0:07

It's time now for another episode of Pats from the

0:09

Past podcast, Matt Smith alongside with Paul

0:11

Blow. Paul, I think this

0:13

is a we're gonna break the mold here a little

0:15

bit because the guy we're gonna speak with

0:18

I don't think had any tackles. True

0:20

false. Yeah, as far as my stats

0:22

show nothing, no catches. It's

0:24

kind of like lawyer malloy and oh one zero

0:27

zero zero zero. Wow. However,

0:30

we say that not to denigrate oh two,

0:33

I guess it was, but to um, but to celebrate

0:36

the og writer

0:39

for Patriots dot Com and Patriots

0:42

Football Weekly. Yeah, you know

0:44

him. Now as part of the worldwide Leader

0:46

in Sports ESPN, Mike Reese

0:49

joins us, ladies and gentlemen, and we are so

0:51

happy to have your Mike. Thank you for joining us.

0:53

It's great to be here. We've come a long way from

0:55

the coat closet at

0:57

Foxborough Stadium where which was

0:59

my first office. So serious question,

1:02

Mike, and you have a large following, people

1:04

respect your work and everything like that. How

1:06

many people do you think who follow you know where you actually

1:08

started, because I mean you try so you don't

1:10

hide from it, but you also not sitting there.

1:13

You don't have a flag out in front of your house about it.

1:15

Don't you think people would be surprised you know where

1:17

you started? Yeah, maybe a little bit, just because

1:19

it's so long ago, right, which is hard to believe. I mean,

1:21

this goes back to nineteen ninety seven.

1:24

Was my first job out of college. I

1:26

had graduated from you mass Amherst and

1:29

I actually, you're gonna laugh at me, Paul. I know we're

1:31

not on TV, but I brought this in for you to flip

1:33

through. These are all my rejection letters that

1:36

I got coming out of college. I really do.

1:38

I'm gonna look at this afterwards that you got

1:40

a couple of minutes after what. I'm interested

1:42

in this because because what what do you do? Feel

1:44

it? I feel the pain you're in college.

1:46

You're like, I want to work in sports media.

1:49

I'm gonna I want to be a newspaper reporter.

1:51

So I sent out all my resumes to newspapers

1:54

across the country. Maybe i'll call it two

1:57

hundred resumes. Wow, two hundred

1:59

rejections. Letters come back and I'm like, wow,

2:01

how can this be? Like I've had good experience

2:04

in college at Yumas and even before

2:06

that at my local newspaper. And

2:08

then, as it turned out, my

2:11

brother has a friend who

2:13

I knew through my brother, Dougie Fresh, Yes,

2:15

Dougie Reese who and the friend

2:17

Neil Cohen who went to

2:20

summer camp with Fred

2:22

Kirsh. And he said,

2:24

wow, yeah, I heard your brothers looking for a job,

2:26

you know, graduating. He should reach out to

2:29

Fred Kersh. He's looking for a entry

2:31

level writer for Patriots

2:33

Football Weekly. It's like a team newspaper

2:36

that they have over at the Patriots. So

2:38

I said, I'll reach out. I'll reach

2:40

out to Fred Kirsh and

2:42

guys. Honestly, every time I

2:44

see Fred, whether it's at a game or

2:47

at the stadium, I wrap him up in a big

2:49

hug because he was the only person to

2:52

offer me a job coming out of college and his

2:54

decision as we sit here today, I mean, I

2:57

can honestly tell you it's changed my

2:59

life. Seriousness. You know what

3:01

we call we joke around, you know, Brian Moray,

3:03

Andy Hart myself. You know what we call

3:05

Fred then King, the Kingmaker,

3:08

the Kingmaker. And it's not because he's

3:10

trying to do anything special

3:13

advance. He's not trying to perform some kind of

3:15

social experiment. He just gives

3:17

people opportunities and if they work

3:20

hard and they and they earn it and

3:22

they go places. They've all gone

3:24

places except for me, but everybody

3:27

else has really benefited

3:29

from Fred and I and I can voucher Mike

3:32

because I've seen Mike greet Fred

3:34

every time the same way. And

3:36

the best part of this story is if we fast

3:39

forward from ninety seven to ninety

3:41

nine, when Mike decided he

3:44

had gotten some experience here at the Patriots

3:46

moved on to his first job at a

3:48

conventional news, traditional newspaper, which

3:51

at the time I think was Metro West Daily News. Rightly,

3:53

okay, So who

3:56

stepped into his shoes? How great is

3:58

that? The real I

4:00

love it to big

4:02

shoes to fill. So, Mike, here you are,

4:04

Green is grass? Right? Fred

4:07

throws with your lifeline. I'm gonna do this? What

4:10

were you? What was your thinking? Here? You

4:12

know again? My guess is fresh faced

4:14

kid out of college. I'm gonna change the world.

4:17

I'm gonna win a Pulitzer Prize. I'm gonna

4:19

do all these things. I'm working for the Patriots. What

4:21

are we doing here? Can I break the pee Carroll's

4:23

story? What like? What can I do. What

4:26

kind of eye opening experience was it for you? I'm

4:28

gonna flip through the media guide to make sure

4:30

that I'm telling you an accurate story. But

4:33

our first trip, so we traveled

4:35

with the team on the team plane, and

4:37

our first trip was to lambau Field.

4:40

Oh, a preseason game. I want to say, remember

4:42

the game nine. So,

4:45

like right out of college, I think I had maybe

4:47

taken one family vacation as

4:49

a kid, you know, So I'm

4:52

seeing a place, Hey, welcome

4:54

to your new job. Let's go to lambeau Field. Like

4:56

what's not to love? Oh my god? And

4:58

I'll never forget. This was the

5:00

before iPhones. So we were

5:03

just getting into video

5:05

on the web. So Fred

5:08

was with me at the end of the game and

5:10

he had a little video camera and he goes,

5:13

just get down on one knee and

5:15

just say something about the game, and we'll post it

5:18

on Patriots dot com. And you know, we're going

5:20

to experiment with something called Patriots Cyber

5:22

Sideline. And that's how

5:24

we started. And like,

5:26

you say, what did you expect? What does it feel

5:29

like? I'm at lambeau Field.

5:31

You're paying me money to be here.

5:34

Did Lamba mean as much to you as a

5:36

as a twenty four, twenty five year old kid, or was it

5:38

or do you think do you wonder if

5:40

you took it all in as a young, fresh

5:42

phasd kid then is you know now today

5:45

Mike reefs jenuflect when he goes to

5:47

lambau Field. You probably could have put

5:49

me in any stadium and I would have felt that way. However,

5:52

when you hear about Lambeau and you're in

5:54

that environment, it's that much more. That's

5:56

awesome. Yeah, yeah, I mean just thinking

5:58

about some of those early days and

6:01

you know, so Mike and I had similar

6:03

kinds of experiences, even though I was a couple of years

6:05

after, you know, he had gone just

6:08

how many things And I'm not trying to like tell

6:10

everybody like, oh, how great the Patriots

6:12

are and the Patriots media, but there

6:15

are so many things that the Patriots

6:17

here, between Jonathan Craft

6:19

and Fred Kersh did first, you know, whether

6:21

it was the website, first team, website,

6:24

first team, video show that

6:26

Mike just talked about, Patriots, cyber sideline,

6:29

um first all color team,

6:32

owned news, team owned and run newspaper.

6:34

I mean, it's amazing how many things that they

6:36

were at the four show.

6:41

Yeah, I didn't say

6:43

best. I said first yes, yes,

6:46

but yeah, and you know, and people

6:48

are going to be able to tell by the way Matt and I sound.

6:51

We have a lot of affection for the guy that's that's

6:53

joining us today, and that's it the right way.

6:56

We have a lot of respect for the way he goes about doing

6:58

the job as well. And I know Mike feels the same

7:00

way about me. I'm not trying to put words into mouth.

