People.com: They are

By Mark Shanahan and Paysha Rhone, Globe Staff  |  January 13, 2009

Two weeks after TMZ.com reported that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had proposed to his supermodel sweetheart Gisele Bundchen, People.com got into the "are they or aren't they?" parlor game yesterday. Citing a source close to the couple, the celebrity website said Brady popped the question Friday in Los Angeles, giving Bundchen a diamond solitaire.

"He asked and she accepted," the source told People, adding that family and friends were informed over the weekend.

The source said an official announcement is being planned by Bundchen, who's also handling the details of the wedding with some of her closest friends.

"The couple is discussing a huge fashionista event in the spring or a more intimate and quicker ceremony in Costa Rica, where Gisele has a home," the source told People.com.

Hmm. A source close to Bundchen told us yesterday that she believes the pair have, in fact, been engaged since December. She speculated that Brady and Bundchen are putting the word out now so that family members don't have to continually deal with questions. Asked last month about the TMZ.com report, Brady's dad offered a non-denial denial.

"We don't know a thing about it," Tom Brady Sr. told us. "Nobody told me. We talked to him and there's nothing to say. It's rumor, rumor, rumor. It must be a slow news day."

Neither Brady's father nor his agent, Don Yee, returned our calls yesterday. Pats spokesman Stacey James also was mute.

At last night's Flutie Bowl to Strike out Autism, Brady's teammates said they hadn't heard anything.

"He didn't propose to me, so I have no idea," said linebacker Adalius Thomas.

The Pats QB, 31, began dating the 28-year-old Brazilian model in 2006 after he split with Bridget Moynahan, the statuesque Longmeadow-bred actress whom he'd dated for three years. (E! and People both reported yesterday that Brady and Bridget had been engaged, but that's news to us.) Not long after Brady's romance with Bundchen became public, New York gossip columnist Liz Smith let it slip that Moynahan was pregnant. The baby, John Edward Thomas Moynahan, was born in August 2007.

Before Brady, Bundchen, whose work on the runway has made her among the richest women in the world, famously dated actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The couple broke up in 2005. She's also been linked to surfer Kelly Slater and actor Chris Evans.

Kennedy Elsey and Karson Tager, of Mix 98.5's new morning show, Karson & Kennedy, spent a little QT with the kids at Winship Elementary School in Brighton yesterday. The radio duo read from "Hotel for Dogs," in honor of the movie opening Friday. Luckily, Tager's wife is a teacher, so he knew the drill. "I have great classroom management skills," he said. "I told the kids, 'I know how you guys are supposed to behave . . . because my wife expects me to behave the same way.' " Elsey said one student in particular impressed her with his savvy during their short Q&A. "Karson asked, 'What do you think is the most difficult thing about being on the air?' And one young man said, 'Contracts!' "

Bruins bruiser Milan Lucic dropped by the Albert Parlin School in Everett yesterday as part of the MTA's Hit a High Note program. Looch, who played sax as a kid, encouraged the kids to get involved in music.

We hear Larry Goldberg, director of the Media Access Group over at WGBH, has a golden ticket to the presidential inauguration. Goldberg advised Barack Obama during the campaign on issues related to technology and accessibility for people with disabilities, and he's continued to advise the president-elect's transition team. He reports he'll attend the Disability Power and Pride Inaugural Ball, as well as the welcome event at the Lincoln Memorial and the swearing-in ceremonies.

At last, there are release dates for the made-in-Massachusetts movies "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and "The Proposal." Word is "Ghosts," starring Jennifer Garner and Matthew McConaughey, will be in theaters May 1, and "The Proposal," starring Sandra Bullock and Mr. Scarlett Johansson, a.k.a. Ryan Reynolds, will be out June 12. Here's hoping they're better than the shot-in-Boston "Bride Wars," which has received withering reviews. About the only good thing in the movie is the spectacular floral arrangements, which we're told were provided by Winston Flowers.

Michelin chef Guy Martin was gearing up for a four-course critics' dinner last night, preceding the grand opening of his new restaurant, Sensing, in the Fairmont Battery Wharf today. Through an interpreter, Guillaume Schmitt, Martin said he was preparing - among other delectables - a first course snacking plate with six different delicacies. "And you're supposed to eat them in a certain order." As they are at his award-winning French restaurants, dishes in the Sensing kitchen will be cooked with the help of a timer, Martin said. "It's very precise." But the fresh local ingredients - our seafood and organic vegetables - will set Boston apart, he added. Gérard Barbin, who worked under Martin at Le Grand Véfour in Paris, will serve as executive chef, assisted by Hugo Sanalitro.

There were several familiar faces among the 400 or so people at last night's Flutie Bowl. An annual fund-raiser for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, the event at Lucky Strike Lanes was hosted by BC hero Doug Flutie and wife Laurie. The guest list included comedian Lenny Clarke and Pats players Stephen Gostowski, Stephen Neal, Larry Izzo, Ray Ventrone, and Matt Cassel. Others sports celebs invited to bowl a few strings were Revs player Taylor Twellman and Celts alums M.L. Carr and Jo Jo White.

Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.