Brady and Gronkowski: I feel like the jilted ex

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With the official debut of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski via photo in their new Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniforms, I find myself having a hard time wishing them well. This despite being a Buccaneers fan.

This week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shared the first official photos of both Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and I have to admit I don’t really like it. I’ve been a Buccaneers fan since I was seven, but I am a lifelong Patriots fan and they are the team ruling my heart.

 

I keep trying to be happy for the Buccaneers and for Brady, but seeing him in his new uniform has turned this surreal offseason in reality. I find myself a little bitter even though I have tried to fight it. 


I hate to say it but I feel like a petty ex when it comes to Gronk and especially Tom Brady. Since I like the Buccaneers, I thought I would find the Brady signing a good thing. After all, he had made it clear he was moving on from the Patriots. If he had to go somewhere else, why shouldn’t it be with a team I could openly root for. 


Instead of optimism and happiness for the Buccaneers fan in me, the Patriots side of me is still upset. Seeing Brady happily running on-field workouts with his new teammates has me feeling a little jaded. This time last year he was telling everyone he needed to spend more time with his family. Now he’s gleefully putting in work and posing for pictures.


Gronkowski on the other hand up and retired instead of playing last season. It’s hard knowing he’s putting the weight back on and getting ready for the grind of another season for someone else. The reality is he no longer wanted to play for Bill Belichick and the Patriots last season rather than he just no longer wanted to play football anymore. It’s difficult and sometimes feels like a betrayal, but I do understand the potential reasoning. 


I do understand how everything came to this and I honestly do not blame either player at all for what has happened. Bill Belichick runs things a specific way and they grew tired of it. He does sometimes makes exceptions, but those started to occur fewer and farther between as each player grew and older and skills began to deteriorate. 

 

Brady in particular was the good soldier for so long and always seemed to live by the Patriot Way for so many years, it would be human nature to desire to be rewarded in some form. He was never offered the long term extension he requested over the last few years and he began to feel unwanted. Brady saw the writing on the wall and decided to do his best to take control of the narrative. He spent 20 years with the New England Patriots. Despite what he says and the happy face he puts on now, I doubt he really wanted to be starting over with a new team at this point in his career. I certainly didn’t want to see it. 


If things could have gone differently and Brady, Belichick, and Gronkowski could have found a way to coexist for another season or two, the Patriots could once again be Super Bowl contenders.


Perhaps then, I would be less conflicted and frustrated with this whole situation. So if I don’t like the Instagram posts or tweets sue me. Go ahead and call me bitter or the jilted ex-lover. I don’t blame you because deep inside I feel this way.

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