Hmmm. Wonder what Eric Mangini would pay for a key to my room at the swanky Renaissance Hotel & Spa at Patriot Place?
This is unbelievable. This is the greatest. No organization in the history of sports is more steeped in secrecy and self-importance than the Bill Belichick Patriots. And now Bob Kraft has built a Spy Tower adjacent to the heretofore hermetically sealed practice fields. For just a couple of hundred bucks a night and a Marriott rewards card you’ll know which QB is taking all the snaps. Every day.
It is as if Bill Gates gave us his Amex number and expiration date. It’s as if Hef gave us the keys to the Mansion.
Taping walk-throughs? That’s nothing. From the concierge lounge on the fifth floor you can steal the entire game plan.
Brady practiced with the rookies yesterday. How do I know? Easy. I looked out my fifth-floor room.
Napoleon had Waterloo. Nixon had Watergate. Belichick has the Renaissance Spy Tower.
Nathan Hale, Mata Hari, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Moe Berg, Matt Estrella, and now Shaughnessy. We are international men and women of mystery. We know things. We have information that is of great value.
OK, I’m exaggerating. This is never going to fly on the Globe expense report and I wouldn’t know a Cover 2 defense from a covered wagon. A few small trees impede the view of the fields. And the really bad news is that once the Patriots resume closed practices they plan to erect a screen to block the hotel’s fifth-floor lookout.
It figures. Secrecy and football go together like spaghetti and meatballs. When Patriots training camp opens this morning (rookies have been working out since Monday), reporters will receive a packet that includes “General Media Training Camp Policy’’
To wit:
1. Please do not report on offensive or defensive strategy. This includes describing formations, personnel groups or non-conventional plays.
2. Please do not quote, paraphrase or report the comments made by coaches or players during a practice session.
