Yoshi Maeshiro-
“During training camp, a reporter noticed a sequence where a receiver lined up in the wrong spot, a mistake the perfectionist quarterback would normally correct. Belichick ran a tough program—fiercely focused on the bottom line, largely emotionless in the pursuit of victory, known as the Patriot Way—and couldn’t have asked for a better steward and exemplar for two decades than Brady. Now things had changed. Brady stared at the coaches, waiting for them to jump in and fix the receiver’s mistake. The message was unmissable: after a career of assuming responsibility for the entire offense, Brady would take a step back”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
“Tommy was secure in his skills as a young athlete, but he contended with a palpable fear of being left behind. What if nobody saw what he saw in himself? It stirred something in him that never stopped. He taught himself to love—to be addicted to—the feeling of improvement. He always remembers how rewarding it felt to drive home with his dad after batting practice or hitting balls at the driving range, content in the knowledge that he was a little bit better, even if he was the only one who noticed.”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
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“Tom Sr. left early each morning and traveled the region, trying to build his insurance business. He returned home by 6 p.m., when his son would inevitably ask him to turn around and go back out. “I’d be like, ‘Dad, I had baseball practice and didn’t hit the ball well—can we go to the batting cages tonight?’ ‘Yep, let’s do it,’ ” Brady recalled. “Or, ‘Can we go up the field and you hit me ground balls?’ ‘Yep, no problem.’ Or, ‘Can we go to the gym and work on—during basketball season—shooting the ball?’ ‘Yep, no problem.’ ” ”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
“Brady never forgot the image of his father entering home tired and then leaving, often still in his work clothes, to help his son. “Being available to me was the greatest gift I could ever receive from my dad. He never said no to me.”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
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“ I once had a long discussion with Brady about two-minute drills, interested to learn how his mind worked during them, and he started off with a simple premise: “You have to have confidence, and it comes one way: doing a two-minute drill before and succeeding.” Brady had pulled off one of the defining acts for a quarterback in those precious, embryonic moments, and belief was forged rather than lost.”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
“Riley knew that being a great quarterback required more than a great arm. You needed an innate command of self and skill amid chaos, a quality invisible to most and barely discernible to trained eyes. He spent the rest of his life trying to identify it, trusting his own eyes and experience rather than statistics.”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
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“ne day in the fall of Brady’s junior year, Riley visited Serra High and watched him throw. He always looked first at a quarterback’s motion. Was it easy? Was it clean? Was it consistently over the top, or situational, taking different angles as necessary or due to sloppiness? How did the ball come out of a quarterback’s hand? Brady had a smooth arm—“a loose arm,”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
“ The 16-year-old threw a tight spiral, most of the time. His feet were heavy, but Riley didn’t care; in fact, he saw it as a virtue. Brady couldn’t escape the pocket. He couldn’t outrun anybody. So, rather than allowing his eyes to drop to the pass rush closing in on him—the telltale sign of fear in a quarterback—he would keep his vision fixed downfield, willing to hold the ball until the last possible second, allowing his receivers to get open. His mechanics didn’t crumble under pressure; if anything, they sharpened. ”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
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“MacKenzie took a deep breath. “Look around at everybody else on this field. You know what? There’s a very good chance that in ten years from now, everybody else on this field will no longer be playing. You’re still going to be playing. You need to understand that you are one of a kind.”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
“Nobody had ever spoken to Brady in those terms before, in the language of potential and promise extending perhaps even beyond a college career. MacKenzie saw in Brady what Brady saw in himself—that he could do this, play football, professionally. Riley saw it, too.”
Excerpt From: Seth Wickersham. “It's Better to Be Feared.” Apple Books.
