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Daily Buzz: Brees catching tip flak

Published Jul. 30, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

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Sam Gardner

No one has ever really argued that Drew Brees isn’t a charitable guy, but when it comes to tipping at restaurants, it appears the New Orleans Saints quarterback might be a little bit of a miser.

According to TheDirty.com, Brees is responsible for the $3 tip below — a 4 percent gratuity on a $74 bill — at Del Mar Rendezvous in Del Mar, Calif., earlier this month:

On the surface, it sure seems like Brees stiffed the server — who, TheDirty.com noted in a plea to save her job, was not the person who sent them the receipt — but there are plenty of questions to be asked before we lambaste the Saints' $100 million man.

• Are we certain that this wasn’t a takeout order? According to TheBlaze.com, the manager of the restaurant said it looks like a pick-up receipt. How often do you tip 20 percent — or anything at all — when you pick your food up at a restaurant?

• Perhaps it was just a $74 bottle of wine or a couple T-shirts. (Because, obviously, Drew Brees collects commemorative restaurant T-shirts.) Sure, Brees probably stuffs his pillows with $100 bills, but in most cases, I don’t think we’d be railing a guy for not giving a waitress or bartender $15 for popping a cork.

• What if the service was just really poor? Maybe his order was messed up or it took too long to come out or the waitress knocked over a drink while putting his food on the table and spilled it in his lap? (OK, that last one comes from experience.) I’d be lying if I said I’ve never stiffed a waitress for particularly subpar service, and Brees doesn’t lose his right to be unhappy with service just because he’s rich.

• Maybe he wasn’t the one who left the tip. The signature on the bill kind of looks like Brees' (save for the No. 9, thankfully), but can we say with certainty that his wife or a friend didn’t sign for him while he was in the bathroom or outside?

• Could it be that Brees left cash on the table in addition to the $3 on the card? Though not traditional, it’s not unheard of for a customer to take that route.

• Do we know that the receipt is even real?

Basically, what I’m getting at is that we don’t know for sure whether Drew Brees shorted a waitress at a restaurant in California. Sure, it looks like he might have — though the restaurant manager makes me think he didn’t — and he wouldn’t be the first very rich person to suddenly become a cheapskate when it comes to paying the bill, if that’s what he did.

But since he did donate $1 million to Hurricane Sandy relief, I tend to want to give Brees a free pass, just this once — even if he is a pinchpenny Scrooge when he goes out for dinner.

Now, for some links:

• This is just plain solid execution of Johnny Manziel satire.

The Heisman Trophy-winning Texas A&M quarterback is always getting asked to address this or explain that, and the folks at Sports Pickle found a way to simplify things for Manziel, who has surpassed Rob Gronkowski (injured) as America’s foremost bro and therefore gets asked to explain himself a lot.

• An angry Boeing worker punched the Mariner Moose.

• Which New England Patriots players will get prime parking spots this season?

• Want to take part in an Adam Wainwright fantasy football league?

• Via MMA News, here is an awful Ronda Rousey tattoo:

• The new 49ers stadium will have a phone app that lets you check beer and bathroom wait times from your seat.

• Teddy Bridgewater took out a $10 million insurance policy protecting himself in the event of injury.

• As an owner of a couple slobbery bulldogs myself, I love Martin Brodeur's new goalie mask, which features his pups, Stan and Vez.

• Somewhere in this pile of shoulder pads is Denver Broncos rookie safety Ross Rasner:

• A couple big Washington Redskins fans went to training camp for their honeymoon. How romantic.

• Deadspin published its latest edition of lipreading manager-umpire arguments.

• Who made the NFL's All-Bad Contracts Team?

• Here are some Atlanta Braves players showing off their hand-eye coordination skills with some bouncing ball tricks:

• Mitch Kupchak was not surprised when Dwight Howard left the LA Lakers for Houston.

• Did Geno Smith show up to New York Jets camp out of shape?

• Speaking of Smith, give his coach, Rex Ryan, this much: He’s a man of the people:

• Alabama defensive end Dee Liner (is there a more appropriate name in football?) unwisely flaunted a stack of cash in an Instagram photo.

• Terrelle Pryor on his improved throwing motion: " I never really knew how to throw a football before."

• Are Victoria Azarenka and Redfoo (of LMFAO fame) having relationship problems?

• Here is a Chicago Blackhawks corn maze:

• The New York Times on the Carroll Academy Lady Jaguars is really worth your time.

• Former Boston Red Sox great George 'Boomer' Scott died at age 69.

• Tim Tebow caught some passes at Patriots practice, but Josh McDaniels says it's not a big deal.

• And finally, an elderly usher shook what his mama gave him in Oakland:

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