I am a fan of sports teams from New York whose names do not end in “E-T-S.” I have little use for sports franchises from Boston. But I do have a soft spot for the Patriots because their head coach Bill Belichick led the New York Giants’ defense to two Super Bowls during the Lawrence Taylor era. I’m not much of a college football fan, but Michigan is the team I root for and that’s where Tom Brady went to college. Mostly, Belichick and Brady are so astoundingly good at what they do that I admire their skills even if I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Giants beat them in two Super Bowls. In fact, what made those Super Bowls so sweet was that the Giants beat the very best.
And the thing is, these guys do not need to cheat to be the best. They really don’t. It’s so unnecessary. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird didn’t cheat and we’d all be really disappointed and basically mystified if they had. They were so good that they gave us everything we could ask for just by being themselves.
It’s really going to put an asterisk on their entire NFL careers that they had to be disciplined, fined, stripped of draft picks, and suspended more than one time. And it’s just a shame.
I have to say, the Giants payed a heavy price for letting Belichick leave instead of giving him the head coaching job after Bill Parcells retired. For the longest time, I complained about their foolishness. But they made the right decision. I hate to say it, but they protected their sterling reputation by letting Belichick get away. And I’m glad now. I was wrong.
