We’re now roughly ten practices into Patriots training camp, have yet to see a preseason game or scrimmage, and yet you might already be sick of hearing about Brady’s contract, Burgess’ retirement, the franchise’s decline or the failure of the team in recent drafts.

If it is this bad now, how will it be as the season goes along, especially if the team does struggle in bringing along so many young players, and if the Brady contract doesn’t get done before the start of the season?

Fortunately, because there is so much coverage of the team out there, you can engage in some “selective consumption” to pick and choose the quality coverage and avoid the material clearly aimed at simply generating outrage or trying to tweak fans into commenting or talking about it.

Here on BSMW, I try to bring you the best links each day, so that’s a good place to start, but what else can you do so that you’re not ready to put your fist through your computer, foot through the TV or throw the radio out the window?

Here’s a guide to what you should be watching, and what you should be avoiding, broken down into Print, Radio and Television.

Note: Before I begin, let us once again dismiss the notion that Patriots fans don’t want the media to be critical, to question things or to not suggest that this team isn’t what it was five or six years ago. We can handle those things, and even welcome them when warranted. What we DON’T want is made-up “news,” fake controversies or exaggerated, over-the-top rantings on the failures of the team.

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Print

Read

• Mike Reiss ( @MikeReiss )

Who else would I start with? Reiss has some new competition, but he’s still the standard on the Patriots beat. Some still try to accuse him of being a “Patriots PR Agent” or “Toady”, but that sort of comment is way off-base. Reiss just reports and analyzes. He doesn’t get too negative or too positive. He plays it down the middle, while avoiding some of the obvious negative items which are more media creations rather than real news items. He is critical of the team when the situation calls for him to be (he’s been critical of the lack of additions to the OLB and pass rush area) and praises the team when it is called for.

• Ian Rapoport ( @RapSheet )

“Rap” is a bit goofy, and his blog isn’t always filled with strictly Patriots items, but don’t be fooled by his style, the guy is a top-notch reporter and gets the job done. Entering his second season on the beat at the Herald, Rapoport also seems to steer clear of the fake news items in favor of actual reporting and analysis. He is definitely someone you should be checking out every day.

• Practice Reports From PFW

If you’re into the training camp reports, looking for information on what has happened each day, the PFW blog consistently has the most detailed reports. They’re worth checking out every day just for that reason.

Avoid

• Boston.com

Chris Gasper, Tony Massarotti and Albert Breer all in one place? Yikes. A bunch of angry Chicken Little’s is what you end up with. “The Sky is Falling -Whose damn fault is it?” is what you’re going to get a whole lot of over there. Breer seems more concerned with telling us about the three super teams in the NFL - The Jets, Dolphins and Cowboys, and how they do things right while the Patriots flounder ineptly. While Shalise Manza Young and Monique Walker are pretty good, the first three are big reasons to avoid Boston.com altogether.

• Michael Felger

He still writes occasionally for CSNNE.com. His material is the same as what you hear on his radio program. It’s a damn shame, too, because Felger was at one time my favorite guy on the Boston sports media scene. Now he’s a one-trick pony, and has embraced and turned into the man he once battled on the airwaves and in print, Ron Borges. Who knew Borges was so powerful. It’s like he managed to turn Felger to the dark side of the force.

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Radio

Listen

• Patriots Monday Interviews on WEEI.

If you’re a Patriots fan, you can’t listen to WEEI all day. You just can’t. So you’ve got be very selective. Dale & Holley are generally OK. The only time you should listen to Dennis & Callahan is the Tom Brady interview on Monday mornings, of if they have another guest – Boomer Esiason, Adam Schefter, etc. If you listen other times, you’re likley to get a Gerry Callahan whine/sneer and John Dennis 37-part question/soliloquy on a random topic. Listen to the Big Show only during the Bill Belichick interview on Monday afternoon.

• Gresh and Zolak.

Yeah. They’re not that bad when they’re talking Patriots. Since camp opened, they’ve been broadcasting from Gillette, and have had a ton of player interviews as practice sessions end. If they start getting a little crazy, (today they were on the Brady contract) just flip over to Dale & Holley.

• NFL Sunday on WEEI

I’ve always enjoyed this show, and I’m looking forward to its return, especially with Troy Brown joining Dale Arnold Christian Fauria and Christopher Price this season. As Arnold boasts, they’ll be the only show with two guys who have been in the huddle with Tom Brayd.

