CONCORD — Wait, was that really Bill Belichick, the anti-boulevardier, sitting behind a microphone, letting his hair down, answering questions, heck even asking questions, and actually enjoying the give-and-take, his smile ear to ear?
Bill Belichick? The Patriots coach? Yep.
Friday night at the Fenn School they somehow rounded up Belichick, Carl Yastrzemski, no lover of public appearances either, and Derek Sanderson for an open-end sports discussion as part of the school's Alumni Day, with Sports Illustrated's E.M. Swift (Carlisle resident) serving as moderator.
This was a Belichick you'll never see at a post-game press conference, then again Friday night the Patriots hadn't just lost a game. If we just needed to see the guy in a different light, this was it.
Like the time he posed a question for Sanderson about hockey coaches. "Seems to me they just fold their hands behind the bench. They never say anything. Seems like a lot of money to pay these guys. What do they do?"
The audience laughed. So did Sanderson, who said to Belichick, "You've got 32 coaches. What do you do, motivate coaches to coach?" Said Belichick: "The secret's out."
The crowd loved it.
Belichick was just warming up. Turning to Yaz, he asked, "The first base coach. What does he do? A guy gets a single and pats you on the back. Other than that, what does he do?"
Yaz: "If you go for a double and don't make it, they deny they sent you."
There was plenty of serious stuff too, as the two reluctant celebs and fan friendly Sanderson allowed rare glimpses of themselves. Sanderson said when he was a kid in Canada there was a story in a national magazine that said being a doctor was the second most-respected profession in the country. First was hockey player. "My father said I was going to be a hockey player. I wanted to be a baseball player or a singer. I couldn't do either. I became a hockey player."
Yaz came from a small high school on Long Island. "Twenty kids in our (graduating) class. We played ball on a farm. But four kids besides me signed contracts. Three made it to Triple-A." Yaz made it to Cooperstown. He played six-man football because there were so few kids. "A tough sport," said Yaz, nodding to Belichick. The Yankees wanted to sign Yaz when he was a junior, but it was illegal.
Belichick said he dreamed of being an athlete "like Derek, Yaz or Unitas" but was limited to high school and college sports. He said he only made $25 in his first coaching job in Baltimore. "Maybe that's all I was worth."
Belichick was born in Annapolis and his first hero was Joe Bellino, Navy's Heisman Trophy winner from Winchester. Then came Roger Staubach a few years after. As great as they were, said Belichick, "they were better people off the field. True role models."
They talked about Bobby Knight. "I know him personally," said Belichick. "I don't think you'll find a coach who cares more or does more for his players. He does charity work and visits hospitals without fanfare. He doesn't take the press with him. I'm not saying everything he does is right. His intent is to get the most out of his players. Some things he wishes he'd done differently."
Yaz said he's had dinner with Knight about half a dozen times and "all he talked about was the graduation rate of his players. I don't know what happens when he gets to the game."
Yaz said "youngsters are overcoached by people who don't really know what they're talking about." When he watches Little Leaguers Yaz sees too many kids happy to take a walk. He'd like to see them swing more. "If you strike out, you strike out." Since 1984 Yaz has been a Red Sox hitting instructor for the young farmhands. "I tell the kids swing hard, you might hit it."
On his father: "He never said a word to me in Little League. He wanted me to have fun. Once in high school he said, 'You swung at a bad pitch. Learn the strike zone.'" End of critique.
Swift conceded that the media "glorify the outrageous" and Yaz agreed, saying, "The (sports) news leads with the bad not the good." Belichick said the NFL is trying to cut down on taunting and dancing and said college football has already done a good job of doing that. "There are a lot of good role models in football," said Belichick. "Unfortunately they don't get the publicity like the ones who aren't."
Role models, said Sanderson, should be parents and teachers and cops, "not someone making $260 million." Pick your sports heroes carefully, he warned. "Don't treat us as special. We'll disappoint you."
Sanderson's saga is well known. He was the world's highest-paid athlete when he jumped from the Bruins to the WHA. Years of drug and alcohol abuse took a terrible toll. Now he's a dynamic speaker on the subject, visiting high schools and telling his story. "I've been sober 20 years," he said. When he played, Sanderson said, the Bruins' beat writers knew he was living dangerously. "They said nothing." How times have changed, when hardly a day goes by without a story of an athlete in trouble.
Sanderson of course set up Bobby Orr's flying leap Stanley Cup-winning goal. "I made the kid famous," he joked. Seriously, "Orr was the best player ever," said Sanderson.
While Yaz ached for a World Series ring, coming close twice, Sanderson knows what winning a championship feels like, "standing there knowing there was no one left to beat."
Yaz lived for the one-on-one duels with the pitcher. "You couldn't get a block or a pass" to help you, like in other sports, he said. It was just two guys staring each other down. "I loved the challenge." After retiring, Yaz said "It took me a while to get it out of my system."
Yaz will never forget Bob Gibson telling him he'd strike him out. Once Yaz doubled off him and Gibson "just stared at me for 20 seconds."
When you're a pro, said Sanderson, "it's like being in Disneyland for 10 years. Then you've got to get on with your life."
Someone from the audience asked Belichick if he agreed that Patriots owner Bob Kraft won't allow "any funny stuff" regarding his players. "I definitely agree with that," said Belichick, his grin spreading across town. On the demise of the XFL, Belichick said it was "the vote cast by the consumer."
Sanderson called "hockey a violent game played by violent people. If you don't like violence watch tennis." But Belichick said he respects the way hockey players, after a hard-fought seven-game playoff series, line up and shake hands.
When the forum was over, Yaz was the first to leave the building, then Sanderson. Last was Belichick, who signed autographs, smiled a lot and gave the impression he could've done this all night long. "I had a great time."
Bill Belichick, the one you don't get to see, actually said that. And he was sincere. |
