| |
Bill Belichick was asked about Michael Holley's new book, Patriot
Reign: the Bill Belichick, the Coaches, and the Players Who Built a Champion,
during his weekly radio interview during Patriots
Monday on Boston's Sports Radio WEEI 850 AM.
Host: Bill, I know you talked
about it a little in your press conference, but Michael Holley's publisher
came out today with some excerpts from his book. I remember Michael having
some unusual access, or some incredible access, for about a year and a half
here. Did you happen to see any excerpts of the book? Any comment on those?
Belichick: I've seen a few. I haven't read the book and I didn't have
any editorial rights on the book. I don't know what was written or how it
was written. That's not something I had any control over. Just from what
I've seen, Steve, it looks to me like this is a lot of hype from the
publisher. You know, throw some stuff out there. From the cover of the book
to the title of the book, I'm not really a part of any of that. I mean, this
is hyping a product. But again, it's not really my style or my thing. And
some comments that have been put out there that were a year, maybe two
years, old – things that are, I think, taken
somewhat out of context, especially when you have somebody that's doing two
years' work in a couple hundred pages. So I'm not really into hyping the
book. I'll just let everybody make their own decisions.
Host: Let me throw this one at
you. Obviously Michael Holley had tremendous access. It is something that
people look at with this organization and say it's amazing how successful you
and this entire organization have been. I think there's a curiosity out there
because you guys have done a tremendous job of allowing people to see so
much, and yet not necessarily see behind the curtain everything that's out
there. So wouldn't you say there's a tremendous curiosity that exists right
now in something like this in that there's probably some new information
here? Obviously even in...I understand what the publisher is doing,
they're trying to sell books. You're not trying to hype it,
they're trying to sell books. There are going to be some things in
this book that people have never heard or never seen before. People are
saying 'Oh my god, look at this. Look at what Bill Belichick said.' Is that
fair?
Belichick: Well, I
understand that. And all I'm saying is that right, the reason that Michael
had the access that he did was to give the fans a look at kind of how the
organization runs a little bit, and some of the things behind the scenes. I
mean, we can't let fifty people in to do that; it's just not
feasible. So that was the intent it was done with. It
was followed through, and I think there was no problem with that. I'm just
saying, at this point it looks to me like the publishers have come out and
tried to hype comments going back to as far as 1996 where, you know, we're
not even in that ballpark here. And the last four years, five years, that's
not really what it's about. You know, that's me. As you said,
publishers are out there trying to hype it and sell some books. I have a lot
of respect for Michael; I have a lot of respect for his writing ability and
for his research ability. But just in terms of hyping it up and trying to
make something out of something that isn't really there, I'm not into that.
Host: I hear you, but when
people read the quote – unless this quote was taken out of context, or the
quote is not accurate – talking about the whole situation with Bill
Parcells' flirtation with the Jets, and this is [inaudible] to the quote:
'Yeah, I'd say it was a little bit of a distraction all the way around. I
can tell you first-hand, there was a lot of stuff going on prior to the
game. I mean, him talking to other teams. He was trying to make up his mind
about what he was going to do. Which, honestly, I felt [was] totally
inappropriate. How many chances do you get to play for the Super Bowl? Tell
them to get back to you in a couple of days. I'm not saying it was
disrespectful to me, but it was in terms of the overall commitment to the
team.' I think you remember kind of the way everybody took sides in all of
this – there was the Bob Kraft position, and there was the Bill Parcells
position. So for somebody that was the defensive coordinator and was the
right-hand man of Bill Parcells, to come out with this statement – I don't care if it's twenty years later
– I mean, isn't that news? Isn't that something that the publisher is going to throw out there?
Obviously you...did you say that? I mean, Holley wrote it.
Belichick: Well, I think that Holley
wrote an article similar to that several months ago – last year during the
season if I'm not mistaken – along those lines. So to me that's old news. I
think everything's been said and written about that that you could say. I
mean, that stuff happened several years ago, so that's not really what the book
is about. Really,
if the fans are looking for an inside look at the organization, I don't
think that's...I think basically you got the publisher out there trying to hype
the book on a quote or something that was relevant eight years ago. Well I don't think that's what this book is
about.
Host: So basically it's about
what goes on in meetings, your preparation...
Belichick: That was the
arrangement that we had with Michael when he did the book. It was about the
background, the preparation, how things work, meetings, a little bit of a
week-to-week, or day-to-day, type of routine – kind of what the fans don't see. It wasn't done with the idea to stir up a
lot of controversy and try to take something and manufacture it
into a big story. I think everything that's been said and written
about Bill Parcells, my relationship with Bill and everything else – I
mean I don't know how any more could be added to it
than was written last year before the Dallas game.
Hosts: [all speaking at once] Wait
for the movie.... [more talk about the book excerpts] People always like the juicy, gossipy stuff. I mean that's
why we have so much of this, you know.... That's why this show exists.
That's why us fat guys are here.
Belichick: That's not what I'm here
for, and...
Host: So you won't be on Oprah in the next week or two?
Belichick: There's no chance. None.
No, we're here, really, to work on the Arizona game – recap that, correct
those mistakes, which there were plenty of those. And we have fourteen regular season games coming up, so part of our preparation
is for the stretch. But a big part of it, more a part of it, is for Buffalo.
We had plenty of trouble going into Buffalo last year, we know that. Nobody knows that better than we do. So that's really where we're at at this
point. Hyping the book is not really very high on my agenda.
Transcribed by the webmaster. |
|
