Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, two of the newest residents of the Tampa, Fla., area, received an official welcome to the city from Mayor Jane Castor, who promised them sunshine and fun in an open letter.
"I want to personally welcome you both to Tampa! We are all very excited to have you here in our beautiful city," Cantor wrote to the newly acquired members of the Buccaneers, longtime teammates with the New England Patriots.
"You will quickly find that Tampa has a lot to offer. For starters, you can leave your winter clothes behind; all you need here are shorts and sunscreen."
Castor thanked Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, for their donation of 750,000 meals to Feeding Tampa Bay, which is seeing unprecedented demand for food during the coronavirus pandemic. And Castor, the city's former police chief, mentioned Brady's recent run-in with a city staff member in an area park that was closed.
"Tom, my apologies for the miscommunication when you arrived -- not the best first impression. But given my law enforcement background, I couldn't help but have someone investigate the sighting of a G.O.A.T. running wild in one of our beautiful city parks. No harm -- no foul, and thanks for being a good sport."
As for Gronkowski, she recommended he visit local attractions, such as Busch Gardens, and take part in the annual Gasparilla Pirate Invasion and Parade.
"You must be ready to pARRGHty...but not too hard (I'm talking to you Gronk)," she wrote. "Just remember ‘No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service' is still in effect around here."
Tampa is scheduled to host Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7. No team ever has played in the Super Bowl in its home stadium, but Castor said she'll chat with Brady about some extra perks if he can deliver a championship to Bucs fans.
While doing it, she had a little fun with Brady, who is seeking to trademark "Tompa Bay" and "Tampa Brady" for use in merchandise.
"P.S. - Tom, it's Tampa Bay," she concluded her letter. "You win us a Super Bowl and we'll discuss Tampa Brady."
-reuters-
Rob Gronkowski has decided to come out of retirement and will reunite with longtime teammate Tom Brady after the New England Patriots agreed to trade the tight end to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to a report on Tuesday.
Gronkowski, who still has one year remaining on his contract with New England, was a formidable offensive weapon and one of Brady's most reliable targets at the Patriots where he was part of three Super Bowl-winning teams.
A report on the NFL website sourcing NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, said the Patriots agreed to trade Gronkowski and a seventh-round draft pick to the Buccaneers in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft that begins on Thursday.
According to Rapoport, Gronkowski has taken a physical and the player's agent told him: "Rob has agreed to play for Tampa this season. He will honor his current contract at this time."
Both the Patriots and Buccaneers have not yet responded to a request for comment from Reuters.
Gronkowski announced his retirement in March 2019, ending one of the NFL's most dominant and colorful careers after nine seasons. The 30-year-old Gronkowski recently made his debut with World Wrestling Entertainment.
Gronkowski, who spent all nine of his NFL seasons with the Patriots, caught 521 passes for 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns in 115 games. He added 81 catches for 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns in 16 postseason contests.
Brady, who won a record six Super Bowl championships with the Patriots, signed with the Buccaneers as a free agent last month and will look to turn around a team that finished 7-9 last year and have not made the playoffs since the 2007 season.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto Editing by Toby Davis)
-reuters-
LOS ANGELES -- New England Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski, a three-time Super Bowl champion, announced his retirement from the National Football League in an Instagram post on Sunday.
Gronkowski brings down the curtain on a nine-year career after helping the Patriots to a third title in five seasons in a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams last month.
"I will be retiring from the game of football today," Gronkowski said in a post that called the decision "the biggest of my life so far".
He thanked Patriots owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill Belichick for the opportunity they gave him "when drafting my silliness in 2010".
His effervescence and irreverence endeared "Gronk" to fans, but the towering tight end was a formidable offensive weapon on the field and a favorite target of superstar quarterback Tom Brady.
Gronkowski, who has sufferd a laundry list of injuries in his career and was shaken by a concussion in a playoff win in January of 2018, said after the Patriots' loss to Philadelphia in February of 2018 that he would consider his future.
But he returned for a ninth NFL campaign that yielded another championship ring.
"Thank you for everyone accepting who I am and the dedication I have put into my work to be the best player I could be," he wrote. "But now its time to move forward.
"Cheers to all who have been part of this journey, cheers to the past for the incredible memories, and a HUGE cheers to the uncertain of whats next."
- 'One of a kind' -
With the catching skills of a wide receiver and the physical size and power of an offensive lineman, Gronkowski was difficult to handle in either role the tight end spot required, befuddling rival defenders and putting him among the greatest to ever play the position.
