We blogged last Friday about how Tom Brady's personality outside of football seems less than likable. In truth, he kind of comes off like a jerk, especially when you read stories like the one we linked to Friday from the Boston Herald. The story was about a down-on-his-luck-ex-con named Dennis Paiva who had taken two metal cans found near a trash heap and sold them for scrap. Well, a video surveillance camera saw him do it, and he was later busted for "stealing" the cans because they were, in fact, flower pots that belonged to NFL QB Tom Brady.
Without any money to pay back the worth of the flower pots (some $4000), Paiva had to resort to panhandling on the streets so he could pony up the $333.33 a week he was ordered to pay Brady, a multi-millionaire quarterback who is married to the richest supermodel in the world.
Well, the story has a bit of a happy ending, due in no small part to the Boston Herald printing the story:
Dan Greenwald, the owner of a Burlington ad agency, said he decided to pay the restitution after reading about Paiva’s plight in the Boston Herald on Friday.
Greenwald said it seemed as if Paiva, who says he can’t work because of recent surgery, got "the rawest of raw deals."
The 61-year-old Paiva said Greenwald’s gift was like "a dream come true."
That's rather classy of Mr. Greenwald, who gets a little publicity for being a good guy. Tom Brady, however, still kind of comes off looking like a jerk. But hey, he's rich, has three Super Bowl rings, and has sex with Aphrodite's little cousin each night. He can pretty much act whatever he wants, right?
And for all you funny little Patriots fans out there who think this is a story trying to "torpedo" Tom Brady, if this exact same scenario had happened involving Peyton Manning (who is likely the richest player in all of football), you'd have been all over it. Don't lie to me suggesting otherwise. And as I have repeatedly stated, I have much respect to Tom Brady, the football player. Tom Brady, the person, kind of deserves a kick to the nuts for being a douche.