Tom Brady may have a tough time winning over Fox viewers, but he will…

It’s odd that Brady has to overcome his own dominance as a player. But it’s true. He’s won so much as a player that, at least initially, he’s going to have a hard time winning over the fans (outside of the Patriots and Buccaneers fan bases) who have cheered on him for two decades with little to no satisfaction to show for it.

But Brady can convince them, and I think he will. Eventually. Maybe even sometime this season. How?

Self-deprecation is crucial. He must be willing to be the butt of the joke, and it must be genuine — false modesty from the rich, famous, and attractive fools no one.

I think Brady knows this — it’s partly how he’s remained beloved by teammates even as he’s achieved unimaginable levels of fame. If he can come across as normal and authentically good-hearted, those who want to hate him are going to be terribly confused when they catch themselves listening to him.

The bigger piece of course is the approach he takes as an analyst, he can’t just walk into the booth Tony Romo in 2017; Brady’s enthusiasm would seem disingenuous. His strength will be his depth of knowledge — or as he put it deep into his playing career, he has “all the answers to the test.”

Nothing he sees from the broadcast booth will baffle him. If he can explain what he sees succinctly and honestly—which he has done in podcasts and other media appearances—his insights will be compelling. (In the same way Bill Belichicks (have been during his numerous media appearances.)

In February, I wrote that if Brady “is committed to excelling in broadcasting, he will do so.”

Well, he certainly did.

Last December I was told that Brady was already practicing announcing full games. Front Office Sports reported last week that he actually announced 17 practice games (old games on tape) with his broadcast partner, an excellent play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt.

They also aired two full exhibition games and part of another game, and Brady was a guest on the UFL championship game broadcast.

That’s the Brady we know, right? He’s already had a full practice season in preparation for his first season in the booth. The parallel with the beginning of his playing career isn’t lost here.

On Sunday at 4:25pm we’ll get our first chance to find out what he’s learned from all that practice and preparation, and get the first hints about what kind of presenter he’ll become.

The expectation is that he will perform well now, perhaps still a bit awkwardly, but that he will perform much better at the end of the season.

The bonus is in this funny part: It will be fun to watch fans in other markets grudgingly acknowledge that their old foe and conqueror is good company as an announcer, all these years after that first daydream about never hearing from Tom Brady again.

Shaking behind the scenes

The morning program on 98.5 The Sports Hub underwent a major change late last year when Robbing “Strong” Poole became a member Fred Toucher as co-host after Rich Shertenlieb’s departure.

On Wednesday night, the show “Toucher and Hardy” underwent another shake-up, this time behind the scenes, with the departure of two longtime producers and a personality well-known to Boston radio listeners taking on the role.

Program Director Sports Hub Rick Radzik confirmed that Adam Chapmanknown as Adam 12, is the new executive producer of “Toucher and Hardy.” He will also continue programming what’s left of Beasley Media-owned station Rock 92.9, which switched that signal to Bloomberg Radio but can still be heard on 92.9 HD2, 106.1 FM, WRCA-AM 1330 and the Rock 92.9 app.

Adam 12’s last day as host at 92.9 was September 3. Moving him to the role of executive producer on “Toucher and Hardy” – a show he was a guest on – was a logical choice, since Beasley was already paying him and he is good friends with Toucher and Hardy.

The position of executive producer became available when Dan O’Brien was laid off on Wednesday night as part of a cost-cutting measure, allowing for the seamless addition of Adam 12.

The plan, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, was to Mike Lockhart — who had been involved with the show since January 2009, when it aired on WBCN — to remain as a producer and work with Adam 12.

Lockhart had asked for a raise after Shertenlieb left, and was told he would eventually become the lead producer. He was surprised to learn of the plan for Adam 12 on Thursday. Beasley offered him a raise, but it was a fraction of what he had asked for late last year.

He felt misled and underappreciated — Beasley fired him in October 2022, but brought him back later that month after Shertenlieb offered to pay his salary — and decided now was the time to move on.