Turn Off

• Michael Felger

See note above on Felger. His radio show is a daily juggling act of  speculation, conjecture, exaggeration and cherry-picked arguments.

• Everything else

Really. As a Patriots fan, there isn’t too much out there.

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Television

Watch

• Patriots All Access

Yes, it is produced by the team. It’s generally a puff piece, though Reiss and Paul Perillo in the final segment each week are willing to be critical of the team if warranted, and *gasp* actually pick against the team on occasion. Some of the segments (none involving Steve Burton) are pretty good. The highlights package from the previous game brings you sideline and locker room footage, Scott Zolak’s segments with Bill Belichick are good, especially on the telestrator, and the segment with Zolak and Fauria showing you something from that week’s opponent is educational as well.

Turn Off

• Anything on CSN New England (Sorry, Skip)

The station allows Felger, Ron Borges and Gary Tanguay on the air at the same time! What else do you need to know? Most shows involving the Patriots devolve into a discussion of how they’re screwing Brady, how they’ve drafted poorly, and how Bill Belichick is the biggest megalomaniac on the planet. The New England Tailgate show with Glenn Ordway, Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie would be better if Smerlas wasn’t allowed to speak other on anything other than on-field items. Occasionally they can teach you something, but in general this show isn’t worth the weekly viewing.

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Obviously this is just scratching the surface of the available media coverage on the Patriots out there. There are plenty of reporters and programs that fall in between the two extremes, and some who go to both.

 Tom E Curran is the biggest mystery to me. Personally, he’s a great guy. Friendly, funny, accessible, I like him alot. He’s generally also very fair when it comes to analyzing the team. Then at times, he drinks his Mr Hyde juice, and transforms into another person altogether. It might be aftereffects of having been involved with Mike Florio’s website, and if so, Tom, I’m truly sorry and you deserve sympathy for PDSD, but if not, I’m truly mystified. How can you take Robert Kraft’s comments in which he talks about Brady practically as a son, and turn them into some evil, passive-aggressive, threatening message? I don’t get it. He’s not the only one beating this drum, either, and it’s just the type of thing this list is meant to steer you away from.

Choose the media options up above, and you might just survive the season.

Before I forget: Brady Contract Strife Set To Ruin 2010 Season For Patriots

So this is what happens when you don’t talk to the almighty Red Sox media:

Okajima probably probably should’ve spoken after the game, but as McAdam caustically observes above, he hasn’t talked after a bad outing in three years. What makes them think he was going to talk yesterday?

Also, on the topic of professionalism, Okajima may have been unprofessional yesterday, but what do you call the above? These guys all sound like a bunch of whiny little girls.

The followups on these tweets are equally entertaining, as apparently I’m not the only one who thought this. The reporters defend their outcries with “his teammates want to know what happened too.” Well, they can talk to him on the plane if they want to.

They really couldn’t write their stories without Okajima saying “I just didn’t have it today?”

As suggested by “Guest” this morning, I thought it was a good idea to open things up to you to get your input on where you’ve been going to get information for the office water cooler, or new outlets, places, websites, podcasts or blogs that you’ve discovered recently – or have been going to for some time – that you think should be mentioned.

Bob Ekstrom on the Thursday Week Log does a great job in linking to new and different blogs out there dealing with Boston sports, and there are plenty more still to be discovered.

Perhaps there are other outlets that you think need to be mentioned more often. Now’s your chance to speak up.

Post a comment below and let your fellow readers in on your sources.

Note: If you register with Intense Debate you can get a lot more out of the comments system and make sure your comments go through quickly, without the extra step of moderation. The signup is extremely quick and painless, and you can use your account at any site that uses Intense Debate. (WEEI.com, for example.)

One more link today, from Ken Fang: 33rd Annual Boston/New England Sports Emmy Award Winnners

Why does Brett Favre have the undying support of so many members of the national media?

Why, despite a full decade of coming up short on the biggest stage, or throwing an ill-advised pass which is intercepted at the worst possible time, does the national media as a whole love and worship him, and certain people in that group find it nearly impossible to criticize him?

I’ll tell you why. It’s very simple actually. He treats them well, makes them feel special, and fills their notebooks. In fact, if an athlete wants to be adored by the press, he’d do well to study what Favre has done.  I’ll give you a few examples.

1) He spends extra time with the TV broadcast crew on Friday/Saturday.

