To start things off - I'm sorry I haven't posted in quite some time. Between my move up to Maine and my focus on writing for the Patriots Wire, I haven't had much time for Scorum.

With that being said, I wanted to share a special experience that happened in my life a couple weeks ago. After a back-and-forth discussion, I was given the opportunity to attend a New England Patriots game at Gillette Stadium and cover the live event as an in-game reporter!

I did the reporting through The Standard-Times, a newspaper in South Coast Massachusetts that I previously did freelance work for. The game I covered was the Patriots Week 4 (Sept. 24) game versus the Miami Dolphins, a game that New England won handily by a score of 38-7.

Aside from the blowout win that didn't give me much excitement in the second half of play, I was able to experience cool odds-and-ends throughout the course of the day that I felt were worth mentioning in this article.

Let's begin with my commute in the morning, because that is where a majority of my day was spent - in a car.

I left my place at about 7 a.m. and made it to Gillette at about 11:30 a.m. After finding my way through security, I made my way up into the press box where the other reporters were stationed and moseying around before the game started. All the media is offered a free breakfast buffet courtesy of the Kraft Organization, so you know I had to get a piece of that.

(I apologize if the narratives below do not match with the corresponding pictures and videos. They were aligned properly but when published everything was pushed upwards on the page).

At my desk was a gamebook featuring Patriots safety Devin McCourty. Inside the gamebook is various info, whether it be projected starting lineups, events hosted by the Patriots organization, a "get to know the cheerleaders" section or anything else you can think of that has to do with the team.

It is a great booklet to sift through if you want to know what the latest happenings are with the organization.

Here is a gameday roster sheet for both teams. On the outsides of the sheet are the entire rosters for both the Patriots (left side) and the Dolphins (right side). On the inside are the offensive, defensive and special teams players, categorized, on each team.

On the bottom on both sides of the Pepsi advertisement are pronunciations for players on both teams who have names that may be deemed difficult to say.

Here is a pamphlet for the opposing team. This pamphlet gives Miami's schedule, some narratives for the team heading into the game, some players who have stuck out in 2018, some statistics that may be noteworthy, etc.

This pamphlet is helpful when trying to figure out any type of significance for the players, coaches or the organization that may take place during the game.

Here were the Patriots players entering the field for the pregame festivities right before the game started.

There is limited sound because I am in the press box when the video is being recorded, so the sound coming from within the stadium is much quieter compared to me being in the stands.

After the game was over, all the reporters made their way down into the press conference room where we would await the first players to come in so we could all ask them questions about the game.

This video is a small snippet of New England's running back James White talking about fellow running back Sony Michel, who had his first 100-yard rushing performance of his career on that Sunday.

 

Once the doors opened to the locker room, we all made our way in there so we could interview players that weren't going to have availability at the podium.

Through the sea of reporters, you can see Patriots wide receiver, Chris Hogan. Though he only had one catch for 25 yards that day, the media always likes to talk to him about his play and about the others players around him.

Lastly, I had to make sure I got some video of the player of the game - Patriots rookie running back Sony Michel. Michel rushed 25 times for 112 yards and one touchdown. The article I wrote regarding that day was on him. If you would like to read the article, click here.

One of the coolest moments that I did not get to capture with my phone - When I was waiting to go in the elevator down to the press conference room with the other reporters, we were told we would have to wait until the Dolphins ownership used the elevator first. When they walked by us, it was not only the Dolphins ownership, but Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino was also with the group! Laces up, Dan!

Overall, it was an incredible day. Despite the fact that I got home at 10:30 p.m. even though it was a 1 o'clock game!

The experience was priceless and I am so grateful to have been able to spend that beautiful Sunday doing what I love - watching/talking about sports. This was the second time this season that I was able to attend a professional sporting event as a reporter and both were covering the New England Patriots. If you didn't read up on the first time, click here to read about what the experience was like for me at a training camp practice this past Summer.