|
|
 |
|
NEW WORK OF ART |
 |
New book probes secrets
of Coach Belichick's success
By MAURY ALLEN
of TheColumnists.com
David Halberstam,
the finest journalist of the last half century, whose 14 best
sellers in a row tie Bobby Cox’s records for National League
East baseball titles, has penned another work of art in “The
Education of A Coach" (Hyperion) about Bill Belichick.
I never met Bill Belichick. When Bill Parcells was the head coach
of the Giants, Patriots and the Jets and Belichick was an assistant,
Parcells kept him under wraps from the media. Then Belichick
went on to Cleveland. No contact there.
Belichick was the head coach of the Jets under GM Parcells for
just one day. Then he went on to New England, won three Super
Bowls in four years with his own quarterback named Tom Brady
and was still alive in the 2006 tournament as of the second round
of the best in four. (Denver eliminated the Patriots, so Belichick
will be watching the Super Bowl like the rest of us on Feb. 5,
with a beer in one hand and a bowl of popcorn in the other.)
Belichick’s father, Steve Belichick, was an assistant coach
and scout at the Naval Academy for many years. It was at the
feet of his father that he learned to break down game films--the
guard did this on that play, the tackle did that, the running
back tipped off a run or a pass with that motion--all discovered
with the detailing of a film. That was just as if senior Belichick
passed on to junior the rites of the game.
Belichick was nine years old, Halberstam writes, when he first
started to break down film for his father.
All of this technicality dominates the study of Belichick, his
persona and the simple reason for his success.
What is touching, brilliant and typical Halberstam reporting
in this work are the details of that father/son relationship
and the fanatic pursuit of football excellence out of that rugged
western Pennsylvania background via Croatia.
It is rare that a father/son relationship is so carefully recorded
and explicitly mirrored inside 277 pages.
As an outside football observer and inside journalistic snoop,
I waited for the psychodrama of the relationship bewtween Parcells,
this generation’s Vince Lomardi, and his disciple, young
Belichick. Not much of that appears in those pages.
Halberstam tells us he and Belichick owned homes in Nantucket,
a small island off Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Halberstam says,
“I had always been intrigued by him, and by the fact that
he was so innovative, his game plan so original. I was intrigued
as well by how un-coachlike he was, or at least different from
the stereotype of what a coach was supposed to look and sound
like.” No one owns a hooded parka like Belichick’s.
Halberstam said Belichick was a serious reader of nonfiction
and had several of Halberstam's books in his voluminous sports
collection. The first Halberstam book he read was the classic
"The Best and the Brightest," brought to his attention
by the basketball icon, Bobby Knight, a mutual friend of the
coach and the writer.
Halberstam is the most successful and most generous of journalists,
always available for a needed quote, a book introduction or personal
appearance at a literary soiree. He has done much for me in these
areas. The arrival of a Pulitzer Prize winner adds glow to a
literary outing.
In the arrival of the Belichick book, I was certain the long-festering
tale of Belichick’s one day career as Jets heads coach would
be solved. This tale seemed to be at the heart of the Jets' lackluster
performances. It was just a great gossipy story involving a two
time Super Bowl winner in Parcells and the disciplined disciple,
headed for greatness on the reels of his film.
No such luck. By choice or agreement, this episode was slightly
touched on in Halberstam’s book. The relationship was explained
as a professional union with no unified personal conduct.
Parcells was never a man to tolerate ambitious underlings. It
may simply be to Belichick’s credit that all he needed was
a day under Parcells’ official hand to understand that this
would never work. Parcells and Belichick was not a team. Brady
and Belichick. Now that’s a team.
If it is a work written by David Halberstam, it is always worth
the time, effort and price to be added to your library. So "The
Education of A Coach" passes that test with another "A."
For the football freaks, those fans who will schedule their lives
around February 5, it is a gem of inside X and Oing.
For the gossipaholics, guys like me, it will not explain what
really went down that fateful day the Parcells-Belichick marriage
ended. Maybe it is just better some things are left unwritten.
How the Bowl became 'Super'
Some 40 years ago
the small daughter of Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt bounced
a large ball in her home called a Super Ball.
Voila. Like Einstein discovering relativity, Fleming discovering
penicillin, Curie discovering radium, Pasteur discovering milk
and Columbus discovering America, the rich owners of the National
Football League discovered that a new name for their championship
game would make them richer.
Eureka. The Super Bowl was born. It was one of the greatest examples
of media savvy since Lincoln pared his Gettysburg address down
to two minutes after listening to Edward Everett, former Harvard
president, speak for two hours. (For that anecdote, my thanks
to Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals: The Political
Genius of Abraham Lincoln.”)
Imagine the NFL championship game without the Super Bowl label.
Would sponsors throw those huge, gushy parties? Would television
networks throw billions around like Monopoly money for the privilege
of airing it? Would Janet Jackson become an iconic figure of
fame and misfortune for dropping a boob out of a malfunctioning
outfit?
Now we are in the run up to Super Bowl XXXX. Oh yeah, would it
be as big if the February 5 date was called Super Bowl 40?
©2006 by Maury Allen. The Maury Allen caricature is ©2001
by Jim Hummel. This column first posted on Jan. 23, 2006.
You
can comment on this column online. Please address your message
to either "The Editors" or Maury Allen . To send an
email, click here and don't forget to mention Maury's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
|
|
|
Archives |
|
|