Tom Brady tells football fans to do what they were going to do anyway, PR office goes all Poindexter.

The story: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told people to get liquored up for next week’s football game:

When asked at a Wednesday press conference about the notoriously quiet crowd at Gillette Stadium, Tom Brady issued a tongue-in-cheek message to fans who will be in attendance at this weekend’s home opener:

“Yeah, start drinking early. [...] Get nice and rowdy. 4:15 game, lot of time to get lubed up. Come out here, and cheer for the home team.”

And then:

This was an apparent no-no, as the Patriots later issued a statement censoring clarifying Brady’s comments. “He meant ‘stay hydrated, drink a lot of water,’” the team said unconvincingly.

Good work, Patriots PR flacks. Way to draw attention to a comment that was thoroughly noncontroversial.

I dunno…could the PR office’s statement also have been “tongue in cheek?”

UPDATE – the new slang: “I’m staying hydrated” instead of “I’m getting wasted.”