A week or so ago, Blog Buddy (and my favorite Red Sox blogger) Lisa asked if I really disliked Bill Belichick because of Bernie Kosar. I had to mull it over for a while before I decided. But, Aye-uh, I'm not a Patriots hater just to be contrary.
Football is a religion in Ohio. We've got our own version of Friday Night Lights when entire towns turn out to watch the high school team. We love our Ohio State Buckeyes, regardless of whether we attended OSU or not, and northern Ohio loves their Browns. My daddy used to (I swear this is true) cut his sermons just a little bit short on Sundays so we'd be home and in front of the TV by the 1 pm kick off.
So yup. This whole animosity of the Patriots is due to Bill's time in Cleveland. I have nothing against the Patriots except their Cheaty Pants, arrogant cuss of a coach and I really dislike Belichick just because of his disasterous tenure in Cleveland. His legacy with the Browns was disaster after disaster, capped off with the release of Kosar and the move to Baltimore. Losing an NFL franchise was demoralizing for Cleveland and fair or not, we hold Belichick as responsible for that as we hold Modell.
But mostly, it was his decision to fire Bernie Kosar that kills us. It wasn't that he just released Bernie--it's because he released Bernie when they were leading the division with Bernie starting. THEN the next morning, he conducts the "press conference" while riding his exercise bike and simply stating that he released Bernie because "of his diminishing skills". The Browns went 2-7 for the rest of the season. His arrogant treatment of the press and terrible people skills might be acceptable when going 16-0, but not so much when you've got a mediocre team and you make a horrible decision.
Bernie was a beloved, home town guy. He was the kid who wanted to play for his childhood team. He made a lot of people proud of Cleveland again, and that's not easy. He was the guy who lead us to two straight AFC Championship games--not while Bill was coach, mind you--we didn't win a playoff game with Billy at the controls. It took two HUGE miracles (now known simply as The Drive and The Fumble) for the Broncos to beat in those games....so Bernie was our guy. And Belichick fired him. And promptly lost four straight games. As Chris Mortensen said at the time, it was either "refreshing" or "it's the most arrogant act in recent NFL history." I guess you know which I believe it to be.
My feelings about Bill are not unique. They are shared by every Northern Ohioan. When home for Christmas, Retired Guy was amazed that local Cleveland sports coverage took a couple of derisive shots at Belichick when reporting on the Pats' win over Miami. My brother had a hard time reconciling my defection of the Indians to become a Red Sox fan, but we've worked it out. On the other hand, it is known and (understood by the entire family), that if I ever became a Pats fan while Bill is the coach, I will be shunned and it will be permanent. The good news is that there is no danger that it will happen.
Well, if that's true, then on the flip side I guess you can understand our devotion to him when you remember that it was Bill who replaced Drew Bledsoe with Tom Brady.
Posted by: Lisa K. | January 06, 2008 at 09:04 AM
Yup. That decision was genius because it got you a Super Bowl win. I think we'd have forgiven much more easily if the Browns didn't lose the next four straight games.
Posted by: Melissa | January 06, 2008 at 01:24 PM
And we old time New Englanders understand long term grudges, too. After all, outside of death or serious disability, enough bad things can't happen to Roger Clemens to suit me.
Posted by: Lisa K. | January 06, 2008 at 01:56 PM