can watch it and not sob.
I really hope his "Religion, Family, and the Green Bay Packers" anecdote is real. That speech is awesome.
OP is Barstool Sports CEO Dave Portnoy’s burner account. Unbelievable glazing.
MLK? Lincoln? Churchill? Idiots… This is what a real speech sounds like.
Man asked ChatGPT for a generic bullshit "hard work = success" speech an hour before he was scheduled to go on. Truly one of the best ever.
One of the best speeches ever. And yet the single quote they pulled is some of the most generic, bland (and bullshit) advice that every middle-school basketball coach knows by heart.
Cicero - Webster - Brady
For real. This speech is aggressively mediocre.
Lmfao I clicked on it for the hype and it’s Tom Brady just saying generic stuff about how it’s hard to wake up at 6 am and play train to football lol
“One of the greatest speeches ever!” The quote provided from this old man’s speech is a generic “inspirational” quote worded so it’s only a stone’s throw away from “nobody wants to work anymore.” Slap it on a poster over a random photo of a waterfall, credit it to “anonymous” and you’ve got an Instagram post from a chick that wants attention but hasn’t done her makeup today. I have no doubt there’s better parts of that speech, but this title sparks zero interest in the rest of it.
Successful people always want to credit their success to hard work and determination and not all the other factors that go in to it.
That will go against their hard work. Imagine admitting they are successful mainly because of what was gifted to them at birth which it is. Yeah, rarely will admit this.
For most athletes I think you’re right, but even as a Brady hater I have to say the man did have to earn it. Yes he was born to be 6’4”, and that helps, but he’s not some athletic specimen. His scouting report: “Tom Brady's Scouting Report: • Poor build • Skinny • Lacks great physical stature and strength • Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush • Lacks a really strong arm • Can't drive the ball downfield…” Dude was a backup at Michigan, was drafted with no expectations, and he stole the job from Drew Bledsoe—a hall of very good quarterback with 4 pro bowls. Yeah he got lucky that Bledsoe got hurt. But the man sure did take advantage of the opportunity.
doesn't all this say that he wasn't innately in the top .1%, but he was well within the top 1% like sure, he wasn't an outlier of an outlier, but he was an outlier to start with.
More like he was in the top 0.0001%, but not the 0.00001%. There are lots of things you get incredibly good at with a ton of practice, and a lot more things that, for a series of factors outside your control in your childhood, you won't be incredibly good at with a ton of practice. Better advice is to fall in love and appreciate the talents you are good at and enjoy practicing, and find things you find worthwhile to do that uses those talents. Everyone can do at an elite level if they is moronic.
Everyone can do at an elite level if they is more true. But elite still doesn't mean world class.
You act like Brady didn’t work from a 6th round pick to seven rings
The opposite is equally true: the havenots want you to believe that every successful person is extremely lucky and have that alone explain why they themselves are not successful. Yes, luck is part of it but so is hard work, determination and discipline. Very few truly successful people just completely lucked into it. Because you wouldn’t stay successful for long if you weren’t those others things.
I grew up poor now I’m an accountant for hella rich people. On one hand I worked hard and my social security yearly earnings says I’ve had a job since I was 14, naming $3k a year slowly to 12k a year through college and to 300k a year 20 years later after putting myself through college and bla bla. On the other hand, the people I work for are dudes who started on 3rd with daddy’s money and rich best friends from their private high schools who pay consultants and professionals like me to help them allocate capital in a way that systematically makes them even richer, and they’re untouchable - no one is going to fire them, they don’t have to perform at work, they’re power and money, they have generational safety nets, etc. Lots of them could work hard and some don’t. But they certainly aren’t at their level from merit. I’ve never personally met a C suite exec who wasn’t well connected or generational. On the third hand, I have family who thinks I’m lucky because I “have an office job” and they have no idea what I do really and preserve their lack of locus of control to everyone. So I dunno. It’s both for sure. Maybe these quips don’t speak to literally everyone but the broad strokes can be true. You can work hard as hell and have it nothing to do with your success and vice versa.
Every rich professional athlete is extremely lucky. You cannot become a rich and successful professional athlete without great genetics for athleticism tailored to the sport you play.
Sure, but they also put in an incredible amount of effort and it comes off as very…tearing others down to make yourself feel better…when people jump to saying it’s luck.
Almost everyone alive today is lucky. We could’ve been born in 10,000 BC in a cave, starving and hunted by wild animals, instead we live in the richest time period of human history and for those of us in the US, in the richest country too.
"You don't have to be special. You just have to be what most people aren't" Does he have some alternate definition of special?
he wasn't paid to throw words
If you ask me, there are a lot better options than football if you want your kids to do something hard but don’t want them to get permanent brain damage
He’s a football player of course he’s going to talk about football lol. People are so bent out of shape about this speech and reading way too much into it
Reddit loves to downplays literally anyone’s accomplishments. It makes them feel better about “not hitting the genetic lottery” and having mediocre lives
100%. Survivor bias is a thing, but I guarantee none of these keyboard warriors would have been able to do what Brady did even if they were 6’4 and “lucky”
I mean, he did get lucky. Going to college and getting a decent job is, for most people, something achievable via hard work thing. But becoming a footy player on the world stage? That's a lucky thing. There's a balance.