7:02

We're very good friends on and off

7:05

the beat. And that's

7:07

why I think when you said to me, what do you think about

7:09

having Mike in, this is gonna be great.

7:11

I think we're gonna get a lot of good stories today. Yeah.

7:13

Um so, Mike, what was the most

7:16

intimidating thing when you first started Lambo

7:18

Field? That's kind of intimidating, right, the house

7:20

at Lombardi built and everything like that, that's pretty intimidating,

7:23

you know when you're first going in there.

7:25

Okay, this is this

7:28

is them coming off of pretty

7:30

Super Bowl loss and ourselves and everything

7:32

like that. What was your welcome

7:35

was it was going to Lambo you're in the big League's

7:37

moment or was there another moment in the locker room,

7:39

training camp or something like that, we said, Okay,

7:42

this is for real. So one

7:44

story that really stuck

7:46

with me was that first year and

7:49

we would pick who would win the games

7:51

in the newspaper and it's a team

7:53

own newspaper, and you know,

7:55

you didn't want to necessarily always

7:57

pick the Patriots because at that time, the idea

8:00

of Fred

8:03

makes sure that there's always one sixteen

8:05

and o season, right. You know, at that point, we

8:07

hadn't lived through two thousand and seven, and

8:10

and I remember thinking to myself, like

8:12

for us to be taken seriously like

8:15

we we have to we have to go with the

8:17

other team credibility. So we and

8:19

so for me, I probably didn't

8:22

pick the right game to pick against them for the

8:24

first time, but I think it was the game against

8:27

the Jets when Bill Parcels

8:29

was the coach, So that one hurts. It's

8:32

the first road one, right, yeah, all first

8:35

road one. You picked him again in the home game, I think

8:37

I did. Does that sounds I mean you would. I

8:39

think you've told me this story before and I can't

8:41

remember what happens and so rightless

8:44

so so they

8:46

that was the moment, Matt where I actually

8:48

started to question if I if, am I really

8:50

cut out for this, because I

8:52

remember, you know, at that time

8:55

there was more of um less of a

8:57

wall put up between the players and the

8:59

STA half and the people who

9:01

work for the team, like myself, And they

9:04

used to bring the Patriots football weeklies

9:06

down to the locker room and hand them out to the players,

9:08

get your own coffee, And I

9:10

could hear. I could hear from up in my cubicle,

9:13

which was at that point like right outside

9:15

ownership offices, because the locker room was underneath

9:18

us. I could hear like almost

9:20

like the newspaper getting crumbled up and oh,

9:22

what is this? What is this? And they

9:25

were like some players were upset that

9:27

I had picked against them. And so when I went

9:29

down for the

9:31

access, like Jimmy Hitchcock I remember

9:34

specifically was like, wouldn't

9:36

answer my questions. And

9:39

I think part of it was playful, but at

9:41

the time, I'm twenty one, twenty two years

9:43

old, and it felt heavy

9:45

personal. I'm I don't know if person,

9:47

but it felt heavy almost like do I have

9:50

what it takes to stand up here and back

9:52

what I put into the paper? Because it in retrospect,

9:55

I'm not sure it was the best game to make

9:57

my first pick against the Patriots knowing

9:59

the back story there and by the way,

10:02

Mike was right, which

10:04

made it probably worse. Yeah,

10:07

and he ended up that the Jets ended up eating the Patriots

10:09

and that remember that in that game? And um,

10:12

I think that wasn't there one of the players that

10:14

went up to you, like really playfully said,

10:16

I heard you did a bad thing, little man. That's right,

10:19

that's right, I'm gonna stuff you in my locker I

10:21

think it was Ferrik Collins if I remember,

10:23

right, do you remember fur scared

10:25

the but Jesus on to me one day for something totally

10:27

different. But see, and that's where I get nervous.

10:30

I'm like, was was it Ferrik? Because it's starting

10:32

to be so long ago, guys that it's right.

10:34

I would have just gonna give you maybe Henry Thomas. He

10:36

would be as another kid could have been

10:38

Henry Thomas. Henry Tallas was great. I like

10:41

you. You mentioned a name, and I think of a story.

10:43

Henry Thomas. You used to have a joke in

10:45

the locker room, like I think I'm gonna keep

10:47

a whole tin of breath min's in here because whenever

10:49

I talk to you guys, you know

10:51

you need you need some breath men's you

10:54

know. So it's like stuff like that, Matt like, and that's

10:56

part of the fun quing around

10:58

a team for as long as you you say it, player and

11:00

you think of something funny or a different

11:02

story like that. Right. So, Mike, I've been with

11:04

you, I think at owners meetings where

11:09

in the format really hasn't changed. One

11:11

day, Monday, say, the AFC

11:14

coaches have a breakfast and a media availability,

11:16

and on Tuesday, the NFC

11:19

has availability and a media breakfast.

11:21

And I remember being with you one of these ones,

11:23

whether it's out in the West or in Florida or something

11:26

like that, and you had said to me, Matt, I'm

11:28

gonna stick around a little bit. I'm gonna I want to go

11:30

over to the NFC. I want to say hi to Pete. And

11:32

I'm sitting to go and you want to go over and say hi to Pete.

11:35

And this is thirty

11:37

years later or something like that in

11:39

Europe, and Pete carroll Sy's Mike Reece

11:42

And of course he goes up to when gravitates

11:44

to him, because you remember some twenty one

11:46

year old little snot nosed kid who

11:48

used to cover him every single day when

11:50

he was a coach of the Patriots. Yea, And that tells

11:52

me a little something about both

11:55

people, and not just Mike but

11:58

Pete. When Mike had had said, you know,

12:00

back then there was maybe less of a wall

12:02

between the team personnel

12:04

and us. That's part of

12:07

what I'm sort of remembering as well.

12:09

And when I came in, you know, Brian,

12:11

Brian Moorey at the time, you know, he took

12:13

me around, introduced me to a lot of people, and

12:15

he introduced me to Pete Carroll. And it was actually at

12:17

training because I started kind of like hit the ground

12:20

running. I started right his training camp was

12:22

was getting ready to kick off, and he

12:25

brought me over to Pete, you know, and Pete

12:27

asked me a bunch of questions about myself

12:30

and where I came from there, like stuff

12:32

that you really couldn't imagine today. And it's had

12:34

nothing to do with Bill, but just you

12:36

wouldn't see that same kind of time

12:39

given to to get to know anybody,

12:42

and Pete what Pete had to be. He

12:44

goes, so you're gonna replace Mike. He

12:46

goes, big shoes to fills. He goes, well, actually

12:49

little shoes to fill. But how great

12:51

is that? But that's like he did. He was like big shoes

12:53

to fill, and that's what he meant. That as

12:56

a compliment to Mike's professionalism

12:58

and work ethic. For Patriots Football Weekly,

13:00

we used to have we called it Carol's Corner.

13:02

So Brian myself or Brian and

13:05

Paul right after that would go into his office

13:07

and sit with him and you get whatever ten

13:10

fifteen minutes, ask him questions and we would run

13:12

it as a Q and A and so one.

13:14

I'm gonna guess it was ninety nine we were

13:16

in there. It might have been March, and

13:18

we're doing our off season Q and

13:20

A for Carol's Corner and a

13:23

knock on the door. Coach.

13:25

I just wanted to say goodbye, you know, thanks

13:27

for spending time with me. It was great

13:29

to be here. And Pete gets up.

