It's time now for another episode of Pats from the Past podcast, Matt Smith alongside with Paul Barlow. 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 Maloyan oh one oh zero zero zero yeah zero.
Wow. However, we say that not to denigrate Oh Too, I guess it was, but to but to celebrate the og writer for Patriots dot Com and Patriots Football Weekly.
Yeah, you know.
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 you for joining us.
It's great to be here. We've come a long way from the coat closet at Foxboro 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 you have, I mean, you're trying to you don't hide from it, but you also not sitting there. You don't have a flag out in front of your house about it. Don't you think people would be surprised to 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 UMass Amherst and I actually, you're gonna.
Laugh at me, Pou.
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 got coming out of college.
I really do.
I'm gonna look at this afterwards. You get a couple of minutes after. I'm interested in this because what do you do?
I 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 you'll call it two hundred resumes. Wow, two hundred rejections. Letters come back and I'm like, wow, how can this be? Like I've had good experience in college at UMass 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 to summer camp with Fred Kersh. And he said, well, yeah, I.
Heard your brother's 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 Fred Kersh 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 changed my life.
Serious is do you know what what we call we joke around, you know, Brian Morey, Andy Hart myself, you know what we call Fred the King, the Kingmaker, the Kingmaker. And it's not because he's trying to do anything special at fancy. 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, they go places. They've all gone places except for me, But everybody else
has really benefited from Fred. 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 moved on to his first job at a conventional newspaper, traditional newspaper which at the time I think was Metros Daily News. Okay, so who stepped into his shoes?
How great is that? Oh?
Gee, I love it.
Big shoes to me, big shoes to fill. So Mike, here you are. Green is grass? Right? Fred throws of your lifeline. I'm gonna do this. What were you? What was your thinking here? You know again? My guess is fresh race 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 Pete Carroll story? Like? What can I do. What kind of eye opening experience was it for you.
I'm gonna flip through the media guide to 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 lambeau Field. Oh, a preseason game. I want to say, remember the game nineteen ninety seven. So like right out of college, I think I had maybe taken one family vacation as a kid, you know, so 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 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 was it feel like?
I'm at lambeau Field. You're paying me money to be here.
Did lambeau mean as much to you as a as a twenty four to 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 faced kid then as you know now today, Mike jenuflecked when he goes to lambeau 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.
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 were so many things that the Patriots here, between Jonathan Kraft and Fred Kursh did first, you know, whether it was the website, first team, website, first team video
show that Mike just talked about, Patriots cybersideline, first all color team owned news, team owned and run newspaper.
I mean, it's amazing how many things that they were.
At the form best show.
I didn't say best, I said first. But yeah, and you know, 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 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 in his mouth. We're very good friends on and off the beat. And that's why I think when you said to me, what do you think
about having Mic in? This is gonna be great. I think we're gonna get a lot of good stories today.
Yeah. So, Mike, what was the most intimidating thing when you first started lambeau 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 this is them coming off of pretty Super Bowl loss and parcels and everything like that. What was your welcome was it was going to lambeau 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 would win the games in the newspaper, and it's a team owned newspaper, and you know, you didn't want to necessarily always pick the Patriots because at that time the idea of uh Fred.
Always.
Fred, make sure that there's always one picking the Patriots.
Sixteen and o season, right, you know, at that point we hadn't lived through two thousand and seven, and and I 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 Parcells was the coach, So that one hurts and it's the first road one, right, yeah, well first road one.
You picked them again in the home game.
I think I did, Okay, do that sound I mean you would.
I think you've told me this story before, and I think I remember what happens and so priceless.
So so they that was the moment that 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 less of a wall put up between the players and the state 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 was underneath us, Like 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 lot, the access, like Jimmy Hitchcock I remember specifically, was like wouldn't answer my questions. And I think 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 personal, 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 was right, which made it probably worse and he ended up the Jets ended up beating the Patriots, and that I remember that in that game, and I think there 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 Ferrick Cohen's if I remember right.
You remember, of course scared the but Jesus out of me one day for something totally different.
But see, and that's where I get nervous. I'm like, was was it Ferrick? Because it's starting to be so long ago, guys that it's right.
I was gonna give you. Maybe Henry Thomas could have been Henry Thomas.
Henry Thomas was great. I like you you mentioned a name, and I think of a story. Henry Thomas. We used to have a joke in the locker room, like I think I'm gonna keep a whole tin of breath mints in here because whenever I talk to you guys.
