Man in the Arena on ESPN Plus

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,054
Hingham, MA
I don't mean for this to come off petty, but the episode has me pissed at Gronk all over again. He comes out and says that he KNEW he was retiring as soon as the Super Bowl ended... but he didn't make it official until after the first wave of free agency, and in doing so, he negatively impacted how the Pats had to approach that process. I love Gronk and I'll forever be thankful for his contributions, but that a was a lousy way to exit.
 

rodderick

Member
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Apr 24, 2009
12,749
Belo Horizonte - Brazil
I don't mean for this to come off petty, but the episode has me pissed at Gronk all over again. He comes out and says that he KNEW he was retiring as soon as the Super Bowl ended... but he didn't make it official until after the first wave of free agency, and in doing so, he negatively impacted how the Pats had to approach that process. I love Gronk and I'll forever be thankful for his contributions, but that a was a lousy way to exit.
Meh, he was probably just being hyperbolic about it. He doesn't owe the Patriots making the announcement at the time that it's more convenient for the team, just as Bill didn't owe him loyalty when he made a deal to trade him to the Lions. I'm fine with it.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,054
Hingham, MA
Meh, he was probably just being hyperbolic about it. He doesn't owe the Patriots making the announcement at the time that it's more convenient for the team, just as Bill didn't owe him loyalty when he made a deal to trade him to the Lions. I'm fine with it.
This is true, but the Pats also didn't owe it to him to trade him to the Bucs at his request either. They did right by him in the end even if he didn't do right by them with his retirement
 

rodderick

Member
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Apr 24, 2009
12,749
Belo Horizonte - Brazil
This is true, but the Pats also didn't owe it to him to trade him to the Bucs at his request either. They did right by him in the end even if he didn't do right by them with his retirement
It's not like Gronkowski said he'd play for sure in 2019 and then retired. If the Patriots FO had zero backup plan at TE with the possibility of his retirement looming over the entire off-season, that's on them.
 

Ed Hillel

Wants to be startin somethin
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Dec 12, 2007
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This is true, but the Pats also didn't owe it to him to trade him to the Bucs at his request either. They did right by him in the end even if he didn't do right by them with his retirement
I think Bill looked at it as either getting a pick or not. Gronk was either playing with Tom or staying retired.
 

RG33

Certain Class of Poster
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Nov 28, 2005
7,199
CA
I thought the final* episode was incredibly well done. It didn’t get into any of the Patriots drama, focused it from Tom’s viewpoint of just being ready for change and touched on it very briefly, and really focused most of the episode on the relationship with his Dad and family. I thoroughly enjoyed it — and once again — found myself perplexed at how people can hate him so much.
 

Bergs

funky and cold
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2005
21,612
I thought the final* episode was incredibly well done. It didn’t get into any of the Patriots drama, focused it from Tom’s viewpoint of just being ready for change and touched on it very briefly, and really focused most of the episode on the relationship with his Dad and family. I thoroughly enjoyed it — and once again — found myself perplexed at how people can hate him so much.
Yes. That was (partially) what I was getting at with this:

That was absolutely beautiful.