13:31

He goes, hey, that was great. You know, we'll be in

13:34

touch. And then Pete looks at Brian

13:36

myself and he goes, do you guys

13:38

know who that is? And he said, I

13:41

have no idea. He goes, that's

13:44

Kevin Falk. You should get to know his

13:46

name. And it was like those

13:48

stories like that fun, right, So they end up drafting

13:51

him the next month. I believe in the second round

13:53

if I have it right. And so those were

13:55

the moments. Those are behind the scenes fun

13:57

things like you mentioned a name, Matt

13:59

Paul, Like, those are the things that start

14:01

racing through my head. So here he is, he cuts

14:03

his teeth at Patriots dot

14:05

Com Patriots Football Weekly. What

14:09

Mike, what was the motivating factor for

14:11

you to say, Okay, I gotta move

14:13

away, I gotta move on. What was

14:15

going through your mind? And then where did you go? And let's

14:17

tell the listeners and the fans about how

14:20

you got the worldwide leader. Definitely. So

14:23

it was always my dream to be like Will McDonough,

14:26

the late Boston Globe sports

14:28

columnist. I just saw. I

14:30

admired him, and I

14:33

had reached out to the Boston Globe and said,

14:35

like, am I on the right path to possibly

14:39

following that path? You know, to be like that?

14:41

And the sports editor at the time, his

14:43

name was Don Square. He said, you're getting

14:46

great experience. He said, one thing we'd

14:48

be looking for if we were to hire you

14:51

is a little more independence,

14:53

So to not be employed by the

14:55

team writing on them, but to show us that

14:58

you could write on them at an independent

15:00

outlet. I'm surprised that Globe would look down

15:02

at um at a team site or her

15:05

team team Meeta. But you know what's funny about that

15:07

is, you know, let's get back to Will

15:09

for a second. You won't find

15:11

a better champion of Patriots Football

15:13

Weekly than Will McDonald was. That's interesting. He

15:16

was fantastic with us. He used

15:18

to cite our work on occasion

15:20

in his Sunday notes. Made

15:23

you feel like you arrived, right, Paul, You know that

15:25

because that least my big fear, And you

15:27

know I did it the opposite of Mike. I spent

15:30

eleven years at the Herald, and

15:32

I wasn't really getting the beat or

15:35

the assignments that I necessarily wanted.

15:37

And then when this opportunity came, so I went to the

15:39

backwards path. I went from conventional

15:42

mainstream media to team owned

15:44

and operated media. And

15:47

my one fear was that not

15:49

to be taken seriously. And when

15:52

I get you know, when I tell you,

15:54

like Nicka Fardo at the time, another late great

15:57

you know Boston Boston Globe writer Heaven

16:00

Mannix from the Herald, Ronnie Borges,

16:03

Will McDonough, These guys were wonderful

16:05

with the team, and he never never

16:07

looked down their nose at us at all. And I think

16:10

it's changed now, Paul, like

16:12

I think it was more it wouldn't

16:14

be viewed the same way by newspapers.

16:17

I think times have changed, but that's what it was at

16:19

that time. And so I went back to my hometown

16:21

newspaper in framing him Massachusetts

16:23

called the Metros Daily News, and I

16:27

was covering the team, but not as closely

16:29

because unlike Patriots Football Weekly, where

16:31

I was here every day, you didn't travel, No,

16:34

didn't travel initially, and there were

16:36

times where I remember I was covering

16:38

like a local flag football

16:41

game, you know, on a Sunday when

16:43

the Patriots might have been on the road, and my

16:45

friends would say to me, what

16:47

happened to you those trips to lambeau Field.

16:51

And so in a way it was like, well, I'm still

16:53

doing it, but it was in a different form,

16:55

and so was Eric. Christ's

16:58

a confidence there, Mike. You know, here's a you know, your

17:00

first jobs at lambeau Field, you're working,

17:02

You're covering this team, the team that you grew up with.

17:04

I'm gonna stretch myself because of the advice

17:07

that I got. I'm gonna work at my local newspaper

17:09

and now I'm doing flag football games.

17:12

Did I make the right you know, what

17:15

was going through your mind at this time? Definite crisis

17:17

of confidence, Paul. I would say maybe

17:20

about two or three years after

17:22

I made the decision, where I was like, nothing's

17:25

really happening. There's no advancement.

17:28

I hadn't you know. All

17:30

I was doing was working, hadn't met my white

17:33

mic now wife at the time, and I was sort of

17:35

like, is this a whole worth it? No Bruch shows, No

17:37

Bruch shows. Oh no, I think

17:39

I had been going to some Bruch shows at that time. You too

17:41

do that on your own podcast, all right, But

17:43

but I remember I actually said, I

17:45

think the life of a teacher

17:48

would be a great lifestyle and

17:50

I would enjoy doing that. And I actually this was

17:52

a time when the state was offering

17:55

signing Paul, you remember this. I

17:58

almost did the same thing. This is unbelievable.

18:00

They were offering signing bonus

18:03

like incentives to professionals

18:05

who had been in the field for you know

18:07

what, however, many years to get into

18:09

teaching. Because I think there was a teaching shortage

18:12

if I remember, especially from male teachers at

18:14

like the elementary school level and things like this, and

18:18

there was just, uh, you know it was you

18:20

started thinking, I

18:22

like doing this, this is what I always wanted to do. How

18:24

long can I go and make this

18:27

little money and substantiated?

18:29

You know, something's got to start happening. So I

18:31

know exactly what Mike is talking about. You have these

18:34

sort of inner dialogues and trying to figure

18:36

out what's best, what's the next move. Took the

18:38

test, failed the test,

18:41

which I say, thankfully stuck

18:44

with it, and what changed for me was

18:46

the web and blogging two

18:49

thousand and two, two thousand and three, two thousand

18:51

and four pieces. That

18:53

was what changed it for me and ultimately

18:56

got me to from Metro Wes Daily

18:58

News nineteen ninety nine to two

19:00

thousand and five to the Boston

19:02

dot Com Boston Globe two

19:04

thousand and five to two thousand and nine,

19:07

and then ESPN started up ESPN Boston

19:09

in two thousand and nine, and it was a

19:11

good time to go, only because the Globe

19:13

was up for sale. We didn't know what was happening,

19:16

and it's been a great place to be. Wow,

19:19

That's a really good story for any young person

19:21

who it wants to get into this business, but in

19:23

any business of like when

19:25

do you make the decision? How long are

19:27

you going to stick with this? I got bills to pay?

19:29

How long can I keep on going? Year? And

19:32

following your heart, following your passion

19:35

knows to the grindstone all of those good

19:37

things and it's going to work out if you

19:39

believe and work hard enough. Is that do you?

19:42

Is that what you're going to tell your kids? I think, Mike,

19:44

you know, when they come to you looking for advice, I

19:47

would tell them that map. But I think sometimes

19:49

it's luck too. Sure, you know, sure?

19:51

And I think I mean without getting two personal

19:54

I mean at that time in my life, like I

19:56

was lonely. Like that's one I don't know if you read Adam

19:58

Schefter's book, which I really admire

20:01

him for, Like he talked about being

20:03

lonely and am I ever going to meet someone?

20:05

I'm a very personal stuff from him

20:08

and for me, like I was sort of balancing the career

20:10

stuff but also like what's

20:12

happening, like can be the work working

20:15

all the time. And that was where the whole

20:17

teacher thing was appealing to me. Interesting,

20:19

So I miss my you know, like, think about what we do.

20:21

I mean, a lot of we're well, our jobs

20:23

are fun, we love them. We

20:25

are working when most people are

20:28

playing. Correct. I always say that,

20:30

like the sports journalism

20:32

business, it never closes. It's

20:35

it's nights, it's weekends, it's holidays,

20:37

you know. And just look just just this past

20:39

year, we played the Patriots, played on every

20:41

holiday, imaginable. But you know, so you just

20:44

played on Thanksgiving. You know,

20:46

we just went to Minnesota and played on Thanksgiving. They

20:48

play at Dallas next year. Correct, there's

20:50

a chance you're gonna play on Thanksgiving again next

20:53

year. Um. And I know

20:55

a lot of people look at this. Let's listening to this jerk.

20:57

You know, he's complaining about having to cover the Patriots.

20:59

We're a living I'm not complaining about It's what I

21:01

chose to do. But there

21:04

are different sides of it some people.

