Some people call New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady the greatest quarterback of all time. Others say he's a cheater. There's even a few who want him to just go away. No matter where you stand on a fan level, from disgust to getting his autograph tattooed on your arm, there's no denying he's a NFL superstar with a massive spotlight on him at all times.
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If selling the most NFL merchandise wasn't good enough for the 41-year-old quarterback, perhaps a win in this next game will do the trick. Tom Brady and company TEB Capital Management filed to trademark the nickname "Tom Terrific" so it can be shown on trading cards, posters, and apparel.
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Tom Terrific, huh? That's the nickname you want? How original... Wait.
If anyone hears Tom Terrific, your thoughts should immediately go to New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, a 12-time All-Star, three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, and a first-ballot selection into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. Not to Tom Brady.
Sure, Brady has six Super Bowl rings under head coach Bill Belichick and is worth millions of dollars. TB12 doesn't really have to prove much on the field, and has quite the public life away from the AFC, so what the issue with 'Tom Terrific' trademark application?
To sports fans on social media, especially Mets fans, everything.
The New York Post brilliantly went to Citi Field in Queens to get some Mets fans to sound off. They didn't disappoint.
"Tom Brady is an arrogant pr—k," one fan said. "He's not getting his cheating, ball-deflating paws on 'Tom Terrific.' Go back to Boston and get your own f—king name, Brady."
"He's an idiot," another fan added. "He's probably the GOAT, but get your own nickname."
Even former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason is disgusted by it.
People love Tom Seaver, who won the 1969 MLB World Series with the Mets and also played for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and ironically the Boston Red Sox at the end of his career.
If Tom Brady thought this trademark request was going to be quick and painless, he's got another thing coming. New York Jets fans, and really the entire AFC East, doesn't really like the guy. Now he wants to take the nickname of a baseball legend who is beloved by many?
Good luck, Tom Brady.
UPDATE (August 23):
It was Hail Mary pass, one that took a lot of guts to make, but not even the great Tom Brady could complete it. The future Hall-of-Fame quarterback's request to trademark "Tom Terrific" has been denied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The request in June certainly upset a lot of sports fans, especially New York Mets fans who were fond of Tom Seaver. As it turns out, that was the reason for it getting denied earlier this week.
"The mark TOM TERRIFIC points uniquely and unmistakably to the identification of Tom Seaver and the fame of Tom Seaver as "Tom Terrific" is such that a connection between Mr. Seaver and the applied-for goods is presumed," the USPTO letter states.
Maybe next time.
