Pats from the Past, Episode 40: Mike Reiss

In this episode of Pats from the Past we sit down with Patriots beat reporter Mike Reiss from ESPN. We discuss his unique path in the media, from Patriots Football Weekly (PFW) to ESPN, and who he credits for his break, the greatest story he's ever covered here, his gratitude, excitement and preparation in being able to cover a Bill Belichick press conference for twenty three years and much more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's time now for another episode of Pats from the
Past podcast, Matt Smith alongside with Paul Blow. Paul, I
think this is a we're gonna break the mold here
a little bit because the guy we're gonna speak with
I don't think had any tackles. True false. Yeah, as
far as my stats show nothing, no catches. It's kind
of like lawyer malloy and oh one zero zero zero zero. Wow. However,

(00:30):
we say that not to denigrate oh two, I guess
it was, but to um, but to celebrate the og
writer for Patriots dot Com and Patriots Football Weekly. Yeah,
you know him. Now as part of the worldwide Leader
in Sports ESPN, Mike Reese joins us, ladies and gentlemen,
and we are so happy to have your Mike. Thank

(00:52):
you for joining us. It's great to be here. We've
come a long way from the coat closet at Foxborough
Stadium where which was my first office. So serious question, Mike,
and you have a large following, people respect your work
and everything like that. How many people do you think
who follow you know where you actually started, because I
mean you try so you don't hide from it, but
you also not sitting there. You don't have a flag

(01:13):
out in front of your house about it. Don't you
think people would be surprised you know where you started? Yeah,
maybe a little bit, just because it's so long ago, right,
which is hard to believe. I mean, this goes back
to nineteen ninety seven. Was my first job out of college.
I had graduated from you mass Amherst and I actually,
you're gonna laugh at me, Paul. I know we're not
on TV, but I brought this in for you to
flip through. These are all my rejection letters that I

(01:36):
got coming out of college. I really do. I'm gonna
look at this afterwards that you got a couple of
minutes after what. I'm interested in this because because what
what do you do? Feel it? I feel the pain
you're in college. You're like, I want to work in
sports media. I'm gonna I want to be a newspaper reporter.
So I sent out all my resumes to newspapers across
the country. Maybe i'll call it two hundred resumes. Wow,

(01:58):
two hundred rejections. Letters come back and I'm like, wow,
how can this be? Like I've had good experience in
college at Yumas and even before that at my local newspaper.
And then, as it turned out, my brother has a
friend who I knew through my brother, Dougie Fresh, Yes,
Dougie Reese who and the friend Neil Cohen who went

(02:19):
to summer camp with Fred Kirsh. And he said, wow, yeah,
I heard your brothers looking for a job, you know, graduating.
He should reach out to Fred Kersh. He's looking for
a entry level writer for Patriots Football Weekly. It's like
a team newspaper that they have over at the Patriots.
So I said, I'll reach out. I'll reach out to

(02:40):
Fred Kirsh and guys. Honestly, every time I see Fred,
whether it's at a game or at the stadium, I
wrap him up in a big hug because he was
the only person to offer me a job coming out
of college and his decision as we sit here today,
I mean, I can honestly tell you it's changed my life. Seriousness.
You know what we call we joke around, you know,

(03:02):
Brian Moray, Andy Hart myself. You know what we call
Fred then King, the Kingmaker, the Kingmaker. And it's not
because he's trying to do anything special advance. He's not
trying to perform some kind of social experiment. He just
gives people opportunities and if they work hard and they
and they earn it and they go places. They've all

(03:24):
gone places except for me, but everybody else has really
benefited from Fred and I and I can voucher Mike
because I've seen Mike greet Fred every time the same way.
And the best part of this story is if we
fast forward from ninety seven to ninety nine, when Mike
decided he had gotten some experience here at the Patriots

(03:46):
moved on to his first job at a conventional news,
traditional newspaper, which at the time I think was Metro
West Daily News. Rightly, okay, So who stepped into his shoes?
How great is that? The real I love it to
big shoes to fill. So, Mike, here you are, Green
is grass? Right? Fred throws with your lifeline. I'm gonna

(04:09):
do this? What were you? What was your thinking? Here?
You know again? My guess is fresh faced kid out
of college. I'm gonna change the world. I'm gonna win
a Pulitzer Prize. I'm gonna do all these things. I'm
working for the Patriots. What are we doing here? Can
I break the pee Carroll's story? What like? What can
I do. What kind of eye opening experience was it
for you? I'm gonna flip through the media guide to

(04:30):
make sure that I'm telling you an accurate story. But
our first trip, so we traveled with the team on
the team plane, and our first trip was to lambau Field. Oh,
a preseason game. I want to say, remember the game nine. So,
like right out of college, I think I had maybe
taken one family vacation as a kid, you know, So

(04:51):
I'm seeing a place, Hey, welcome to your new job.
Let's go to lambeau Field. Like what's not to love?
Oh my god? And I'll never forget. This was the
before iPhones. So we were just getting into video on
the web. So Fred was with me at the end
of the game and he had a little video camera

(05:12):
and he goes, just get down on one knee and
just say something about the game, and we'll post it
on Patriots dot com. And you know, we're going to
experiment with something called Patriots Cyber Sideline. And that's how
we started. And like, you say, what did you expect?
What does it feel like? I'm at lambeau Field. You're
paying me money to be here. Did Lamba mean as

(05:35):
much to you as a as a twenty four, twenty
five year old kid, or was it or do you
think do you wonder if you took it all in
as a young, fresh phasd kid then is you know
now today Mike reefs jenuflect when he goes to lambau Field.
You probably could have put me in any stadium and
I would have felt that way. However, when you hear
about Lambeau and you're in that environment, it's that much more.

