...makes no difference who you are - unless, of course, you are Rob
Gronkowski, and every mother hen from Connecticut to Maine wants to lock
you in a bird cage, where you shall remain until Stromboli - um - I
mean Bill Belichick needs you to perform.
They mean
well, these doting old-world types, and all they really want is to help
you to steer clear of the trappings of fame and fortune, but where the
problems start is when you realize that it's not a gaggle of chicken
soup toting blue hairs, but pear-shaped, balding fanatics that need you
to stay healthy for their fantasy league...
...or
random tabloid journalists who are acting as some sort of a
wrong-minded, impromptu Jiminy Cricket, a very public collective
conscience that seems to go out of it's way to suggest that the
infection in Gronkowski's arm was somehow related to him not being "all
in" on his recovery from a broken forearm.
Regardless
of which it actually is, the summer of the man widely considered to be
the best tight end in the league when healthy has been reduced to a
nightmare of scalpels and bad publicity - the former can't be helped due
to his broken forearm, but the latter is a creation of beat writers who
need something to consume their time before training camp...and
Gronkowski seems to be their target.
And now, a tale
of a potential back issue that reportedly may require surgery - which is
random speculation at this point, but it seems a trifle odd that
Gronkowski's back issue has arisen in the media just recently, the thing
timed with Gronkowski's 4th arm surgery and perhaps meant as a
distraction from the fact that the Boston Globe started the Gronkowski
hate-fest and the prognosis is far better than their doomsday style
blather predicted.
and it's just a little hard to
believe that a back issue that plagued the team doctors and trainers all
last season was bad enough to require surgery and it wasn't addressed until now?
Perhaps
it stems from the infection in Gronkowski's arm, the reason why it
hasn't been addressed before now, but still, something ain't stirring
the kool aid.
The Patriots don't work that way. Have
you ever seen a Bill Belichick injury report? Typically there are about
two dozen players with assorted maladies, but nary a mention of
Gronkowski's back...
...which wasn't the case coming
out of college, when it was widely speculated that Gronkowski suffered
from Spinal Stenosis - a condition which causes the narrowing of the
canal that encases the spinal cord, a condition that could cause
paralysis upon the impact of a routine hit or even a twist when making a
cut running a route - but that turned out to not be the case, as no NFL
team would have touched him in the draft had the rumor been true.
Those
concerns came up once again when it was revealed that the 2011 All Pro
had undergone an MRI on his back to address what is being termed as
"chronic back pain" and will speak with a noted spine specialist
sometime in the next few days...
...but perhaps he
should speak with a noted wood carver who could make his body strong and
a Blue Fairy that could grant wishes, that way the only procedure he'd
have to go through is if he tells too many lies and has to have a few
inches shaved off his nose so it will fit in his helmet.
Gronkowski
hasn't lied about anything, not even responding to the media generated
hate-fest that has the public stirred into a froth other than his
bright, neon "Sorry for partying" tank top that he sported at Universal
Studios - but Gronk doesn't have to be apologetic about anything,
because being a real boy comes with it's bumps and bruises...
No comments:
Post a Comment