TAMPA - — 30-year-old John Wolfe calls himself a true "Boston guy." He's a lifelong Patriots fan, who grabbed a seat on the Bucs bandwagon when Tom Brady signed with Tampa Bay.
Wolfe started his own t-shirt website as part of a class project while he was getting his MBA at Columbia University. He takes funny photos of NFL players and coaches and transforms them into shirts that he sends to specific teams.
For the Super Bowl Wolfe decided to use a picture of Brady from the 2000 NFL Combine. It's a picture of a shirtless TB12 wearing shorts and standing next to a dry erase board with his name and number on it. Then Wolfe put his plan into action.
"I went on the Buccaneers website, and I said 'Who would get a kick out of this?'" Wolfe said Friday via video chat. "They had a video called 'Who’s the biggest trash-talker on the Bucs?' A bunch of players they interviewed said 'Ryan Jensen, Jensen talks the most trash!'"
Wolfe decided to sent shirts to multiple Bucs players hoping someone would sport one in public. Jensen took the bait.
"Somebody texted me right before the Super Bowl. 'Dude, was this your shirt?' With the video of Jensen walking around. I started freaking out and made a TikTok 'Oh my God, he wore it!' And then at the parade, it went even crazier."
Bucs linebacker Kevin Minter and defensive lineman Vita Vea both wore the Brady shirts during the Super Bowl celebration. Minter took time to send a thank you message to Wolfe.
"It doesn’t cost a lot of money to make your friends laugh and celebrate a fun little moment," Wolfe said. "If NFL players can have fun doing that, that shows that anybody can."
Wolfe said he sent a shirt to Brady's long-time friend Ben Rawitz after Rawitz asked for one via social media. But he's not sure what he'd do if Brady actually got his hands on one.
"I would go ballistic. That would be incredible."
You can check out Wolfe's t-shirts at www.ShirtFaced.me.