(05:56):
That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, I mean just thinking about some
of those early days and you know, so Mike and
I had similar kinds of experiences, even though I was
a couple of years after, you know, he had gone
just how many things And I'm not trying to like
tell everybody like, oh, how great the Patriots are and
the Patriots media, but there are so many things that
the Patriots here, between Jonathan Craft and Fred Kersh did first,

(06:21):
you know, whether it was the website, first team, website,
first team, video show that Mike just talked about, Patriots,
cyber sideline, um first all color team, owned news, team
owned and run newspaper. I mean, it's amazing how many
things that they were at the four show. Yeah, I

(06:42):
didn't say best. I said first yes, yes, but yeah,
and you know, and people are going to be able
to tell by the way Matt and I sound. We
have a lot of affection for the guy that's that's
joining us today, and that's it the right way. We
have a lot of respect for the way he goes
about doing the job as well. And I know Mike
feels the same way about me. I'm not trying to
put words into mouth. We're very good friends on and

(07:05):
off the beat. And that's why I think when you
said to me, what do you think about having Mike in,
this is gonna be great. I think we're gonna get
a lot of good stories today. Yeah. Um so, Mike,
what was the most intimidating thing when you first started
Lambo Field? That's kind of intimidating, right, the house at
Lombardi built and everything like that, that's pretty intimidating, you
know when you're first going in there. Okay, this is

(07:27):
this is them coming off of pretty Super Bowl loss
and ourselves and everything like that. What was your welcome
was it was going to Lambo you're in the big
League's moment or was there another moment in the locker room,
training camp or something like that, we said, Okay, this
is for real. So one story that really stuck with
me was that first year and we would pick who

(07:50):
would win the games in the newspaper and it's a
team own newspaper, and you know, you didn't want to
necessarily always pick the Patriots because at that time, the
idea of Fred makes sure that there's always one sixteen
and o season, right. You know, at that point, we
hadn't lived through two thousand and seven, and and I

(08:10):
remember thinking to myself, like for us to be taken
seriously like we we have to we have to go
with the other team credibility. So we and so for me,
I probably didn't pick the right game to pick against
them for the first time, but I think it was
the game against the Jets when Bill Parcels was the coach,
So that one hurts. It's the first road one, right, yeah,

(08:34):
all first road one. You picked him again in the
home game, I think I did. Does that sounds I
mean you would. I think you've told me this story
before and I can't remember what happens and so rightless
so so they that was the moment, Matt where I
actually started to question if I if, am I really
cut out for this, because I remember, you know, at
that time there was more of um less of a

(08:57):
wall put up between the players and the STA half
and the people who work for the team, like myself,
And they used to bring the Patriots football weeklies down
to the locker room and hand them out to the players,
get your own coffee, And I could hear. I could
hear from up in my cubicle, which was at that
point like right outside ownership offices, because the locker room

(09:17):
was underneath us. I could hear like almost like the
newspaper getting crumbled up and oh, what is this? What
is this? And they were like some players were upset
that I had picked against them. And so when I
went down for the access, like Jimmy Hitchcock I remember
specifically was like, wouldn't answer my questions. And I think

(09:39):
part of it was playful, but at the time, I'm
twenty one, twenty two years old, and it felt heavy personal.
I'm I don't know if person, but it felt heavy
almost like do I have what it takes to stand
up here and back what I put into the paper?
Because it in retrospect, I'm not sure it was the
best game to make my first pick against the Patriots
knowing the back story there and by the way, Mike

(10:03):
was right, which made it probably worse. Yeah, and he
ended up that the Jets ended up eating the Patriots
and that remember that in that game? And um, I
think that wasn't there one of the players that went
up to you, like really playfully said, I heard you
did a bad thing, little man. That's right, that's right,
I'm gonna stuff you in my locker I think it
was Ferrik Collins if I remember, right, do you remember

(10:23):
fur scared the but Jesus on to me one day
for something totally different. But see, and that's where I
get nervous. I'm like, was was it Ferrik? Because it's
starting to be so long ago, guys that it's right.
I would have just gonna give you maybe Henry Thomas.
He would be as another kid could have been Henry Thomas.
Henry Tallas was great. I like you. You mentioned a name,
and I think of a story. Henry Thomas. You used

(10:44):
to have a joke in the locker room, like I
think I'm gonna keep a whole tin of breath min's
in here because whenever I talk to you guys, you
know you need you need some breath men's you know.
So it's like stuff like that, Matt like, and that's
part of the fun quing around a team for as
long as you you say it, player and you think
of something funny or a different story like that. Right. So, Mike,
I've been with you, I think at owners meetings where

(11:09):
in the format really hasn't changed. One day, Monday, say,
the AFC coaches have a breakfast and a media availability,
and on Tuesday, the NFC has availability and a media breakfast.
And I remember being with you one of these ones,
whether it's out in the West or in Florida or
something like that, and you had said to me, Matt,
I'm gonna stick around a little bit. I'm gonna I

(11:29):
want to go over to the NFC. I want to
say hi to Pete. And I'm sitting to go and
you want to go over and say hi to Pete.
And this is thirty years later or something like that
in Europe, and Pete carroll Sy's Mike Reece And of
course he goes up to when gravitates to him, because
you remember some twenty one year old little snot nosed
kid who used to cover him every single day when

(11:50):
he was a coach of the Patriots. Yea, And that
tells me a little something about both people, and not
just Mike but Pete. When Mike had had said, you know,
back then there was maybe less of a wall between
the team personnel and us. That's part of what I'm
sort of remembering as well. And when I came in,

(12:10):
you know, Brian, Brian Moorey at the time, you know,
he took me around, introduced me to a lot of people,
and he introduced me to Pete Carroll. And it was
actually at training because I started kind of like hit
the ground running. I started right his training camp was
was getting ready to kick off, and he brought me
over to Pete, you know, and Pete asked me a
bunch of questions about myself and where I came from there,

(12:31):
like stuff that you really couldn't imagine today. And it's
had nothing to do with Bill, but just you wouldn't
see that same kind of time given to to get
to know anybody, and Pete what Pete had to be.
He goes, so you're gonna replace Mike. He goes, big
shoes to fills. He goes, well, actually little shoes to fill.
But how great is that? But that's like he did.