You know you need you.
Need some breathmans, you know.
So it's like stuff like that, Matt like, and that's part of the fun plunging around a team for as long as you're you say it 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 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 a availability and a media breakfast. And I remember being with you at one of these ones, whether it's out in the West or in Florida or something like that, and you had said to me, Mattam, I'm gonna stick around a little bit. I'm gonna I want to go over to the NFC.
I want to say hi to Pete. And I'm sitting there going you want to go over and say hi to Pete. And this is thirty years later or something like that in Europe, and Pete carrolsees Mike Reese and of course he goes up to when gravitates to him, because you remember some twenty one year old little snot nosed kid who's to cover him every single day when he was a coach of the Patriots. 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, 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 as.
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, 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 said to me, he goes, so you're going to replace Mike.
He goes big shoes to fill is he goes, well, actually little shoes to fill. But how great is it? But that's like he did. 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 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 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 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 listeners and the fans about how you got to the worldwide leader.
Definitely.
So it was always my dream to be like Will McDonough, the late Boston Globe sports columnist. I just 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?
And the sports editor at the time, his name was Don squar 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 the Globe would look down at at a team site or her team team meeting.
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 me feel like you arrived, right, Paul.
You know that because that was 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 the backwards path. I went from conventional mainstream media to team owned.
And operated media.
And my one fear was that not to be taken seriously. And when I get you know, when I tell you, like Nickofardo at the time, another late great you know Boston Boston Globe writer Having mannis from the Herald, Ronnie Borges, Will McDonough. These guys were wonderful with the team, and they never never looked down their nose at us at all.
And I think it's changed now, Paul, like I think it was, Oh yeah, 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 metrost Daily News, and I was covering the team, but not as closely because unlike Patriots Football Weekly, where
I was here every day, he didn't travel. No, didn't travel initially, right, 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 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.
And so was there a crisis of 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 going to 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 mind at this time?
Definite crisis at 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 hole worth it?
No Bruce shows, no Brue shows, although I think I had been going to some Bruce shows at that time.
You too do that on your own podcast, all right.
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 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 you know, it was you started thinking, I like doing this, this is what I always wanted to do. How long can I go and make this little money and substantiate it? 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 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 Metros 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, 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 gonna stick with this? I got bills to pay? How long can I keep on going here and following your heart, following your passion knows to the grindstone, all of those good things, and it's gonna work out if you believe and work hard enough. Is
that what you're gonna 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 to sure you know sure? And I think I mean without getting too 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, Like I've got to be the work working all the time, right, 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 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, 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. And I know a lot
of people look at this. Listen to this jerk, you know, he's complaining about having to cover the Patriots were a living I'm not complaining about it.
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.
Love how I come in on all of this, But I know I was working at the Herald, and this is when I 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 up. But we were all three of us kind of in the same kind of boat, and you just wonder, how am I, to Mike's point, how am I ever going to meet somebody when I work Thursday, Friday and Saturday night from five pm to one am or seven pm to three am, doing racing or agate work in the sports department, hoping that someday I can be Will McDonough. Well, no one's gonna come down with a magic wand and say, iw you the next Will mcdonne.
Like, it's so.
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. You know, it's there's a lot of different paths. It's 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 think I was thinking about this coming down here, like shining a light on Pats 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 travel and we would get on the buses go to the airport and they had an athletic trainer team at an athletic trainer Ron O'Neil
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 was my first year out of school.
Sure, he was like.
A father figure to me and we I would always try to sit next to him on the bus and we would Paul, I can't help it. And we would talk and and I'd say, what did you do last night? 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. And I'm gonna give you some advice,
young Mike Greece. You're you're a young guy here. It's just you right now, and 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 to have a life together, and then it's gonna be you, and maybe there might be some kids in 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 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'Neil, great Shina light, great story.
Well that's more I'm interested in those kinds of things like, so Ron O'Neil obviously made a huge impression on you.
What are some of the other people?
I mean, I know there's so many because you know got twenty some odd you twenty five years of this. Yes, Like who was some of the other people that really stood out to you? It's 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.
Not you never hit one 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 the testicular cancer and to see him fight through that and share that, you know, And.
So that's what like.