21:06

You know, when Mike is talking about that

21:08

teacher thing, and this is Mike's podcast, so I

21:10

don't need to interject how I come

21:13

in on all of this, But I know I

21:15

was working at The Herald, and this is

21:17

when I was sort of coming

21:19

to these crossroads in my mind because I

21:21

loved working at the Herald. I loved the people I worked

21:24

with, and there are a lot of people that you

21:26

guys know and maybe don't love so much.

21:28

Today I'm looking at a couple of them on a monitor, Mike

21:30

Felger and Tony maz That's why I get

21:32

along so well with them doing the stuff

21:34

on the sports ub. But we were all three of us

21:37

kind of in the same kind of boat,

21:40

and you just wonder, how,

21:43

to Mike's point, how am I ever going to meet

21:45

somebody when I worked Thursday, Friday and

21:47

Saturday night from five pm

21:49

to one am or seven pm

21:51

to three am, doing racing

21:53

or aggat work in the sports department,

21:56

hoping that someday I can be Will McDonough

21:58

Right. Well, no one's gonna

22:01

come down with a magic wand and say I dubbed you

22:03

the next Will mcdunne like. It's so

22:06

like there's so much fortune

22:09

and fate that gets you

22:11

know, this guy happened to be in the right place

22:13

at the right time, got an opportunity, and then

22:16

you know, I always tell the story about Bill Simmons,

22:18

who was with us at the time. Yeah, doing the same

22:20

kind of stuff. Obviously

22:23

an incredibly talented guy,

22:25

but it wasn't happening for him at the Herald,

22:27

so we left right. You know, it's there's

22:30

a lot of different paths. It's a lot a lot of ways

22:32

to get to grandma's house. Yeah, can I tell a story.

22:34

I love stories like pats from the past, Like I was

22:36

thinking, I was thinking about this coming

22:39

down here, like shining a

22:41

light on paths from the past, even more

22:43

than even just the players. So along this whole

22:45

topic. When that first year I was

22:47

working for the team nineteen ninety seven, we would travel

22:50

and we would getting on the buses go to the airport,

22:53

and they had an athletic trainer team at

22:55

an athletic trainer Ron O'Neill assaulted

22:58

the Earth guy. Now to your point,

23:00

Matt, you had asked me before, like what was

23:02

it like for you? Like were you intimidated? Like

23:05

I was very impressionable as my first year

23:07

out of school. Sure, he was like a father

23:09

figure to me. And I would always

23:11

try to sit next to him on

23:13

the bus and

23:16

and we would Paul, I can't help it.

23:18

And we would talk and and and I'd say,

23:20

what did you do last night? I took I

23:22

took my wife out to dinner and he

23:24

would tell and he gave me advice that I still

23:27

remember to this day. He said,

23:29

once a month, every week we

23:32

have date night, and I'm going to give

23:34

you some advice, young Mike Greece. You're

23:37

you're a young guy here. You're it's just you

23:39

right now, and um,

23:41

You're gonna move on in your life, hopefully of a successful

23:44

career, and you might meet someone. And

23:47

when you meet someone, it's gonna be probably

23:49

pretty easy because it's gonna be you and that

23:51

person. Now, you and that

23:53

person might get together, you might try to have

23:55

a life together, and then it's gonna be

23:57

you, and maybe there might be some kids involved.

24:00

Then it's no longer you in that person, and then it's

24:02

you your job, the kids never

24:06

stop dating your wife. Wow, And

24:08

I'm never, I never, and I just but so

24:10

I tell the story. One, I remember it

24:12

like it was yesterday. And two,

24:14

like being around the team. You're

24:17

around great people, players,

24:20

coaches that are at highest level NFL

24:23

right that if you're around

24:25

it, you can't help, but some of that rubs

24:28

off on you if you're paying attention, you know, And I

24:30

love like I think pats from the past, like

24:32

Ron O'Neill, great China light, great story.

24:35

Well that's I'm more I'm interested

24:37

in those kinds of things. Like So ron

24:39

O'Neill obviously made a huge impression on you.

24:41

What some of the other people, I mean, I know there's

24:43

so many because you know got twenty

24:46

some odd twenty five years of this. Yes,

24:49

like who was some of the other people that really

24:51

stood out to you has made such an impression.

24:54

I do have to give Bill Belichick

24:56

credit because I think in general, Paul he

24:59

brings in people that are pretty

25:01

impressive. Not not you never hit

25:03

a hundred, right or never about one hundred, you

25:06

know, but to me, like the Nate

25:08

Soldiers, those are

25:10

like personal to me because when he's going

25:12

through, um, the testicular

25:15

cancer and to see him

25:17

fight through that and share

25:20

that, you know, and um,

25:23

so that's what like current

25:26

day, you know, the Matthew Slaters and

25:28

the Devin mccordy's, like you learn a lot

25:30

from from from being around

25:32

them, and hopefully maybe they even learned something from

25:34

talking to you. I'd like to think that it's two way

25:36

street. You know. Devin

25:39

mccordy's definitely at my top five, twenty

25:42

three whatever years. Yeah, Mike, you mentioned

25:44

schefter and you're talking about his book and

25:47

Patriot fans know you now is Mike GREASYESPN.

25:50

It's a big company. H

25:52

hard to make your mark. Uh maybe

25:55

pressure to do something to make

25:57

that mark as you come

26:00

from team owned media to a small suburban

26:02

newspaper to now. I've said it

26:04

a couple of times here in this conversation, the worldwide

26:07

leader, and I don't say that they are.

26:10

They're all about that. What have

26:12

you learned there? And what are some of the lessons

26:14

that you've learned you know that you've

26:16

taken with you, maybe from Patriot's Football

26:18

Weekly that you use today at

26:21

ESPN. So another story.

26:23

When we were at Patriots Football Weekly, the crafts

26:26

who wanted us to be great, hired

26:28

people to work with us, and one

26:31

of them was John Dennis. Do you remember he had a company

26:33

called Media Wise. I should have brought that

26:35

packet in, Paul, I'll bring it into I still have the

26:37

literature. And who used

26:39

to work with your dad on

26:42

television. I want to talk about a small

26:44

world. That's right. It's unbelievable, it is.

26:46

And he would come in and work with us and Matt. What I

26:49

took from that experience

26:52

was John Dennis said, look

26:54

at your little press pass right here. Think

26:56

of how many people would want to have that press pass.

26:59

You have a privilege with this press pass,

27:02

but also an obligation. You

27:04

get to ask questions that the person

27:06

at home wants to ask but

27:09

can't. So you need to serve

27:12

that audience. And that's the

27:14

part that I learned from him from Patriots

27:16

Football Weekly, from one of my first days on the

27:18

job, that I take I try to I

27:20

take that seriously. And I

27:22

think you and me, Matt, we've talked off air,

27:25

you know that sometimes like

27:28

I feel an obligation to be

27:30

in a certain situation to say,

27:32

like if we don't ask this, we're

27:34

not doing our job. Like what's our purpose

27:37

here? To serve the fans? And

27:39

Mike, you've talked about and this isn't a

27:41

new role, okay, And it's

27:43

one that maybe fans don't understand a

27:45

lot. The fans will watch fifth

27:48

quarter or they'll watch Patriots

27:50

dot Com and they'll listen to Bill Belichick after the

27:52

game. And after the game, a

27:54

reporter asks Bill Belichick, coach

27:58

Hunter Henry Minnesota catch

28:00

no catch, well, you know, how did you see

28:02

it? And Bill's never going to take the cheese

28:04

as far as that's concerned. But the first thing out of his mouth

28:06

is pool reporter. Yeah,

28:09

Mike reees. Maybe maybe the fans don't

28:12

know this holds that role as the pool

28:14

reporter. Mike, you talk about the how

28:16

serious you take the nature of your job. We're

28:19

not saving lives, and I know you know that, Yeah,

28:21

but you also take this seriously and

28:23

you feel a responsibility maybe

28:25

educate the fans a little bit about what that is like

28:28

to be the pool reporter and have to go ask

28:30

Carl Scheffers or whoever the Carl Scheffers

28:33

was in Minnesota, those kind of

28:35

questions. Yes, So every beat core

28:38

around the NFL, so thirty two teams,

28:40

they designate one or two pool

28:43

reporters that if there's ever a question

28:45

about the interpretation of a

28:47

rule, that reporter asks

28:50

on behalf of all the reporters to

28:52

hopefully provide a better understanding

28:55

to everyone as to why that

28:57

call was made. And so

29:00

you have to be at the games, so I

29:02

think by default, and you've both probably

29:04

noticed this, the traveling media is

29:07

much less than it used to be. Thankfully,

29:10

ESPN still sends me to all the games.