When a broadcast crew is assigned a particular game, a portion of time is set aside for them to sit down and talk with a few key members of each team. It’s usually the quarterback, perhaps the head coach, and a few other players of note for that game. They come in, and talk for usually a set amount of time, say, 30 minutes or an hour. I’ve heard stories of Favre spending three hours in these sessions, to the point that the crew need to leave. He’ll just sit there and answer any question, shoot the breeze, spend as much time as they want. The broadcasters love this. Many players dread these sessions, and it probably comes across in those sessions. But Brett gives them all they want and more, so they’re going to praise him up and down during the telecast on Sunday.

2) He has media members over to his home, during and after the season.

This is another sly-but-calculated technique of Favre. Open up your home. Let the media see you away from the field. Feed them. The media loves to be fed. Let them sit on your couch and hang out with you. Let them see you interacting with your family, with your dog, mowing your lawn. This humanizes him even further to them. He’s no longer “Brett Favre, Star NFL QB” but now “Brett Favre, ordinary guy.” If someone invites you to their home, treats you nicely, are you then going to rip them in front of millions? You’re at least going to cushion your words of criticism.

3) He’ll text message them to make them feel special.

Wow…Brett Favre sent me a text message! He’s thinking of me! He’s my friend! Or maybe he’ll pick up the phone and tell you that he’s just sitting at home, watching American Idol while his daughter chases the dog all over the house. Humanizing. Personal. Not going to rip this guy.

4) He shows his emotions – freely.

Up or down, you know how Favre feels. Whether he’s celebrating on the field, or crying at the end of the season, his emotions are all out there for the world to see. In an era where athletes are “professional” and it’s just a job, and they don’t let the world inside, Favre lets it all out. That makes him something different to the media which craves this sort of thing. Favre also lets the media inside his personal life. He’s had some tragedy and tough times in his life – his painkiller addiction, his father’s death, his wife’s breast cancer. These incidents, sad as they are, are in no way unique among NFL players. Parents die, loved ones are sick, addictions are overcome all the time, but again many of today’s athletes are intensely private about these types of things. Favre isn’t. The media loves these stories of overcoming adversity, and just eat it up. They also remember these times later when he fails, and it tempers their criticism of him.  The press hates Bill Belichick for being robotic in press conferences following games – it gives them nothing to work with. Brett shares all that, and again, it makes him human to them. They love that.

5) His press conferences are long and “folksy.”

Favre is the master of the “aw shucks” persona during press conferences. These are usually marathon sessions in which he answers every possible question. He again does so in a “regular guy” manner getting verbose, and spinning new ways to spout the time-tested clichés of athlete press conferences. He is also an expert at making it look like he’s taking all the blame and none of the credit, when subtly, it is the exact opposite. He helps the media do their job. They’re going to then feel bad turning around and ripping him.

In addition to the above, he’s crafted his public image carefully as well by the endorsements he does. I can really just think of two current commercial series with him, and they both portray him in a certain way. The jeans commercial, where he’s playing touch football with his buddies in the back yard…”regular guy.” The commercial where he is trying to select a new TV and can’t make up his mind – a self-deprecating reference to his constant inability to make up his mind on his latest retirement. Likeable. Poking fun at himself.

I’m not blaming Favre for doing any of these things. In fact, you’ve got to admire how hard he works to keep the media on his side, and why it becomes so hard for many of them to come out and just rip him. As you can see, it isn’t rocket science, either. Treat people nicely, help them out wherever you can, make them feel special, and you’re going to instill irrevocable loyalty in them.

Don’t expect things to change this offseason, no matter what ultimately happens, and don’t expect it to stop after he retires, either. We’re stuck with him for a long time. He and the media enable each other.

I saw something similar to this posted by Dallas sports media writer Barry Horn, and thought it would be an interesting topic for Boston, as well.

Let’s say you’ve just bought up a radio station in the Boston area. You’ve got a great reach with your signal and money for talent isn’t an issue. You can sign anyone, even someone already working somewhere else.

What’s your schedule? Who do you sign to fill the following slots:

• 6:00 am to 10:00 am
• 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
• 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
• 6:00pm to 9:00 pm
• 9:00 pm to midnight
• Overnight?

Everything is up to you. You can have solo hosts, or teams of hosts. You can hire people who are already working at various outlets. (Let’s try to keep it to Boston media figures, though)

What other features would you incorporate into the programming? What wouldn’t you do?

Discuss.