The Sun Chronicle reports that Gillette Stadium is set to host it's first-ever paintball battles on July 21,22 and 23. The event is said to include live music, a trade show, and hundreds of teams of paintball combatants from the National Professional Paintball League. The event will be open to the public to watch from bleacher seating, but not to join in.
USA Today's "Inside Slant" takes a look at this year's Patriots draft class. New England focused on the offensive side of the ball with each of its first four picks in April's draft. The two biggest additions to the team's attack are rookie first-round pick running back Laurence Maroney and second-round wide receiver selection Chad Jackson. Maroney should give the Patriots their first true big-play running back since Curtis Martin carried the ball in the mid '90s. Much like the big-play potential Maroney brings in taking handoffs from Brady, Jackson brings a similar threat to the aerial attack. Jackson, who owns elite 4.3-type speed and tremendous hands, showed the ability to be both a big-play and possession target in his three seasons in Gainesville. He'll be expected to have a big role in New England from Day One and many believe he could end up being one of the biggest steals of draft weekend.
Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe offers his daily Patriots blog with notes and quotes.
Reiss also offers his latest mailbag where he shares his thoughts about minicamp and answers readers questions about the kicker situation, Deion Branch, and more.
Previously In the Blitz...
Sasha Talcott of the Boston Globe writes that the number of female fans cheering for the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots has skyrocketed in the past five years, survey data show, as both teams won world championships and rolled out more apparel aimed at women. Talcott reports that 63 percent of Boston women identify themselves as fans -- double the 32 percent who said they were fans in 2001.
Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa of the Boston Herald's "Inside Track" report that the Patriots and football hero Tedy Bruschi rolled out the Gillette Stadium red carpet to make Andrew Geracoulis' pigskin wish come true. The 6-year-old boy has a life-threatening heart condition and asked the Make-A-Wish Foundation if he could meet Bruschi. "I can imagine it would give him hope a little bit," Bruschi said. "Here I am a professional football player and sort of had a circumstance with my heart also. A lot of people can relate to me...and look to me and sort of say, 'Hey if he's doing OK, and he's playing professional football, I think I can live a normal life.' That makes me proud. It makes me really proud." No. 54 spent more than an hour with Andrew and his parents.
In his column for the Stoneham Sun, Sen. Richard Tisei writes that a Quincy District Judge ruled earlier this month that a consumer who was charged roughly six times the face value of tickets by an agency is entitled to sue the reseller under the state's Consumer Protection Act. This ruling has the potential to bring forth much needed change for the entire landscape of the ticket reselling business.
Ron Borges of the Boston Globe offers an article on the continuing dispute among owners on the current revenue-sharing plan. Borges writes that if the revenue-sharing proposal isn't working for enough teams, and many league owners and executives anticipate it won't, the owners will terminate the CBA after the 2009 season and labor peace will again be threatened. Since that only takes nine votes, and many owners who voted in favor of the plan last spring did so reluctantly, knowing it was a stopgap measure, what seems inevitable is that by midseason 2008 Gene Upshaw and the NFL Players Association will be rattling their sabers again in the direction of a group of owners even less malleable, and less inclined to share, than they were in April.
