FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (June 5, 2007) -- For once, Tom Brady looked uncomfortable.
When huge linemen charge him, he's cool. When the New England quarterback needs a touchdown in the last two minutes, he's poised.
But when he's asked about fathering a child out of wedlock, the life in his voice fades and his natural smile stiffens.
"I don't want to talk about that much, guys," Brady said from the podium after the Patriots' first practice of minicamp. "Let's try to stick to why I'm up here.
"Life changes for everybody. There's different things that everybody deals with in their life, you guys deal with, I deal with. I'm excited about this season, I'm excited about this year and, as with life and maturing, come other challenges as well. I'm just looking forward to seeing what this team is all about. I'm looking for a great year."
Actress Bridget Moynahan is pregnant with Brady's child. They split up late last year after a three-year relationship, and Brady has been dating model Gisele Bundchen.
Brady is usually very cooperative with the media. But he tried to steer the media session toward his professional life in his first meeting with reporters at Gillette Stadium since his future fatherhood became public in February.
There was plenty of football material to address for Brady, a three-time Super Bowl winner. Randy Moss, Donte' Stallworth and Wes Welker joined the wide receiver corps and Corey Dillon left the backfield.
On Moss: "It's good to have him here," Brady said. "It's up to him to really find a role for himself."
On Welker: "He's like a Labrador out there," Brady said. "You throw the ball and he runs and fetches it and he runs back. You sit in the huddle and he looks up and he's panting. There's sweat coming from his face."
On how Dillon's absence will change the running game: "I don't know," Brady said. "I have no clue."
Soon, though, the subject shifted to celebrities and their difficulty in maintaining a private life.
"It's all about money. People make money, pictures and magazines," he said. "Maybe there's so many multimedia outlets at this point that everybody's jockeying for the latest and greatest of whatever it might be.
"You just try to go through your life and learn and grow and mature," Brady said. "You have happy moments and you have moments that you learn from. Those are the challenges we all face, myself, my teammates, my family."
The difficult part, he said, is when comments are made about his family members even though they're not in the public spotlight like he is.
But he knows he can't control that.
"You can only control the way you react toward it," Brady said. "I'm also very proud of the things that have gone on over the last 10 years of my life. I've got a great mom and dad, a great family and I'm very proud of the way they raised me."
Has his private life been more difficult this year?
"I think every year changes. There's different things every year. I've dealt with a lot in my life," Brady said. But "I don't have any complaints about my life or what I'm doing or how excited I am to be here working out and playing for the New England Patriots."
