Tom Brady's unexpected reason why he pursued ‘Tom Terrific' trademark

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It turns out Tom Brady doesn't want to be called "Tom Terrific." Quite the opposite, in fact.

The New England Patriots quarterback recently filed to trademark "Tom Terrific," a development that blew up thanks to angry New York Mets fans arguing the nickname belongs to Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.

Brady addressed the whole mess Thursday after the Patriots' minicamp practice outside Gillette Stadium.

"It’s unfortunate," Brady said. "I was actually trying to do something because I didn’t like the nickname and I wanted to make sure no one used it because some people wanted to use it.

"I was trying to keep people from using it and then it got spun around to something different than what it was. Lesson learned and I’ll try to do things a little different in the future."

As Brady tells it, he had no intention of besmirching Seaver's name and actually wanted to snatch up the trademark to stop people from calling him "Tom Terrific."

"I didn’t want people associating me with that," Brady said. "It’s something I didn’t want to have happen. I don’t like the nickname. I don’t like when people probably give me many nice compliments, certainly that. It wasn’t something I was trying to do out of any disrespect or any ill manner."

Brady's original trademark filings were for collectible trading cards and T-shirts, but the 42-year-old insists he has no plans of peddling any "Tom Terrific" merchandise.

Brady likely will still hear from angry Mets and Seaver supporters -- fans held a rally in New York on Tuesday in which they hurled beans at the QB's jersey -- but at least we know his side of the story now.

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