SUMMER CAMPERS

Football soon will be back. Boston will once again a two-sport city. Welcome back to training camp, Patriots. Enjoy beautiful southeastern Massachusetts and the greater Foxborough/Mansfield area. The time is now to start anticipating the demise of the Steelers (Tedy Bruschi knocking Ben Roethlisberger out of the AFC Championship game with a huge hit. Predicted here first!).

Much thanks to Mike Reiss, who writes the Reiss’s Pieces blog at Boston.com (Read it here) who was kind enough to answer my questions about the Patriots linebacking corps with training camp around the corner. Reiss is noteworthy not just because he is constantly leading the pack with breaking Patriots news, but the man works his tail off. Patriots coverage is wall-to-wall with no breaks. Every little bit of news is unearthed all off-season. His in-game blog is a must read during the games (as my laptop serves a purpose other than checking fantasy football numbers during the games). Also, his mailbag is noteworthy in that he actually asks the players and coaches the questions the fans ask him. Simple, but unheard of in sports reporting. Imagine, treating the readers with respect and rewarding their well thought-out questions.

Reiss and Jerome Solomon (and Nick Cafardo back in a mop-up role) the Patriots football coverage is back at the top of the industry. With David Scott (Scotts Shots) reporting last week over at his media blog on Boston Sports Media Watch that Reiss should have an expanded role in Patriots coverage, it is good news for us die-hard, news-hungry Patriots fans.

Anyway, back to the Patriots linebacking corps. Mainly, I was asking his opinion on Monty Beisel and the linebacking depth. Reiss predicted Eric Alexander could be a sleeper of the camp, as well as Tully Banta-Cain possibly having an expanded role. Personally, I hope he is right about Banta-Cain and Alexander, as I think that any influx of youth to the linebackers is a huge improvement. With Ryan Claridge, Jeremy Mincey, and Freddie Roach added to the mix, there is definitely a chance to get younger and cheaper at linebacker as Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, and Roosevelt Colvin enter the backside of their careers over the next few years.

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