I hate Bill Belichick!
Bill is one of my least favorite people in all of the NFL.
It all goes back to when I was just a young strapping lad, a little tike who against all odds rooted for the New York Jets. I was a huge Bill Parcells fan until he decided to retire, (for the third time) after the 1999 NFL season. With the Jets head coach position vacant Bill Belichick was named by ownership as Parcells successor. As a fan I was saddened to lose Parcells, but excited to have a very capable replacement.
“Smooth transition” is what I figured.
However Belichick had other ideas.
Bill proceeded to play a 72-hour game of footsie with Jet ownership and the New York media before announcing his resignation. He never coached a single game. His reason for resigning was to assume the coaching duties for the New England Patriots where he remains to this day.
Now as a Yankees fan first and foremost; Patriot Nation is my winter home for Boston abhorrence. So I have always looked at the Belichicks actions as vile. Of course 1999 is where the origin of my hatred can be found, but over the last eight years my hatred for Bill evolved well beyond his disloyalty to the Jets.
Belichicks overall physical appearance, how he represents his team, and how he represents the NFL is pretty disgraceful. Bill is just down right nasty when conducting himself with media, most particularly in post-game interviews, but overall too. He is constantly defying the NFL dress code by wearing his customary battered sleeveless sweatshirts on the sidelines.
A stark contrast can be found in Jacksonville Florida, as just one coaching example. Jack Del Rio, head coach of the Jaguars has sported a suit and tie from the sidelines more then a few times over the last two seasons. A classy old school move not found in Foxborough. Polite and courteous with fans and press, Jack is a model citizen in the NFL off the field, and can be found leading his team with morals and ethics on the field.
In 2002 former Patriot Linebacker Ted Johnson says that Belichick pushed him to play thru several concussions in preseason. Playing thru these injuries has lead to permanent damage to Johnson. The evidence to these accusations was first made public last January during Super Bowl week. Suffering from Post Concussion Syndrome myself, I know of Johnson’s struggles, and I have no love for a coach who would attempt to push one of his players thru such aliments. Forcing players to compete through physical injury is the tell tale sign of a person who put victory above all else.
And then of course there is the most recent Belichick smut.
During the kickoff to the 2007 NFL season, the New England Patriots were in the Meadowlands to play the Jets in their week one home opener. An old crony of Belichick, Jet head coach Eric Mangini, caught Bill and the Patriots breaking one of the NFL’s most delicate rules. During the first half of the opener Mangini caught a camera technician employed by the Patriots filming the game from the Jets sidle lines. More specifically he was filming in an attempt to steel defensive signals used by the Jets to gain an advantage over their opponent.
Mangini, who has recently appeared in cameo roles on both the Sopranos and Sesame Street, combined Elmo and Big Bird values with Tony Soprano results. He caught Belichick red handed. He and his Patriots were ensnared in the direct act of cheating.
Well now the story is on going. The NFL is currently studying all videotape recorded by the patriots to see if further cheating can be found. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has stated he will continue to reprimand Belichick and the Patriots if further evidence is found that New England has cheated. Belichick has been fined 500,000 dollars and his team has lost its first round draft pick. No suspension or direct reprimand that affects the Patriots this season has been sited.
The punishment doesn’t quite fit the crime.
Bill is the type of guy who will punch you in the junk in a street fight, and think nothing of it. He is like the evil coach in all the sports movies who pushes his players in immoral and unethical ways. But all Hollywood movies end with the fairy tail underdog team defeating the nasty bad guys, and everyone lives happily ever after.
But here in the real world Belichick's New England Patriots are winners of the four of the last seven super bowls and are Eastern Division Champions each of the last five seasons.
The Patriots are 3-0 this season. Experts (including the entire panel on HBO’s Inside The NFL) are predicting that New England could go undefeated this season. No team in the AFC East including my old squad the Jets are going to beat them. So what the NFL and commissioner Goodell has showed is that cheating is ok. Winning at the expense of ethics, right and wrong, or good and evil is completely acceptable.
And Belichick is still the worst coach with the best record in all of professional sports.
