Mr. Kraft Has Arranged it So Tom Brady Can Be There for Gronk's Hall of Fame Induction. If He Doesn't Attend, Unleash Hell.
If November 7th seems a little late in the year to hold an outdoor event like a Patriots Hall of Fame Induction ceremony, you're not wrong. Past dates have been:
--Julian Edelman and Bill Parcells: September 20th, 2025
--Tom Brady: June 12th, 2024
--Mike Vrabel and Dante Scarnecchia: October 24, 2023
And so on. And the only reason that last one was as late as that was because Vrabel's Titans were on their bye week. And it changed the course of history when he referred to the Patriots with the first person plural pronoun, so Tennessee's owner made the emotional decision to fire him. Check and mate, Patriots.
So why so would Mr. Kraft pick this date, so deep into the year? Practically past Pumpkin Spice season for all the 30 year old chicks who'll be having to wear fleece under their No. 87 jerseys? Because of the NFL schedule:
For this reason:
And so there it is. The opportunity we've been waiting for. That hopefully Brady has been waiting for.
You don't need me to tell you things have been … complicated … between Brady and New England lately. Though that didn't stop me:
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The full-body cringe of that pro wrestling stuff he toyed with. The infamous "I don't have a dog in the fight" comment about Super Bowl LX. The odd pivot to hawking pizza from a chain restaurant after years of pushing kale smoothies on us. Reports he won't deal with the Patriots in his capacity as an owner of the Raiders:
Some other examples that all seem to make that June day two summers ago feel like a distant memory.
So now's his chance to make that all go away. To bury whatever grudges he may or may not have with the franchise he said he's a part of, now and forever. To remind Patriots fans he's still a part of things here. And all it would require is a limo from the hotel Fox is putting him up in and a couple of hours of his time. To be there for RKK, who always treated him like a son. To be there for Gronk, who always treated him like a Golden Retriever treats its owner. And to be there for New England, who always treated him like a deity.
If he's there, all will be back to the way they used to be. Doubts erased. Hatchets buried. Bygones gone by.
If not? If he can't be bothered, there'll be hell to pay. It will overshadow the ceremony, and end up being THE story of the day. And both Boston sports stations will do a full week of talk about the snub, regardless of the outcome of the game or what Brady's excuse is.
So the stakes couldn't be higher. This is dad stopping by the house for the kid's first birthday party after the divorce. He just needs to show up with a gift, sing the song, help blow out the candles, stay for some cake, and not mention the 30-year-old with the Gronk jersey he's been seeing.
Mr. Kraft may have discussed it with him before setting the date. Or he picked it just to make it as hard as possible for him to say no. Either way, if he refuses, things will never be the same between him and us.