Camp Sunshine

It’s the height of ego to think the universe is crouching behind a bush, waiting, stifling a chuckle as I approach the banana peels of fate they’ve left just for me. Still, I hate to tempt fate. I almost don’t want to say anything. Maybe it isn’t all about me (could that be possible?). Everything can change in a moment; life is like that. Not just because of something I say, right?

Could New England’s training camp be going any better?

Dreaming Big

I’m pulling for Stevan Ridley. In 2012 he was the best Patriots running back since Corey Dillon. I was looking forward to 2013 and then 2013 actually happened. In the off-season, when LeGarrette Blount signed with the Steelers, I was worried that Brandon Bolden would necessarily play a larger role in 2014 during Ridley’s frequent visits to Bill Belichick’s Home for Wayward Running Backs. A big fan of inertia, I had a hard time believing Ridley’s ball security issues wouldn’t continue, even if 2014 was a contract year. Shane Vereen, also in a contract year, couldn't replace Danny Woodhead spending half the season injured in 2013. Can he stay on the field in 2014? Tom Brady is terrific, but he’s even better with a solid running game (okay, what quarterback isn’t). Heading into training camp, it didn’t look like play action was going to help slow the pass rush down. Not with Brady faking to a backfield of slow, fumbling, fragile running backs.

And then the reviews of rookie running back James White started rolling in.

Process of Elimination

I guess Andre Johnson won’t be walking through that door.

Pinch Me

Training camp is opening and Gronk is full go.

Pinch me.

Nothing Ever Goes Smooth So What Else Have You Got?

One way to look at the Internet is to see it as an endless series of binary polls. You have to pick a side. Maybe that’s just a reflection of the current culture where everything is red or blue. You can’t be a conservative Democrat or a liberal Republican any more. Sophistication is cowardice. You are with us or you’re against us. As Bob Dylan once said, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

I’m looking at you, Tony Dungy. Do you really know what team you’re on?

This One's Optimistic

Rob Gronkowski will play all 16 games (hopefully, all 19 games). The Buffalo Bills will make the playoffs. The New York Jets will win the AFC East. The New Orleans Saints will meet the Denver Broncos in the desert as Peyton Manning breaks all the records he set last year and this time wins his second Super Bowl MVP. Everybody’s optimistic right now, mostly because it’s going to be a lot harder come September.

Pigskin Pfutures

The countdown to opening day has begun. Training camps are starting this week. Soon I’ll be able to stop watching the Red Sox trying to convince me that 2013 never happened or watch as Kevin Love signs with someone other than the Celtics, like that was ever going to happen. Instead, I can focus my workday coffee breaks musing on the pigskin fantasy of Andre Johnson catching passes from Tom Terrific.

Like that’s ever going to happen.