Gronkowski says ankle is ?great? at golf event

Rob Gronkowski was talking about his football career.

Or was it his golf game?

?Just always grinding,? the Patriots tight end answered when asked what his preparations for the upcoming NFL season entail.

A self-proclaimed ?hacker,? Gronkowski teamed up with linebacker Rob Ninkovich to serve as guest co-hosts for the fourth annual Joe Andruzzi and Friends GolTif Tournament at Granite Links Golf Club yesterday afternoon.

Why, even the celebrities in the field were impressed.

?It?s Gronk,? comedian Lenny Clarke said. ?The $50 million man. How could we go wrong? And we?re doing it for a good cause, too.?

It was, indeed, for a good cause ? the Joe Andruzzi Foundation, which provides financial aid to cancer patients and their families, and funds pediatric brain cancer research at Children?s Hospital Boston.

?It?s a great cause,? Gronkowski said, noting that getting to play a free round of golf while also indulging in a couple of meals ranked as solid perks on top of it all.

Gronkowski also used the word ?great? to describe the condition of the left ankle that left him hobbling in Super Bowl XLVI, subsequently requiring him to undergo surgery after he danced the night away following the Patriots? painful 21-17 loss to the New York Giants in Indianapolis..

Gronkowski declined to say, however, whether the ankle, which prevented him from being an active participant in the Patriots? organized team activities and last week?s minicamp, would allow him to hit the ground running when training camp begins next month.

?I?m not telling you,? Gronkowski said, playing around with a reporter who posed a question along those lines. ?No, I?m just kidding.?

Actually, he wasn?t kidding at all; Gronkowski wasn?t telling.

Gronkowsi was more than willing to share his feelings in the aftermath of the six-year, $54 million contract extension that the Patriots recently tacked on to the two seasons he still has remaining on the deal he signed as a rookie.

?I?m just happy,? he said. ?Both sides are really happy.

?I love all my fans out there. (It?s a) great community, great team. It?s awesome going out there every single Sunday and playing every Sunday in front of that crowd, so I?m happy to be here (for the) long-term definitely, and just feel like both sides are really happy. It just all worked out well.?

Gronkowski has worked out well since the 2010 draft when the Patriots scooped him up in the second round.

In two years with the team, the Arizona product has latched on to 132 passes for 1,873 yards and 27 touchdowns, 1,327 yards and 17 TD receptions (he also scored one TD on a lateral) coming last year in what was a league record-setting season for a tight end.

Beyond all that, Gronkowski?s carefree personality has endeared him to New Englanders; here is a guy who can be as humorous off the field as he is hard nosed on it.

?Just always grinding,? Gronkowski said of his regimen for the 2012 season. ?Monday through Friday, just always working out, eating right, running.

?It?s all the players. We just kind of have off for the next five weeks and you?ve just got to make sure you?re running, staying up (on your conditioning), someone?s throwing you routes, someone?s throwing you passes. Just keeping all up to it so when it comes to training camp you?re ready to get focused.?

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Turned out to be a rather memorable Monday for Robert Kraft.

Announced as this year?s recipient of the George Halas Award, Kraft is the first NFL owner and first member of the Patriots franchise to be so honored.

It was also announced that on Oct. 18 of this year, Kraft will be inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame.

Kraft received a bachelor?s degree in history and economics from Columbia in 1963.

Kraft is receiving the Halas Award in recognition of the lead role he played in last summer?s collective bargaining negotiations between the NFL and the NFL Players Association during his late wife Myra?s battle with cancer.

The award, which is in its 43rd year, is presented annually by the Professional Football Writers of America ?to an NFL player, coach or staff member who overcomes the most adversity to succeed.?

It was five days after his wife?s passing that Kraft stood outside the NFLPA?s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and, in what became the league?s poster moment for labor accord, received a hug from Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday as the agreement on a 10-year CBA was announced.

?A special thanks to Myra Kraft, who even in her weakest moment allowed Mr. Kraft to come and fight this out, and without him this deal does not get done,? Saturday said on that July 25 day. ?I don?t want to be climactic in any way, but he is a man who helped us save football, and we are so gracious for that. We?re gracious for his family and for the opportunity he presented to get this deal done.?

Dedicating their season to Myra Kraft?s memory, the Patriots won the AFC championship, but fell short in Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants.

(Glen Farley writes for the Brockton Enterprise of GateHouse News Service.)

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