Some New York sports fans are laughing, but the courtroom artist whose sketches of Tom Brady are being lampooned on the Internet doesn't get what's so funny. NY1's Michael Herzenberg filed the following report.
Tom Brady was all smiles when he walked into federal court in Manhattan to fight the NFL's four-game suspension for allegedly deflating footballs before an NFL playoff game.
But something happened to that smile, and Brady's chiseled-good looks, in courtroom sketches of the New England Patriots superstar.
The Twitterverse went wild, with some seeing a resemblance to Steven Spielberg's E.T., a bad guy from a Scooby Doo cartoon and Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On, well, Centre Street.
One Twitter wiseguy compared Courtroom-Sketch-Brady to Lurch of Addams Family fame.
"I think the person who drew that is not a fan of the Pats," said one New Yorker.
Courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg said she's not a sports fan at all.
"I will apologize for not making him look as handsome as he is," Rosenberg said. "He's a very good-looking guy."
Rosenberg said she did her best under the time constraints and that while she apologizes, she believes her sketches did accurately convey, in a way, how Brady appeared at the hearing.
"He did look deflated," she said. "It was not a happy moment for anyone in that courtroom. Everybody was kind of feeling a little deflated."
Rosenberg has been a fixture in New York courthouses for 35 years.
Ironically, what some are calling sketch-gate has brought her extra money selling all those Tom Brady sketches, along with unprecedented attention.
"I guess people have a lot of free time on their hands to sit by their computers and make up little cartoons or whatever they're doing," Rosenberg said. "Glad they're having fun."
Some New York sports fans certainly are enjoying themselves at the expense of Rosenberg and especially the New England quarterback.
"I think it's great. Accurate," said one sports fan.
"Because I don't like Tom Brady," said another.
Rosenberg said she is receiving some online support and hasn't been nervous drawing for decades until now. She's wondering if she'll even go back to lower Manhattan next Wednesday for Brady's next appearance in court.