Second Thoughts

Night of fun costs Gronk, crew $102K

New England tight end Rob Gronkowski gulps water here, but he and some friends ran up a big bar tab at a casino over the weekend.
New England tight end Rob Gronkowski gulps water here, but he and some friends ran up a big bar tab at a casino over the weekend.

It's hard to imagine going to a bar and finishing the night with a six-figure tab. But, we all can't be Rob Gronkowski.

According to TMZ, the New England Patriots tight end and his crew had a fun weekend at Shrine nightclub at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, where Gronk turned up shirtless with rapper Flo Rida.

The gossip site reported that Gronkowski and his group of about 20 people racked up a tab of $102,407. Just drinks. No filet mignon or diamond rings included. TMZ published the itemized receipt and a representative at the Shrine confirmed the receipt is legit.

How on earth do 20 guys, even if they're all professional partiers like Gronk, run up $102,000 in alcohol? Well, you start with 160 bottles of champagne, according to TMZ. Bottle service at a club isn't cheap; 15 bottles of Dom Perignon Rose cost Gronk and Co. $27,000. Then you add on things such as 15 Grey Goose Magnum bottles of vodka ($10,400), 45 orders of Maker's Mark bourbon ($540), 24 shots of Jim Beam Fire whiskey ($264) and other various items here and there.

One would assume every guest at the club spent time at Gronk's table, because it's impossible for 20 dudes to each drink $5,120.35 worth of liquor by themselves in one night. Although if anyone can do it, it'd be Gronk and those who can keep up with him. The tab was closed at 2:02 a.m. EST early Sunday morning, according to the receipt published by TMZ.

How much fun one man can have when he's not playing football is something at which to marvel.

The other woman

An embarrassing mistake lowlighted the U.S. Open telecast for Fox this year.

As tournament winner Brooks Koepka finished off his four-stroke victory, he embraced his girlfriend, identified by Fox announcer Joe Buck as Becky Edwards, a professional soccer player who went to Florida State.

But the woman Koepka embraced turned out to be his new girlfriend, actress and 2007 Miss Georgia Teen USA Jena Sims. Edwards and Koepka broke up Dec. 30, 2016, and Sims and Koepka are a fairly new item.

It took 2½ minutes before Buck's colleague Brad Faxon corrected the error, and as a result, the moment went viral.

Buck almost certainly doesn't deserve any grief for that mistake, which, while humorous, was far from an unforgivable error. The goof likely falls on a production assistant who probably used Wikipedia as a source. But Buck and Fox still deserve a bogey for this blunder.

They said it

• Late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien, on reports that Russia interfered with voting systems in at least 39 states during the 2016 elections: "Which finally explains why the new governor of Wyoming is Anna Kournikova."

• Reporter Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Express, on Saskatchewan Roughriders radio broadcasters having a clothing deal: "Why? They could be sitting in their undies for all we know."

• Comedian Torben Rolfsen, who is not sold on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight in Las Vegas: "It will also be P.T. Barnum Bobblehead Night."

• RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com, after Hawaii offered a football scholarship to a fifth-grade quarterback: "What was his signing bonus, a PlayStation 4 Pro?"

Sports on 06/20/2017

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