In a crazy turn of events, Tom Brady says he hates the "Tom Terrific" nickname ... and only filed for the trademark to preemptively block people from using Tom Seaver's signature moniker to praise him.
In other words, TB12 wants everyone freaking out over him filing to lock the trademark to CHILL OUT ... 'cause he's never gonna use it and he wasn't trying to erase Seaver from existence.
The Patriots superstar explained his reasoning with reporters on Thursday ... saying he did it to prevent exactly what ended up happening.