(12:53):
He was like big shoes to fill, and that's what
he meant. That as a compliment to Mike's professionalism and
work ethic. For Patriots Football Weekly, we used to have
we called it Carol's Corner. So Brian myself or Brian
and Paul right after that would go into his office
and sit with him and you get whatever ten fifteen minutes,
ask him questions and we would run it as a
Q and A and so one. I'm gonna guess it

(13:15):
was ninety nine we were in there. It might have
been March, and we're doing our off season Q and
A for Carol's Corner and a knock on the door. Coach.
I just wanted to say goodbye, you know, thanks for
spending time with me. It was great to be here.
And Pete gets up. He goes, hey, that was great.
You know, we'll be in touch. And then Pete looks

(13:35):
at Brian myself and he goes, do you guys know
who that is? And he said, I have no idea.
He goes, that's Kevin Falk. You should get to know
his name. And it was like those stories like that fun, right,
So they end up drafting him the next month. I
believe in the second round if I have it right.
And so those were the moments. Those are behind the

(13:56):
scenes fun things like you mentioned a name, Matt Paul, Like,
those are the things that start racing through my head.
So here he is, he cuts his teeth at Patriots
dot Com Patriots Football Weekly. What Mike, what was the
motivating factor for you to say, Okay, I gotta move away,
I gotta move on. What was going through your mind?
And then where did you go? And let's tell the

(14:18):
listeners and the fans about how you got the worldwide leader. Definitely.
So it was always my dream to be like Will McDonough,
the late Boston Globe sports columnist. I just saw. I
admired him, and I had reached out to the Boston
Globe and said, like, am I on the right path
to possibly following that path? You know, to be like that?

(14:41):
And the sports editor at the time, his name was
Don Square. He said, you're getting great experience. He said,
one thing we'd be looking for if we were to
hire you is a little more independence, So to not
be employed by the team writing on them, but to
show us that you could write on them at an
independent outlet. I'm surprised that Globe would look down at

(15:03):
um at a team site or her team team Meeta.
But you know what's funny about that is, you know,
let's get back to Will for a second. You won't
find a better champion of Patriots Football Weekly than Will
McDonald was. That's interesting. He was fantastic with us. He
used to cite our work on occasion in his Sunday notes.
Made you feel like you arrived, right, Paul, You know

(15:25):
that because that least my big fear, And you know
I did it the opposite of Mike. I spent eleven
years at the Herald, and I wasn't really getting the
beat or the assignments that I necessarily wanted. And then
when this opportunity came, so I went to the backwards path.
I went from conventional mainstream media to team owned and
operated media. And my one fear was that not to

(15:49):
be taken seriously. And when I get you know, when
I tell you, like Nicka Fardo at the time, another
late great you know Boston Boston Globe writer Heaven Mannix
from the Herald, Ronnie Borges, Will McDonough, These guys were
wonderful with the team, and he never never looked down
their nose at us at all. And I think it's

(16:10):
changed now, Paul, like I think it was more it
wouldn't be viewed the same way by newspapers. I think
times have changed, but that's what it was at that time.
And so I went back to my hometown newspaper in
framing him Massachusetts called the Metros Daily News, and I
was covering the team, but not as closely because unlike
Patriots Football Weekly, where I was here every day, you

(16:33):
didn't travel, No, didn't travel initially, and there were times
where I remember I was covering like a local flag
football game, you know, on a Sunday when the Patriots
might have been on the road, and my friends would
say to me, what happened to you those trips to
lambeau Field. And so in a way it was like, well,
I'm still doing it, but it was in a different form,

(16:55):
and so was Eric. Christ's a confidence there, Mike. You know,
here's a you know, your first jobs at lambeau Field,
you're working, You're covering this team, the team that you
grew up with. I'm gonna stretch myself because of the
advice that I got. I'm gonna work at my local
newspaper and now I'm doing flag football games. Did I
make the right you know, what was going through your

(17:16):
mind at this time? Definite crisis of confidence, Paul. I
would say maybe about two or three years after I
made the decision, where I was like, nothing's really happening.
There's no advancement. I hadn't you know. All I was
doing was working, hadn't met my white mic now wife
at the time, and I was sort of like, is
this a whole worth it? No Bruch shows, No Bruch shows.

(17:38):
Oh no, I think I had been going to some
Bruch shows at that time. You too do that on
your own podcast, all right, But but I remember I
actually said, I think the life of a teacher would
be a great lifestyle and I would enjoy doing that.
And I actually this was a time when the state
was offering signing Paul, you remember this. I almost did
the same thing. This is unbelievable. They were offering signing

(18:02):
bonus like incentives to professionals who had been in the
field for you know what, however, many years to get
into teaching. Because I think there was a teaching shortage
if I remember, especially from male teachers at like the
elementary school level and things like this, and there was just, uh,
you know it was you started thinking, I like doing this,

(18:23):
this is what I always wanted to do. How long
can I go and make this little money and substantiated?
You know, something's got to start happening. So I know
exactly what Mike is talking about. You have these sort
of inner dialogues and trying to figure out what's best,
what's the next move. Took the test, failed the test,
which I say, thankfully stuck with it, and what changed

(18:45):
for me was the web and blogging two thousand and two,
two thousand and three, two thousand and four pieces. That
was what changed it for me and ultimately got me
to from Metro Wes Daily News nineteen ninety nine to
two thousand and five to the Boston dot Com Boston
Globe two thousand and five to two thousand and nine,

(19:07):
and then ESPN started up ESPN Boston in two thousand
and nine, and it was a good time to go,
only because the Globe was up for sale. We didn't
know what was happening, and it's been a great place
to be. Wow, That's a really good story for any
young person who it wants to get into this business,
but in any business of like when do you make
the decision? How long are you going to stick with this?

(19:28):
I got bills to pay? How long can I keep
on going? Year? And following your heart, following your passion
knows to the grindstone all of those good things and
it's going to work out if you believe and work
hard enough. Is that do you? Is that what you're
going to tell your kids? I think, Mike, you know,
when they come to you looking for advice, I would
tell them that map. But I think sometimes it's luck too. Sure,

(19:51):
you know, sure? And I think I mean without getting
two personal I mean at that time in my life,
like I was lonely. Like that's one I don't know
if you read Adam Schefter's book, which I really admire
him for, Like he talked about being lonely and am
I ever going to meet someone? I'm a very personal
stuff from him and for me, like I was sort
of balancing the career stuff but also like what's happening,

(20:13):
like can be the work working all the time. And
that was where the whole teacher thing was appealing to me. Interesting,
So I miss my you know, like, think about what
we do. I mean, a lot of we're well, our
jobs are fun, we love them. We are working when
most people are playing. Correct. I always say that, like
the sports journalism business, it never closes. It's it's nights,

(20:35):
it's weekends, it's holidays, you know. And just look just
just this past year, we played the Patriots, played on
every holiday, imaginable. But you know, so you just played
on Thanksgiving. You know, we just went to Minnesota and
played on Thanksgiving. They play at Dallas next year. Correct,
there's a chance you're gonna play on Thanksgiving again next year. Um.
And I know a lot of people look at this.

