There aren't any face-painted, jersey-wearing football fans inside Radio City right now.
Nobody's calling in sick to host or attend huge parties at their buddies' houses or favorite sports bars.
And good luck finding any 24-hour cable TV coverage of today's event.
But, believe it or not, the NFL is conducting a draft on this mid-July Thursday. It's the annual supplemental draft, where players who, for whatever reason, weren't eligible for April's extravaganza have another chance at hearing their name called by a big league club.
It wouldn't be out of the question for New England to make a selection, like cornerback Paul Oliver, an All-SEC player last season at Georgia, or massive Maryland tackle Jared Gaither. Nebraska's Chris Patrick, another large lineman, rounds out the best of the 10 available players.
Check back later here at Patriots.com to find out if the Pats made any moves.
One player who was taken by New England in April's draft appers to be the first of this year's crop to sign a contract with the team. Published reports say Mike Richardson has agreed to a four-year deal this week.
You'd almost think it was Christmastime, what with all the lists that reporters are writing these days.
ESPN.com ranks the teams with the best wide receivers in football. Does it surprise you that New England is in the top ten. And NBCSports.com gets cerebral with the five smartest linebackers in the game. One of the Patriots LBs is on that list.
Oh, and about those reports of Tom Brady planning his wedding with Gisele Bundchen? There's a different side of the story in today's papers.
“He doesn’t want to be married now,” an unnamed friend of Brady told the Boston Herald.
