Tom Brady has created another viral video that everybody believes is real
BOSTON -- Tom Brady loves going viral. He can't quit football, and he can't quit making viral videos.
The GOAT quarterback shared his latest work on Wednesday via his social media channels. Considering his golf match with Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen is scheduled to take place next week, this video was appropriately focused on the gentleman's game of golf.
In this video, Brady's camera crew -- and there are at least 10 people standing near Brady -- purportedly captures a magnificent shot from Brady, who happened to sink a shot from a long distance on the same swing that was followed by a drone camera.
You can see it here:
The video is cool ... but just like most of his viral videos, it's obviously fake.
For one, he tagged the video editing team -- Shadow Lion -- that makes all of his fake videos.
Secondly, he immediately dropped links under his initial tweet so people would buy his Brady-branded golf clothing.
Third, what is this? Why is he hitting from some random tee markers in the middle of a fairway? Why does the ball look faker than the ones in the video where he pretended to drain a bunch of putts in rapid succession? Why are there obvious edits -- the sound of the swing, the sound of the ball falling into the cup, etc. -- in a video that's supposed to be real? Why'd that person walk directly in front of the camera at the 4-second mark?
What's funny about the whole thing is ... Brady has actually made this shot in real life, on live TV. It was sweet. He ripped his pants.
Trying to recreate that moment for the sake of going viral is understandable. But it was still fake.
In the grand scheme of things -- and even in the minor scheme of things -- none of this matters. It's nevertheless jarring that people believe everything Brady puts on social media, even when he does so with a wink and a nod. Real reporters believed Brady had actually pulled off that JUGS machine stunt last year, which was more than a little disturbing from a group of people that are supposed to be able to discern reality. And with numerous outlets running "Brady hits unbelievable hole-in-one" stories for the latest trick, the cycle seems to be continuing. Some of those stories don't mention the fact that Brady routinely puts out fake videos as a method of going viral, and a number of tweets from large outlets did the same:
Again, this is probably not the largest issue in the world at this moment, or at any moment for that matter. Perhaps people just need something to feel good about for a few seconds, and this video did the trick. But celebration of fake events does cheapen real events when they do happen, and that's without even considering the Black Mirror-esque range of possibilities that could emerge if people aren't trained to differentiate between reality and camera tricks as technology continues to improve.
That all might be overkill for some analysis on a fun little video, but ... come on. Let's save our excitement for real things in real life.