29:12

I hope that continues. So that puts me among

29:15

a very small group that's eligible

29:17

to be the pool reporter. And so

29:20

play like Hunter Henry and Minnesota happens

29:23

inevitably. Everyone just looks down and says,

29:25

can we have a pool report? Or I might

29:28

look and say do we agree we want

29:30

a pool report? And I might say to everyone,

29:32

can you send me what you want me to

29:34

ask? That happens organically, like usually

29:37

okay, usually it's pretty interesting. Yeah,

29:40

yeah, And we had a few days

29:42

like the Minnesota one was just just what you

29:44

had, the one and the Raiders I think right with

29:46

the disputed touchdown for Cling cole Yes,

29:49

was that the only two? And then we did one and I'm

29:51

curious Stinnati progress

29:54

on Romadre Stevenson's bumble. Right,

29:57

So that's three pool reports of one year.

30:00

That's a heavy lift, and I relatively,

30:02

you know what I'm saying, I do. Well. The only reason

30:04

that it's heavy matter is you can't be

30:06

in two places at once. Since you're doing that, that means

30:09

you're not in with Bill Belichick. And then

30:12

Paul mentioned, you know, like Felger

30:14

and mass like, what's changed in

30:16

our business is now everyone's not just listening

30:18

to the answers. There's an accountability

30:21

to your question. And if oh, they

30:23

might say on the you know, most

30:25

listened to talk radio station, how

30:27

come no one in the media asked this,

30:30

which might be a fair criticism,

30:33

but it also might be because I

30:34

wasn't there room or I

30:37

just messed up. You know. So, Mike,

30:39

you're sitting there and you're talking about you know that

30:42

the Pool No pun intended here, because we're

30:45

talking about Pool reporter has shifted

30:47

and changed a little bit from travel. Yet

30:50

this is my perception as I look

30:52

at the people who cover the Patriots

30:55

on a local level, if you

30:57

compare that group to what other

30:59

teams do, I have to believe that

31:01

outside of the Dallas Cowboys, you're

31:03

looking at the largest media

31:06

contingency to cover a team. Is that a fair statement

31:08

to make? It seems pretty high. It's

31:10

big, Yeah, it's big, but it depends on where.

31:13

So, like, it's big on a daily basis,

31:15

right, because you're pulling in all the TV stations

31:18

from around the Rhode Island, Boston,

31:20

sometimes New Hampshire will come down Maine,

31:24

and then the smaller local papers,

31:26

but then you go on the road and you really

31:28

start to see it. But

31:30

in terms of a day to day I

31:33

think Matt is probably I mean, I think the New York's

31:35

are probably comparable Philly.

31:37

Maybe you think Philly, yeah, maybe, yeah,

31:39

But like there's some that have like a

31:41

handful of people that are there on a

31:44

Wednesday, right, So, Mike, that

31:47

to me not necessarily

31:50

makes it has to happen. But

31:52

if you're covering this team, you want

31:54

your voice heard, whether that's in print, whether

31:57

that's on the radio, whether that's on TV.

32:00

And it's hard to do that on

32:02

this beat. Okay, you've

32:04

covered Bill Belichick since he's been here, since

32:07

he was hired in two thousand. There's

32:09

been a lot of noise in twenty something years

32:11

about cheez. Yeah. You know, why would I

32:13

go to a Bill Belichick press conference. He's

32:16

not gonna say anything. You've

32:18

made a life twenty something years

32:20

of going to Bill Belichick press conferences. And

32:22

one of the things that I admire about you is

32:25

when one of the many things is when there's

32:27

a pandemic, you can't go to the press conference,

32:30

but if there's a virtual availability,

32:32

you're there. If there's an in person

32:34

availability, you're there?

32:37

Why is that important to you? So

32:40

I feel like we have that responsibility

32:42

to the fans. And how bad would

32:44

it look if, Okay, Bill Belichick,

32:47

it's seven thirty for his day after

32:49

game zoom and Stacy

32:52

James does a great job with the media relations

32:54

calls out, all right, where

32:57

coach Belichick is here? Do

33:00

we have any questions? And if

33:02

no one is there to ask or no one raises

33:04

their hand, I feel like that would

33:07

shine a very bad light on

33:10

like what are we even doing here? You know? And

33:12

so I don't

33:15

want to say I'm that that I hold

33:17

that up, but like that's why I make it

33:19

a point Matt to be there, because if he's going

33:21

to have an availability, I feel like we

33:23

should be there to make it what it's

33:25

meant to be, which is an availability

33:27

to further educate inform

33:30

the fans. And while we can't control his answers,

33:33

we can control hopefully the quality

33:35

of our questions. And his answers can be very

33:37

maddening to people, both the fans

33:40

and to the media who are the conduit to

33:42

the fans who just want to be able to why

33:44

did this happen? Why is he playing? Why

33:47

is he not playing all the different things that the

33:49

media asks. I don't think

33:51

you feel that way. I'm sure you've been

33:53

frustrated. Sometimes you get singled out unfairly

33:56

people will talk to or fairly or

33:58

fairly right or but people go, geez,

34:00

why why why did he have it in for reach today?

34:02

You know, yeah, but you've been doing it, like for twenty three

34:04

years. What have you learned about covering

34:06

Bill Belichick that has helped

34:09

you as a reporter and maybe

34:11

help make you a better writer, more

34:13

informed reporter. So so

34:16

I do disagree with and Paul, I think you're

34:18

going to disagree with me, but that's okay. I do

34:21

disagree with those who say he doesn't say anything

34:23

because I do think there's times that

34:25

he does say stuff. Now, it might not be

34:27

in black and white, and it might you might have

34:29

to interpret it, or you know, I

34:31

think sometimes there's there's things there, and I

34:33

think it's more by omission, but I

34:36

think there's sometimes that it's that there's stuff there.

34:38

So I think that's that's my thing. What I've learned

34:40

is just always show up, always try

34:42

to be prepared to ask questions. And

34:45

and Matt, you said, like sometimes you get, you

34:47

know, singled out unfairly or

34:49

honestly, Matt, sometimes fairly because

34:51

you know what we're not We're not say it that way, and we're

34:54

not because we're not perfect. And sometimes sometimes

34:56

I will ask a question everybody and

34:58

I'll be like, oh my god, what

35:01

like one that didn't come out the way I intended

35:03

it to, and like, what was I thinking

35:06

in that moment? Which reminds me

35:08

of a story. Can I do you take? Okay?

35:10

That's why you're here? The first

35:12

time I ever asked a question

35:14

that Bill Belichick how nervous

35:17

I was, And I remember the

35:19

question, and so

35:22

I would This was going back to early

35:24

two thousands and so I remember I wasn't

35:26

working for the team. I was at a small local paper, so I

35:28

wasn't traveling with the team at that time. But I was showing

35:30

up, you know, mostly

35:33

a daily basis, or Tom Carran was doing

35:35

it, so maybe I was showing up every now and then. I don't remember

35:37

were shooting in the front row back then? It wasn't in the front

35:39

row back then. I was. I was scoping

35:41

it out, and I think I finally

35:44

got the courage to ask a question

35:46

because I was I mean, I'm always impressed

35:49

with the young reporters to come in and just let

35:51

it rip right away. Like I was really nervous

35:53

to ask a question to Coach Belichick, and

35:56

so I finally got the courage and

35:58

I can just amatagine how it came out.

