Robert Kraft doesn’t plan to fix trophy Rob Gronkowski dented

According to retired Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, team owner Robert Kraft told him the dented Lombardi Trophy would not be fixed.

For most average human beings, denting or defacing a valuable artifact would have consequences, including facing potential jail time, performing hours of community service, and most obviously, having to pay to repair whatever damage was inflicted.

Rob Gronkowski is not like most average human beings.

Not only was Gronkowski absolved from any ounce of blame when he dented the New England Patriots‘ sixth and most recent Lombardi Trophy, his teammates actually praised him for his actions, laughing and joking around like it was just another case of Gronk being Gronk (which, of course, it was).

The “accident” occurred earlier this year on April 9 during the Boston Red Sox home opener. The Sox invited the Patriots to join in the Opening Day celebrations, since both franchises had just brought championships back to Beantown in their respective sports during the 2018 season.

Taking some light batting practice before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, Gronkowski swung at a pitch – and used the Lombardi Trophy as the bat! The resulting collision and impact left a baseball-sized dent on the silver trophy; Gronk and the other Patriots players laughed; and perhaps somewhere along the way, everybody just assumed that someone else would fix the trophy at some point.

But the trophy remained dented at the Patriots’ Super Bowl ring presentation ceremony months later. It was evidently still dented when it was featured during New England’s banner unveiling ceremony before the Steelers game this past Sunday as well. And according to Gronkowski himself, team owner Robert Kraft has no plans to fix it, per NESN’s Lauren Campbell.

“I saw the Lombardi Trophy last night and the dent was still there,” Gronkowski said during a podcast interview. “But I was talking to Mr. Kraft and he said he was going to keep it.”

So there you have it. Not only will Gronkowski get off scot-free for his vandalism – the vandalism looks like it just may be immortalized in the Patriots’ trophy case until the end of the world.

In fairness, if it weren’t for Gronkowski’s contributions last year – particularly at the end of the AFC Championship Game and the end of Super Bowl 53 – Kraft and the Patriots probably wouldn’t have a sixth Lombardi Trophy to dent in the first place. Considered in that sense, he can probably do whatever he wants with it.