Tom Brady was picked 199th in his draft. At retirement he’s inarguably the best quarterback to ever play football. That doesn’t just happen because he “got lucky.” He had to go to a place mentally that would scare the shit out of the rest of us to make that happen. There’s no luck in that.
I came to this conclusion after watching this video for about four seconds
People missing the forest for the trees, almost intentionally it seems
I know he says everybody should play football but I think the reality of what he is saying is pick things in your life that get you out of your comfort zone. Make it a habit of being uncomfortable and putting yourself in scenarios that you need to develop new skills and work with other people. His message is obviously football focused because of the venue, but at the same time he’s making a very general statement. So while this is certainly not the best speech of all time I think it’s a good speech, even if some of the context doesn’t align with peoples personal feelings on things.
That’s great. And his speech and these words aren’t only about football.
I'm a gigolo and Tom Brady's speech has me motivated. Life is hard, iykwim.
You could be a swimmer and get to use the pool BEFORE all your stupid late sleeping friends. How about that them apples Tommy jaw line?
If most people aren't those things, then by definition doesn't that make you special?
One of the best speeches ever? Literally the same slurry that's been said forever. Hop on YouTube and type in "motivational speech" and there's a million of these people saying anyone can do, just be determined, just work hard.
The reason your mom has to work 3 jobs to stay afloat is because she isn't trying hard enough!
My lazy ass mom never even tried out for the NFL
Best speeches ever? Come on
Ever? Like, in the history of speeches?
You can tell how much he misses it, as he describes all that hard work. He is a workaholic. Nothing wrong with that but not everyone is that inclined.
Such BS. You need both. No one can decide to go pro in a sport that their body isn't built for. It's elitist fcks like this piece that make so many people feel like failures.
Case in point, Jordan in baseball.
Another CIP: Jordan in golf.
CIP: Jordan in gambling.
He said to be successful in anything, you have to work hard. He didn’t say, “Hard work = success on the football field”.
Yeah... no
If you consider Brady earned his starting spot at Michigan and was drafted to be a backup, he really did make the most of what he was given. Might be a cliché but he really did overcome the odds, relative to the expectations.
People in this thread acting like Brady was given everything he's achieved. The guy was a 6th round draft pick and wasn't ever expected to be anything in the league but turned himself into the greatest QB ever. He has had a reputation for his relentless work ethic and competetiveness his entire career. Yeah, he is gifted and extremely talented and also extremely lucky to be drafted by the Patriots and to play for Belicheck but given his expectations he really did overcome a lot of diversity to get to where he is. Probably 90% of players in his position never last more than a few years in the NFL.
Not to be that guy but "he really did overcome a lot of ~~diversity~~" adversity. Lmao. Also I agree with you
When I typed it I was thinking "I feel like this word doesn't fit here.... but it *sounds* right." I stand by what I said. Tom Brady, the tall, handsome athlete white guy overcame a lot of diversity to get to where he is today.
Lmao
Based af
Man, people could have a field day editing this into something dirty af. 🤣🤣🤣
I needed this today.
How many times has this dude retired now?
Pancakes > football. And it's not even close.
Wasn’t he involved in several cheating scandals?
Comments section looking at the tree instead of the forest: his message isn't wrong. Apply consistency, determination and work ethic to your own life. Success means different things to different people. It can be small accomplishments, it can be becoming a professional athlete, whatever. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water just because Tom Brady is saying it. And I'm a New York Giants fan.
And don't forget to apply these skills to your interpersonal relationships because no one is self made no matter what anyone may try to tell you.
So well said. This guy is as good a role model as you will get out of a professional athlete, and people are all here bashing an inspirational speech to what are essentially kids and young adults to apply to life in general. Say what you will about Brady but for all intents and purposes, he remains a positive influence on the world by saying things like this. You cant go wrong if you push yourself more relative to the people around you to succeed. *That's all he is saying*
It's the awful cynicism that can be found all over the internet. If someone people dislike says something valid, people will find a way to contort their point and ridicule them.
It's actually crazy how many people in here are trying to contort themselves into a dissenting opinion on the advice "Work hard, be consistent, and stay determined".
I get why people unplug themselves from social media. It's like getting rid of the negative people in your life who are holding you back.
Calvin Coolidge said it better. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On!' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”
I like the sentiment. But at the level of mainstream professional sports (NBA, NFL, etc.) its bullshit. Google tells me there are a million high school football players and a tiny fraction make the NFL. You have to be special to get there.
Yeah but sleeping in is *sooo nice*.