36:00

And it was, you have a

36:03

defensive back name Leonard

36:05

Myers, um out

36:07

of the Miami of Miami.

36:10

Um, what what do you think he

36:12

might be able to contribute to

36:14

the shore? It didn't sound like that. My

36:17

heart beating through my chest that's what I remember.

36:19

Sound like that. But but I

36:21

I do tell the story because I think it's important

36:24

for people to know. Like I was britt and

36:26

I actually still do. Will will get

36:28

nervous sometimes going on TV or

36:30

like this is very comfortable because we know each

36:32

other, but like sometimes you're on ESPN

36:35

and they're coming to you and you're like, am I prepared and

36:37

my health? Like, am I in a good place right

36:39

now? Like? And the heart will start beating like

36:41

right, And so I'll give fans

36:44

listeners a little bit of uh, maybe

36:47

peel back a little bit behind the curtain

36:49

where I've been with Mike, and I'll again I'll repeat

36:52

this at the owners meetings

36:54

or the league meetings, the annual meetings, whatever they

36:56

want to call him. And that's where the

36:58

coaches and coach Belichick um at

37:01

breakfast, eight thirty in the morning, whatever

37:03

it's whether it's Pacific Coast time or Eastern

37:05

Standard time. And here comes Bill Belichick.

37:07

And we've seen the famous memes with the orange

37:09

juice and all different things like that.

37:12

And Michael spend the night before that or

37:15

times before that, and he comes

37:17

in with his notebook and he's got

37:19

forty to sixty questions, and

37:22

he'll sit there and he'll go, Matt, what do you think about

37:24

this? Do you think I'm covered here? And

37:27

I just think it's a great lesson for any reporter.

37:29

You have forty to sixty

37:31

questions before a press conference. Maybe

37:34

I couldn't come up with forty questions the

37:36

annual meeting. If you said, you can have a million dollars

37:38

if you can write down forty questions, is Bill Belichick?

37:40

I'm not sure I could do it. Hasn't talk since the end of the

37:42

year, so you're looking at a two and a half three month period

37:45

where they've signed somebody, somebody's lost,

37:47

this coach left, this coach is coming. There's

37:49

been a period of time, so it's not Wednesday

37:52

before the Packers game. Let's know, you

37:55

said that owners meetings forty

37:58

to sixty questions. That's impressive, and it's impressive

38:00

and I would want to sit there and say that's

38:03

the way to do the job, like that's somebody

38:06

who's really putting in the time to do

38:08

it. And I say that with so much respect, Mike, but

38:10

I think that that's how you feel like you've got to You've

38:12

got to cover that. Yeah, And I think

38:14

we're going back to coach Belichick like knowing

38:17

that a lot of those questions aren't going to get answered

38:20

because he might not want to answer him. But

38:22

I feel like if we're not asking

38:24

him, like what's our what are we doing

38:27

right? Like, it's not like we have to do it because he might

38:29

what's the chance he might answer

38:31

it? And then you have that information

38:33

to pass along because ultimately, I do believe,

38:35

going back to the John Dennis media wise

38:38

first year at Patriots Football Weekly Patriots

38:40

dot Com, we are there to be

38:43

that in between conduit to the fans

38:46

of the team that are investing their time, their

38:48

money, their passion to

38:51

know and if we're not, we're I don't want to let

38:53

them down. That's sort of the way I look at it. So you've

38:55

had some interesting stories here, Mike. You

38:58

mentioned the question and you're well prepared. Here

39:00

is there a question that you remember asking and

39:02

you're saying to yourself, there's no way in hell he's

39:04

going to answer this, And all of a sudden, it's

39:07

like a huge that have cold

39:09

water splashes uniface. You go, oh my goodness,

39:11

he actually answered that. Do you Is there an incident

39:13

that you can think of that that maybe that

39:15

happened. I have to think a little

39:18

more on coach Belichick. But I did have

39:20

one other story I was going to tell you about a question where

39:22

I was like, what was I thinking? Great? So

39:25

I want to say two thousand and six Patriots

39:28

are going to play the Vikings. I want to say, yeah,

39:30

Monday night, Monday night, Yeah, preparing.

39:32

I believe it was majorly hyped

39:34

game because it was. I think they were really good. Can't

39:36

run against the Vikings defense. I think that the

39:39

Kevin Williams and the Pat Williams maybe

39:41

that I love that matter right on it. No, No, there

39:44

I have another story that I won't board people, but like

39:46

it was the old adage of so you're going to run it

39:48

into a wall, and didn't they play chuck

39:50

and dit? Like they ran it on first down right

39:53

for nothing? Correct? And I believe they

39:55

ran the ball fewer than ten times in the

39:57

games, correct, all over

39:59

the Gabriel, Troy Brown,

40:01

Jafar Gaffney, Chad Jacks.

40:03

So we're preparing for the loud Monday

40:06

night environment. Minnesota can't wait for this,

40:08

you know, Patriots coming in three times Super

40:10

Bowl champion, and how

40:12

are you going to prepare for the noise? So we're all gathered around.

40:15

This was Teddy Brusky, not Bill Belichick, and

40:17

I don't know what I was thinking, but

40:20

total brain fart where I said, Teddy,

40:23

how are you preparing for the noise in

40:26

Minnesota? And you know how Teddy

40:28

would have the look Guys, he'd sort of looked

40:30

at me like I had five heads. And

40:32

I said to myself, why is he looking

40:34

at me like that? Like this is where everyone's talking

40:37

about the noise? He goes, Dude,

40:40

I play on defense. That

40:42

place is gonna be quiet when I'm out on the field.

40:44

That's Brusky. That's the Brusky face now

40:47

because it was Mike. He answered

40:49

it. If I was someone someone

40:51

else wouldn't have been so nice.

40:54

Right, I'm gonna come back to you on the Belichick

40:56

when I can't off the top of my head one that I was

40:58

surprised. So I would just say, as is

41:00

trying to come up with, you know, an

41:02

anecdote for that with Bill, but

41:04

I would just say, you know, a lot of people ask me It's

41:07

probably the question I get the most out of any question

41:09

is what is it like you know? With Bill?

41:12

And I would say I find

41:14

him easy to cover for one reason, and

41:16

I think in the answer to that is, I think

41:18

he's extremely consistent, insistent. You

41:21

generally know what you're going to get. And

41:24

when I you know, and I know Mike said that, I would

41:26

disagree with him, and I probably

41:28

do slightly disagree. I think like

41:31

more often than not, you don't get much.

41:34

But what I've always felt that

41:38

he does a good job. It's not personal,

41:40

and I've never taken it personal. And believe

41:42

me, he's been upset with me at

41:44

various times in the past. I've never

41:47

taken it personally. Now

41:49

where I and I know that Mike will disagree

41:51

with me on this and This is where I know

41:54

Mike and Tony come to your

41:56

defense a lot when they're dealing with the

41:58

press conferences and picking apart thing

42:00

that Bill says, and why does he have to

42:02

do that. I kind of think

42:04

there are times where I think he should be a little

42:06

bit different with various

42:09

members of the media that are that to

42:11

me, have proven, like Mike, that

42:14

they're more prepared, more professional,

42:18

and they deserve more. And

42:20

I think sometimes I get frustrated with Bill

42:23

when he gives Mike a hard time. It's not often, and

42:25

Mike always says, no, no no, I didn't take it that way because

42:28

that's Mike. That's Mike. He's just always

42:30

professional and he's always prepared, so

42:32

you don't take it that way. But I think I

42:34

do sometimes on your behalf, and I'm like, he

42:37

doesn't have to answer that question all snarky

42:39

like that for Mike. That's Mike. It's

42:41

not the guy who's been on the beat for three minutes,

42:43

right who asked a dumb question. Mike didn't ask

42:46

a dumb question. He's asked it's a fair it's

42:48

a fair question, and it deserved

42:50

a better response. That's where I sort

42:52

of probably disagree with Mike a little bit, and I could be

42:54

wrong on this and it would have to go back and check

42:57

my accuracy. But one thing I would be surprised

42:59

at it would be like anytime he would would answer

43:01

about an injured player. So if I remember

43:03

Girard Mayo with a knee injury,

43:06

one time, he might have been asked, you know what's

43:08

it look like for Girard? You know, gonna

43:11

be tough to see him back this season. And I remember

43:13

maybe falling off my chair at the time to

43:15

say when when is he ever confirmed an injury?

