Julian Edelman, Patrick Chung refuted claims made about Rob Gronkowski’s party habits while with the Patriots
The comments about Gronkowski were made by former Patriot and ex-Republican senate candidate Jake Bequette.
The Red Sox lost to the White Sox 4-1 on Sunday and will return to Boston for a three-game series against the Marlins beginning on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m.
Also from the weekend: The Renegades trounced the D.C. Divas 70-14 in the WFA quarterfinal playoff matchup (and will play the Alabama Fire in the conference championship). Elsewhere, the Revolution defeated Toronto FC 2-1 to move to second in the Eastern Conference.
Former Patriots denied a story about Rob Gronkowski: Though retired Patriot Rob Gronkowski has cultivated a fun-loving personality over the years, two of his former teammates took issue with a recent portrayal of the four-time All-Pro as a player who partied at the expense of his game-day preparation.
Both Julian Edelman and Patrick Chung — who played alongside Gronkowski on multiple Super Bowl-winning teams — refuted claims made by ex-Patriots defensive lineman Jake Bequette.
During an interview earlier in June on “Prime Time with Alex Stein,” Bequette (whose only NFL seasons came in New England from 2012 through 2015) claimed that Gronkowski would party until the early morning and then “stagger in to the Patriots locker room, key fob in, and go pass out on the training tables in the Patriots training room.”
Bequette, whose post-football life has included a spell in military before an unsuccessful U.S. senate bid in 2022, also said that trainers would wake Gronkowski up and “roll up one of his sleeves and, you know, stick an IV in his arm.”
Eventually, the story reached Edelman, who addressed it with a characteristically blunt response.
“Story is BS,” the former Patriots receiver tweeted. “Everyone wants to paint Gronk as a party animal. When in reality he was one of the most dedicated teammates I had.”
Chung supported Edelman, saying that “people just want their time of fame.”
Bill Belichick has offered a version of Bequette’s story, though with several important differences. In a 2019 feature in which Gronkowski was named to the NFL’s All-Time Team, Belichick recalled the tight end’s pre-draft visit to New England.
“Rob was kind of a shot in the dark. He came up on his pre-draft visit, had a bad visit,” Belichick told the NFL Network panel. “We put him in a room, came back and he was asleep on the floor. Didn’t make a very good impression.”
Still, Belichick went on in the same interview to add some context that seems to support Edelman and Chung’s version of Gronkowski more than Bequette’s.
“Whatever his public persona is on the dance floor, at a party or whatever, in the building there’s no better teammate, he works extremely hard,” Belichick said.
Belichick’s statement following Gronkowski initial football retirement in 2019 also emphasized that he was a “great, great teammate.”
Gronkowski’s on-field production with the Patriots (and later the Buccaneers) ranks high on several all-time rankings, including being first in career touchdown receptions in Patriots history, and his 17 touchdowns in the 2011 season is a record for tight ends.
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Alyssa Thomas set a WNBA record: The Sun defeated the Chicago Sky 96-72 on Sunday, with Alyssa Thomas notching a triple-double (14 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds). It’s the fourth career regular season triple-double of Thomas’s career, a WNBA record.
Florida forces a Game 3: After LSU took Game 1 of the Men’s College World Series Finals, Florida answered emphatically with a 24-4 clobbering that would’ve looked more familiar in an SEC football boxscore.
With the series tied at 1-1, Game 3 (Monday, 7 p.m.) will decide the championship.
On this day: In 1962, Red Sox starter Earl Wilson threw a no-hitter to help Boston beat the Angels 2-0. Wilson, who had become the first Black pitcher in Red Sox history on his debut in 1959, struck out five in what was also the first shutout of his career.
As if pitching a no-hitter was not enough, Wilson also hit a home run. The solo shot was one of 33 career home runs he would hit as a pitcher, ranking him fourth all-time.
Daily highlight: The Revolution U-19 academy team defended its MLS NEXT Cup championship over the weekend. In the semifinal, Gianluca Armellino capped a 3-0 win with a genuine half-field goal.
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