Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski has been told by the team that his summer of attending events and doing things that “seem un-Patriot-like ... is over,” according to a source cited by Shalise Manza Young of the BOSTON GLOBE. Gronkowski recently has co-hosted “Access Hollywood Live,” appeared on Fox’ “The Choice,” posed nude for ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue” and partied “at events for the issue and the ESPYs.” Manza Young: “Don’t be surprised if he lays low for the next couple of weeks” (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/15). ESPN's Dan Le Batard said the Patriots asking Gronkowski to calm down is "irony” after the recent audition video featuring Patriots Owner Robert Kraft with his bikini-clad girlfriend. Le Batard said, “What were they mad about? That he was shirtless on a magazine? … He looked better shirtless than Kraft would have looked shirtless.” Le Batard: “I love the idea of the Patriots calling in Gronkowski and wagging a parental finger at him and yelling at him. But then [NFL Commissioner Roger] Goodell’s got to call in Kraft, right, because you can’t have your owner doing videos with bikini models” (“Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable,” ESPN2, 7/16). ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said, “Tell the owner and the tight end, ‘Chill out. We’re in July, fellas, it’s almost time for football.’ But don’t tell one and not the other” (“PTI,” ESPN, 7/16). L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke said, “These guys play with helmets all year long, he can have fun in the summer. People get to see who they are.” SB Nation’s Bomani Jones: “There’s a limited shelf life for what Rob Gronkowski’s doing and it won’t be compelling for long” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 7/16).
