The Owner's Box, Ep. 24.

"The Blueprint" author Chris Price

It's time for a new podcast, and after 11 full weeks of this pandemic lockdown, I thought it was time to break away from the tales of how the COVID-19 crisis has upended life as we know it.

Christopher Price is a good friend from the Patriots beat, which he joined back in 2001 (in time for the first Super Bowl championship) while working for the Boston Metro. He's since gone on to work for WEEI.com and the Boston Sports Journal, and now he's joined the staff of the Boston Globe as a web content editor who helps to produce and direct the Globe's expanded coverage of the Patriots in print and online.

He's also an accomplished author, having completed five books (I thought it was four initially, but he updated me), three specifically about the Patriots. Two of those, "The Blueprint" and "Drive for Five," take in-depth looks at the development of the philosophy in Foxboro that resulted in the longest-running dynasty in NFL history.

His next work is a labor of love. It's going to be called "Bleeding Green" and it will be the story of the Hartford Whalers. Chris describes himself as one of those "snot-nosed kids" that grew up in Connecticut without a pro team to call his own until the Whalers moved there from Boston in the mid-1970s and defied the odds to become a competitive team -- with the NHL's all-time greatest logo -- before the bottom fell out in the '90s and the team became the Carolina Hurricanes. The book will be completed in 2022, in time for the 50th anniversary of the team's founding.

We also talk a little about what may be in store for the current Patriots, and Chris' role in founding the "Ron Hobson Good Guy Award," annually presented by the media corps to the Patriots player most helpful to their efforts.

It's a good one, so carve out an hour and have a listen.