Gronkowski, who turns 30 in May, is also a four-time First Team All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowl selection who caught 521 passes for 7,861 yards and 79 touchdowns in 115 regular-season games from 2010-18.
He had 81 catches for 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns in 16 post-season games.
But Gronkowski became beloved as a character as much as for his skills, saying that partying helped him relax and thus inspire harder work in training.
His touchdown celebration spiking of the football became classics, many featuring a brief dance.
When the Patriots played in London and he scored at Wembley Stadium, Gronkowski imitated a Queen's Guard -- what he called a "little nutcracker dude" -- in his touchdown celebration.
- 'One of a kind' -
"Gronk is a one of a kind person," Brady said. "He's one of the most positive people I've ever been around and he loves to have fun."
That's how he wound up on the cover of ESPN magazine's 2012 body issue wearing almost nothing and again posing for the magazine in 2014 with kittens.
And it's what had him on the ice before an NHL Boston Bruins game spiking a hockey puck a few days after the Patriots won the 2015 Super Bowl.
Three months later, Gronkowski celebrated his 25th birthday with a party at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Weeks later, he was Twerking on the Celebrity Family Feud television show.
"Gronk" removed his shirt and flexed his muscles during the Patriots' 2017 Super Bowl celebration parade in Boston and two months later he bodyslammed a pro wrestler during a Wrestlemania match in Florida.
Not even the White House was safe from being Gronked, the NFL star interrupting a news briefing during his April 2017 White House tour.
Sponsors delighted in his lively manner, making him a popular pitchman for doughnuts, cell phones, cereal, credit cards and video games.
Gronkowski, the great-grandson of a 1924 US Olympic cyclist who held five world records, was nagged by injury throughout his career.
Torn right knee ligaments ended his 2013 campaign after seven games. In 2016, he suffered hamstring injuries, a bruised lung and a herniated disc that required surgery.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BOSTON - Super Bowl weekend brought a one-two of bad news for New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, whose home was burgled following the team's upset loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, police said on Tuesday.
"Mr. Gronkowski was the victim of a residential burglary last night," Foxborough Police Chief William Baker told reporters. "Whether you're Rob Gronkowski or Bill Baker, being the victim of a crime like that is unpleasant."
The Boston Globe reported that multiple safes, and possibly guns, had been stolen from Gronkowski's home, citing a recording of a police dispatcher. Baker declined to comment on what had been stolen from the home.
A Patriots spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Like many of his teammates, Gronkowski has a home in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the suburb about 25 miles (40 km) south of Boston that is home to Gillette Stadium, where the team pratices and plays.
The 28-year-old athlete now in his eighth NFL season is one of the better known faces on the Patriots, cheered on by fans both for his catches as well as off-season antics that have included serving as the celebrity host of a Caribbean cruise following the team's 2016 Super Bowl victory.
"It's kind of a tough combination to have suffered this unfortunate loss and then to get home and be a victim of this kind of crime, which as I say has a really profound effect on everybody when your personal space is breached like that," Baker said.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Andrew Hay)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- Defending champion New England has been made the biggest Super Bowl favorite since 2009 over the Philadelphia Eagles despite injuries to star quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Westgate sports book in Las Vegas opened the Patriots as a 5.5-point favorite while the Wynn Las Vegas had the Eagles a 6.5-point underdog and Caesars Palace gave New England a 6-point edge with William Hill liking the Patriots by 5.
Brady said Monday on his weekly WEEI radio appearance that he will have stitches removed this week from a cut on his right hand suffered last week in practice and be fine for Super Bowl 52 against the Eagles on February 4 at Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"As the game went on, it got better and better and better," Brady said of the throwing-hand injury in New England's 24-20 playoff win Sunday over Jacksonville. "It won't be a problem in a couple of weeks, which I'm really happy about."
The Patriots were optimistic Gronkowski, who exited after a helmet-to-helmet blow in the second quarter caused a concussion, would be finished with the NFL's concussion protocol and available for the Super Bowl, the Boston Herald reported Monday.
A record $138.5 million was wagered in Nevada sports betting on last year's Super Bowl, when New England overcame a 25-point deficit to win in over-time.
Not since the Pittsburgh Steelers were 7-point favorites over Arizona nine years ago has a club been so lopsided a favorite as the Patriots, who chase their sixth Super Bowl title to match Pittsburgh's record and their third crown in the past four seasons.
