Episode 2 of Greatness Code, a docuseries coming to Apple TV+ on July 10, is about 7 minutes long.
Yet there might not be anything you can watch or read about Tom Brady that will better explain his thinking and what drives him.
Gotham Chopra, director and creator of Greatness Code, joined our NFL podcast, The Counter, to discuss the new series and, most intently, the episode covering the game Brady selected as the moment when he felt most in the zone.
You almost certainly won’t be able to predict which game he picked.
Chopra, a Patriots fan and business partner of Brady’s (with the media company Religion of Sports) brought us the series Tom vs. Time and is in the midst of working on Man In The Arena: Tom Brady, the nine-part series scheduled for release on ESPN in 2021.
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So Chopra knows of what he speaks when it comes to Brady, and he offered insight into Brady’s decision to leave Bill Belichick and the Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also discussed what motivates Brady to keep proving himself, long after any reasonable doubt about his greatness has been stamped out.
Chopra, who’s also worked with LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kobe Bryant among others (his series uncovering unique athletes and events, Religon of Sports, is wonderful), also shared his feelings on the Patriots’ signing of Cam Newton and reflected on the way athletes have stoked discussion and forced change in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests.
It’s an honest and enlightening conversation with one of our foremost chroniclers of elite athletes as he prepares for his most unique project yet — short form, using stylized sketches to do much of the storytelling — to debut.
Chopra was also a producer on the film 89 Blocks, which follows the 2016 season of the East St. Louis Flyers high school football team. A recent story on For The Win — “Patriots’ Jeff Thomas is already a success — and more complex than ‘talented but troubled’ label” — caught up with the star wide receiver from that team, an undrafted free agent signee with New England.
The author of that piece, Henry McKenna, joined us to discuss what he learned from talking to friends and coaches who know and love Thomas and believe he can stick in the NFL — while admitting, without getting into specifics, that Thomas’ life has not been easy. The story feels all the more essential now, as Floyd’s death (along with Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, among others), has finally forced many to reckon with the scourge of systemic racism that has plagued our country since before it was even a country.
We hope you’ll listen to this episode wherever you happen to get your podcasts. You can also use the links or player below.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | TuneIn
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