Paying tribute

Page 3 of 12 -- With the emergence of Mike Cloud at running back, are the Patriots going to continue with Running Back By Committee? With Faulk, Centers, Smith and now Cloud, is the position getting a little too crowded?
-- Roy Chorev

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A: Roy, I think the Patriots would have to be quite pleased with their running game, the offensive line in particular. Kevin Faulk came off the bench and gave them a real spark in the second half last week vs. the Giants. Cloud is running well. I would think based on Faulk's performance last week, that he would likely get the start this week in Miami.

Nick, one comment on whether or not this is a football or baseball town. In the early '60s, the Red Sox were a hockey/basketball town. My old man used to tell me how he could go to any Sox game he wanted for a dollar in the early '60s. The '67 team rejuvenated baseball in Boston and the Red Sox have been the most popular team since. 2001 was the Pats version of 1967. I still think baseball is king here in Boston, but if the Sox went through a stretch of mismanagement (like the Bruins) you would see the Pats take over as the most visible team in the region, especially with the first generation Pats fans getting into their 30s and 40s (there are a lot of older NY Giants fans around here because that was the squad they grew up with). Boston supports a well-run franchise, and right now we have two which are very well run (Pats and Sox), one with new ownership (Celtics) and one which is not committed to winning (Bruins). Just wanted to throw my two cents in there.
-- Larry Pohner

A: It's always an interesting debate, but I've always been on the side that says the Red Sox are and will always be No. 1. It's not like this anywhere else in the country where football is king, but here we are a part of a special storybook team. It's a sad story, but we love being a part of this team that can't win a championship. The Patriots are very close, just look at the weekly TV ratings and you'll see that. The Patriots are popular because they're two years removed from a championship, they're run very well as an organization and fans feel, that even though they're paying incredibly high ticket prices, they're getting their money's worth.

Hey, Nick. So much for your prediction that the Pats had no chance against the vaunted Tennessee Titans and their "physical" defense. My question to you is: What do you find more frustrating personally -- a Patriots win or a Bills loss?
-- Serge Brodsky   Continued...