FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Inside James White's boyhood home in South Florida, attention to detail was always a direct order rather than a suggestion. White's parents both work in law enforcement, and his approach to schoolwork, yardwork, football and baseball needed to be framed by discipline and accountability and not much else.
As it turned out, White was the perfect Bill Belichick player years before he ever shook Belichick's hand. "The Patriot Way," he said, "is a way I've been my entire life."
White is an invaluable member of a New England Patriots team that launches its bid for a sixth Super Bowl title Sunday against the Chargers, and his story begins with his 57-year-old father, who was a college football player-turned-aspiring sportswriter at Florida A&M.