New England Patriots

Boss respects Boss ... so says Rick Ross who tells TMZ Sports he's homies with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft ... and says the 74-year-old is a "super cool dude."

Ross says he and Kraft became friends when they "kicked it in the Hamptons" a few years ago ... and they've become better friends over time.

In fact, it's probably why Ross was invited to perform at the Pats Super Bowl party with the team back in February ... when he got Kraft to come onstage and DANCE with his crew.

#BFFs

Donald Trump is already droppin' the sports metaphors -- comparing China to the New England Patriots ... and claiming their leaders are like Tom Brady!!!

During his "I'm running for President" speech moments ago ... Trump took several shots at the Obama administration and other U.S. political leaders.

That's when he dropped the Brady shot -- saying China's leaders are like Tom Brady and the U.S. is like a high school football team ... "They are ripping us!"

He went on ... "Our leaders don't understand the game."

How close are the New England Patriots??? Well, they don't mind swappin' a little spit ... 'cause they chugged champagne together at an afterparty ... and TMZ Sports has the pics.

After raging at the Super Bowl ring celebration at Robert Kraft's house last night, a bunch of the guys kept the party train rollin' to Cure Lounge in Boston -- where they raged 'til 2AM.

Among the partiers ... Gronk, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola, LaGarrette Blount, Malcolm Butler and Jonas Gray.

But the most interesting part ... Tom Brady decided to tap out after the main party -- so his backup Jimmy Garoppolo represented for the QBs instead.

We're told the gang popped a $7,500 bottle of Belaire Rose -- Rick Ross' stuff -- and passed it around like blame in a Deflategate investigation.

Aaron Hernandez is throwing the most desperate Hail Mary ever ... trying to challenge his murder conviction by claiming one of the jurors may have had it out for him BEFORE the trial started.

Aaron's legal team just filed new court docs in an apparent effort to find a flaw in the Odin Lloyd murder case -- in the hopes Hernandez could get his murder conviction overturned.

Hernadez's main argument -- his lawyer says he received a tip from an anonymous woman AFTER the verdict ... saying she recognized one of the jurors whose ID was revealed on TV.

Aaron's lawyer says the woman also claimed she could prove the juror was familiar with the Lloyd murder and was "hoping" to be on the Hernandez jury.

If true, AH's lawyer claims it would mean the juror would have LIED during voir dire when asked if he/she had knowledge about the case.

The problem -- the lawyer doesn't know the mystery woman's identity ... since she called him from a blocked number and refused to give her full name because she was afraid.

Now, the judge will rule on whether or not the court should look into the matter further.

Tom Brady raided the family safe this morning ... busting out ALL FOUR of his Super Bowl rings to show off on social media -- while reminding everyone he's still married to a supermodel.

Check out the picture ... featuring rings from '01, '03, '04 and '14 ... along with Gisele's hand.

Brady included the message, "These four rings stand for ‪#‎Family‬, ‪#‎Team‬, ‪#‎Friends‬ and @Patriots fans. Without the support of each one, none of these would be possible."

"I am truly grateful and blessed. What an incredible journey."

As for the new Super Bowl ring -- it was made by Josten's ... weighs 4.85 carats, has 205 diamonds and includes the team motto, "Do your job."

Check out the pics.

Wanna see Tom Brady trying to dance to hip-hop music ... with Wiz Khalifa egging him on?

Great ... 'cause that happened at the New England Patriots Super Bowl ring ceremony last night.

Among the highlights ...

-- Tom Brady dancing to "Handsome and Wealthy" by Migos
-- Robert Kraft dancing to "6 God" by Drake
-- Rob Gronkowski gettin' low to "Trap Queen" while sweatin' through his shirt

The party all went down at Robert Kraft's home. Everyone left with fabulous parting gifts (205 diamonds).

NFL linebacker Brandon Spikes never hit a deer on a Massachusetts freeway this weekend -- instead, cops say he struck an SUV and fled ... and now he's been hit with criminal charges.

The story was bizarre from the start -- with officials discovering Brandon's expensive Maybach car on the side of the interstate in Foxboro early Sunday morning with no signs of Brandon.

The OnStar operator who responded to the crash said Brandon claimed he had struck a deer.

Cops smelled something fishy and investigated ... and now, they believe there was no deer ... instead, he smashed into the back of an SUV -- leaving 3 people with minor injuries, including a 12-year-old girl.

Officials say Spikes has been charged with leaving the scene of a personal injury crash, negligent driving, speeding and failure to stay in his lane.

Spikes was cut by the New England Patriots following the crash.

Tom Brady ain't the only Patriots star who gets to lead ... 'cause star wideout Julian Edelman took his turn calling the shots last night ... conducting the world famous Boston Pops orchestra.

Edelman took over the Symphony Hall stage late Wednesday for the 34th annual "President At Pops" fundraiser and led the orchestra in a grand finale of "Stars and Stripes Forever."

We're told Edelman actually took his gig pretty seriously ... meeting up with veteran conductor Keith Lockhart earlier in the day to get a few pointers.

This isn't the first time a big sports star has picked up a baton for the Pops ... Shaquille O'Neal took on the task back in 2010 and we gotta say ... he left some pretty big (size 22) shoes to fill.

FYI -- We're told Julian did a great job ... the only question left is when is it gonna be Gronk's turn?

Check out the vid.

Two Boston tow truck operators didn't want to go down as the guys who hauled off Rob Gronkowski's party bus, so they let him off the hook ... and the Gronk couldn't have been happier.

