Jerome Solomon of the Boston Globe offers a review of Saturday's "4th Annual Football Fundamentals Mini-Camp" at Bulkeley High School where more than 600 students were instructed on the fundamentals of football. The event was hosted by Patriots defensive coordinator Eric Mangini and former Patriots safety Tebucky Jones. Seven NFL teams had volunteers working at the camp including Patriots players Vince Wilfork, Dan Klecko and Deion Branch. "Being able to bring back a lot of friends from the NFL to work with these kids and give them a positive role model is really a dream come true," said Mangini.
Mike Reiss of the MetroWest Daily News takes a look at the collective bargaining agreement and the revenue sharing plan from the perspective of Patriots owner Robert Kraft. "When we bought our team, we were the lowest revenue club with the worst stadium, and now we're one of the higher revenue clubs with a better stadium,'' Kraft said. Mike Reiss also offers his daily sports blog with Patriots notes.
USA Today's "Inside Slant" focuses on Patriots wide receiver Troy Brown and what his role with the team may be this year.
Jerome Solomon of the Boston Globe takes a look at Patriots linebacker coach, Dean Pees and his love of music. Solomon reports that Pees is quite the virtuoso on the keyboard. "I love football; it's in my blood. I love music; it's in my heart," said Pees.
Tom E. Curran of the Providence Journal takes a look at the Patriots competition this year in the AFC East. Curran explores the offseason moves of the Dolphins, Bills and the Jets.
In the wake of the situation in San Francisco where a raunchy video had been created to teach players about the media and community relations, Mike Reiss of the MetroWest Daily News offers a story on what the Patriots do to educate players on how to properly handle community and media relations.
Finally, Terry Price of the Hartford Courant offers a preview of this weeks Patriots mini camp which takes place June 9 - 11. The mini camp is the first full squad practice of 2005 season.
