It appears Tom Brady has a stunted grasp of sports history.
A company that manages Brady’s financial matters recently filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to lock down a nickname for the New England Patriots quarterback. It would be trademarked for trading cards, posters, printed photos and other Brady-related merchandise.
The nickname: Tom Terrific. As longtime sportswriter Christine Brennan wrote in USA Today, there’s a problem here. That name is taken.
As anyone in the central San Joaquin Valley, the New York metropolitan area and many points between will tell you, there’s only one Tom Terrific, and that’s Tom Seaver — Fresno native, pride of Fresno High School, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, three-time Cy Young Award winner as the National League’s best pitcher, and beloved contributor to the New York Mets’ 1969 championship.
Brady has stellar credentials, too. Winningest quarterback in NFL history. Starter in nine Super Bowls, winner of six. Easily in the conversation for best signalcaller in league history. He has other nicknames, such as Touchdown Tom, The Comeback Kid and, most recently, the GOAT (that’s Greatest of All Time).
Two Miracle Mets Defend Their Teammate
None of that matters, of course. Seaver remains the only Terrific Tom. The news of the trademark application by Brady’s TEB Capital Management is doubly cringe-worthy because Seaver’s family announced in March that he is suffering from dementia and would retire from public life. Seaver is 74.
Related Story: Fresno Native, Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver Has Dementia
“Can you imagine Brady, being aware of that sad news about this giant of a sports hero, deciding nonetheless to go ahead and take that man’s well-known nickname as his own so he could become wealthier off it?” Brennan wrote. “There is absolutely nothing terrific about that.”
On Thursday, Ed Kranepool and Art Shamsky, two members of that 1969 Miracle Mets team, appeared at a New York City restaurant and defended their teammate.
“Maybe it’s the new athlete, who is the ‘I’ generation, and he’s only thinking about himself,” Kranepool said of Brady. “He’s the greatest quarterback that ever lived.
“[But] there was only one Tom Terrific.”
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