Matthew from Todisco Towing tells TMZ Sports he was called to Howl at the Moon in Boston early Sunday morning to haul off a bus that was parked illegally in a private lot.

Despite the bus being adorned with a Body Armor logo (which Rob endorses) and his #87 ... Matthew claims he had no idea he was about to tow Gronk's ride.

Once the bus was up on the truck and ready to go, Matthew says several patrons began asking him, "Don't you know whose bus that is?"

Then, someone from Rob's entourage came out and promised to move it ... and Matthew decided, "I didn’t want to find out what the end result would be if I had towed the truck. You know Pats fans wouldn’t have that."

So Matthew let the truck down and that's when Gronk emerged -- super thankful for the reprieve -- and posed for a few pics.

Matthew was quick to tell us ... Gronk never asked anyone to stop or offered any kind of favor. Everyone involved was just acting out of the kindness of their hearts.

Not everyone was so lucky ... a few other cars did get towed that night.

Pays to be Gronk.

We already know he doesn't like Tom Brady ... and Tom Brady's hair -- but now it seems NFL superstar Terrell Suggs doesn't like TB's Deflategate punishment either.

The Baltimore Ravens stud was leaving Mastro's Steakhouse in Bev Hills last night when we asked if the Pats got what they deserved -- $1 million fine, loss of draft picks and the 4-game suspension for Brady.

Sugg's response -- "I don't know. That's not my job. I'm glad I don't got it ... but the last coach that got caught cheating got suspended for a whole year. So ..."

Seems he's strongly suggesting Brady and the gang got off SUPER EASY compared to New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton who was banned from the league for the entire 2013 season for allegedly covering up Bountygate, where players targeted opponents for cash bonuses.

Jerry Ferrara thinks that the Tom Brady era is definitely OVER ... in fantasy football ... telling TMZ Sports Tom Terrific is no longer worthy of a first round fantasy draft pick.

The "Entourage" star (and fantasy nut) was in NYC promoting his other movie "Club Life" when asked if the suspended Brady was still studly enough to command one of the top picks in next year's fantasy drafts.

Jerry's answer is a solid NO ... which isn't surprising because he's a HUGE New York Giants fan ... but slightly controversial because his boss Mark Wahlberg LOVES him some Tom Brady.

Aaron Hernandez pled not guilty to witness intimidation -- denying that he shot his friend in the face to keep him from testifying in a double murder investigation.

According to the district attorney's office, Hernandez intimidated his friend Alexander Bradley -- who allegedly witnessed the tight-end shoot and kill Safiro Furtado and Daniel de Abreu in 2012 over a spilled drink.

Hernandez has pled not guilty to the murder charges.

The Suffolk County DA believes Hernandez was paranoid about cops watching him after the murders ... and shot Bradley while driving home from a club in Florida.

Bradley survived, but lost an eye in the shooting.

FYI ... looks like Hernandez got some new prison ink too... a star on his neck included with the word "lifetime."

Interesting choice -- given his life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd.

Robert Kraft has the perfect distraction from all that Deflategate "rhetoric and dialogue" -- a night out in Hollywood with his 34-year-old girlfriend.

The Patriots owner hit up Craig's in West Hollywood, and immediately got peppered with questions about the NFL's punishment of his team and his QB. The only thing Bob really wanted to talk about was his dinner ... but he happily signed a bunch of autographs.

More importantly ... Kraft had his smoke show ex-model gf Ricki Noel Lander with him. She's gotta help take the sting outta losing a million bucks and 2 draft picks.

More trouble for convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez -- the ex-NFL star was reportedly busted by prison officials this week for being a lookout (poorly, it appears) in a violent prison fight.

The fight was gang-related, says CNN ... which reports Hernandez agreed to help out an inmate who went into another prisoner's cell and attacked him.

Shocking, considering Hernandez is currently locked up at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center -- one of the most high-tech maximum security prisons in the country.

Then again, he's already got a life sentence ... so what does he care?!

It's not the first time Hernandez has been involved in a fight behind bars -- TMZ Sports broke the story Hernandez fought an inmate at Bristol County Jail back in 2014.

Aaron Hernandez claims he should NOT have been convicted of 1st degree murder in the death of Odin Lloyd -- claiming the killing was not "cruel" enough to warrant such a harsh charge.

Hernandez's lawyers filed new court docs challenging the verdict in the Lloyd case ... in which they spell out why Aaron should have, at most, been convicted of 2ND degree murder instead.

Here's why ...

Team Hernandez says 1st degree murder requires either premeditation or extreme cruelty. Aaron's lawyers say the ex-NFL star was NOT convicted on premeditation so they're attacking the "cruelty" angle.

In the docs, AH's lawyers state ... since Lloyd was shot 6 times and died "rapidly," there's no evidence of suffering. Furthermore, they say no witnesses heard Lloyd yell or scream.

There's more ... AH's lawyers say to prove cruelty, you must also show the killer "took pleasure" or was indifferent about killing. Team Hernandez says there was no evidence to show Hernandez "took pleasure in any suffering experienced by Lloyd."

Long story short ... AH's team believes Lloyd's murder was a run of the mill gun death -- nothing more or less cruel than any other.

Did you know ... "Blackish" star Anthony Anderson is friends with NFL legend Marcus Allen?

It's true ... and yesterday at LAX, the guys had a pretty hilarious explanation for the whole Deflategate situation -- it all comes down to pee!

The whole video is pretty hilarious ... with Anderson crackin' jokes just to get Marcus to laugh.