For years, the above Getty image of a Patriots fan cheering shirtless in the snow has served as the visual representation of a fan base as well as parenthetical-heavy KSKharacter Tommy from Quinzee. Given the popularity of the character and how often we use the image, we assumed it was only a matter of time until the actual person in the photo was made aware that he’s been an unsuspecting blog celebrity.
Just because you have a general expectation for something to happen doesn’t mean you’re ever ready for it when it actually goes down. And so it was this weekend when Tommy ceased to be just a stereotype-reinforcing still image and became a real person who is very much in support of the stereotypes attached to that image. A reader from Boston reached out to Drew on Twitter and said he discovered that the guy from the photo is on his softball team. Of course, the real Tommy was then made aware of his Internet celebrity. He loves it, as evidenced by this new photo of him doing the pose, and the fact that he’s joined Twitter as Tommy. This came as something of a surprise to the already existing Tommy parody account.
Mind you, the original image from 2002, but Tommy looks remarkably unchanged over the course of a decade. The main difference being the addition of a bicep tat. That seems appropriate.