Gronkowski apologizes for pose with porn star

When Twitter showed photos of a shirtless Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski with adult film star Bibi Jones, the media went crazy.

Jones, who claimed she did not know who Gronkowski was prior to being introduced to him by mutual friends last week, was shown wearing his New England jersey with the number 87 emblazoned clearly on it.

Jones had been the one to post the pics on her Twitter account, which quickly made the rounds.

Gronkowski only addressed the mishap during his bye week in Arizona this Wednesday.

He said that he did not intend to hurt anyone's reputation, either in the New England NFL team or on behalf of team owner Robert Kraft, with whom he had reportedly also met following the incident.

Gronkowski, who had signed a $4.4 million deal with the club last year, described it as "just a simple picture." Still, he was indeed very apologetic, sounding almost as if somebody in the Patriots had given him an earful for the unwise photo snaps. He also acknowledged that it was a learning experience for himself as a young professional athlete.

"I'm here now. I'm here to talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers and the big game this weekend," he said.

Surely, the photo triggered much talk in the locker room, although his reputation as a good guy may actually have received a boost from Jones.

On Boston's 98.5 FM, Jones was heard describing Gronkowski as being very polite and being such a gentleman. She said, "He wasn't a creeper or anything," and confirmed that nothing happened between them except for the Twitter photo shoot.

Jones apparently seemed eager for their relationship to move forward, even admitting that she regularly slept with professional athletes. Still, she confessed that nothing occurred between them, though conceding that she wished something could have happened.

Jones described the photo shoot as her having asked for them, and Gronkowski reportedly offered his jersey. After they took the photos, Jones reportedly asked permission to post it on Twitter, knowing that some pro athletes would not have agreed, given her reputation in adult films.

Gronkowski, meanwhile, had seemed cool with allowing it, possibly because Jones had more followers in Twitter than he did. In fact, the whole thing seemed to be nothing more than a strategy to get more followers on Twitter. After all, despite Gronkowski's high popularity as a player on the New England Patriots, the blonde adult film star had twice the number of Twitter followers.

Others were sceptical as to why Gronkowski happened to have the jersey at hand, but Jones said he simply carried it with him. She described it as being ready in his suitcase. When the 22-year-old gave her the jersey, she readily donned it, and posed for a photo as Gronkowski took off his T-shirt for the pose.

Jones Tweeted her shock at the intensity of response for the photos she posted. "Didn't know it was that big of a deal," she Tweeted, ticking off, "ESPN, MSN, Fox Sports etc" as having made a major reaction to the post.