Master Troll Painter Sneaks Tom Brady Into Poster Of New York Heroes

So yesterday, an old editor emailed me with the above photo and funny story. The MTA, New York City's subway and bus system, is selling a new poster for Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, a location that serves both as a subway station and the entrance to New York's iconic Prospect Park. The MTA commissioned an artist, Rich Kelly, to paint a piece that illustrates Grand Army Plaza, which they would then sell for profit. Kelly did, and the result is a really cool and beautiful painting of some of New York's patriots and heroes walking under the famous Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, a giant arch that was built way back in 1892 to commemorate the Civil War. The painting's got Union soldiers and firefighters and NYPD and—is that Tom Brady? That's Tom Brady!

If you look closely on the left side of the painting, that's Brady, just visible over the trumpeter's thigh. The quarterback is in his Patriots jersey, wearing no. 12, and is rocking a playbook on his left wrist.

This, guys, is next-level trolling. We couldn't believe that an artist would actually paint Boston's son among New York's greatest, so we had to call him and ask. You just trolled all of New York, right?

Sadly, as ever, the truth is not as great as the myth.

"I wasn't intentionally putting Brady in there to be honest," Kelly said when he picked up. Kelly completed the poster last year, but the piece only went on sale last month. When I asked where he's from, he revealed he was a yinzer and a big Steelers fan, but insisted he wasn't trolling Jets fans. He was just using a "vaguely red, white, and blue pallet," and when he Googled an image of a quarterback, and Brady's was one of the first one to pop up. He didn't even process it was Brady until the phone call.

Likely story, Kelly. Regardless of his reasoning, though, the effect is still pretty hilarious. Here's a look at the poster in full.

h/t Tim

Photo Credit: MTA