"Every year has been different and every team is different and every season is different," Brady said. "This team earned it. If people don't like that, it's their prerogative. They can do whatever they want. But to get this far with this team is incredible."
The Eagles, however, are accustomed to underdog status, to the point of players wearing dog masks to revel in the snubs, defying oddsmakers in playoff wins over Atlanta and Minnesota.
"We haven't been talked about all year," Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. "That's the story of the Eagles. If you go back and look, we're in the top five in a lot of categories. We keep finding ways to win and moving on. It's our motto. All we need is one more."
Brady detailed his injury, which happened when his right thumb was "bent back" after he collided with running back Rex Burkhead on a handoff attempt during a workout last Wednesday.
"It was just a crazy injury in practice," Brady said. "It didn't look good there for a little bit."
Brady said he "definitely wasn't sure" last Wednesday that he could play against Jacksonville, adding, "It turned out to be a lot of good luck that it wasn't more serious than it was. I think we're very lucky."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
The New England Patriots are no stranger to controversy and on Tuesday the players said they would not let a reports of internal turmoil within the organization distract them from their quest to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
A report last week said there was a rift between Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft but tight end Rob Gronkowski said he and team mates were not losing any sleep over it ahead of their playoff opener on Saturday.
"The reputation that coach tries to get us to have is just ignore the noise. Ignore the noise from the outside and I feel like that's what myself, a lot of other players have been doing," tight end Rob Gronkowski told reporters.
"You've just got to keep ignoring the noise and just keep our focus on what we've been doing all year and that's preparing hard, studying our opponent, getting ready mentally and physically for the big game."
Brady, Belichick and Kraft later issued a joint statement flatly denying the ESPN report.
The Patriots, who last year won their second Super Bowl title in three seasons, had a first-round bye after finishing atop the AFC and will host the Tennessee Titans on Saturday in the divisional round of the playoffs.
"The intensity has been high every single week all year long," said Gronkowski. "You've just got to keep on continuing that, keep on preparing how we have been and get ready for the big game."
Few NFL teams have faced controversy over recent years to the extent of the Patriots, and none have enjoyed their level of success.
Just last season, the Patriots overcame the NFL's four-game suspension of Brady stemming from a plot to deflate footballs used in the AFC title game two years prior.
In 2015, they blocked out the noise over 'Deflategate' to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
In 2013 they dealt with the arrest and subsequent murder conviction of tight end Aaron Hernandez.
Six years before that, Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots lost a first-round draft pick after an investigation found New England had videotaped an opponent's signals on the sidelines in what became known as 'Spygate.'
Beyond all that, they have navigated through the mundane ups-and-downs of injuries and bad calls, reaching 11 AFC title games in the Brady-Belichick era practicing the Patriot Way of stressing personal accountability and a business-like approach.
Defensive back Devin McCourty, who has been a team captain since 2011, said the Patriots were not going to be motivated by the report but were fuelled by a desire to claim the franchise's sixth Super Bowl title.
"I mean, I don’t care about it and I think a lot of guys don’t really care about what goes on outside and who writes what and if we suck, if we’re great – it doesn’t matter," said McCourty. "So, I just think guys are motivated by playing for each other, their families more than an ESPN article."
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has been suspended for one game by the NFL for hitting Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White in the back of the head after a play was over during their game on Sunday.
White was on the ground after making an interception in the fourth quarter of the Patriots 23-3 win when Gronkowski ran up and dived onto White, driving his elbow into the back of the rookie's head.
White had to leave the game to be evaluated for a head injury after the incident, which resulted in a penalty on Gronkowski but no ejection.
"Your actions were not incidental, could have been avoided and placed the opposing player at risk of serious injury," Jon Runyan, the NFL's vice president of football operations, said in a letter to the two-time Super Bowl champion on Monday.
"The Competition Committee has clearly expressed its goal of 'eliminating flagrant hits that have no place in our game.' Those hits include the play you were involved in yesterday."
Patriots coach Bill Belichick apologized to Bills coach Sean McDermott for the hit when the two shook hands on the field after the game.
Gronkowski, who will be eligible to return to the active roster following the team's Dec. 11 Monday night game against the Miami Dolphins, also apologized after the game.
"I definitely want to apologize to number 27," he said, referring to White.
"I'm not in the business of that. It was a lot of frustration and I was just really frustrated at that moment and it just happened naturally through emotions and frustration."
He said he was frustrated by the lack of penalties called on White and the Buffalo defense.
Gronkowski is expected to appeal the NFL's decision to suspend him.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Ken Ferris)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
