Summer of Gronk, the sequel: When you wish upon a star…

…makes no difference who you are – unless, of course, you are Rob Gronkowski, and every mother hen from Connecticut to Maine wants to lock you in a bird cage, where you shall remain until Stromboli – um – I mean Bill Belichick needs you to perform.

They mean well, these doting old-world types, and all they really want is to help you to steer clear of the trappings of fame and fortune, but where the problems start is when you realize that it’s not a gaggle of chicken soup toting blue hairs, but pear-shaped, balding fanatics that need you to stay healthy for their fantasy league…

…or random tabloid journalists who are acting as some sort of a wrong-minded, impromptu Jiminy Cricket, a very public collective conscience that seems to go out of it’s way to suggest that the infection in Gronkowski’s arm was somehow related to him not being “all in” on his recovery from a broken forearm.

Regardless of which it actually is, the summer of the man widely considered to be the best tight end in the league when healthy has been reduced to a nightmare of scalpels and bad publicity – the former can’t be helped due to his broken forearm, but the latter is a creation of beat writers who need something to consume their time before training camp…and Gronkowski seems to be their target.

And now, a tale of a potential back issue that reportedly may require surgery – which is random speculation at this point, but it seems a trifle odd that Gronkowski’s back issue has arisen in the media just recently, the thing timed with Gronkowski’s 4th arm surgery and perhaps meant as a distraction from the fact that the Boston Globe started the Gronkowski hate-fest and the prognosis is far better than their doomsday style blather predicted.

And it’s just a little hard to believe that a back issue that plagued the team doctors and trainers all last season was bad enough to require surgery and it wasn’t addressed until now?

Perhaps it stems from the infection in Gronkowski’s arm, the reason why it hasn’t been addressed before now, but still, something ain’t stirring the kool aid.

The Patriots don’t work that way.  Have you ever seen a Bill Belichick injury report?  Typically there are about two dozen players with assorted maladies, but nary a mention of Gronkowski’s back…

…which wasn’t the case coming out of college, when it was widely speculated that Gronkowski suffered from Spinal Stenosis – a condition which causes the narrowing of the canal that encases the spinal cord, a condition that could cause paralysis upon the impact of a routine hit or even a twist when making a cut running a route – but that turned out to not be the case, as no NFL team would have touched him in the draft had the rumor been true.

Those concerns came up once again when it was revealed that the 2011 All Pro had undergone an MRI on his back to address what is being termed as “chronic back pain” and will speak with a noted spine specialist sometime in the next few days…

…but perhaps he should speak with a noted wood carver who could make his body strong and a Blue Fairy that could grant wishes, that way the only procedure he’d have to go through is if he tells too many lies and has to have a few inches shaved off his nose so it will fit in his helmet.

Gronkowski hasn’t lied about anything, not even responding to the media generated hate-fest that has the public stirred into a froth other than his bright, neon “Sorry for partying” tank top that he sported at Universal Studios – but Gronk doesn’t have to be apologetic about anything, because being a real boy comes with it’s bumps and bruises…