Current day, you know, the Matthew Slaters and the Devin McCarty's, like you learn a lot from from being around them, and hopefully maybe they even learn something from talking to you. I'd like to think that it's two way street.
You know.
Devin McCarty's definitely in my top five twenty three whatever years.
Yeah, Mike, you mentioned Schefter and you're talking about his book and Patriot fans know you now as Mike RECESPN it's a big company, hard to make your mark, maybe pressure to do something to make that mark, as you can come from T Mowne Media to a small suburban newspaper to now I've said it a couple times here 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 Patriots 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 to work with us, and one of them was John Dennis. Do you remember he had a company called Media Wise Idea 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 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, 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 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? 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 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 Reese. Maybe the fans don't know this holds that role as the pool reporter. Mike, you talk about how serious you
take the nature of your job. We're not saving lives, and I know 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 Scheffer's or whoever the call Scheffers was in Minnesota, those kinds of questions.
Yes, So every beat core around the NFL, so thirty two teams, they designate one or two poor 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 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 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, Mike usually okay, Usually that's pretty interesting.
Yeah, yeah, And we had a few dishes like the Minnesota one was just just what you had. The one in the Raiders I think right with the disputed touchdown for Keel and cole yes, was that the only two?
And then we did one? And I'm curious, did this Cincinnati.
Progress on vermondre Stevenson's fumbles one year?
That's a heavy lift, and I relatively, you know what I'm saying, I do well.
The only reason that's heavy mat is you can't be in two places at once. If you're doing that, that means you're not in with Bill Belichick. And then Paul mentioned, you know, like Felger and maz 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 the media asked this, which might be a fair criticism, but it also might be because I wasn't in the 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. 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. 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 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 dwindled down.
But in terms 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 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 geez, you know, 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, 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 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 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, 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 well, 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 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 or.
But people go, geez, why why did he have it in for Reese today? You know, but you've been doing it, like for twenty three years. What have you learned about covering Bill 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 gonna 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 might you might have to interpret it or yeah, 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 we're not We're not
that way, and we're not because we're not perfect. Yeah, sometimes sometimes I will ask a question everybody, and I'll be like, oh, 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?
Okay? That's why you're here?
The first time.
I ever asked a question that Bill Belichick, how nervous I was, and I remember the question and my 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 on a you know, mostly a daily basis, or Tom Curran was doing it.
So maybe I was showing up every now and then. I don't remember.
Were sitting in the front road back wasn't in the front road back then, I was. I was scoping it out, and I think I finally got the courage.
To ask a question because I wasn't.
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 got the courage, and I can just image and how it came out, and it was, you have a defensive back named Leonard Myers.
Out of them of.
Miami, what what do you think he might be able.
To contribute to this?
It didn't sound like that.
My heart beating through my chick, That's what I remember.
I'm sure it didn't sound like that.
But but I like, I do tell the story because I think it's important for people to.
Know like I was, and I actually still do.
We'll 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?
Am I 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 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 owner's meetings or the league meetings, of the annual meetings, whatever they want to call them. And that's where the coaches and coach Belichick at breakfast eight thirty in the morning, whatever it's whether it's Pacific Coast time or Eastern Standard time. And 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 for any reporter.
You have a forty to sixty questions before a press conference. Maybe I couldn't up with forty questions. If you said you can have a million dollars if you can write down forty questions. This is still 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 coach is coming. There's been a period of time. So it's not Wednesday before the Packers game.
Let's know, fake you you said that owners.
Meetings forty to sixty questions.
That's impressible.
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 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 the chance he might answer it? And then look, you have that information to 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.
So you've had some interesting stories here, Mike. You mentioned the question and you're well prepared. 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 bit of 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.
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 Vikings defense.
I think that the Kevin Williams and the Pat Williams maybe that I love that matter right on it.
No, No, I there I have another story that I won't bore people with. But like it was the old adage of so you're gonna run it into a wall, and didn't.
They play chuck and die 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, it out all over.
The Doug Gabriel, Troy Brown, and Jay 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 gonna prepare for the noise?
So we're all gathered around.
This was Teddy Bruski, not Bill Belichick. And I don't know what I was thinking, but total brain fart where I said, Teddy, how you preparing for the noise in Minnesota? And you know how Teddy would have the look. Guys 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.
That's Bruskie. That's the brusky face. Now, because it was Mike, he answered it. If it was someone someone else, it 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 won that I was surprised.
