Why the feigned outrage over Gronk’s good time?
Christopher Muther/GlobeStaff
COMMENTARY
Based on the scenes and accounts that emerged over the weekend, the Gronk Party Ship looked like utter hell on the high seas.
That’s all in the eye of the beholder, of course. If you’re of a certain age, maybe you’re already saving your nickels for the yet-to-be-announced sequel to Rob Gronkowski’s cruise vacation. If you’re not into Jello shots, house music, and the potential for a foam party, then perhaps your spring break days are behind you.
Of course, Gronk’s party cruise to the Bahamas wasn’t all wet t-shirt contests and beer bongs. The Globe’s Christopher Muther paints the picture of a fairly family-friendly affair aside from the late-night shenanigans. ESPN’s Sarah Spain had to seemingly defend herself for having a good time from the usual jackals on Twitter.
The fact that the New England Patriots tight end hosted what was billed as a few days of debauchery en route to the Bahamas (and, yes, Gronk Island), wasn’t lost on a handful of Gronkowski’s NFL colleagues, who openly wondered on social media what the reaction would be if Cam Newton hosted a similar voyage.
That depends. Is he sulking in his cabin the whole time?
Oh, it may have been a smooth sail to the islands and back, but Gronk’s vacation hit the rocks on the mainland, where there was a petty sampling of outrage over the sex, drugs, and alcohol image boasted by the cruise’s inhabitants. A video that emerged on Saturday portrayed the trip as something out of the late-night Cinemax schedule (or, the very least, what used to be MTV). Twerking. Drinking. Neon lights. It was all enough to prompt Maude Flanders on a rampage.
Turns out though, we didn’t even need the holier-than-though crowd to cast aspersions on Gronkowski’s venture. In the days after the cruise docked back on mainland, the “Does Gronk get privileges that other players don’t get?’’ storyline became a talking point for an audience ready to feign insult at every given opportunity. There were two separate audiences in this regard; those of us who knew exactly what to expect to come from a Gronk-branded vacation, and those who apparently thought the wildest thing that might emerge from the weekend would be the cruise running out of all-you-can-eat shrimp.
Hopping on the Gronk Cruise and expecting a sanitized shindig fit for Saved by the Bell would be akin to being invited to a picnic hosted by Pablo Sandoval and expecting vegetables on the menu. This is, after all, who the guy is.
Not only is it the way he’s clearly branded. It’s who the guy is.
“I mean Gronk is kind of labeled as that guy that likes to have fun and party and things like that,’’ Giants receiver Victor Cruz told USA Today’s For the Win. “And you know that because he’s open about it and doesn’t hide it but if it was someone like [teammate] Odell [Beckham] or Cam to do it, it would just be talked about a little bit more than when Gronk does it because you expect that from Gronk and you don’t expect that from Odell or Cam.’’
While some feel the need to attribute that double-standard to race, Cruz argued that it’s simply a matter of personality.
“That’s just him and he’s branded himself that way. And that’s the way he is. I don’t think it has anything to do with race,’’ Cruz said. “I think it’s more so Gronk being Gronk and doing what Gronk wants to do. And a party like that is expected from Gronk, we expect it from him because we’ve seen videos of him dancing and we’ve seen videos of him having fun in nightclubs. Those type of things are expected.’’
That’s the thing when it comes to the Gronkowski-style of nightlife. You keep waiting for the curtain to be pulled back, revealing a calculated campaign manager standing in front of the tight end’s locker at Gillette Stadium one day. Most every athlete, particularly those with the overwhelming popularity of Rob Gronkowski, have some sort of facade they employ when in front of the cameras. Tom Brady obviously has it. David Ortiz has it. Dustin Pedroia…well, he might have it.
Gronkowski has one too, perfected in the school of Bill Belichick Boredom. But it ends there, and Gronkowski makes no apologies for his free-living lifestyle, in fact basking in events and avenues that might even make other professional athletes blush.
That’s why he gets away with it. He’s already announced to the world that this is who he is, and whether the product is completely, 100 percent genuine is becoming a more difficult stance to argue the more genuine Gronkowski appears with each headline he makes.
But above it? Please. Mind you the flak he took from the Patriots organization for posing — posing with porn actress Bibi Jones? Partying onstage in a cast in the wake of his team’s (second) loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl? That lap dance video from Super Bowl week earlier this month that some delusional fun police wanted to classify as assault?
Sure, there’s a whole, “Oh, Boner’’ aspect (cue credit music) to the Gronkowski never-ending party that won’t be as cute when he’s approaching 30 and not producing at the level he continues to at the age of 26. But right now, Gronkowski is able to balance the two personalities with all the agility of a toe-tap past the pylon. That’s not easy, as more than one burned-out professional athlete can attest.
The Gronk Experience can be suffocating at times, a persisting party that never seems to reach the finish line. It’s also a reason why there has finally been some pushback this time around from his colleagues following his own Project X.
“You can’t just be behind a tinted window the whole time and not be able to do what you want to do,’’ Cruz said. “I think there’s a little bit of a double standard but at the end of the day do what you want.’’
Gronk Cruise 2.0 seems an inevitability, despite the criticism.
Hopefully there’s more late-night shuffleboard and Marco Polo at the pool to keep everybody on shore happy.
Contact Eric Wilbur at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @GlobeEricWilbur and Facebook www.facebook.com/GlobeEricWilbur
Red Sox spring training photos
[bdc-gallery id=”467756″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com