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Monday, August 16, 2021

What I've Been Reading: "Belichick" by Ian O'Connor

 

I have been a Detroit Lions fan since birth, but I will admit that I started to become intrigued with the New England Patriots as a kid in the early 1990's when they re-branded themselves with new uniforms, drafted Drew Bledsoe, and started moving up in the world. So when Tom Brady became the quarterback in the early 2000's, that was just icing on the cake. The Patriots have been my second favorite team for almost my entire adult life, at least until Brady left for the Buccaneers in 2020.

With the dynasty that Bill Belichick has built in New England, numerous books and biographies and autobiographies have been released. I generally hold off on purchasing memoirs or histories of players and coaches who are still in the midst of their greatest runs, but I broke down with Ian O'Connor's Belichick. As a coach, it can't hurt to get a close-up look at the best NFL coach to ever walk the sideline.

We all know so much about Belichick by now that nothing big was surprising - his small school playing experience,;his rise through the ranks with the Giants, Browns, and Patriots; Sypgate; Deflategate; Aaron Hernandez; and more. What I appreciated most were the details about his failure in Cleveland, his falling out with Bill Parcells, the way he changed NFL scouting, his attention to detail, and the personal side that we don't see much of from the mainstream media. Naturally, there's a bunch of detail about his relationship with Brady, along with the deterioration of that relationship.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Belichick, the Patriots, or even the trials and tribulations of coaching in the NFL.


What have you been reading lately?

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