43:18

So something that's interesting, something like that would

43:20

be one. And that's why those injury questions

43:22

are tough guys, because I do I

43:24

do remember times where he's actually given it

43:26

up, but it's probably such a low percentage of a time

43:29

that you don't know whether it's worth it to ask. But that's

43:31

one of those John Dennis's like the

43:33

conduit for the fans questions. And I know people

43:36

all the time like, why do these media

43:38

guys have to waste Bill's time by

43:41

asking about an injury when you know

43:43

he's not going to answer it. And I'll just never

43:45

know, but I'll I'll even submit.

43:48

Yeah, he's never going to answer it, even though there

43:50

are examples when he has I'll say,

43:52

doesn't matter, right, it doesn't matter if

43:54

mac Jones has a high ankle sprain. I

43:58

need to ask Bill thoughts about

44:00

mac Jones's high ankle spring right. I

44:03

have to do that. Right. If I don't,

44:06

then I'm depriving the fans of an opportunity

44:09

to find out when mac Jones might be no question.

44:11

And that's that's the bottom line, right, And

44:13

a lot of times, you know, like that's a dumb question.

44:16

Why why do they ask those questions?

44:18

We do ask a lot of mundane questions,

44:20

but a lot of them are questions that you have to ask.

44:23

Like you can't go a press conference and not ask about

44:25

the quarterbacks health when when

44:27

it's in question. Right, So, Mike,

44:30

maybe this is a dumb question. Um,

44:32

what's your most enjoyable

44:35

moment covering the team? It's

44:37

a softball. I don't know if it's a dumb question.

44:40

So the moments that I find most enjoyable

44:43

are when you have a breakthrough

44:45

with a player that you've built

44:47

a relationship within the locker room. Now, I never

44:49

would have gone and because

44:51

to me, so much of this is relation

44:53

on Matt like I love I love

44:56

covering one team because

44:58

you go from the start of this season and you

45:00

start from point A and you see the team

45:03

you know grow over time and you get to know

45:05

the players to a small percentage.

45:08

But to me, that's much

45:10

more enjoyable than trying to cover all thirty

45:12

two, because I think it's hard to cover

45:15

just one. So like

45:17

out, here's another story. Matt

45:19

light left tackle two

45:21

thousand and one to two eleven second round

45:24

pick out of per due in two thousand

45:26

and one. I think I had

45:28

learned toward the end of his career that he

45:31

had been playing through Crohn's disease.

45:34

And I went up to him and

45:36

in the locker room, and I said, you

45:39

know, I don't want to impose

45:42

on you. I don't want to overstep my bounds,

45:45

but it came to my attention that you

45:48

might have an inspiring story to tell

45:50

over something you're dealing with. And

45:53

you know, Matt, you can just imagine

45:55

what his response was, Boss,

45:57

I don't know what you're talking about, but you

45:59

know, maybe some day I'll get back to you on that, you

46:01

know. And then he retired and

46:04

ill, and it was it was like

46:07

this. I covered him for his whole career,

46:09

and I was in I remember I was in the basement

46:12

of my house. The phone rang and it was like three

46:14

one seven or you know, because I think he's from

46:16

Indianapolis and he always wanted, oh,

46:18

maybe this is one of those like telemarketing calls

46:20

or whatever, and and he it

46:22

was on the other end of the line. He goes, Hey, boss,

46:25

it's Matt Light. What's going on, Matt?

46:28

What are you doing? Like you've

46:30

never called me before. He goes, remember

46:33

that time you came up to me in the locker room and we're

46:35

talking to me. He goes, I think I'm ready

46:37

to talk about it now. And no,

46:39

to me like that, those are the type of things that

46:42

that um, not that

46:44

you do it for that, but like it. It

46:46

meant a lot to me because I had no idea that. I mean,

46:48

I wasn't expecting it, um,

46:50

But there was a time and a place,

46:53

and I had been conflicted on that as

46:55

a reporter, whether I had an obligation

46:58

to really reveal

47:01

it before that. My

47:04

instinct told me no, you know, like that, that's

47:07

someone's personal information. But

47:09

you could make the case that maybe I didn't

47:12

do a great job on that, But to me, those type

47:14

of moments are the ones that stand out. And of course,

47:16

man like the Super Bowls and well I

47:19

figured I was I was throwing him a lollipop and he was

47:21

gonna give me super Bowl thirty six. Yeah,

47:23

I mean on field. I think Mike and I would

47:25

be lockstep on that when when Adams kick went

47:27

through. But I agree with his mindset

47:30

and I don't have anywhere near

47:32

the amount of those kinds of stories that Mike

47:34

has, because when you cover the team, you

47:37

know, working for the team, it's a little bit of a different

47:39

question. You're not necessarily you

47:41

start scouring, but you're not scouring

47:43

for news. You're more analytical

47:46

with the team personnel stuff

47:48

like that, trying to figure out what they're going to do. But

47:51

a very similar kind of thing when Rodney Harrison

47:53

came here, and it's why I would put Rodney Harrison in that

47:56

group with mccordy,

47:58

you know, top five or of all time. I

48:00

wanted to sit down and do a big feature for

48:02

the newspaper and you know, just kind of

48:05

a you know, a background career

48:07

retrospective kind of thing, and how we ended up

48:09

here. We all know the free agent story

48:11

that was part of it, and I

48:13

got some time with him in the locker room and

48:16

he was working out by the time

48:18

I ended up starting to talk to this as a feature,

48:20

so I want, you know, ten

48:22

minutes, fifteen minutes to talk to him, not you

48:25

know, two or three questions and move on to the next

48:27

guy. So it was really quick.

48:29

It was rushed at the end of the

48:31

the you know, the the open locker room period, and I

48:33

figured I could probably write it next week.

48:35

I'll get him another time and

48:37

ask more questions, so, you

48:39

know whatever. I thanked him for his time, and

48:42

locker room ended. That night. I get

48:45

home and I get a call from Rodney Harris. How great

48:47

is that? Who had asked

48:50

Stacy who I was. Didn't

48:52

really even know he knew my name because I introduced

48:55

myself. Didn't even know who I was. He said,

48:57

I was talking to the kid that works with the team newspaper

48:59

today and I didn't get a

49:01

chance to finish, and I know he had

49:03

more questions to ask me. I was on the

49:06

phone with him for an hour, talking about my kids,

49:08

talking about my wife, talking about

49:11

his kids. I

49:13

think it was shortly after Christian was born. I know. I

49:15

know you'll know that Brodney has a

49:17

son named Christian. It

49:20

was probably one of the most memorable interviews

49:22

they've ever had. And that's the

49:25

kind of stuff that you remember. I don't have

49:27

any of those anymore because I'm not in the locker room

49:29

every day. And when COVID, like

49:32

once COVID happened and we went those two years without

49:34

really being in the locker room. These

49:36

guys that are on the team now I

49:38

don't know them right, And that's what you

49:40

miss, those personal relationships what

49:43

you miss. And that's why the one time

49:45

I went in the locker room all year was

49:47

the day after the season, just so I could talk to Devin mccordy

49:49

and just, you know, not that he needed to hear from

49:52

me, I wanted to say goodbye to him, just

49:54

in case he decides to retire. Rights

49:57

has my cozette made as the COVID

50:00

and no access, no personal access?

