There's something we have to get clear today, right from the start, and then we can continue with the business at hand for the next seven months.

Starting Thursday morning, people are going to lie to you on a daily basis.

That will probably come as no surprise to anyone, nor should it. Falsehoods and misinformation, delivered in varying degrees of acceptibility, are a part of everyday life.

But these lies will be told by individuals who are universally admired and respected throughout New England. And they will be delivered to you by professionals who, although apparently less respected, are still suppposed to be trusted for their ability to deliver information accurately.

I'm one of those people who will be delivering those lies to you. Sorry about that, folks. It's not that I want to be dishonest. It's just unavoidable in this instance. The big lie of the summer?

"The Patriots will not be using their defeat in Super Bowl XLII as motivation for this season."

There, I've said it.

In some ways, I feel dirty. And in other ways, I'm OK with it.

With the start of training camp on Thursday, the Patriots to a man will do their very best to convince anyone who will listen that they have moved on from their crushing 17-14 loss to the New York Giants in the big game in Glendale, Ariz., back in February. They will claim with steely eyes and straight faces that the heartbreak of going 18-0 and losing the only game that really counted will not motivate them to complete their unfinished business this fall.

And they will be lying.

They aren't bad people - at least not most of them. But they won't be telling the truth. That's what they do.

But I can guarantee that if this season is extended to its last possible playing date, and Tom Brady is standing atop a set of hastily assembled risers in the middle of the field at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium sometime around 11 p.m. on Feb. 1, Vince Lombardi Trophy in hand, he will tell the world that the success he's celebrating had its genesis in the disappointment he felt as he knelt on the field at University of Phoenix Stadium a year earlier, watching time run out in what should have been a truly historic 2007 season.

Count on it.

Along the way, good-intentioned individuals such as yours truly will deliver "the big lie" to you every day, without fail. It won't matter if it's Brady, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour or the rawest of rookies, the message will be the same. It's a new year. It's a new team. We've moved on. Last year was last year. Everybody's 0-0.

It's a familiar message. The Patriots use it all the time. Since Bill Belichick took over in 2000, it's been the standard mantra to claim that everything that came before means nothing going forward, and it has served the Patriots well.

But this year, following all that happened last year, it's going to be particularly hard to swallow.

Personally, I have no real problem with whatever the Patriots want to feed us. If that's their choice, then so be it. It's not as if I'm making this stuff up and deliberately feeding you horse manure. If Randy Moss opens up and says that he doesn't care what happened last year, the quotes will have his name attached to them, and mine will be there only as the re-teller.

Just take it with a grain of salt, that's all.

They can say what they want. All I know is how I would feel if put in the same position of having worked my butt off over the span of more than half of a year, winning game after game and standing at the doorstep of sports immortality, only to have it plucked away from me at the very last instant.

I'd be ... shall we say politely, "motivated."

Oh, and I probably wouldn't tell reporters anything other than the company line, either. They're the scum of the earth.

So that's that. The Patriots will be lying to me, and I'll be lying to you by repeating their lies, and the world will keep on spinning. No one will be harmed by these falsehoods, and no one will care very much at the end of the season if the Patriots have won it all and can finally admit to everyone that last season's disappointing end did matter to them after all.

I just wanted to make sure that I know the truth, and that you know the truth, and that I know you know the truth.

Let the lies begin!

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/sports.