It’s that time again.

Time for Route 1 to be jammed at 7:30 on a weekday morning in July. Time for adults to run through children trying to get a great viewing/autograph spot. Time for jorts and Bruschi/Brady jerseys galore.

Training camp begins next week and on Friday, the Pats announced the official times for the first four practices that are open to the public. On Wednesday July 26th, Thursday the 27th and Friday the 28th, the team will be on the field from 9:30-11:30. A practice time on that Sunday (7/30) is still TBD. Gates will open to the public at 8:00.

While it isn’t the days of Tom Brady and Randy Moss where thousands upon thousands would flock to Gillette, the intrigue surrounding this team hasn’t been this good possibly since the late 90’s in terms of “what’s next.” Mac will still get the loudest cheers when he comes trotting up the stairs and makes the jog across the first practice field to the second one to begin his warmup. Bill will still hear his fair share of adulation from what will certainly still be pretty big, but pessimistic crowd on hand.

The Patriots are no longer the draw they once were, but this training camp is arguably the most important since Bill Belichick was hired in 2000. The Patriots desperately need to get off to a hot start and just hours into the first practice last year, it was evident things were off. Hopefully, the fans see a much better show early on this time around.