Tom Brady tells Georgetown graduates to fight through adversity

Tom Brady delivered the commencement address at Georgetown University’s business school graduation and opened with a joke about his former coach.

“I don’t do well with compliments. I had a coach for 20 years tell me how sh---y I was every day,” Brady said after earlier speakers praised him.

Brady told the graduates he was grateful to be with them, “even the ones who are Jets fans.” He noted that sports and business share one trait: long careers are measured by numbers. He listed his own: 23 pro seasons, seven Super Bowl wins and three Super Bowl losses.

The heart of the speech was a call to keep going when the outlook looks bleak. Brady recalled the 28-3 deficit the New England Patriots faced against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. He said the Falcons held a 99.7 percent chance of victory late in the third quarter.

“Not exactly how I thought the way things would go when I woke up that morning,” he said.

Brady warned the graduates that they will sometimes find themselves on the wrong side of similar odds. He said the only way to gain confidence is to push through fear and doubt.

“When the odds are stacked against you, when you’re facing your own 28-3 moment, and believe me it’s coming, you have a choice to make: to quit or to fight your a— off,” he said.

Brady said he made that choice in the Super Bowl. He told himself not to quit and to fight to the end, adding that the only sure loss comes when a person stops trying. He urged the graduates to prepare in advance for such moments by making hard choices and facing adversity.

Brady also told the graduates they will sometimes have to work with people they do not like, “like guys from Duke,” and that those situations help build the resilience needed for success.

He closed by telling the graduates to surround themselves with people who push them to be their best, “even if one of those people is a cranky old coach who cuts the sleeves off their sweatshirt and screams at you all day.”