Man in the Arena
By: Ross Blilie
04-22-2023
Have you seen the Hulu and ESPN+ sports documentary Man in the Arena: Tom Brady? If not, I would encourage you to start watching it. It's about how Tom Brady got his start in the NFL and how the New England Patriots were as successful as they became in his twenty seasons with the team.
I started watching this mini series about a week ago, and my overall thoughts are that it's pretty good. I'm sure that there are some readers out there that don't want to watch it because they "hate" Tom Brady and the Patriots, but my reasoning goes beyond how he won seven Super Bowls in twenty-three seasons. This documentary is more about his wanting good solid relationships with his teammates more than winning a Super Bowl. It's just that winning a Super Bowl is an added bonus for him.
In the beginning, it was all about how he felt he had the confidence to come into the league and play at a high level not knowing how tough it really is. He had to sit behind Drew Bledsoe until he got hurt. Then it was really all luck in winning that first Super Bowl.
As the seasons came and went, and the Patriots ended up winning two more Super Bowls, Tom became more of a leader of the team. He said in one episode that he didn't realize how much he loved the game of football and the camaraderie he had with his teammates and coaches on the field until he tore his ACL.
After Brady discussed getting hurt, and losing two Super Bowl appearances in a row to the Giants, it was at that point in the series for me, I didn't realize that Eli Manning and the Giants defense had his number. I thought that was crazy! I also hadn't realized that the Patriots hadn't won a Super Bowl in ten seasons. I forgot about all that stuff when Deflategate and Spygate became popular topics talked about on the radio and ESPN.
I just finished watching episode six today and I thought that I wanted to share some thoughts on what I think about it. I think that aside from some of the mature language Tom uses, its still a good documentary that can potentially help motivate someone to do better and be a better person in public. I know that I need a lot of work on that aspect.
Ross Blilie is an avid NFL fan of the Minnesota Vikings since the 1990’s. He loves to talk about the NFL and the Vikings every chance he gets. His hobbies also include bowling with his wife and friends, narrating audiobooks, fishing, and even sitting by a campfire with family at Lake Blackduck in Minnesota. You can find Ross on twitter & Instagram @Rossthenarrator.