So I would just say, as my 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 me it's probably the question I get the most out of any question, what is it like, you know?
With with Bill?
And I would say I find him easy to cover for one reason, and I think and the answer to that is, I think he's extremely consistent, insistent. You generally know what you're gonna get. And when I you know, and I know Mike said that I would disagree with him, and I probably do slightly disagree. 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 on this, and this is where I know Mike and Tony come to you a defense a lot when they're dealing with the press conferences and picking apart every thing that 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 that to me, have proven, like Mike, 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, 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 I'm like, he doesn't have to answer that question all snarky like that for Mike. That's Mike, right, It's not the guy who's been on the beat for three minutes who asked a dumb question. Mike didn't ask a dumb question. He asked 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 be surprised that it would be like anytime he would would answer about an injured player. So if I remember Gerard Mayo with a knee injury one time, he might have been asked, you know, what's it look like for Girrod? 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 has
he ever confirmed an injury? So something that's interesting, something like that would be one. 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 you know he's not going to answer it. And I'll ever know, but I'll even I'll even submit, Yeah, he's never gonna answer it, even though there are examples right when he has I'll say, it doesn't matter, right, it doesn't matter
if mac Jones has a high ankle sprain. I need to ask Bill his thoughts about mac Jones is high ankle spring I have to do that. If I don't, then I'm depriving the fans of an opportunity to find out when Mac Jones might be no question. That's that's the bottom line. 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 quarterback sure health when when it's in question.
So, Mike, maybe this is a dumb question. 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 with in the locker room. Now I never would have gone And because to me, so much of this is relational, 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 because I think it's hard to cover just one. Sure, So like I'll here's another story. Matt Light left Tackle two thousand and one to twenty eleven second round pick out of Purdue 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 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 don't know what you're talking about, but you know, maybe I'll get back to you on that, you know, And then he retired and the and it was it was like this covered him for his whole career, correct, 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 you always wonder, oh, maybe this 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, to me like that, those are the type of things that that not that you do it for that, but like it. It meant a lot to me because I had no idea. I mean, I wasn't expecting it, 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 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.
I figured I was I was throwing him a lollypop and he was gonna give me Super Bowl thirty six.
Yeah, I mean on field.
I think Mike and I would be lockstep on that when when Adam's 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 scouring, but you're not scouring for news. You're more analytical with the team 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 is why I would put Rodney Harrison in that group with mccordy, you know.
Top five 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, 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.
And this is 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 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 Harrison.
How great is that?
Who had asked Stacy who I was? Didn't really even 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 for 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 them 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 you'll know that Rodney has a son named Christian.
Awesome.
It was probably one of the most memorable interviews I 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 on the team now I don't know them. 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.
Has Mike has that made as the COVID and no access, no personal access, did you find it harder to do your job? And when things started to 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's still on the team as you're trying to cultivate and.
Begin new relationships, Matt, I 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 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 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 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 scenes story that I think fans would find interesting about Mike and I would see it here on the 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 an awful lot of other people out there.
The sight of seeing Mike grease and he started it, I think, and 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 you 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, 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 that we're serving the fans. You're taking him to a place where they can't their lives be, and that goes back to to bring this whole thing full circle. And Patriots Football Weekly Patriots dot Com write 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 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. Yeah, that's where he goes.
Every once in a while he gets one.
Right, Sure, Mike, we're gonna put you on 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 informed opinion. You know, you've covered the
team for a long time. Let a Patriot fans know what Mike Reese 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 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 re sign those guys as long as it all works out. But if you do that, it's
gonna take you away 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's coming to him.
I never I never would have guessed that that would have been his number one. I never would have guessed that.
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 any question, just like how far away do you think the team And I'm not telling you in 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 you draft a tackle in the first round, you re sign Myers and maybe make a trade for a number one receiver 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 maybe a little right up there, maybe a little behind. You're not in that tier, not yet, And and I think to think you're going to get into that tier this year is 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 is gonna 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.
His name is Mike Reese. 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, don't take my word for it, take somebody's word for like Mike Lombardi or Adam Schefter who says you must read Mike g Reese's notes every Sunday. That's how you got to kick.
Off your day.
Mike, great stories, great stuff. Really appreciate the tiber you talk.
You love being with you guys.
You guys are great friends. Thanks for the compliments. Let's do it again sometimes.
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