Picken finds himself in right place at perfect time

B eware, oh local loyalists of the New England Patriots. There's a spy among you, especially Sunday, for what amounts to a biggie in Foxborough.

Meet Paul Picken, Ledyard native and Information Technologies Consultant at Pfizer, whose passion pulsates through his veins to the colors of nautical aqua and orange. Picken is more than merely a fan of the Miami Dolphins, Sunday's visitor at Gillette Stadium.

Picken is a voice of "On The FinSide," a popular Dolphins podcast, whose tentacles reach many outlets of the team and fandom.

"My dad grew up in the 60s in a Giants household and wanted his own team," Picken said. "He loved the colors. He brainwashed my uncle from a young age and brainwashed me, too. I grew up watching (Dan) Marino, (John) Offerdahl, Ferrell Edmunds. It stuck. How could you watch Marino and not be a fan?"

And so Picken began writing for a fan site a few years ago, through which an opportunity to see a game in Miami arose. Seems the Universe had other ideas for Picken than being a boring old writer.

"I found out about the Podcast and called in," Picken said. "It happened

to be at a point when a co-host quit the show. They kept me on the air the whole time. I called back next week and kept me on the whole time again. I stayed the rest of the season. Finally, they said 'we want you to be part of this.'"

Picken has interviewed hundreds of folks affiliated with the Dolphins now, including Offerdahl, Nat Moore and team CEO Tom Garfinkel. On the FinSide, featured in all game programs, also offers Picken the chance to watch games from the sidelines and see the Dolphins from all corners of Hard Rock (the former Joe Robbie) Stadium. "Lots of fun," he said. Picken was among 2,000 or so Miami fans to invade Met Life Stadium two weeks ago for the game against the Jets. The Dolphins, always with a national following, have fan clubs. The New York chapter is part of the "Met Life Takeover" every year.

"If you listened to the game, you could hear the Dolphins fans going crazy," Picken said. "There may have even been a few inflatable palm trees thrown from upper deck. We took over like four or five sections."

The tailgate featured visits from Mark Duper, Mark Clayton, Joe Rose and Kim Bokamper. The Miami players kept acknowledging their fans from the field. It's all fans really want. Engagement and acknowledgement.

Which brings us to Sunday. The Dolphins are undefeated, playing the Pats who got inhaled last week at Detroit. The narrative all week: Beware the angry Pats and the Dolphins can't really be this good, can they?

"It's been very, very quiet here all week," Picken said. "This is very much a huge moment for both teams this week. If Miami wins this game, they'll make the Patriots play catch up all year. It's a hard deficit to overcome."

WEEI radio has been particularly entertaining this week. The musings of some Pats fans have been spit-out-the-coffee great. One caller — honest — said the Pats should trade Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski to the 49ers for Jimmy Garoppolo and wait for Garoppolo to recover from the season ending knee injury he sustained last week.

Oh, if the Fins pull the upset today ...

Picken said there would be no Gillette Stadium Takeovers from local Dolphin fan clubs. He said the Rhode Island chapter meets every Sunday at Boneheads in West Warwick, home to wings that win the national competition every year in Buffalo. There are other places, too, like the Birdseye in New London that always has a TV devoted to the Fins.

"I think I'm staying home today," Picken said.

And more time to prepare for the Podcast.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro