Even as a football-obsessed kid, the New England Patriots were barely a blip on my radar through the first six years of my life. Now, they’ll be back to being a better part of my life as I’m thrilled to announce I’m rejoining the beat for the Boston Herald.
I was born near Seattle after the Patriots’ Super Bowl XX loss, so my only real lasting image of the Pat Patriot-era team beyond quickly flipping past Pat Harlow rookie cards opening packs was an NFL Films special. The Patriots were rarely shown on network TV in the Pacific Northwest, and the team was banned from playing on “Monday Night Football.” This is a long way of saying that while I think the Patriots’ throwback jerseys are cool, I have no emotional attachment to them. I’m sorry.
Andre Tippett was among the pass-rushers featured on an NFL Films “Merchants of Menace” VHS tape I played over and over as a kid. His section opened with a shot of an “Entering Foxboro” sign on Route 1 South preceding clips of Tippett annihilating running backs and blindsiding quarterbacks. I didn’t know who the Patriots’ starting quarterback was, but I knew that Tippett could catch a wide receiver on his shoulder pads and effortlessly toss him to the turf.
Just a few years later after Walla Walla (Wash.)’s own Drew Bledsoe was drafted first overall and safety Lawyer Milloy (from my beloved Washington Huskies) was patrolling the back end of the defense, I was crushed to see the Patriots lose to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI even though I had no idea at the time that I’d be living 10 minutes from Foxboro Stadium just 10 months later. My dad got a job at Emerson College, and I’ve been living in the area ever since. Unlike Tom Brady, I at least knew where and what New England was before my first visit.
That entering Foxboro sign has a different significance to me now after countless drives to 1 Patriot Place. I began work at NESN in 2012 and was covering New England’s playoff run four months later. At NESN, I covered the Patriots’ for eight seasons. That included their last three Super Bowl wins and their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in some of the most memorable weeks of my life spent in Arizona, Houston, the Mall of America and Atlanta. And after a two-year stint covering the NFL nationally, I’m delighted to be back on the beat. Perhaps I can bring more luck back to the team.
My life could also use some normalcy. My 2-year-old daughter, Hallie, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia this spring. I’ve spent nearly half of my nights sleeping at Boston Children’s Hospital since April 8 as my wife and I have switched off between caring for Hallie and our 5-year-old, Olivia, at home. People frequently ask how Hallie’s doing. I can never give a clear answer. Some things are positive. Others are constantly up in the air. Ask me the same question 20 minutes apart and my answer might be drastically different. We live in the moment as we follow her plan of treatment.
So, it will be nice to be back spending my working days at “home” in the Gillette Stadium locker room and press box.
The Boston Herald has long been part of my journey covering the NFL. Some of my first Twitter follows while working a regular 9-5 and writing on the side dreaming of a job as an NFL reporter were then-beat writers Karen Guregian and Ian Rapoport. A year after Jeff Howe took over for Rapoport, I was replacing Howe on the beat at NESN. Kevin Duffy and Andrew Callahan have been some of my closest friends on road trips and toughest competitors in coverage. And it’s an honor (and somewhat terrifying) to take over for Karen.
No one can replace Karen, but I view myself as a versatile reporter who will break news, study film, present analytics in a digestible and entertaining manner, provide a player’s journey to the league and ultimately tell you what things mean and why they matter.
I can’t wait to be back at the practice field at Gillette Stadium when training camp opens next week.