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Tom Brady was tapped as the commencement speaker for Georgetown University’s business school graduation, and he gave his speech the only way Brady would know how.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion was praised highly by those who spoke before him, prompting Brady to quickly crack a joke seemingly about his former head coach Bill Belichick.
“I don’t do well with compliments. I had a coach for 20 years tell me how sh—y I was every day,” Brady said.
Brady said he was “grateful” to be with the graduates and their loved ones, “even the ones who are [New York] Jets fans.”
“Sitting here looking out at this crowd of amazing business majors, I realized something – sports was a very strange way to make a living. People screamed at me all the time, they gambled on my performance, and they celebrated all my failures. One way that sports is a lot like business, though, is that when you do it long enough, your life gets defined by numbers. Twenty-three, that was the number of pro seasons I played. Seven, those were my Super Bowl wins. Three, those were the Super Bowl losses. Damn it, Eli Manning,” Brady continued.
The thesis of Brady’s commencement, though, was battling through adversity and never quitting, and the best way for Brady to tell his motivational message was by telling the story of his Super Bowl LI comeback against the Atlanta Falcons.
Brady mentioned the number 99.7, saying if something happens 99.7% of the time, it is a “foregone conclusion.” When Brady began to tell the story of the comeback, he warned the audience of potential adult language.
“I was an athlete, so you might feel like you’re in a locker room a little bit,” Brady said.
Brady then mentioned how the Falcons had a 99.7% chance of winning the Super Bowl when they led 28-3 late in the third quarter.
“Not exactly how I thought the way things would go when I woke up that morning,” he said.
“But you know what? It happens sometimes. You guys are going to see that. You’re going to think you’re better than your competition, you’re going to work really hard and it’s still not going to go the way you want. You’re going to find yourself on the short end of that 99.7% wondering just how the hell you got there.”
“Overcoming fear and doubt in the face of those challenges is where you’re going to gain the confidence to make your best choices when things aren’t going the way you want,” he continued. “When the odds are stacked against you, when you’re facing your own 28-3 moment, and believe me it’s coming, you have a choice to make: to quit or to fight your a— off.
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“The choice seems pretty obvious, and it’s easier said than done. I mean, why spend all that energy fighting when it’s virtually certain you’ll lose? Why not quit and live to fight another day? Well, sometimes, there isn’t another day. Super Bowl LI, there was no other day… You may only get one chance to impress your boss or land a promotion, or to close a deal or not. So what, then? You better have prepared yourself in advance – to deal with the adversity you’re going to deal with in order to give yourself the best chance to succeed. Down by 25 in the biggest game of my life, do you think I just stumbled randomly into my decision to keep on fighting? The previous 25 years of my life had prepared me for that moment.”
“You don’t quit, and you don’t make excuses…” Brady went on. “When the opportunity to do something special presents itself, the people most prepared to meet the challenges will be the ones who have made the most hard choices, who have faced adversity and overcome it. They certainly wouldn’t have won all of their fights, but they never quit… If there was a 99.7% chance at anything, it’s that I would be behind the counter at Ben’s Chili Bowl before I was behind a center in an NFL game. But no one could imagine I’d end my career with seven world championships. Maybe, because none of those people knew that I would never, never quit.”
Brady said he had a choice to make while facing his 25-point deficit.
“I said to myself, ‘Don’t be a little b—h. Go out there and fight your a— off. Whether you win or lose, fight to the end.’ At that moment, we had no idea what the outcome of the game would be, but the one thing I’ve learned through sports is the only time you’re sure to lose is when you quit.”
Brady also told the graduates they may have to work with people they don’t like, “like guys from Duke,” as that will force them to face their own fears and doubts “on the path to being successful in life.”
“The odds are your 28-3 moment won’t end in a trophy or a parade. It may not even end in victory. It almost didn’t for us. But that’s not really the point,” Brady said. “These are all just momentary tests where failure isn’t final, only quitting is. The choice to fight is an opportunity to succeed, yes, but it’s also your chance to grow and show everyone that while you may be beatable, you are unbreakable…
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“The only thing worse than losing the biggest game of your life is losing respect for yourself along the way.”
To end his speech, Brady implored the graduates to surround themselves with people who push them to be their best, “even if one of those people is a cranky old coach who cuts the sleeves off their sweatshirt and screams at you all day.”
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