National Football League roundup

[June 21, 2017]  June 20 (The Sports Xchange) - Rob Gronkowski is refuting reports that he racked up a hefty bill while partying at a casino nightclub in Connecticut last weekend.

TMZ reported Monday that the star New England Patriots tight end and a group of 20 associates ran up a tab in excess of $100,000 while at Shrine Nightclub at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Uncasville, Conn.

"Don't always believe what you read. This is where 100k + would go to before that," Gronkowski wrote on his Twitter account late Monday night, attaching a picture of him holding a giant charity check for $110,000 made out to Boston Children's Hospital.

The check in the picture was dated February 17, 2017.

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Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp says he is experiencing memory loss and will donate his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation after his death.

The 44-year-old Sapp revealed his intentions on The Players' Tribune. He said he wants football to "be better when I left than when I got into it."

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Detroit Lions defensive tackle Khyri Thornton has been suspended for the first six games of the 2017 season for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

The 27-year-old Thornton will be able to rejoin the Lions following Detroit's game against the New Orleans Saints on Oct. 15. The Lions have a bye the following week, meaning his first possible game action will be against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 29.

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Former football star O.J. Simpson has a scheduled parole hearing for July 20 and the possibility looms he could be freed from a Nevada prison on Oct. 1.

Simpson, who turns 70 on July 9, has been jailed at the Lovelock Correctional Center about 90 miles northeast of Reno for more than eight years after being found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping in 2008.

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