Projo Pats Blog

The other day at the beach, my son Dan was collecting rocks and shells and putting them in a bucket.

Most things he would pick up, investigate briefly and then drop in for more extensive examination later.

But a few things gave him extra pause. He felt these things required prompt attention and discussion. Or maybe Dan just felt someone should know he found them.

"Dad," he'd call up to me, holding something that demanded clarity. "What's this?"

"Dad, look at this skipping rock."

"Dad, this is like that thing we saw last year."

"Dad, this looks like Squidward."

The point? Some things warrant in-depth investigation. They need to be spread out on a table and analyzed. Sometimes, you need to call in other viewpoints. But there are some things that deserve immediate discussion or scrutiny.

Every 7-year-old on the beach knows that.

This season, in our daily Patriots blog, I'll get you information that needs to be known, discussed or scrutinized more quickly and immediately.

Why? Well, first off, because I can. I have the means to do it. Secondly, I need to. Our paper (to the best of my knowledge) comes out every morning.

News, unfortunately, doesn't wait for the paper and something that happens with the Patriots at say, 10 a.m. on a Wednesday gets reported on websites, hashed out on radio, blurbed on the news and analyzed on ESPN before our paper hits your doorstep Thursday morning.

My son Dan wouldn't want his brother telling me about the horseshoe crab Dan found. And if he did, punches would likely be thrown. I can't throw punches (effectively) but I can beat others to the punch. Or move to prevent others from landing first.

The blog will not be as in-depth or developed as the features, columns and notebooks that will appear in the Journal every morning. I view it the blog as a complement, not a replacement; a place where things can be a little less formal.

In addition to quick-hitting news and nuggets from the Patriots, I'll also have a few other recurring features: a quote of the day, trivia, links of note, announcements.

I also want this to be a means for connecting and I encourage questions and comments and intend to post them regularly. E-mail me at tcurran@projo.com with whatever you have.

My aim during training camp is to post each day by 1 p.m. that I'm down there (which will be most every day). I'll get something up immediately if it's breaking news. Fair enough? Good. Let's wrap this little intro up.

I have a chat today at noon on www.projo.com and may have an update to the blog later this afternoon depending how my phone calls go.

Tom

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