Gronk enters Patriots Hall of Fame as Tom Brady looks on

Before Gronk got to the podium, he got the reunion everybody wanted. Brady showed up, and the 2 found each other in a packed stadium club before the ceremony.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Brady showing some love for Gronk’s Patriots HOF ceremony today Two of the best to ever do it

That's the duo that defined a decade of New England football, and Gronk thanked Brady for the partnership from the stage. The rest of the building was stacked too. More than 60 former players came back for it. Robert Kraft couldn't make it because he's recovering from back surgery, so he sent a video message, and Jonathan Kraft summed Gronk up better than anyone: he was "put on this earth to do two things: to play football and to make people feel happy."

Then Gronk spoke, and he did exactly that. The best moment came early and wasn't even planned. His girlfriend Camille Kostek had apparently jinxed him about the word "resiliency," and sure enough, he tripped over it on stage. Gronk being Gronk, he turned the flub into the point of the speech.

Dante 🇺🇸

@DanteTheDon

😂😂

New England Patriots

@Patriots

GRONK HAS 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗬!!!!! 😂😭💀

It kept going from there. He admitted he fell asleep at his pre-draft visit with the Patriots because he was "tired and hungover," and he looked out at Josh McDaniels and told him, "You wish you still had me, buddy." At one point the speech went to breaking someone's neck, which is about the most on-brand thing you can say at your own Hall of Fame induction.

Pat

@BarstoolPAT

Gronk talking about breaking someone’s neck during his Patriots HOF speech 😂😂

He also brought back the most famous bully block of his career. Gronk told the Sergio Brown story again, the one where he drove the Colts safety off the field and, in his words, "threw them right out of the club, right out of bounds." Fans were already celebrating Gronk Day with the original 2014 footage from Indianapolis, including his postgame interview in a sleeveless Patriots shirt.

Dante 🇺🇸

@DanteTheDon

In honor of Gronk Day, here is far and away my favorite @RobGronkowski moment of his career. When he threw Sergio Brown’s ass out of the club. Peak Rob G beginning to end. 😂

Even the advice part of the speech had a punchline built in. Gronk told the crowd to eat right and get proper sleep, then admitted right away that he didn't do either at first. Coming from the guy who just told everyone he napped through his draft visit, that tracks.

Pat

@BarstoolPAT

“Eat right, get proper sleep. Two things I didn’t do at first!” 😂😂

Under all the jokes there was real emotion. "I fell to the Patriots for a reason. I came to the Patriots for a cause. It's where I belong," he said, before closing with "I'm a Patriot for life." Gronk has always been a lot more than his stat line, because no other great player has ever looked like he was having this much fun. Now there's a plaque for it in Foxborough, and Brady was in the building to see him get it.