Dear Mr. Fantasy

It’s all good news, seemingly. There are still question marks, sure. Gronk, Dobson, Easley. But there are others more ambulatory in their recovery. Mayo, Vollmer and Wilfork all seem to be on or above plan. I’m feeling good about this thing.

His Name is Champ

Word.

Greater Expectations

Wishful thinking has become anticipation. I’m trying to manage my expectations, really I am, but then I ask myself: Why bother?

I Decline

It’s entropy baby. It’s an immutable law of science. You can’t control it and you can’t even hope to contain it. There comes a point in the journey where it’s all downhill and it isn’t always a gentle decline; sometimes it’s downright precipitous.

Vacationing On Revis Island

What must it be like for Tom Brady and Darrelle Revis at practice every day? They’re like pigskin ninja masters jousting a best of 7 match. They’re like Wiley Coyote and Sam Sheepdog (if Wiley Coyote actually won on occasion) punching in to battle it out for all they’re worth until the whistle blows and they’re off the clock again. They push each other. Sam makes Wiley wilier; Wiley makes Sam study more film.

The Inconvenienced Tourists

Complaining about air travel is probably like complaining about the weather. Unless you have a plane of your own, there’s probably not a whole lot you can actually do about it.

Easterlies

This is the year.

We’ve been hearing that for a few years now. And maybe it will be. You know, the year some team other than the Patriots wins the AFC East. Last year it was going to be the Dolphins. Remember that? Miami had spent big in free agency, winning the Mike Wallace sweepstakes, and Ryan Tannehill was going to become the first QB since Dan Marino that Dolphins’ fans could talk about without shaking their heads in disgust. Injuries, stupidity and a failure on management’s part to see that Tannehill and Wallace were a mismatch in skill sets proved too difficult to overcome. Instead of leading the league in TD passes, Tannehill led the league in sacks.

This year, it’s the Bills and the Jets with second year QBs and shiny new wide receivers lighting the candle of hope in the Bill Belichick’s Dungeon of Decade-Long Despair.

Is this the year?