TV Star Bill Belichick Added to His Incomparable Trophy Case Yesterday, as Old Balls Predicted 2 Years Ago
Every year that humanity is not engaged in a self-imposed, worldwide house arrest, Bill Belichick plans a team-building exercise for his players during the preseason. A couple of years ago, Gillette was turned into a walk-through football history museum. A time before that, he took them to the movies for a special screening of a documentary about the near-catastrophic but ultimately successful Ernest Shackleton expedition to Antartica. This week, as his team is in Philly doing joint practices and a Fauxball game against the Eagles, he got his players' parents to sign permission slips and pack bag lunches so he could take them on a field trip to the headquarters of NFL Films in New Jersey. Which might not be for everyone the way, say, a trip to a chocolate factory might. But it's better than going to one of Kraft International Forest Products' factories:
Advertisement
But still, had to have an appeal to any of his players who grew up watching the artistic triumphs of one of America's greatest, most visionary filmmakers, Hall of Famer Ed Sabol.
And speaking of the artistic triumphs of Hall of Famers, while he was there, Belichick finally picked up the long-deserved Emmy Award he'd been deprived of, for his brilliant, insightful commentary on "The NFL100 All-Time Team" series. Whether he was unable to travel to pick it up before, or too busy rebuilding his empire out of the ashes of 7-9 or simply forgot about it since he's already got a trophy case the size of the warehouse the government sent the Ark of the Covenant too, no one is saying. All we do know is that this moment was predicted by The Belichick Whisperer [tm] more than two years ago. Or weeks before the series even aired:
Me, in The Before Times of 2019 - So, perhaps you’ve been wondering what could possibly fill the entertainment void in your life as we transition into a post “Game of Thrones,” post “Avengers” world? Maybe some TV shows you’ve been loyal to like “Veep,” “The Americans,” “Portlandia” or “Jessica Jones” have run their course and will not be coming back. You realized we’re probably a year away on another season of “Cobra Kai” and longer than that for “Stranger Things Chapter 4″ and you’re afraid nothing will coming along to adequately fill that hole in your heart?
Well worry no more. Bill Belichick expounding on the list of the 100 greatest players in NFL history? Talking about the careers of some of the men he learned about as a boy, watched in college while his dad was at the Naval Academy, coached against with the Colts and Lions, game planned against with the Giants, Browns and Jets, and dominated for 20 years (and counting) in New England? Plus cracking wise like his SnapFace joke? …
Yes, please. How often do you get the chance to have the world’s most knowledgeable expert on a subject speaking extemporaneously about it. Opening up his vast treasure trove of wisdom and insight with the world. With all due respect to guys like Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku, this is like Discovery Channel doing a show about astrophysics co-hosted by Einstein.
It was true then and it's true now. This man who holds the media in the palm of his mighty hand barely dips his baby toe into the media water and wins a prestigious award that other, lesser mortals have worked their whole careers striving for.
You know who else has won won Emmy? Little artistic endeavors you might have heard about. "MASH." "The Cosby Show." "Seinfeld." "The Office." "Schitt's Creek." Actors like Kiefer Sutherland ("24"), Michael Chiklis ("The Shield") and Kyle Chandler ("Friday Night Lights). I'd wager than not one person working on those shows has ever been awarded a Coach of the Year honor or won a Super Bowl ring, much less eight. But for Bill Belichick, being handed the most prestigious award in the field, for what to him was just a little summer side hustle/passion project? That's just another day at the office.
#KissTheTrophies