Turning on the lo-cal news this morning, the volume and amount of babble going into the lead story made me think something important had happened. As it turns out, all the noise was about Adam Vinatieri going to join the Indianapolis Colts.

I will say that I'm conflicted. Vinatieri was an obviously critical component of the Patriots' Super Bowl wins, but $3 million a year for a kicker - perhaps the second-most replacable position, after punter - seems high, regardless of who it is. Throw in his decline in field goal accuracy and points, and you can see where the team was willing to let him test the waters.

Now, as a sports fan, I am duty-bound to believe that his numbers will rebound in a fashion most traumatic towards my favorite team (Indy visits New England in the coming season). I am also duty-bound to expect that whoever replaces Vinatieri - be it a high profile player like Mike Vanderjagt (unlikely, given that his pro career has mostly been indoors) or a rookie - will be awful. The reality, of course, will be somewhere in the middle.

One "fan" hyperbolized this morning that between the loss of David Givens, Willie McGinest, and now Vinatieri, the team might as well trade Tom Brady and pack it in for the year. I don't know if it's going to be all that bad, but I don't think we should be expecting a Super Bowl trip. Hopefully, these moves will set up some future trips. As long as they don't send us back to the days of 2-14, I'll be patient.