Despite the best efforts of the NFL, American Football is still yet to capture the hearts and minds of people in China in the same way the NBA and basketball have done so spectacularly. But you know what might change that? Giving away the TV rights to a State broadcaster for free and scouting a football version of Yao Ming? No, silly — having Tom Brady stand around and awkwardly guess at the meanings of Chinese idioms!
At least, that’s one segment on the New England Patriots star’s new China-exclusive TV show. A tip of the hat to SCMP sports writer Jonathan White for bringing this gem to our attention:
Tom Brady speaking Mandarin, showing his chopstick skills and an NFL-predicting dog are all part of the New England Patriots China-exclusive video content pic.twitter.com/93agP8eC2c
— Jonathan White (@jmawhite) October 16, 2018
According to Tencent (link in Chinese), the Chinese tech giant who last year signed a major rights deal with the NFL, there will be 8 episodes in total, the first of which was broadcast in late September and the last of which will be aired in December.
In addition to Brady being quizzed about the meanings of Chinese idioms (a format we’d love to see applied to Ivanka Trump incidentally), the show includes footage of NFL players training and of Brady interviewing his buddies and answering questions from Chinese fans. Here’s a clip of Brady battling some idioms if you’re curious to see more:
Brady publicly stated it would be a “dream” to play in an NFL game in China when he visited the country last year and the league supposedly has its eye on hosting a game here in 2019 (though such plans have been hit by cancellations and delays before).
So how’s his Mandarin coming along? Well, let’s just say he’s no John Cena.
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