What In The World is Going on? (Patriots Talk)

Hey Everybody,

As most of you know, I was born and raised in the Boston area and therefore I am bound to be a fan of the Boston sports teams for all eternity. For some it sounds like it would be easy to root for teams who all have had so much success in the past years, respectively. However that is not the case recently. 

Being a Boston sports fan this week has sucked, to put it lightly. First the Bruins lost in game 6 by giving up two goals in 17 seconds, then Doc Rivers bolted for Los Angeles, and of course the Aaron Hernandez debacle.

Thanks for the Memories, Doc.

Patrice=Warrior 

                                       

Let's start off with what seems to be the number one issue in the news over the past 2 weeks or so, Aaron Hernandez. I have been following this situation since it was reported that there was a body found near Hernandez's home almost 2 weeks ago. I don't think I'm alone when I say that watching the whole situation unfold in front of our very eyes has been enticing to watch, yet so agonizing knowing this guy is so young and has so much damn talent on the gridiron. 

AHH Shit I forgot about that!

When this story first broke, we didn't really know all that much about Hernandez's past. 

However, now everything is starting to come to the surface: his friends with gang associations, past crimes (he shot a dude in the face, how did we not hear about this? BREAKING: Just got a notification he is being investigated in a double shooting in Boston, guess things can get worse for him) and his tough upbringing in Bristol, Connecticut where his father died when he was 16, which affected him deeply. 

I guess once the media gets their hands on a story, or a man (figuratively) they won't stop until every little drop of juice is squeezed out of it for the public to quench their unsatisfiable thirst for drama, particularly among those few who are deemed "celebrities" such as Aaron Hernandez. 

Along from the fact that Hernandez was just charged with first degree murder along with 5 other charges, the Patriots released him swiftly after he was arrested. From a football perspective, that is not exactly helping the Patriots.  

With Gronk coming off four forearm surgeries and a back surgery in the offseason, I'm not expecting him to be start the season which is pretty much the general consensus I'm hearing from a lot of people who know a lot more than I do. Hopefully Gronk can come back in good shape and help this offense out ASAP. 

With that being said, the New England Patriots will be playing football this year, with or without Gronk and Hernandez. 

So what does this mean for the Patriots? 

No Welker, Gronk or Hernandez, not to mention Brandon Lloyd and Danny Woodhead are gone too... Well, we still have some hope in Foxborough ladies and gents because Tom Brady is still the quarterback and Bill Belicheck is the master of puppets controlling things. With those two at the helm, I wouldn't count the Patriots out just yet. 

The big question most fans have is who will Tom Terrific throw the ball to?

The fact is that Tom Brady can make anyone a Pro Bowl receiver because that's just how good he is. While the Patriots appear to lack weapons, ask yourself when has that ever stopped them before? In 2001, our best receivers were Troy Brown and David Patten. In 2003 and 2004, Deion Branch, Kevin Faulk and David Givens were the main receivers of Brady's passes.

First and foremost, for our offense to be successful this season Danny Amendola must be productive and stay healthy, a problem that has nagged him his whole career. That applies to Julian Edelman as well, who I believe will have a career season this year filling the role of Wes Welker. Donald Jones and Michael Jenkins will also play key roles in the receiving corps this season. Look for Aaron Dobson, the rookie out of Marshall to step up and make some plays. 

What also needs to happen in order for this team to make a run in the playoffs is a change of attitude going into every game. There must be a certain physicality and toughness on both sides of the ball for this team to win the Super Bowl. No longer are the days of the high flying, throw the ball around, finesse Patriots team. This team must come into each game wanting to physically dominate and destroy their respective opponent. 

The running game has to continue to build on what they produced from last year, where they were 7th in the league in rushing. With Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, Leon Washington, Branden Bolden and Lagarette Blount, (solid pick up that flew under the radar) in the backfield I have faith that they can take the pressure off Tom Brady to win games.  

The defense must to continue and improve as a unit from last season, where they ranked 29th in opponents passing YPG and 9th in opponents rushing YPG. What this defense thrives on is forcing turnovers as shown by their 20 INTs and 32 forced fumbles during the season. The acquisition of Aqib Talib had a great impact for them down the stretch of the season and the unit clearly improved when he was on the field, and I believe it cost them the AFC Championship game against Baltimore when he went down with a hamstring injury in the first quarter. To have that kind of defender that is able to man up on the number one receiver is huge for this defense because it allows the pass rush time to create pressure on the quarterback; part of the reason the Patriots forced so many turnovers last season was in part because of the addition of Talib and the flexibility he allows Belicheck with respect to play-calling. 