50:03

Did you find it harder to

50:06

do your job? And when things

50:08

started it was kind of layered, you know

50:10

how that opened back up. You must have

50:12

been very thankful that Andrews was still

50:14

on the team, that mccordy's still on the team, that

50:17

Slater is still on the team as you're trying to cultivate

50:19

and begin

50:23

new relationships. Matt. I was

50:25

so appreciative that the locker room opened

50:27

back up, because I really thought once we

50:29

went all zoom with COVID

50:31

that we were never getting back in there. And

50:34

I just think to me that the coverage

50:36

I never felt like it was as good because

50:38

you couldn't develop the relationships.

50:41

And so that was huge

50:43

to me that that happened.

50:46

And I think back to Will McDonough. We

50:48

mentioned his name earlier,

50:51

and he had always said, just always show up,

50:54

even if you're not going to write anything

50:56

or say anything like community event, if

50:58

you can, like just let them know that

51:01

you're that you're there, you know, And

51:03

so you can't do that in a COVID

51:05

world. It's all through the screen. So

51:08

how do you connect with someone through a screen? You

51:10

know? To me, like where the three of us

51:12

are sitting here right now, we can look in each other's eyes,

51:14

we can see body language, right,

51:17

we can play off each other, like you can't

51:19

do that through a screen. You're so right, we're gonna

51:21

wrap things up here in a second. We've taken up enough of your

51:23

time. But just another behind the scene story

51:25

that I think fans would find interesting about Mike.

51:28

And I would see it here on the home games,

51:31

and it was every week in

51:34

this digital age where everybody's got to have

51:36

a photo, everybody's got to have a

51:38

tweet, everybody's got to post

51:40

something, and it's got to be instant, and

51:42

you're competing with a lawful lot of other people out

51:44

there. The sight of

51:47

seeing Mike grease and he

51:49

started it, I think, and then others sort

51:51

of followed suit. But Mike was always

51:53

at the garage door right by the south

51:55

end zone, and he would always get there

51:57

an hour or so beforehand and waiting

52:00

in the tunnel for the guy with the glasses

52:03

and the best dressed guy in the stadium to come

52:05

walking in every single Sunday, and he made

52:07

it a point he got to show up.

52:10

He was there, and Tom knew

52:12

every week that Mike was going to be there, and

52:14

Mike had a shot or a video of

52:17

Brady walking in every

52:19

single week. And you made it a point to do

52:21

that, didn't you. I enjoyed it, and I think

52:23

it goes back to our whole thing of that we are serving

52:25

the fans. You're taking him to a place where they can't

52:28

be. And that goes back to to bring this whole

52:30

thing full circle and Patriots

52:33

Football Weekly, Patriots dot

52:35

Com, right, what I learned

52:37

from John Dennis, from

52:40

the Crafts, Robert and Jonathan, because you made

52:42

the point, Paul, like a lot of the web stuff

52:44

was Jonathan, and so

52:47

to carry that on, like, I am super

52:49

proud of that. I'm super proud of where I

52:51

started here. And

52:55

I will just tell you I think about Patriots

52:57

all the time, you know, like family,

53:00

work, live shows that we talk

53:02

about. It's been

53:04

a huge impact on my life and so

53:07

I'm just so thankful and appreciative of that. All Right,

53:09

Mike, And what people don't Mike's a big muckraker.

53:12

He loves to rumor monger. That's

53:14

where he goes. Every once in a while he gets

53:16

one, right sure, throws up against the wall. So

53:18

Mike, we're gonna put you in the hot spot here as we're

53:21

entering into the beginning of maybe it's already begun

53:23

the silly season. How much cap

53:25

room do they have? Who's coming, Who's going

53:28

give Patriot fans an idea of

53:30

maybe what they should be looking for.

53:33

I'm not going to sit here and ask you who are they going

53:35

to sign, Who's coming, who's going? But

53:37

you have an informed opinion, you know, you've

53:39

covered the team for a long time. Let

53:42

a Patriot fans know what Mike Reas is going

53:44

to be looking for, and maybe they should

53:46

be looking forward in the upcoming

53:48

six weeks or so as we get ready to hit

53:50

free agency before the draft. Yeah, the one

53:52

that interests me the most is Jacoby Myers

53:55

because he I think he's their top

53:57

free agent and what

54:00

is his market financially? You know,

54:02

ten million a year, twelve million million

54:04

a year, fourteen million a year. You've

54:07

developed him, he's come up

54:09

through your program, you know him. And

54:11

to me, the most successful teams are the ones

54:13

that resign those

54:16

guys as long as it all works out. But

54:18

if you do that, it's gonna

54:20

take you away from going to someone

54:22

else. And is he enough of a difference

54:24

maker to warrant that significant

54:27

investment? And so to me, when I think about

54:29

ranking, Okay, if you had to say,

54:31

what's the first thing you're looking for? Second, third,

54:34

fourth, Like Jacoby is my number one because

54:36

I think he's I think he's been great, and I think

54:38

he really deserves whatever is coming to him. I

54:40

never I never

54:42

would have guessed that that would have been his number one.

54:45

I never would have guessed at Paul. Yeah, I mean I

54:47

think that's huge. I think

54:49

you would have talked about it a lot, you

54:51

know, I know we disagree on it a little bit, but

54:54

just in general, Mike, I

54:59

mean, this is kind of open ended questions, just like,

55:01

how far away do you think the team And I'm not telling

55:03

you going three years they can do X,

55:05

but you know, how

55:10

many holes do you think that they can

55:12

realistically fill this offseason?

55:14

Because I think people think magically,

55:17

you know, you sign a tackle or your draft

55:19

a tackle in the first round, you resign

55:21

Myers and maybe make a trade for a number

55:23

one receiver and boom you're back. Like we

55:26

all know, it's not that easy. So I sort of look

55:28

at AFC as you know, the tiers,

55:30

right, and you get the Chiefs Bengals,

55:33

and I think i'd probably put the Bills sure

55:36

a little right up there, maybe a

55:38

little behind. You're not in that tier, not

55:40

yet, and I think to

55:42

think you're going to get into that tier this year is

55:45

probably I

55:47

would say longer odds right. It

55:49

might take two years to get there, Paul.

55:52

I think that the whole coaching thing is what's

55:54

hard for me to project, Like how much of a

55:57

difference will that make? Like I believe

55:59

we're going to see it totally different Mac Jones

56:01

this year, but that might be optimistic.

56:04

But I do think like Bill O'Brien

56:06

and this whole coaching thing is

56:09

going to make the product that

56:11

we saw last year look.

56:14

I mean, it wasn't great, right what we saw last year.

56:16

Calling it what it is, I think

56:18

it's gonna look much better. So it's hard,

56:20

you know what I mean, It's a little hard to look into the crystal ball.

56:22

But I think I would say

56:24

not far away, but to me to

56:26

get to that top tier we're talking about,

56:29

you're probably looking at multiple years. His

56:31

name is Mike Grease. When we kicked this conversation

56:33

off, we talked about his roots as the original

56:36

member for Patriots Football Weekly.

56:38

Now every Sunday when you wake up, and

56:41

don't take my word for it, take somebody's word

56:43

for like Mike Lombardi or

56:45

Adam Schefter who says you must

56:47

read Mike Grease's notes every Sunday.

56:49

That's how you got to kick off your day. Mike

56:52

great stories, great stuff.

56:54

Really appreciate that. I love

56:56

being the you guess you guys are great friends.

56:58

Thanks for the compliments. Let's do it again

57:00

sometimes. Thank you

57:02

for downloading this podcast. Subscribe

57:05

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57:07

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