(20:56):
Let's listening to this jerk. You know, he's complaining about
having to cover the Patriots. We're a living I'm not
complaining about It's what I chose to do. But there
are different sides of it some people. You know, when
Mike is talking about that teacher thing, and this is
Mike's podcast, so I don't need to interject how I
come in on all of this, But I know I
was working at The Herald, and this is when I

(21:17):
was sort of coming to these crossroads in my mind
because I loved working at the Herald. I loved the
people I worked with, and there are a lot of
people that you guys know and maybe don't love so much.
Today I'm looking at a couple of them on a monitor,
Mike Felger and Tony maz That's why I get along
so well with them doing the stuff on the sports ub.
But we were all three of us kind of in
the same kind of boat, and you just wonder, how,

(21:43):
to Mike's point, how am I ever going to meet
somebody when I worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday night from
five pm to one am or seven pm to three am,
doing racing or aggat work in the sports department, hoping
that someday I can be Will McDonough Right. Well, no
one's gonna come down with a magic wand and say
I dubbed you the next Will mcdunne like. It's so

(22:06):
like there's so much fortune and fate that gets you know,
this guy happened to be in the right place at
the right time, got an opportunity, and then you know,
I always tell the story about Bill Simmons, who was
with us at the time. Yeah, doing the same kind
of stuff. Obviously an incredibly talented guy, but it wasn't
happening for him at the Herald, so we left right.

(22:28):
You know, it's there's a lot of different paths. It's
a lot a lot of ways to get to grandma's house. Yeah,
can I tell a story. I love stories like pats
from the past, Like I was thinking, I was thinking
about this coming down here, like shining a light on
paths from the past, even more than even just the players.
So along this whole topic. When that first year I
was working for the team nineteen ninety seven, we would

(22:49):
travel and we would getting on the buses go to
the airport, and they had an athletic trainer team at
an athletic trainer Ron O'Neill assaulted the Earth guy. Now
to your point, Matt, you had asked me before, like
what was it like for you? Like were you intimidated?
Like I was very impressionable as my first year out
of school. Sure, he was like a father figure to me.

(23:10):
And I would always try to sit next to him
on the bus and and we would Paul, I can't
help it. And we would talk and and and I'd say,
what did you do last night? I took I took
my wife out to dinner and he would tell and
he gave me advice that I still remember to this day.
He said, once a month, every week we have date night,

(23:33):
and I'm going to give you some advice, young Mike Greece.
You're you're a young guy here. You're it's just you
right now, and um, You're gonna move on in your life,
hopefully of a successful career, and you might meet someone.
And when you meet someone, it's gonna be probably pretty
easy because it's gonna be you and that person. Now,
you and that person might get together, you might try

(23:55):
to have a life together, and then it's gonna be you,
and maybe there might be some kids involved. Then it's
no longer you in that person, and then it's you
your job, the kids never stop dating your wife. Wow,
And I'm never, I never, and I just but so
I tell the story. One, I remember it like it
was yesterday. And two, like being around the team. You're

(24:17):
around great people, players, coaches that are at highest level
NFL right that if you're around it, you can't help,
but some of that rubs off on you if you're
paying attention, you know, And I love like I think
pats from the past, like Ron O'Neill, great China light,
great story. Well that's I'm more I'm interested in those
kinds of things. Like So ron O'Neill obviously made a

(24:40):
huge impression on you. What some of the other people,
I mean, I know there's so many because you know
got twenty some odd twenty five years of this. Yes,
like who was some of the other people that really
stood out to you has made such an impression. I
do have to give Bill Belichick credit because I think
in general, Paul he brings in people that are pretty impressive.

(25:02):
Not not you never hit a hundred, right or never
about one hundred, you know, but to me, like the
Nate Soldiers, those are like personal to me because when
he's going through, um, the testicular cancer and to see
him fight through that and share that, you know, and um,

(25:23):
so that's what like current day, you know, the Matthew
Slaters and the Devin mccordy's, like you learn a lot
from from from being around them, and hopefully maybe they
even learned something from talking to you. I'd like to
think that it's two way street. You know. Devin mccordy's
definitely at my top five, twenty three whatever years. Yeah, Mike,

(25:43):
you mentioned schefter and you're talking about his book and
Patriot fans know you now is Mike GREASYESPN. It's a
big company. H hard to make your mark. Uh maybe
pressure to do something to make that mark as you
come from team owned media to a small suburban newspaper
to now. I've said it a couple of times here

(26:05):
in this conversation, the worldwide leader, and I don't say
that they are. They're all about that. What have you
learned there? And what are some of the lessons that
you've learned you know that you've taken with you, maybe
from Patriot's Football Weekly that you use today at ESPN.
So another story. When we were at Patriots Football Weekly,
the crafts who wanted us to be great, hired people

(26:29):
to work with us, and one of them was John Dennis.
Do you remember he had a company called Media Wise.
I should have brought that packet in, Paul, I'll bring
it into I still have the literature. And who used
to work with your dad on television. I want to
talk about a small world. That's right. It's unbelievable, it is.
And he would come in and work with us and Matt.
What I took from that experience was John Dennis said,

(26:53):
look at your little press pass right here. Think of
how many people would want to have that press pass.
You have a privilege with this press pass, but also
an obligation. You get to ask questions that the person
at home wants to ask but can't. So you need
to serve that audience. And that's the part that I

(27:14):
learned from him from Patriots Football Weekly, from one of
my first days on the job, that I take I
try to I take that seriously. And I think you
and me, Matt, we've talked off air, you know that
sometimes like I feel an obligation to be in a
certain situation to say, like if we don't ask this,
we're not doing our job. Like what's our purpose here?

