In which Tom Terrific says he wants to play "until he's 45" and "the responsibility for injury rests in part with the injured."

Brady declares that he is "on a mission" and wants to "inspire a movement." That his movement is about something he calls "pliability" -- muscles trained to become "long, soft and primed" instead of "short, dense and stiff" -- is less telling than the moral case he makes for it. "Pliability is not just for elite athletes," he writes. "It's for anyone who wants to live a vital life for as long as possible." The Method is not of the locker room. Instead, it reflects the values of a global elite for which human longevity is human destiny, and of which Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, are members in good standing.

There is just one catch to all this: To transcend football, Brady has to keep playing it. He has made himself a test case -- the test case -- for the ideas that form the foundation of TB12, his brand.