Fox NFL broadcaster Greg Olsen is the latest guest on SI Media With Jimmy Traina. Olsen talks about going into this NFL season as Fox's No. 2 analyst after being the No. 1 analyst the past two years and what his relationship is like with Tom Brady.
“He’s been nothing but respectful and nothing but professional through all of this, which has been amazing, and I’ve tried to be that in return to him,” Olsen told Traina. “I have no animosity or ill will towards Tom. I think everyone is excited to see what’s it going to be like, what’s his perspective going to be, what’s his style going to be.”
Brady's enormous contract and mega-watt star power, combined with Fox's big gamble to shakeup a well-liked and Super Bowl-tested booth, has made this one of the biggest story lines in sports media since the plan was first announced. According to Olsen, it's all been smooth sailing behind the scenes.
“I’ve gotten to know Tom now over the last couple months, spent a lot of time with him last week in L.A. at the seminar. He’s been awesome. It’s been great to just get to know him personally. I didn’t know him that intimately when we were playing … but just getting to know him, getting to know about his family, hearing him talk about his kids, it’s cool to see the human side of him and just kick back and hang.”
It's a credit to both parties that they've been able to turn an unusual situation into a deeper relationship and treat the moment as an opportunity to be good teammates to each other. Which isn't entirely surprising considering each of their reputations as players during long and productive careers.
We’ve spoken a lot now,” Olsen said. “Also talking the industry, and some of the things that when I first came out that I had to learn the hard way, and things that I look at very differently now going into year four than I did going into year one. And there is an element of you don’t know what you don’t know, and I think he’s doing a really nice job picking people’s brains and getting people’s opinions, and obviously he’s got the best partner (Kevin Burkhardt) you could ask for, especially for somebody learning the industry."
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Greg Olsen on Fox Teammate Tom Brady: 'He's Been Awesome'.
