unless his instagram is fake news...he'll be a tough one to replace for that team whose name we will not utter...not that anyone is complaining about it.

His Instagram is true, broke last night, all over the news around here all night. Tough is an understatement, lots of heavy hears in New England today.

What are heavy hears?

that is where a car sounds like cah, beer sounds like beeyah, underinflated footballs sound like superbowl victories...stuff like that...

Not unexpected, but still makes me a little sad. He will be hard to replace, especially since the free agent TE market is pretty well non-existent at this point. Can't blame him - go out on top. His body has taken a beating over the past 10 years. Pretty nice to retire at 30 as a multi-millionaire and three-time world champion, but he'll have some health issues to deal with as he gets older.

I was typing wicked fast! Simmah down you two!

He is portrayed as a meat head, and he probably is, but he might be one of the most financially savvy NFL players out there. I don't think he has spent a dime of his salary throughout his career, instead, living on endorsement money.

I'm not a fan of the team (sorry Pats fans!! ) but I've always said that I like Gronk. He does seem like he's got his head on straight when it comes to being financially savvy and he seems like a good guy. I'm sure the team will miss him greatly!!

It will be a huge loss. Had a mediocre season but came up huge in the Playoffs and Super Bowl.

I was a fan of his until he cheap shot Tre White from the Bills during a game. Never had the same respect for him since then.

As per the papers he was close to retiring last year. He was in the wwf and may have some acting parts lined up and commercials. Why risk additional injuries?

Why was I not surprised to see that Gronk's agent was suggesting that #87 might change his mind and show up sometime next season at Foxboro ready to play again? The cynic in me thinks the agent is praying that his meal ticket isn't really going away.

Gronk is hardly his "meal ticket". He represents more than 100 NFL players. He is the highest grossing agent representing NFL players. Forbes has his 2018 commissions listed at $33.7 million. Yes, Gronk is part of that, but he is not Rosenhaus's meal ticket by any stretch.

when Mr. Rosenhaus was contacted for a comment about Gronkowski retiring, he said he was "very deflated."

You should really do some open mike comedy club circuit gigs, Happy. Oh, man, that is just way too funny. How do you keep coming up with these, Happy?

i channel my inner EdAudit...

Eh, Gronkowski seems like he was a bully in high school and hasn't really grown much past that.
Maybe it's a schtick and he's a solid guy, not sure, just what it seems.

Bully? Never saw anything to indicate that. Meathead, sure, but bully, no. Does alot of charity work though.

Did he say some $exually suggestive things to a female reporter just before the Super Bowl this year? I applaud that charity work, for sure, it's just that saying things like that isn't usually an anomaly for people, however as stated, no idea.

He made a crack about getting his 69th touchdown. Juvenile? Yes. Bully? What leads you to say that? As lynnway said, he has done a tremendous amount of charity work around New England.

one man's juvenile is another man's bully?

I mean.... he was suspended from the league for an intentional late hit....

Yes, and he should have been. It was a cheap hit.

A cheap hit for sure, and not to excuse it, but there was some frustration built up over his getting mugged all game with no calls. That became pretty much standard during the latter part of Gronk's career. He was so different and so strong, that the refs allowed other defensive players to get away with far more contact than would be allowed for a typical receiver. That's why he's always been so banged up.

Also, this one issue is really the only thing people have against Gronk. An isolated, on-field incident. At the end of the day, if that's the worst thing people have to say about you, you're in good shape. And this is coming from a Pats hating Colts fan.

He got so banged up because he was just so huge, too. He was a HUGE target to hit. What a great personality though - he just loved football and seems to just love life in general.