(27:38):
To serve the fans? And Mike, you've talked about and
this isn't a new role, okay, And it's one that
maybe fans don't understand a lot. The fans will watch
fifth quarter or they'll watch Patriots dot Com and they'll
listen to Bill Belichick after the game. And after the game,
a reporter asks Bill Belichick, coach Hunter Henry Minnesota catch

(28:00):
no catch, well, you know, how did you see it?
And Bill's never going to take the cheese as far
as that's concerned. But the first thing out of his
mouth is pool reporter. Yeah, Mike reees. Maybe maybe the
fans don't know this holds that role as the pool reporter. Mike,
you talk about the how serious you take the nature
of your job. We're not saving lives, and I know

(28:20):
you know that, Yeah, but you also take this seriously
and you feel a responsibility maybe educate the fans a
little bit about what that is like to be the
pool reporter and have to go ask Carl Scheffers or
whoever the Carl Scheffers was in Minnesota, those kind of questions. Yes,
So every beat core around the NFL, so thirty two teams,

(28:40):
they designate one or two pool reporters that if there's
ever a question about the interpretation of a rule, that
reporter asks on behalf of all the reporters to hopefully
provide a better understanding to everyone as to why that
call was made. And so you have to be at

(29:01):
the games, so I think by default, and you've both
probably noticed this, the traveling media is much less than
it used to be. Thankfully, ESPN still sends me to
all the games. I hope that continues. So that puts
me among a very small group that's eligible to be
the pool reporter. And so play like Hunter Henry and

(29:21):
Minnesota happens inevitably. Everyone just looks down and says, can
we have a pool report? Or I might look and
say do we agree we want a pool report? And
I might say to everyone, can you send me what
you want me to ask? That happens organically, like usually okay,
usually it's pretty interesting. Yeah, yeah, And we had a
few days like the Minnesota one was just just what

(29:44):
you had, the one and the Raiders I think right
with the disputed touchdown for Cling cole Yes, was that
the only two? And then we did one and I'm
curious Stinnati progress on Romadre Stevenson's bumble. Right, So that's
three pool reports of one year. That's a heavy lift,
and I relatively, you know what I'm saying, I do. Well.
The only reason that it's heavy matter is you can't

(30:06):
be in two places at once. Since you're doing that,
that means you're not in with Bill Belichick. And then
Paul mentioned, you know, like Felger and mass like, what's
changed in our business is now everyone's not just listening
to the answers. There's an accountability to your question. And
if oh, they might say on the you know, most
listened to talk radio station, how come no one in

(30:28):
the media asked this, which might be a fair criticism,
but it also might be because I wasn't there room
or I just messed up. You know. So, Mike, you're
sitting there and you're talking about you know that the
Pool No pun intended here, because we're talking about Pool
reporter has shifted and changed a little bit from travel.

(30:50):
Yet this is my perception as I look at the
people who cover the Patriots on a local level, if
you compare that group to what other teams do, I
have to believe that outside of the Dallas Cowboys, you're
looking at the largest media contingency to cover a team.
Is that a fair statement to make? It seems pretty high.

(31:10):
It's big, Yeah, it's big, but it depends on where. So, like,
it's big on a daily basis, right, because you're pulling
in all the TV stations from around the Rhode Island, Boston,
sometimes New Hampshire will come down Maine, and then the
smaller local papers, but then you go on the road
and you really start to see it. But in terms

(31:30):
of a day to day I think Matt is probably
I mean, I think the New York's are probably comparable Philly.
Maybe you think Philly, yeah, maybe, yeah, But like there's
some that have like a handful of people that are
there on a Wednesday, right, So, Mike, that to me
not necessarily makes it has to happen. But if you're

(31:52):
covering this team, you want your voice heard, whether that's
in print, whether that's on the radio, whether that's on TV.
And it's hard to do that on this beat. Okay,
you've covered Bill Belichick since he's been here, since he
was hired in two thousand. There's been a lot of
noise in twenty something years about cheez. Yeah. You know,

(32:13):
why would I go to a Bill Belichick press conference.
He's not gonna say anything. You've made a life twenty
something years of going to Bill Belichick press conferences. And
one of the things that I admire about you is
when one of the many things is when there's a pandemic,
you can't go to the press conference, but if there's
a virtual availability, you're there. If there's an in person availability,

(32:36):
you're there? Why is that important to you? So I
feel like we have that responsibility to the fans. And
how bad would it look if, Okay, Bill Belichick, it's
seven thirty for his day after game zoom and Stacy
James does a great job with the media relations calls out,
all right, where coach Belichick is here? Do we have

(33:00):
any questions? And if no one is there to ask
or no one raises their hand, I feel like that
would shine a very bad light on like what are
we even doing here? You know? And so I don't
want to say I'm that that I hold that up,
but like that's why I make it a point Matt
to be there, because if he's going to have an availability,

(33:22):
I feel like we should be there to make it
what it's meant to be, which is an availability to
further educate inform the fans. And while we can't control
his answers, we can control hopefully the quality of our questions.
And his answers can be very maddening to people, both
the fans and to the media who are the conduit
to the fans who just want to be able to

(33:44):
why did this happen? Why is he playing? Why is
he not playing all the different things that the media asks.
I don't think you feel that way. I'm sure you've
been frustrated. Sometimes you get singled out unfairly people will
talk to or fairly or fairly right or but people go, geez,
why why why did he have it in for reach today?
You know, yeah, but you've been doing it, like for
twenty three years. What have you learned about covering Bill

(34:07):
Belichick that has helped you as a reporter and maybe
help make you a better writer, more informed reporter. So
so I do disagree with and Paul, I think you're
going to disagree with me, but that's okay. I do
disagree with those who say he doesn't say anything because
I do think there's times that he does say stuff. Now,
it might not be in black and white, and it

(34:29):
might you might have to interpret it, or you know,
I think sometimes there's there's things there, and I think
it's more by omission, but I think there's sometimes that
it's that there's stuff there. So I think that's that's
my thing. What I've learned is just always show up,
always try to be prepared to ask questions. And and Matt,
you said, like sometimes you get, you know, singled out
unfairly or honestly, Matt, sometimes fairly because you know what

(34:52):
we're not We're not say it that way, and we're
not because we're not perfect. And sometimes sometimes I will
ask a question everybody and I'll be like, oh my god,
what like one that didn't come out the way I
intended it to, and like, what was I thinking in
that moment? Which reminds me of a story. Can I
do you take? Okay? That's why you're here? The first

(35:12):
time I ever asked a question that Bill Belichick how
nervous I was, And I remember the question, and so
I would This was going back to early two thousands
and so I remember I wasn't working for the team.
I was at a small local paper, so I wasn't
traveling with the team at that time. But I was
showing up, you know, mostly a daily basis, or Tom

