Bill Belichick continues to surprise me.
I hadn't really studied him closely before heading to Foxborough for the AFC Championship Game two weeks ago. I knew he was a coaching genius with a monotone delivery in most press conferences. Here's the all-timer:
But I've enjoyed his Super Bowl press conferences. His answers have been insightful as long as the questions aren't related to injuries and the game plan. He's been open in describing how his coaching philosophies came together from his time with the Giants and Browns.
The Boston Globe's Bob Hohler wrote an interesting story this week on Belichick's life away from the football office. The coach has built an island compound on Nantucket:
Super Bowls come and go — Belichick is coaching the Patriots for a record eighth time in the NFL's title game — but football's greatest field general always returns to his corner of the island, where he is as comfortable strolling the crushed-shell paths as he has been belting out the 1960s pop hit "Love Potion No. 9'' for a gathering of friends.
Another Boston Globe story, from Ben Volin, goes into great detail on the anatomy of a Patriots game plan.
"The Two Bills," the excellent ESPN 30-for-30 documentary, detailed Belichick's complicated history with Bill Parcells and showed the human side of both coaches.
Belichick always struck me as this robotic figure. And then I saw pictures of him sitting courtside Thursday night watching the Timberwolves. He is friends with Tom Thibodeau and apparently caught the first quarter of the game.
Personally, I think that's cool. The Patriots know the Super Bowl drill. No one ever accused Belichick of being underprepared, and apparently he has some balance in his life.
