I usually have no problem with someone that is trying to promote healthy living and proper nutrition. As a matter of fact, it’s kind of my job to promote these kinds of things for kids.
What I have a problem with is people that promote something that they think is healthy and is really hurtful to those who subscribe to it.
If you haven’t heard, TB12, a health brand from former Patriots QB Tom Brady, has closed two of its locations in Boston and Patriot Place in Foxboro. If you’re also unaware, TB12 is less of a health brand, and is more of a cult. Brady got into bed with his “guru” Alex Guerrero to promote his bizarre diet and lifestyle.
At first, it was kind of interesting. The pair marketed their program on the back of Tom Brady’s amazing health over his long career. He really only had one huge injury and in the NFL that’s saying something. Brady would go on interviews and talk about how he eats avocado ice cream and believes in “pliability” in his muscles. It was wacky and filled a lot of time for hack announcers and talking heads on ESPN and the like.
That’s really all it was for a while. Just a weird diet that made us all giggle for a while. Maybe some of you were dumb enough to try the avocado ice cream, but hey no harm there.
Well, that all changed when information started to come out about Brady’s Guru Alex Guerreo. I’ll spare you a lot of the heinous details but Guerrero first misrepresented himself as a doctor, marketed a “concussion water” that could prevent traumatic brain injury, and even claimed his products could cure cancer. Even if these were just allegations, it is shocking that someone seemingly intelligent like Brady would do business with him. And yet here he was bringing Guerrero around on trips with the Patriots and convincing people to subscribe to all this weirdness.
Now, that is bad. But the moronic fans in New England just decided to accept this nonsense. I swear Brady could stand on the Zakim Bridge and punt infants over the side and they’d still find a way to justify it. In their defense, the guy just kept winning. Hard to argue with results I suppose.
Then came September of 2017 and the release of Brady’s “book.” In this book, he not only repeated a lot of the same old garbage about diet and avocado ice cream, he made some outrageous claims. It was 6 years ago but one claim I remember was that “proper hydration” could eliminate the risk of sun burns. I think we all know that is just dumb. Then came the products he was selling for exuberant prices. We’re talking foam rollers, which you can get at Walmart for $12, for over $60.
Tom followed this up with a bizarre infomercial called “Tom vs. Time” that showed his life and the completely weird lifestyle he lived. It showed how much Brady was buying into Guerrero’s nonsense and even subjecting his family to the same stuff.
Then came the inevitable split from the Patriots, which can solely be blamed on Brady for wanting to forward all of this snake oil to the team. Bill Belichick finally got sick of it and demanded Guerrero no longer be involved. This, and only this, was the undoing of the Pats dynasty. So all of you fans whining about Bill right now, you have only your golden boy to blame.
Fast forward to the present and the collapse of the TB12 brand.
It is exactly what Brady gets for involving himself with a common criminal like Alex Guerrero. This total lack of judgment on Brady’s part. Couple that with Brady’s involvement in the FTX crypto currency fiasco that just landed someone in prison, and people are finally wising up to the fact that just because he could throw a ball better than almost everyone else, he might not be a smart guy. The TB12 brand is finally being seen for what it is, and that is a cult started by a snake oil salesman and a wacked out QB. Not only that, but Brady went through a divorce from supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen, which has left him seemingly a little strapped for cash. He has started doing commercials for things like Pepsi and Subway. Seems a little hypocritical to me for a guy who once claimed Coca-Cola was “poison” to now be selling sandwiches made from yoga mat materials and tuna that has been proven to be not tuna.
As far as intelligent people are concerned, TB12 as a health brand is dead. Brady and Guerrero aren’t healthy living icons, like they assumed they would be, they’re failed cult leaders who swindled a lot of people with overpriced garbage. For those of us not blinded by Brady’s seemingly indestructible playing career, it comes as no surprise. The guy has been weird for the better part of two decades now and finally the chickens are coming home to roost.
I predict Brady and his team will try to shrug this off and move on. He signed a huge contract with FOX to be a color commentator, which in my opinion, he’ll stink at. He’s spent years not being interesting and now expects to be welcomed as interesting on TV? Ask Drew Brees how that goes. Unfortunately, this kind of thing doesn’t go away. It will always hover over Brady’s head. It is not out of the realm of possibility that Brady and Guerrero get sued, or even end up in some kind of wrongful death case due to this chicanery. As long as he’s in the public eye, TB12 will have to hear about the failure that his brand was, and deal with any consequences that come from it.