Someone dropped the ball.
Tom Brady superfans who shelled out thousands for the retired NFL star’s autograph at a Miami event are outraged after they say they were left with illegible scribbles on their valuables.
But sources close to the situation insist the seven-time Super Bowl champion was just as hoodwinked by the outing as they were.
“I would have much rather him not sign it than what we got. He defaced our stuff,” complained Glen Gagnon to the memorabilia outlet cllct.com.
Gagnon was among about 100 people who forked over $3,600 for VIP tickets to the weekend business conference where Brady was one of the speakers.
The price of the ticket included dinners, a cruise, a museum tour — and front-row seats to Brady’s address, plus a meet-and-greet and casual autograph signing.
But Gagnon and others claim event organizers told them Brady would sign whatever piece of memorabilia they brought along in a more formal collector’s setting.
After the speech — during which they say the 46-year-old talked about doing your best, hard work all the time — those in attendance were left alarmed when they saw the signatures Brady had inked on their valuable items.
“Well Tom these words were motivational until we saw the lack of effort that you put in on the signatures we paid a lot of money for. $3600 isn’t cheap and to hear you preach one thing and then act completely opposite,” attendee Brad Jarrett wrote in a scathing Facebook post after the event.
Brady’s autograph typically consists of a swooping T and B interlocked followed by a messy but legible Y.
But some autographs shared by Jarrett and other football fanatics show jagged misfires at best, and nonsensical scribbles at worst.
“I consider myself lucky and blessed that I got what I did because there were far worse quality of signatures Tom was doing,” Jarrett said.
“I wish Tom stuck around long enough to see the looks of disappointment of the fans as they received their items,” he added.
Many fans brought one-of-a-kind, sentimental pieces of memorabilia, including a ticket to the 2000 NFL Draft, where Brady wasn’t picked until the sixth round and the ball Brady threw to Rob Gronkowski in their first Super Bowl, cllct reported.
The signatures people received left many wondering if they’d be able to later get the autographs authenticated, and others trying to wash off the signatures they fear might just devalue their collectables.
“I would have NEVER paid $3,600 to receive the signature I got today on the items I brought,” collector Greg Nazareth wrote in his own Facebook post.
Further upsetting the attendees was the lack of authenticators present at the event to issue official verifications of Brady’s signatures, which they claim they were told would be present.
But sources close to the situation said Brady was not to blame for what happened — and that event organizer Fernando Anzures was unclear with the football star and attendees about the terms of his own event.
“[Brady] was completely blindsided,” a source close told cllct. “This was supposed to be signatures for VIPs of the conference — not a signing for his biggest collectors.”
Brady had been told the event would include a simple signing of books and photographs, sources said, and not an official event where collectors would be able to gather authenticated autographs on valuable memorabilia.
Further complicating the situation was a dealer unaffiliated with the event acting as if he was a part of it and encouraging collectors to bring their own items, contrary to what Brady had been told the event would consist of.
No matter who was to blame for the fiasco, some attendees still feel the onus falls on the football star at the end of the day for what they feel were subpar autographs.
“I still blame Tom a lot for this, I understand why he was upset and in his shoes I would’ve been pissed too,” said Jarrett.
“Tom let his emotions get the best of him and didn’t hurt the promoters he hurt those of us who were there with items.”
Representatives for Brady declined to comment.
Anzures did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
