what was it like for you though lars in the way of bringing this book together because i mean i i was watching fox sports yesterday there was tom brady and i i swear to god i love him more as the announcer than i did the player and maybe it's because i'm a carolina panther fan and tom would just come to town and destroy us

Yeah.

So look, it was not my life ambition to take on a project this big, which I kind of felt was a suicide mission at the beginning, because how are you going to tell the story of Tom Brady? But I didn't want to just tell his story.

I wanted to explain how Tom became Tom Brady or how Tommy became Tom Brady going back to his childhood.

What could you see in his childhood? And also, you know, explore the nature of fame, what fame does.

And the price of greatness really didn't come to me right away.

I just went where the reporting led me.

It's like he's that guy that everybody knows.

what was it like for you though lars in the way of bringing this book together because i mean i i was watching fox sports yesterday there was tom brady and i i swear to god i love him more as the announcer than i did the player and maybe it's because i'm a carolina panther fan and tom would just come to town and destroy us

Yeah.

So look, it was not my life ambition to take on a project this big, which I kind of felt was a suicide mission at the beginning, because how are you going to tell the story of Tom Brady? But I didn't want to just tell his story.

I wanted to explain how Tom became Tom Brady or how Tommy became Tom Brady, going back to his childhood.

What could you see in his childhood? And also, you know, explore the nature of fame, what fame does.

And in the whole the price of greatness really didn't didn't come to me right away.

I just went where the reporting led me.

It's like he's that guy that everybody knows.

Hmm.

And you know, uh, one fascinating thing to me was that Tom grew up in a, a household of women, three older sisters, all superior athletes to him, by the way, and they, uh, [laughs] they would dress him up as a doll and put little pops of red lipstick and paint his toenails and, and all of that.

So what impact did that have on Tom later in life? Well, in my view, he became a relationship-driven leader, meaning he led by forming bonds, by forming legitimate relationships, by genuinely caring about what guys, uh, were going through, how they made it there, what their own personal struggles were.

One just little anecdote that illustrates this.

There was a tight end on the team, and I just, I can't remember his name for the life of me right now.

He was only on the team for three weeks.

Mm-hmm

... that I never could have had, right? And I'll give Tom credit.

He was a backup quarterback that I don't believe even threw a pass his freshman year.

And he was a backup quarterback on a team that was horrible.

They didn't win a game their freshman year.

[laughs] And, and I...

It's in the book, but I- I'm not sure they even scored a touchdown their freshman year.

And the only reason that Tom became the starter on the JV squad the next year was because, uh, Kevin Christoytak, I think that's how you pronounce his name, he was the starter, and we talked to him.

Uh, he was a starter on that freshman team, and he was just tired of getting beat up.

You wrote, you wrote a book about him, correct?