Another allegation connected to the Dianna Russini-Mike Vrable scandal has hit the internet.
It’s the sports story that just keeps on giving… even though both parties would probably prefer for it to all go away. The former reporter for The Athletic and New England Patriots head coach were apparently living some double lives in the past five years or so, and it sure seems like they weren’t all that great at hiding it.
The avalanche of drama started when photos, first published by Page Six, surfaced early last month showing Vrabel holding hands and lounging in a pool with the reporter on a rooftop in Sedona, Arizona.
The big issue here is that Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini are both married, and not to one another. The Patriots coach has been married to his wife, Jen Vrabel, since 1999, and the couple have two children together. Russini, meanwhile, has been married to Shake Shack vice president Kevin Goldschmidt since 2020. They also have two children together… and one of them is named Michael.
Initially, Vrabel and Russini denied any wrongdoing. However, as more and more has come out – like pictures of them kissing at a NYC bar in 2020 – the Patriots head coach started to speak apologetically, and even announced he’d be seeking out counseling (after the first two days of the NFL Draft). Russini even decided to resign from her position at The Athletic. In other words, as things have unfolded more and more, all signs point towards the alleged affair being something that actually played out.
There have been plenty of crazy, alleged side stories that have come out in the weeks since those bombshell photos first dropped. Some internet sleuths seemingly found a playlist that Russini made for the Patriots head coach, an old post on X/Twitter by the sports reporter said some weird things about “Michaels in the NFL” just a few days after her son of the same name was born, and a report about a car crash that initially posed Dianna as a hero (originally she was described as saving a man from his vehcile) may have been exaggerated.
And in no surprise at all, yet another wild allegation has come out about Russini and Vrabel’s alleged affair. This time, an NFL employee said that he witnessed the reporter and the head coach getting handsy at an Indianapolis, Indiana bar during the week of the NFL Combine back in February.
A source apparently told Tony Farmer, a sports betting analyst and sports media personality, that they witnessed the pair being openly comfortable with one another in public:
“An NFL employee said they saw Dianna Russini sitting on Mike Vrabel’s lap at Coaches Tavern in Indianapolis during the week of February 23. According to the witness, at one point Russini stood up and Vrabel gave her a ‘friendly little slap’ on her buttocks.”
Farmer’s report went on to confirm that both Vrabel and Russini were in Indianapolis for the combine, which took place just three weeks after New England lost in the Super Bowl, and four or so weeks before the pictures of the head coach and the sports insider lounging together and holding hands at the Arizona hotel.
Obviously, this is just a he-said/she-said type of report from Tony Farmer. There aren’t any pictures or video to confirm that this happened, but after everything else that’s come out from this scandalous story, it wouldn’t be all that surprising.
