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Four years ago, when my father was in his final weeks of kidney failure, I arranged for an ambulance to take him from a hospital near my home in Long Island, New York, to an assisted living facility near my home in Boston. When he arrived, I asked him if he knew where I was.
He looked a little confused and asked, “Connecticut?”
“Boston,” I explained.
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Unlike me, my father was an avid New York sports fan. His love center was his beloved New York Jets. My father sorted out the information about the new house and yelled one last thing.
Tom Brady, No. 12, speaks with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at Gillette Stadium on November 24, 2019 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
“Belichick!”
My father, like every Jets fan, every Cleveland Browns fan, and countless fans around the world, despised Bill Belichick. Understood. Of course, those of us in New England loved coaches with cut-off hoodies and scowling faces. He turned a sports wasteland into a title town, along with a quarterback you've probably heard of. A man named Tom Brady.
And now Belichick's time in New England ends not with a crushing loss, but with a tearful loss to his father's beloved Jets.
Sports fans know the broad outlines of Belichick's story. He won two rings as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. A disastrous head coaching stint in Cleveland led to the firing of beloved quarterback Bernie Kosar.
And he bounced back in the form of six rings against the Patriots, including a win over the Falcons who were down 28-3 at halftime.
Most Belichick haters attribute his success to serial cheating (see: Spygate, Deflategate, etc.). But what we in New England knew was that Belichick won because he was better prepared than everyone else.
Belichick has his staff put “pads” on every player in the league and monitor every detail of the players, down to which foot moves first when play begins, according to assistant manager Michael Lombardi. It is said that he had it recorded.
Padding is a painstaking, tedious task, and Belichick, the perfectionist, can't ignore a single error in the vast pages of detail his minions have had to gather for every opponent on every team. I didn't allow it.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick attends the Super Bowl 51 trophy presentation ceremony at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Simon Brutie/Any Chance/Getty Images)
But it wasn't all about our love for Coach. We resented his policy of releasing his favorite players if he felt they were becoming too expensive or too slow. But you can't argue with success.
The only regret most Pats fans have is Belichick's stubborn inability to give Brady the paternal praise the GOAT deserves. We're also still baffled by his decision to keep cornerback Malcolm Butler, who stood dressed and in tears on the sideline, from playing in the Super Bowl against the Eagles.
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What would have happened if Butler, who stole the hearts of Seattle Seahawks fans with his spectacular interception in the last Super Bowl, had played? That way, he might not have had to engineer great drives over and over again until Brady finally ran out of time.
Many of us trace Brady's decision to leave New England back to that mysterious, never-explained choice.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick got into an argument with an official. Belichick's demand for excellence was evident on and off the field. (Barry Chin/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“Belichick,” my dad yelled.
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He spent the last few Brady-less years of the Pats' coaching career as a Shakespearean tragic figure, grimacing on the sideline, heartbroken and chasing Don Shula's all-time coaching wins record. I spent my time as
And now he'll move on to another team, get a fresh start at age 71, and hope he can somehow recapture the glorious victories that seemed so easy to come by in Foxborough. He doesn't have Bob Kraft, the most supportive and wisest team owner in the world, and he doesn't have Brady. But he's still Bill Belichick, and my father in heaven will probably be disappointed, but somehow he'll figure it out.
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