(35:34):
Carran was doing it, so maybe I was showing up
every now and then. I don't remember were shooting in
the front row back then? It wasn't in the front
row back then. I was. I was scoping it out,
and I think I finally got the courage to ask
a question because I was I mean, I'm always impressed
with the young reporters to come in and just let
it rip right away. Like I was really nervous to
ask a question to Coach Belichick, and so I finally

(35:57):
got the courage and I can just amatagine how it
came out. And it was, you have a defensive back
name Leonard Myers, um out of the Miami of Miami. Um,
what what do you think he might be able to
contribute to the shore? It didn't sound like that. My
heart beating through my chest that's what I remember. Sound

(36:20):
like that. But but I I do tell the story
because I think it's important for people to know. Like
I was britt and I actually still do. Will will
get nervous sometimes going on TV or like this is
very comfortable because we know each other, but like sometimes
you're on ESPN and they're coming to you and you're like,
am I prepared and my health? Like, am I in
a good place right now? Like? And the heart will
start beating like right, And so I'll give fans listeners

(36:45):
a little bit of uh, maybe peel back a little
bit behind the curtain where I've been with Mike, and
I'll again I'll repeat this at the owners meetings or
the league meetings, the annual meetings, whatever they want to
call him. And that's where the coaches and coach Belichick
um at breakfast, eight thirty in the morning, whatever it's
whether it's Pacific Coast time or Eastern Standard time. And

(37:06):
here comes Bill Belichick. And we've seen the famous memes
with the orange juice and all different things like that.
And Michael spend the night before that or times before that,
and he comes in with his notebook and he's got
forty to sixty questions, and he'll sit there and he'll go, Matt,
what do you think about this? Do you think I'm
covered here? And I just think it's a great lesson

(37:28):
for any reporter. You have forty to sixty questions before
a press conference. Maybe I couldn't come up with forty
questions the annual meeting. If you said, you can have
a million dollars if you can write down forty questions,
is Bill Belichick? I'm not sure I could do it.
Hasn't talk since the end of the year, so you're
looking at a two and a half three month period
where they've signed somebody, somebody's lost, this coach left, this

(37:48):
coach is coming. There's been a period of time, so
it's not Wednesday before the Packers game. Let's know, you
said that owners meetings forty to sixty questions. That's impressive,
and it's impressive and I would want to sit there
and say that's the way to do the job, like
that's somebody who's really putting in the time to do 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 got to cover that. Yeah, And I think
we're going back to coach Belichick like knowing that a
lot of those questions aren't going to get answered because
he might not want to answer him. But I feel
like if we're not asking him, like what's our what
are we doing right? Like, it's not like we have
to do it because he might what's the chance he
might answer it? And then you have that information to

(38:34):
pass along because ultimately, I do believe, going back to
the John Dennis media wise first year at Patriots Football
Weekly Patriots dot Com, we are there to be that
in between conduit to the fans of the team that
are investing their time, their money, their passion to know
and if we're not, we're I don't want to let
them down. That's sort of the way I look at it.

(38:55):
So you've had some interesting stories here, Mike. You mentioned
the question and you're well prepared. Here is there a
question that you remember asking and you're saying to yourself,
there's no way in hell he's going to answer this,
And all of a sudden, it's like a huge that
have cold water splashes uniface. You go, oh my goodness,
he actually answered that. Do you Is there an incident
that you can think of that that maybe that happened.

(39:16):
I have to think a little more on coach Belichick.
But I did have one other story I was going
to tell you about a question where I was like,
what was I thinking? Great? So I want to say
two thousand and six Patriots are going to play the Vikings.
I want to say, yeah, Monday night, Monday night, Yeah, preparing.
I believe it was majorly hyped game because it was.
I think they were really good. Can't run against the

(39:37):
Vikings defense. I think that the Kevin Williams and the
Pat Williams maybe that I love that matter right on it. No, No,
there I have another story that I won't board people,
but like it was the old adage of so you're
going to run it into a wall, and didn't they
play chuck and dit? Like they ran it on first
down right for nothing? Correct? And I believe they ran
the ball fewer than ten times in the games, correct,

(39:59):
all over the Gabriel, Troy Brown, Jafar Gaffney, Chad Jacks.
So we're preparing for the loud Monday night environment. Minnesota
can't wait for this, you know, Patriots coming in three
times Super Bowl champion, and how are you going to
prepare for the noise? So we're all gathered around. This
was Teddy Brusky, not Bill Belichick, and I don't know
what I was thinking, but total brain fart where I said, Teddy,

(40:23):
how are you preparing for the noise in Minnesota? And
you know how Teddy would have the look Guys, he'd
sort of looked at me like I had five heads.
And I said to myself, why is he looking at
me like that? Like this is where everyone's talking about
the noise? He goes, Dude, I play on defense. That
place is gonna be quiet when I'm out on the field.

(40:44):
That's Brusky. That's the Brusky face now because it was Mike.
He answered it. If I was someone someone else wouldn't
have been so nice. Right, I'm gonna come back to
you on the Belichick when I can't off the top
of my head one that I was surprised. So I
would just say, as is trying to come up with,
you know, an anecdote for that with Bill, but I
would just say, you know, a lot of people ask

(41:06):
me It's probably the question I get the most out
of any question is what is it like you know?
With Bill? And I would say I find him easy
to cover for one reason, and I think in the
answer to that is, I think he's extremely consistent, insistent.
You generally know what you're going to get. And when
I you know, and I know Mike said that, I
would disagree with him, and I probably do slightly disagree.

