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September 20, 2006

Football for Dummies

I've got to tell you, it's my third week covering the Patriots and it's been pretty interesting stuff.

After covering the Bruins and Red Sox for the last five years, football is totally different. Hearing Bill Belichick talk about 3-4 defensive schemes is a little different than knowing how to kill a penalty, score a power-play goal or even execute the hit-and-run to perfection.

The Patriots players, for the most part, have been pretty receptive to the new guy. The two days that I did attend Bruins traning camp last week some of the players wanted to know why I was covering the Pats instead of them. Ah, pro atheltes attempting to figure out the newspaper business. That's like me having a million bucks in my checking account.

Anyway, enough of the cute stuff.

The biggest difference between the NHL and NFL _ baseball doesn't count because there are games almost every day _ is the availability of the players. Hockey guys are readily available in the locker room before and after practices and games. They will answer questions as long as someone is asking them. And, the pucksters are not afraid to speak their minds.

Football guys keep it to a minimum and don't give you all that much. Sure, I'm the new guy around here and I'm not expecting Tom Brady to slip me a scoop. Hey, maybe in four more years he will.

This was the sort of trivial brainfreeze stuff I was thinking about on my way up to Gillette this morning. Just a few early observations from my time covering the Pats.

Before the puck drops every Sunday, Shalise and I will continue to cover the three-time Super Bowl champions to the best of our ability _ and then some.

Stayed tuned for more obversations throughout the season. . .

Joey Mac

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 1:13 PM | Permalink