Rob Gronkowski’s new book to explain why ‘It’s Good to Be the Gronk’

It’s been a long, cold winter in Boston, but here comes some news guaranteed to thaw the hearts of the city’s football fans: Literature is about to get Gronked.

In what the website For the Win calls an achievement of “sports-bro solidarity,” New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski will partner with Jeter Publishing (yes, as in Derek Jeter) to release a book called “It’s Good to Be the Gronk” in July.

This will be the first book for the colorful football player, but he already has a target audience in mind. In a news release from Simon and Schuster, Jeter Publishing’s partner, the Gronk promises: “If you want to be a chiseled six foot six inch All-Pro football player who makes big money to score touchdowns and win Super Bowls, and if you like to have just as much fun with your family and enjoying life, then this book is for you!”

Gronkowski has been one of the NFL’s most talked about players in recent years. He made a clutch reception in this year’s Super Bowl, which his Patriots won in a spectacular ending. He later admitted, a little sheepishly, to “throwing some haymakers” during a brawl at the end of the game.

In literary circles, though, he’s perhaps best known as the subject of “A Gronking to Remember,” an erotic fan fiction novella by author Lacey Noonan. (The book is billed as “Book One in the Rob Gronkowski Erotica Series,” so there are, conceivably, sequels to look forward to.)

Whether the Gronk’s book will get consideration by the Pulitzer committee remains to be seen, of course, but nobody can accuse the athlete of lacking a literary pedigree. On an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show in February, he recalled that the last book he read was when he was in ninth grade. The title? “‘A Mocking to Remember’ or whatever?” Gronk said. “‘Mockingbird to Remember’?”