Tom Brady pretty much plays the hits in a CNN "Talk Asia" three-part series of videos chronicling his offseason trip to China.
Part 1 introduces Brady to the audience (did you know he's considered the greatest quarterback of all time?) but he did touch on the concussion issue, which for him became more personal after his wife, super model Gisele Bundchen, told "CBS This Morning" in the spring that Brady had a concussion this past season.
Brady reiterated what he said earlier this summer in training camp - that he doesn't think it's "anyone's business" and he does more to prevent getting concussions than "probably anybody in the world."
“I don’t think it’s difficult to discuss," Brady told CNN. "I just don’t think it’s anyone’s business what’s going on with my ankle or my knees or my arm or my head. Those are personal things that I’m dealing with that everybody should be concerned with. … Yes, I do play a contact sport, but I also feel I take more preventative measures than probably anybody in the world, so I really don’t have concerns.”
He also again said that he'd like to play into his "mid-40s."
Part 2 focuses his family and upbringing. Brady said he chose football over baseball because being a high school catcher was tougher on his body than being a quarterback. Of course, being talked out of baseball by a couple of Montreal Expos may have helped, too.
“Ironically, baseball was a lot of strain on my body,” Brady told CNN. “I liked to be a catcher, and I was in the middle of all the action, but I was in a crouching stance all day, and my knees would get really sore and my elbow would get sore from throwing. When I started playing football, I didn’t have to do all those things. It was really the pain that I felt from playing high school baseball that was one of the reasons that I fell in love with football.”
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He also said being a sixth-round NFL draft pick allowed him to develop his game "under the radar." Higher-round QBs, particularly these days, have no such luxury.
"When you’re picked late, not a lot of people expect too much from you," Brady said. "So I was able to kind of, my first year, work under the radar. I worked really hard when I didn't have to play and be in front of people and the criticism that takes. Where a lot of young players have that, and that criticism they take at a young age, you know, is hard to overcome."
Finally, in Part 3, he talks about why this season will be his most important in the NFL.
"This year's the most important year because it's this year," Brady said. "No one really cares about last year. Everyone's moved on....Every team starts at the same place."