Today's stories are all about male bonding at its best.
First, one of the reasons for the New England Patriots' lightning-fast start out of the gates this season is the bond, on the field and off, that's quickly formed between QB Tom Brady and his new teammate, WR Randy Moss.
"Randy's relationship with Tom is great; they've clicked on and off the field, and it's amazing in such a short time that they seem to have brought out the best in each other," Moss' agent, Tim DiPiero, told The Boston Globe.
To Randy, winning, not individual stats, has always been what's important. He knows all too well that nothing significant has been accomplished yet."
Then there's the winning combo of captains Junior Seau and Tedy Bruschi alongside newcomer Adalius Thomas at inside linebacker.
"We've broken it up differently from time to time, but we have confidence in all three guys," head coach Bill Belichick declared earlier this week. "They can all play the run, play the pass, rush, they're all instinctive, they communicate well, they can run the defense. I think that Tedy, AD, and Junior have given us good play in there, physical play."
"He's a playmaker. He attacks the line of scrimmage. He looks like he's pretty comfortable out there right now, and that's something," former Patriots linebacker Steve Nelson said of Thomas in a Boston Herald feature today.
"You've got different instincts when you play the outside in space vs. when you play inside. But he really does attack the line of scrimmage. He takes on blocks well. He's really grasping playing inside now."
Back to Moss for a moment.
After his second touchdown catch this past Sunday, he raced over to the front row of the stands and handed the football over to a young boy from Rhode Island. The amazing story of how the lad ended up in the right place at the right time is chronicled in an interesting Providence Journal piece.
"I was thinking like he was going to come over and high-five," 7-year-old Alex Goldstein explained in the article. "But he went up to the wall, we went up to the wall and he put it in my hands."