Also, notice all the off season drama that has surrounded the Patriots has been on the offensive side of the ball. On the low, the defense has quietly been improving this off season with most the attention on the offense. There is a whole lot of young talent to be excited about in that unit, and I'm anxious to see what Belicheck and his staff has up their cut off sleeves. 

Interesting tidbit, out of the 38 defensive players on the roster right now only five players are 30 years or older, Adrian Wilson, Steven Gregory, Vince Wilfork, and new comer Tommy Kelly. So the good news is our defense appears to be pretty set for a while.

Patriots fans, it's OK... Breath, relax... Inhale... exhale... 

Repeat after me: The Patriots will be OK. 

Admittedly, I have had my doubts about the Pat's in the past before, but have no fear, Belicheck is here. The truth is as long as Belicheck is coach and Tom Brady is the quarterback, we have a pretty good chance to win at least 10 games, make the playoffs, and make a run at the Lombardi. 

What has to change for the Patriots is their style of play. We can't put every game on Tom Brady's right arm anymore, that won't work now. He's 35 years old, and not getting any younger, and he doesn't have Randy Moss walking through that door anymore. We need to give it to Stevan Ridley, establish the run game, play some power, smash mouth football, control the clock and keep our defense off the field, and let Brady throw the ball when he feels necessary. 

To go back to my original point, it's a terrible situation for the families of Odin Lloyd and Aaron Hernandez, and I send my prayers to both families. Aaron Hernandez was a hell of a player with a lot of talent and probably could have been a special player in this league had he stayed healthy and out of trouble, but he didn't and that's why the Patriots cut ties with him. They don't need anyone, especially arrogant thugs like Hernandez. Everyone in that organization and locker room is a part of this well-oiled machine that has been running beautifully, for the most part, for the better part of this century. They will win games (enough to make the playoffs? YES) and they'll also lose games, and they'll recover from those losses and move on. That's what the Patriots do: they move on, like that girlfriend you wish you never let go. This team has shown to be resilient in the past, and I expect no less from them this season.

Thanks for reading, 

-RB

For my Dad.

Hey Everybody,
First off, I want to say Happy Father's Day to all the amazing fathers out there. I've been thinking today about my father, who passed away about 5 years ago when I was in 8th grade. He had a blog as well, called Bourland.com, which definitely helped inspired me to get into blogging and writing. My mom says that I have his writing voice, which is a good thing I suppose. So I'm not going to write a whole big blog post because I need to go help make dinner for my family and I'm visiting my Dad's grave but I just want to make it quick for my readers:
Always appreciate your family and support system around you, because when you struggle and you might be feeling a little bit down, that's who you need to rely on. Treasure your time with them, because you really never know what's going to happen in life.

To my dad (Because I know he has a Macbook and is reading this in heaven),
Thank you for raising me and instilling your values and morales in me, you helped me get to where I am today. Thank you for coming to my baseball games and football games in the cold and heat, and supporting me through it all. Love and miss you.

Now go spend time with your loved ones..
Thanks for reading,
-RB

How can you not love these Bruins?

Hey everyone,


Bruins fever has officially taken hold on most of New England and boy, it is infectious. You really don't have to know all that much about hockey to appreciate what this team has done, which is kind of what makes this team so awesome to watch. Everyone from the casual fan to the diehard 40 year old beer league hockey veterans to some teenage girl who hasn't watched a minute of hockey before in her life can truly watch and love what the Bruins have been doing this post season.

It all started with the Boston marathon bombings and the tragedy that shook the city, both literally and figuratively, in each of our hearts. I was actually in Boston on that beautiful Patriots Day. I was just coming back from the Redsox game where they won on a walkoff double by Mike Napoli on the way back to my car with my mom and stepdad when I heard two loud sounds off in the distance. When we got in the car and turned on the radio, we heard that there had been explosions at the finish line of the Boston marathon and within 10 minutes, they were saying it was a bombing. Naturally, I was rocked to my core... this was my city, and no one was going to fuck with it. As Big Papi said so beautifully... "This is our fucking city". Admittedly, I was a little scared as well, I have been going into Boston on Patriots Day to watch the Redsox game and marathon for a couple years now and to have that tradition robbed of it's innocence angered me as well as frightened me. Safe to say that's how many Bostonians felt that day.