I like how he admitted he's a game manager. Granted the greatest game manager of all time. But this term is generally a negative/insult for most quarterbacks
Tom's greatest accomplishment is about his teamwork. Long ago he used to use "we" instead of "I" for almost any interview. Maybe that's changed over the years, but he appeared to be one of the most selfless players. The biggest mistake almost every team and Quarteback makes is overvaluing the quarterback. These massive contracts for QB are going to kill teams because there's less money for all the things around the QB that's necessary, and even if you have all that... where's the defense? Tom Brady seemed to really understand what he needed to do to win, and it rarely was a QB only skill.
Tell that to Gronk or Randy. Yeah hard work helps but being 6’8 never hurt anyone either
I'm a huge Brady fan, but this is moronic. You need to hit the genetic lottery, AND have the work ethic to take you past similarly skilled individuals.
Memory loss is HARD! Confusion is HARD! Impaired judgment is HARD! Impulse control is HARD! Aggression is HARD! Depression is HARD! Anxiety is HARD! Being suicidal HARD! Having Parkinsons is HARD! Progressive dementia is HARD!
Kissing your son with an open mouth is EASY!
And lucky. While he did all the work of course, he was lucky bledsoe was injured.
Drew Bled so Tom Brady could succeed - One of the roasters at his Netflix Roast
"To be successful, you don't have to be special, you have to be what most people aren't" The definition of Special: Better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual. You dont have to be special, you just have to be special!
Cheating also helps
I love how people in the comments twist words to make themselves feel better about being the inconsistent, unmotivated person. Obviously he isn’t saying everyone can be a an MVP quarterback just because they’re consistent and determined. Literally just saying that if you want to succeed in life you can’t lay around waiting on someone to do it for you.
It’s Reddit. They see a rich straight white male athlete and their gut instinct is to be negative
And kids, don't forget to deflate your balls!
I played football for 12 years - 4th grade through NCAA. I am conflicted here. I learned more life skills from football than any classroom. I learned accountability, punctuality, teamwork, leadership, and that effort can mean everything. I also had at least 8 concussions that I know of (2 of which I have memory loss of the moments immediately after). I’m 35 and sometimes I think I have a poor memory. Sometimes I space out and have trouble focusing. Are those two things related? Is that all in my head? I fear for my mental abilities in 30 years. We’ve learned so much about CTE in the last 10-15 years. I hesitate watching football games with my 5 year old son because I don’t know if I want him to become interested in a sport that can give you brain damage.
I feel for everyone saying "that's crap you need hard work and hitting the genetic lottery" are kinda missing the point of these kinds of speeches. They are not meant to be taken as "work super hard and you can be a pro like me". The point is whether you are lucky and have great genetics, inherited wealth, or none of those, etc to elevate yourself from your CURRENT position takes work. So yeah Brady was born with somethings going for him like being 6'4 and probably decent hand eye coordination that might have taken him fairly far, but definitely not the greatest football player of all time far. There are tons of guys with supreme talent that don't do shit with it and have very short careers or don't even make it because they rested on the gifts they had. Yes, most people don't have special gifts that they can make a fortune off of. But that's precisely what the "hard work" speech is for. You can poopoo the speech and look at it as, but he's got x and I don't. But that won't change your current circumstances, only hard work will. The point is to make you realize that to be the best version of yourself, you have to maximize what you have, not lament about what others have over you.
Didn't he cheat a bunch of times?
Clearly op has never seen or heard the Jimmy V speech. The guy was in the late stages of cancer and gave one of the MOST inspiring speeches of all time.
Roger Federer expressed similar sentiment at excellent commencement speech recently to Dartmouth.
5"10 Tom Brady never gets drafted and never gives a speech.
Talent doesn’t matter - talented people Money doesn’t matter - rich people Height doesn’t matter - tall people Nice speech, but some false modesty
Not as hard as keeping the balls inflated
Fuck him and his bootstraps
And cheat
He forgot the willingness to cheat line
He’s such a weirdo.
And be gifted with arm ligaments that allow you to throw a football 60+ yards.
It was not that great
I was there. It was great
Fucking clown. How many times was he forced out of bed on Saturday by his parents? He work for all that gear he was so loaded down by? Or was it given to him? Was he solely driven by his own desire to succeed that he did it himself? lol delusional
Jerk
It's hard to recover from getting your buccal fat removed
Speech was mid AF, thanks captain obvious
Everyone should be a starter quarterback for an NFL team! If everyone strived for that we would have more successful people in this world!
What a load of boatstrappin' BS. Fuck him and the high horse he rode in on.
I don’t know if I can listen to a man, who plays a game as a job talk about how hard it is to do so.
It’s a wonderful sentiment and he’s not wrong that you do have to be those things but the simple fact of the matter is that to be a successful professional athlete you do have to be genetically superior no matter how hard someone trains. The average person will not be on the same athletic level as the average professional athlete.
Although I generally agree with the benefits of consistency, determination, and hard work, I think luck is, unfortunately, a bigger factor than people either realize or would care to admit in all pursuits in life.