NFL legend Tom Brady was brutally booed by fans during his Fox broadcast debut over the weekend.
The uncomfortable moment came when Brady presented the MVP trophy to Birmingham Stallions quarterback Adrian Martinez after the UFL championship at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
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The Stallions defeated the San Antonio Brahmas 25-0 to win the UFL title.
“Tom Brady, this is one of the rare times you’ve been showered with champagne and it wasn’t the guy who received it,” said Curt Menefee, NFL co-broadcaster on Fox.
The stadium then broke out into a chorus of boos.
It’s unclear exactly why the St. Louis crowd turned against Brady.
But it is believed to have resulted from the Spygate scandal, during which was claimed The New England Patriots secretly filmed the St. Louis Rams’ practice before Super Bowl XXXVI.
“I hope that’s not true,” then-St. Louis coach Mike Martz said.
“I have a lot of respect for [Patriots head coach] Bill Belichick.
“It’s hard to believe this is true. It’s a serious allegation and I hope it’s not true.
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“Obviously, if there is enough substance, the league should investigate.”
Previously, Brady made his Fox NFL debut with a brief appearance during the UFL championship game.
He joined Menefee and Joel Klatt in the broadcast booth early in the second quarter of Sunday’s matchup.
Brady, 46, began his sportscasting career with a joke about his fitness.
“I can’t get on the field anymore,” he joked after Menefee said Fox was “bringing some instant offense” to introduce the retired quarterback.
The former Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers star then noted that championship games could follow many different scenarios.
He also highlighted that the defense dominated the match so far and neither team had yet entered the table at the time of his special appearance.
As expected, NFL fans were divided at the preview of Brady’s efforts as a game analyst.
“Tom Brady looks good in the booth,” one wrote.
“He was really good, honestly,” added another.
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However, a third said: “He’s not cut out for this.”
Brady is expected to replace Greg Olsen as Kevin Burkhardt’s broadcast partner on Fox NFL’s A-Team broadcast, having signed a 10-year, $375 million deal with the network.
The two-time Offensive Player of the Year also recently spoke about working on the tone of his comments ahead of his first NFL game in the booth.
“The important part for me will be how I continue to make it fun for people to enjoy the viewing experience,” he said on Sports Illustrated Media Podcast.
“Sometimes I get a little too serious because I see myself as ‘quarterback Tom Brady’ instead of ‘let’s enjoy a great football game, Tom Brady.’
“Sometimes I get a little too critical. So I’m trying to make sure I have the right tone.”
Brady also discussed the mindset with which he will approach his new career in an appearance on Colin Cowherd’s show, The Herd.
“There are definitely parts of me that are hyper-competitive – I certainly was as a player and as an athlete,” he said.
“I loved that competition, I savored it every day.
“I didn’t care if it was training, if it was a game, if it was ping pong, if we were playing trashketball in the locker room.
“There are other parts where I feel like I’ve matured a little bit and I don’t necessarily need to be absolutely competitive about everything.
“It’s a little more selective… Certainly, as a broadcaster, I don’t think for me it’s about competition.
“I think for me it’s about, ‘Did I put everything I could into this? Did I give the fans everything they expected?’
“That’s how I’ll end up evaluating myself.”
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