(41:30):
I think like more often than not, you don't get much.
But what I've always felt that he does a good job.
It's not personal, and I've never taken it personal. And
believe me, he's been upset with me at various times
in the past. I've never taken it personally. Now where
I and I know that Mike will disagree with me

(41:52):
on this and This is where I know Mike and
Tony come to your defense a lot when they're dealing
with the press conferences and picking apart thing that Bill says,
and why does he have to do that. I kind
of think there are times where I think he should
be a little bit different with various members of the
media that are that to me, have proven, like Mike,

(42:14):
that they're more prepared, more professional, and they deserve more.
And I think sometimes I get frustrated with Bill when
he gives Mike a hard time. It's not often, and
Mike always says, no, no no, I didn't take it that
way because that's Mike. That's Mike. He's just always professional
and he's always prepared, so you don't take it that way.
But I think I do sometimes on your behalf, and

(42:36):
I'm like, he doesn't have to answer that question all
snarky like that for Mike. That's Mike. It's not the
guy who's been on the beat for three minutes, right
who asked a dumb question. Mike didn't ask a dumb question.
He's asked it's a fair it's a fair question, and
it deserved a better response. That's where I sort of
probably disagree with Mike a little bit, and I could
be wrong on this and it would have to go
back and check my accuracy. But one thing I would

(42:58):
be surprised at it would be like anytime he would
would answer about an injured player. So if I remember
Girard Mayo with a knee injury, one time, he might
have been asked, you know what's it look like for Girard?
You know, gonna be tough to see him back this season.
And I remember maybe falling off my chair at the
time to say when when is he ever confirmed an injury?
So something that's interesting, something like that would be one.

(43:20):
And that's why those injury questions are tough guys, because
I do I do remember times where he's actually given
it up, but it's probably such a low percentage of
a time that you don't know whether it's worth it
to ask. But that's one of those John Dennis's like
the conduit for the fans questions. And I know people
all the time like, why do these media guys have
to waste Bill's time by asking about an injury when

(43:43):
you know he's not going to answer it. And I'll
just never know, but I'll I'll even submit. Yeah, he's
never going to answer it, even though there are examples
when he has I'll say, doesn't matter, right, it doesn't
matter if mac Jones has a high ankle sprain. I
need to ask Bill thoughts about mac Jones's high ankle
spring right. I have to do that. Right. If I don't,

(44:06):
then I'm depriving the fans of an opportunity to find
out when mac Jones might be no question. And that's
that's the bottom line, right, And a lot of times,
you know, like that's a dumb question. Why why do
they ask those questions? We do ask a lot of
mundane questions, but a lot of them are questions that
you have to ask. Like you can't go a press
conference and not ask about the quarterbacks health when when

(44:27):
it's in question. Right, So, Mike, maybe this is a
dumb question. Um, what's your most enjoyable moment covering the team?
It's a softball. I don't know if it's a dumb question.
So the moments that I find most enjoyable are when
you have a breakthrough with a player that you've built
a relationship within the locker room. Now, I never would

(44:49):
have gone and because to me, so much of this
is relation on Matt like I love I love covering
one team because you go from the start of this
season and you start from point A and you see
the team you know grow over time and you get
to know the players to a small percentage. But to me,
that's much more enjoyable than trying to cover all thirty two,

(45:13):
because I think it's hard to cover just one. So
like out, here's another story. Matt light left tackle two
thousand and one to two eleven second round pick out
of per due in two thousand and one. I think
I had learned toward the end of his career that
he had been playing through Crohn's disease. And I went

(45:35):
up to him and in the locker room, and I said,
you know, I don't want to impose on you. I
don't want to overstep my bounds, but it came to
my attention that you might have an inspiring story to
tell over something you're dealing with. And you know, Matt,
you can just imagine what his response was, Boss, I

(45:57):
don't know what you're talking about, but you know, maybe
some day I'll get back to you on that, you know.
And then he retired and ill, and it was it
was like this. I covered him for his whole career,
and I was in I remember I was in the
basement of my house. The phone rang and it was
like three one seven or you know, because I think
he's from Indianapolis and he always wanted, oh, maybe this

(46:18):
is one of those like telemarketing calls or whatever, and
and he it was on the other end of the line.
He goes, Hey, boss, it's Matt Light. What's going on, Matt?
What are you doing? Like you've never called me before.
He goes, remember that time you came up to me
in the locker room and we're talking to me. He goes,
I think I'm ready to talk about it now. And no,

(46:39):
to me like that, those are the type of things
that that um, not that you do it for that,
but like it. It meant a lot to me because
I had no idea that. I mean, I wasn't expecting it, um,
But there was a time and a place, and I
had been conflicted on that as a reporter, whether I
had an obligation to really reveal it before that. My

(47:04):
instinct told me no, you know, like that, that's someone's
personal information. But you could make the case that maybe
I didn't do a great job on that, But to me,
those type of moments are the ones that stand out.
And of course, man like the Super Bowls and well
I figured I was I was throwing him a lollipop
and he was gonna give me super Bowl thirty six. Yeah,
I mean on field. I think Mike and I would

(47:25):
be lockstep on that when when Adams kick went through.
But I agree with his mindset and I don't have
anywhere near the amount of those kinds of stories that
Mike has, because when you cover the team, you know,
working for the team, it's a little bit of a
different question. You're not necessarily you start scouring, but you're
not scouring for news. You're more analytical with the team

(47:47):
personnel stuff like that, trying to figure out what they're
going to do. But a very similar kind of thing
when Rodney Harrison came here, and it's why I would
put Rodney Harrison in that group with mccordy, you know,
top five or of all time. I wanted to sit
down and do a big feature for the newspaper and
you know, just kind of a you know, a background
career retrospective kind of thing, and how we ended up here.

(48:09):
We all know the free agent story that was part
of it, and I got some time with him in
the locker room and he was working out by the
time I ended up starting to talk to this as
a feature, so I want, you know, ten minutes, fifteen
minutes to talk to him, not you know, two or
three questions and move on to the next guy. So
it was really quick. It was rushed at the end

(48:30):
of the the you know, the the open locker room period,
and I figured I could probably write it next week.
I'll get him another time and ask more questions, so,
you know whatever. I thanked him for his time, and
locker room ended. That night. I get home and I
get a call from Rodney Harris. How great is that?
Who had asked Stacy who I was. Didn't really even

(48:53):
know he knew my name because I introduced myself. Didn't
even know who I was. He said, I was talking
to the kid that works with the team newspaper today
and I didn't get a chance to finish, and I
know he had more questions to ask me. I was
on the phone with him for an hour, talking about
my kids, talking about my wife, talking about his kids.
I think it was shortly after Christian was born. I know.