Then the Bruins game came along vs the Sabres, and some sense of normalcy returned to the city of Boston.


I still get goosebumps whenever I watch that video, because it truly was our city coming together as one and despite all the hardships we had faced, we were still blaring our national anthem with pride in our hearts. And even though the Bruins lost that game, they sure as hell battled with that same pride the fans showed in the pre-game anthem.

Fast forward to Game 7 versus the Toronto Maple Leafs where the B's were down 4-1 and appeared to be on their way to the golf course. However, bit by bit they fought back. With that same resiliency we the Bostonian people showed just a couple months earlier, they battled back and won the game and series. They showed heart, and finally got their offense going in the latter stages of the game when they needed to. It truly was classic Boston. Since that moment they have been truly playing some great hockey, in the process they made a mockery of the Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins; which was arguably the most talented team in the NHL all year.

Now here we are in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks, with 2 games in the books and a combined 4 overtimes played, we have a pretty good idea of how this series will play out... A grind it out, physical, low scoring series appears to be imminent, which is perfect for the Bruins. They have the offensive firepower to score 4 or 5 goals, yet the defensive prowess and toughness to grind out a low scoring game. Both these teams are tough, but the Bruins are on another level: They are Boston Strong. Bruins in 7.

Thanks for reading,
Go Bruins.

-RB

Moving Forward...

Hey everybody,

As of right now it is 12:00 midnight, which means one thing: a new day. But today is not just any ordinary day, today will be an extraordinary day. Today, I graduate from high school and get ready to officially embark on a new journey that will take me to God knows where. 

What I do know is that I will be attending University of Alabama in the fall, and I will fly down for orientation next week, register for classes, meet new people, and yet again turn the page on a chapter in my life.

For starters, let me summarize my latest "chapter" of my life:
I was never supposed to attend North Andover High School, that was never in the discussion for me. Even in 6th grade my parents had me looking at private schools for high school. At the time I was in the Andover school system, so I would have been going right to Andover High, which never much appealed to me.

Long story short I ended up at Tilton School where I enjoyed 3 years of school, met some great people, had different experiences, some good and some bad. I made some mistakes, however, and was forced to leave Tilton, and ultimately wound up going to NAHS.

I can still remember the first time I walked into NAHS, I actually got lost trying to find the locker room for football (I was late too, classic Roger move). Nervous, excited, scared were probably the three main things I felt right then. Everything I had heard about public high school was negative, and I hadn't quite experienced anything like it.

The first kid I met at North Andover High School was Glen Hartford, and my first thought of him was here's Mr All American a classic jock, probably can't even read but he's a sick linebacker or something. I'll never forget it, he came up to me and shook my hand (almost broke it), introduced himself and asked me what position I played, to which I replied nervously, "Oh, um outside linebacker and tight-end" and he said "Same here, glad to have you on the team." That's kind of when I knew I had no chance of starting... Haha.

I had no clue what the hell I was doing for the first couple weeks, so Coach Van Horn just told me to follow Glen since we played the same positions (Van Horn also told me to move to defensive end, so I did). Obviously after watching him for a little bit I knew he had talent and could play some football. What I didn't realize right away was how good of a kid he was. Never once did I get a sense of arrogance from Glen, and he truly was Mr All American. This attitude spread through out the team as well, and I've never really seen a more humble, hard working group of guys like that team. We had fun, but we worked hard, and most importantly we were really a team. Although we didn't have the best season in terms of wins and losses, I loved being a part of that squad because we never gave up and we worked our asses off.

That football team, to me is a microcosm of this town and school. I came into this year not knowing what to expect and reluctant about having to go to a public high school. What I gained from this whole experience is a knowledge that I'll carry with me forever. And it's not the type that you learn in math or science class. Rather this knowledge is simply how to be a good person overall, and how to be a functioning member of a community. Whether that community is a team, school, office, dorm: whatever the case may be, the criteria is always the same: Be respectful, courteous, and willing to work hard for others. My classmates and teammates this year were all of these things, and for that, I thank you. Right now I can safely say that I am a better person because of all the experiences that have happened in the past year, and everyone kind of contributed to that.

I've made some great friends, had different experiences, good and bad, but in the end I'm a better person and I'm ready for the next chapter in my life. I truly hope you feel the same way I do, Class of 2013, because I believe each and every one of us has the potential to do some great things in this world.

I'll truly miss y'all, and I wish I got to know some of you better.

Thank you all...

Good Knight (See what I did there?)

Thanks for reading,

-RB