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Tom Brady’s 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox could be one of the best investments in television history. Or it could be one of the worst. Regardless, it solidified the going rate for a transcendent football star to sit in the booth and, possibly, offer somewhat guarded platitudes in an effort not to offend friends and coworkers.
During the recent mad rush to acquire on-camera talent, television networks seem to have forgotten the lessons of the last 15 to 20 years in media: that stories from nontraditional perspectives often have the best chance of breaking through. Whether that was Bill Simmons decades ago writing from the perspective of a maligned Boston-area fan or Pat McAfee now, shouting about topics of the day beet red in a tank top, standing out amid the noise takes some courage and willingness to be oneself.