(49:15):
I know you'll know that Brodney has a son named Christian.
It was probably one of the most memorable interviews they've
ever had. And that's the kind of stuff that you remember.
I don't have any of those anymore because I'm not
in the locker room every day. And when COVID, like
once COVID happened and we went those two years without
really being in the locker room. These guys that are

(49:37):
on the team now I don't know them right, And
that's what you miss, those personal relationships what you miss.
And that's why the one time I went in the
locker room all year was the day after the season,
just so I could talk to Devin mccordy and just,
you know, not that he needed to hear from me,
I wanted to say goodbye to him, just in case
he decides to retire. Rights has my cozette made as

(49:59):
the COVID and no access, no personal access? Did you
find it harder to do your job? And when things
started it was kind of layered, you know how that
opened back up. You must have been very thankful that
Andrews was still on the team, that mccordy's still on
the team, that Slater is still on the team as
you're trying to cultivate and begin new relationships. Matt. I

(50:25):
was so appreciative that the locker room opened back up,
because I really thought once we went all zoom with
COVID that we were never getting back in there. And
I just think to me that the coverage I never
felt like it was as good because you couldn't develop
the relationships. And so that was huge to me that

(50:45):
that happened. And I think back to Will McDonough. We
mentioned his name earlier, and he had always said, just
always show up, even if you're not going to write
anything or say anything like community event, if you can,
like just let them know that you're that you're there,
you know, And so you can't do that in a
COVID world. It's all through the screen. So how do

(51:08):
you connect with someone through a screen? You know? To me,
like where the three of us are sitting here right now,
we can look in each other's eyes, we can see
body language, right, we can play off each other, like
you can't do that through a screen. You're so right,
we're gonna wrap things up here in a second. We've
taken up enough of your time. But just another behind
the scene story that I think fans would find interesting
about Mike. And I would see it here on the

(51:30):
home games, and it was every week in this digital
age where everybody's got to have a photo, everybody's got
to have a tweet, everybody's got to post something, and
it's got to be instant, and you're competing with a
lawful lot of other people out there. The sight of
seeing Mike grease and he started it, I think, and

(51:50):
then others sort of followed suit. But Mike was always
at the garage door right by the south end zone,
and he would always get there an hour or so
beforehand and waiting in the tunnel for the guy with
the glasses and the best dressed guy in the stadium
to come walking in every single Sunday, and he made
it a point he got to show up. He was there,

(52:11):
and Tom knew every week that Mike was going to
be there, and Mike had a shot or a video
of Brady walking in every single week. And you made
it a point to do that, didn't you. I enjoyed it,
and I think it goes back to our whole thing
of that we are serving the fans. You're taking him
to a place where they can't be. And that goes
back to to bring this whole thing full circle and

(52:33):
Patriots Football Weekly, Patriots dot Com, right, what I learned
from John Dennis, from the Crafts, Robert and Jonathan, because
you made the point, Paul, like a lot of the
web stuff was Jonathan, and so to carry that on, like,
I am super proud of that. I'm super proud of
where I started here. And I will just tell you

(52:55):
I think about Patriots all the time, you know, like family, work,
live shows that we talk about. It's been a huge
impact on my life and so I'm just so thankful
and appreciative of that. All Right, Mike, And what people
don't Mike's a big muckraker. He loves to rumor monger.
That's where he goes. Every once in a while he

(53:16):
gets one, right sure, throws up against the wall. So Mike,
we're gonna put you in the hot spot here as
we're entering into the beginning of maybe it's already begun
the silly season. How much cap room do they have?
Who's coming, Who's going give Patriot fans an idea of
maybe what they should be looking for. I'm not going
to sit here and ask you who are they going
to sign, Who's coming, who's going? But you have an

(53:38):
informed opinion, you know, you've covered the team for a
long time. Let a Patriot fans know what Mike Reas
is going to be looking for, and maybe they should
be looking forward in the upcoming six weeks or so
as we get ready to hit free agency before the draft. Yeah,
the one that interests me the most is Jacoby Myers
because he I think he's their top free agent and

(54:00):
what is his market financially? You know, ten million a year,
twelve million million a year, fourteen million a year. You've
developed him, he's come up through your program, you know him.
And to me, the most successful teams are the ones
that resign those guys as long as it all works out.
But if you do that, it's gonna take you away

(54:21):
from going to someone else. And is he enough of
a difference maker to warrant that significant investment? And so
to me, when I think about ranking, Okay, if you
had to say, what's the first thing you're looking for? Second, third, fourth,
Like Jacoby is my number one because I think he's
I think he's been great, and I think he really
deserves whatever is coming to him. I never I never

(54:42):
would have guessed that that would have been his number one.
I never would have guessed at Paul. Yeah, I mean
I think that's huge. I think you would have talked
about it a lot, you know, I know we disagree
on it a little bit, but just in general, Mike,
I mean, this is kind of open ended questions, just like,
how far away do you think the team And I'm

(55:03):
not telling you going three years they can do X,
but you know, how many holes do you think that
they can realistically fill this offseason? Because I think people
think magically, you know, you sign a tackle or your
draft a tackle in the first round, you resign Myers
and maybe make a trade for a number one receiver

(55:24):
and boom you're back. Like we all know, it's not
that easy. So I sort of look at AFC as
you know, the tiers, right, and you get the Chiefs Bengals,
and I think i'd probably put the Bills sure a
little right up there, maybe a little behind. You're not
in that tier, not yet, and I think to think
you're going to get into that tier this year is

(55:45):
probably I would say longer odds right. It might take
two years to get there, Paul. I think that the
whole coaching thing is what's hard for me to project,
Like how much of a difference will that make? Like
I believe we're going to see it totally different Mac
Jones this year, but that might be optimistic. But I
do think like Bill O'Brien and this whole coaching thing

(56:09):
is going to make the product that we saw last
year look. I mean, it wasn't great, right what we
saw last year. Calling it what it is, I think
it's gonna look much better. So it's hard, you know
what I mean, It's a little hard to look into
the crystal ball. But I think I would say not
far away, but to me to get to that top
tier we're talking about, you're probably looking at multiple years.

(56:31):
His name is Mike Grease. When we kicked this conversation off,
we talked about his roots as the original member for
Patriots Football Weekly. Now every Sunday when you wake up,
and don't take my word for it, take somebody's word
for like Mike Lombardi or Adam Schefter who says you
must read Mike Grease's notes every Sunday. That's how you
got to kick off your day. Mike great stories, great stuff.

(56:54):
Really appreciate that. I love being the you guess you
guys are great friends. Thanks for the compliments. Let's do
it again sometimes. Thank you for downloading this podcast. Subscribe
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(57:17):
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