Traina Thoughts: Rob Gronkowski Opens Up About The Painful End of His NFL Career

Rob Gronkowski gets emotional when discussing why he walked away from the NFL.

John Parra/Getty Images

1. I'd love to see the ignorant people who questioned Andrew Luck's toughness after he announced his retirement tell Rob Gronkowski that he's "soft."

Gronk, who retired after last season at age 29, got emotional on Tuesday while explaining why he walked away from the NFL. He talked about the "joy" of football being taken away from him and showed a side of himself we've never seen before.

Rob Gronkowski, tearing up, on his retirement: “Football had me down. I didn’t like it.” pic.twitter.com/RsmJOCuN0B

— Avery Yang (@avery_yang) August 27, 2019

The former Patriots tight end also revealed that after his outstanding performance in New England's Super Bowl win last season, he ended up crying in bed because of the pain in his quad.

Every sports fan wants athletes to be real. You couldn't have been more real than Andrew Luck was on Saturday night and Rob Gronkowski was Tuesday. Fans should stop with the over analyzing, conspiracy theories and other garbage and just listen to what these guys are saying about the toll the NFL takes on their bodies and accept it.

2. Action Network's Darren Rovell had many thoughts on Rory McIlroy's nipples this morning and as with most Rovell posts, if you need a laugh, read the replies.

3. Mariners outfielder Keon Broxton had one of the more amusing ejections that you'll see last night. Just look at the beauty on that batting glove toss.

4. Christian Yelich has a message for anyone who has an issue with him getting naked for ESPN's Body Issue.

5. WWE Champion, Seth Rollins, is 100 percent correct in his opinion on chocolate and mint.

6. This week's SI Media Podcast features an great interview with ESPN's Chris Fowler, who talked about being the network's lead voice for college football and tennis. Fowler alsod discussed the rise of College GameDay, his decision to leave the show and Lee Corso's famous F-bomb.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcherand Google Play.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: If you missed it over the weekend, Jerry Seinfeld and Eddie Murphy did an extensive interview about Murphy's appearance on this season's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, the state of comedy, their methods for doing stand up and more.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

IN CLOSING: Bill Belichick is so good that people actually believed he had not heard about Andrew Luck's retirement 24 hours after it happeend. Amazing.