Jim Brown on Bill Belichick

[aluminum seats]

I realize this isn't new.......consider it something to help get the rancid rantings of Gregg Easterbrook out of your mind.......


"....But never since the times of slavery has there been a time when there weren't white families reaching out. During the slave period, there were free houses for slaves owned by whites. The NAACP was created by a white woman. Branch Rickey was as important as Jackie Robinson. Throughout our program you'll find people in different races doing all they can do. There are special people who fight for the right thing."

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is one of them, Brown said. Belichick met Brown when Belichick was head coach in Cleveland. Since, Belichick has done several speeches and appearances for Amer-I-Can. The bond between the two men remains strong.

"He's been an unbelievable force," said Brown. "After five minutes with Bill, we became friends. We have the same desire to win, the same work ethic. We think the same. He is a special person and a lot of people don't understand how special he is."

 

[SVN]

http://www.allthingsbillbelichick.com/articles/2002/prisonerofconscience.htm

SI: What current athlete do you admire?

Brown: Compared with a Bill Russell?

SI: Sure.

Brown: Nobody.

SI: Compared with a Jim Brown.

Brown: I don't compare myself with anyone. Let me tell you about someone I do admire. Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots has contributed more to the work I surround myself with than any black athlete in modern times – financially, intellectually, every way. He's been in the prisons with me. He's met gang members in my home; he's met gang members in Cleveland [where Belichick coached the Browns form 1991 to '95]. He's put up money. He's opened up areas of education for us very quietly and very strongly. Imagine what would happen if Michael Jordan did the same thing.

 

[sieglo]

Someone forward this quote to Easterc0ck.

 

[Phokus]

This can't be right, Bill Belichick is SATAN INCARNATE according Gregg Easterbrook

 

[everlong]

Imagine what would happen if Tony Dungy did the same thing?

The media would create a never ending ovation.

 

[SVN]

Imagine what would happen if Tony Dungy did the same thing. [\QUOTE]

The media would create a never ending ovation.

i hope easterbrook gets to read this and responds.

 

[aluminum seats]

i hope easterbrook gets to read this and responds.

Yeah......he won't, of course, because he has a vendetta. But it really gets to an idiocy of someone like him. What is class, after all? Bill Belichick does this stuff not for the PR, but because he actually cares. He doesn't indulge the media's hunger for the nonsense storyline--if there's actually a question about football, he's great to listen to. Just spare him the soap opera stuff. The Pats have famously become the epitome of team under his leadership, and all of these guys--particularly Brady--show nothing but class in virtually all of their dealings. Honestly, I'd say the Eaterbrook column was a parody, but I can't think of anything he'd actually be parodying.

Tony Dungy, by the way, could learn something about class from Belichick--he could have saved that moral preening after the videotaping and recognized the great stuff that Belichick, and this team, have accomplished. What's more, Manning could learn from Brady that after a loss, you don't throw your team under the bus (as Manning did to his O-Line, but Brady didn't with his receivers), you stand up like a man.

 

[letekro]

i hope easterbrook gets to read this and responds.

You fool, TMQ has already read EVERYTHING. He would respond, except for the fact that he has already fully considered and rejected as fallacies Jim Brown's comments. TMQ knows everything, that's why he is fully qualified to sit in judgment of everything under the sun.

 

[DarrylS]

I was at a American function with BB and Jim Brown several years ago, had my pix take with Jim Brown.. BB was a new to the Pats at that time.. Jim Brown essentially said, If Michael Jordan did half as much as BB did for the world it would be a much better place (sic). kick myself in the ass for having my pix taken with BB.

 

[mojocaster.com]

I didn't know about BB's involvement with these issues. Kudos to him.

 

[MetalBleachers]

You fool, TMQ has already read EVERYTHING. He would respond, except for the fact that he has already fully considered and rejected as fallacies Jim Brown's comments. TMQ knows everything, that's why he is fully qualified to sit in judgment of everything under the sun.

wonder how far his religion leans? I mean, does he know that Dungy supported an anti-gay group earlier this year? Does he support that action?

http://www.commonplacebook.com/current_events/glbt_issues/tony_dungy_to_s.shtm

 

[SVN]

I didn't know about BB's involvement with these issues. Kudos to him.

well..have you read the piece when he spent the night in a police car and went to prison and worked with prisoners on plays and football ? thats an even more impressive piece

 

[FibSeq13478]

well..have you read the piece when he spent the night in a police car and went to prison and worked with prisoners on plays and football ? thats an even more impressive piece

Shshsh...., Can you guys not talk too much about this, please. I am afraid Yahoo!Sports is going to pounce on this with the headline "Belichik to Prison?" on their main page. :scared:

 

[BradyManny]

Someone forward this quote to Easterc0ck.

Co-sign this idea.

 

[Wildo7]

I love Jim Brown, and this makes me love BB even more thank you.

 

[SVN]

http://www.allthingsbillbelichick.com/articles/2002/realbill.htm

His work with Brown, whose Amer-I-Can program for social change has been active since 1988, is proof of that.

"I'd visited several prisons before I went with Jim," Belichick said. "When I was with the Giants in the mid-'80s, I went to Sing-Sing. Each of the cell blocks had their own football team, and I went and talked football with them. Really, I didn't know what to expect, but what I found was people that were very personable, very communicative, people who looked you in the eye and that you were very trusting of. It wasn't like you saw some guy who had 20 tattoos on his arm and no teeth. You feel a real trust for them in a short period of time.

"Anyway, there were maybe 50 guys I developed relationships with," he added. "I went to the warden and said, 'What did this guy do?' So he pulls out a rap sheet with 50 convictions. Armed robbery, aggravated assault, assault and battery. And if a guy's been convicted of that many, how many has he done? These guys are professional criminals. That is their job and they're good at it."

Belichick's work with Amer-I-Can is ongoing. At one point in the conversation, he stops and asks, "Are you familiar with the program? Do you know what they do?" His tone signals there's passion there, a commitment to the cause.

In addition to prison and inner-city visits, Belichick has ridden with undercover DEA agents in Newark, N.J. He's taken the extra steps to see what urban life is like, and it's helped sociologically as an American and professionally as a coach in the NFL.

"Let's face it, 80 percent of the players (at the annual combine in Indianapolis) are from one-parent families," he pointed out. "I grew up in a two-parent family. I don't have a lot in common with a lot of them. There's a race issue, a family issue, an economic issue. A lot of these guys are from poverty-level families, and it helps to understand what they're going through and coming from. I haven't lived it, so it's not like I know it, but it gives you a little bit of an appreciation for what they're going through."

Riding shotgun with DEA agents was eye-opening.

"Enlightening?" said Belichick, who grew up in Annapolis, Md., went to Phillips Academy and then Wesleyan. "I could go on for hours. We'd drive up to a housing project in an unmarked car, a piece of crap that you probably couldn't sell for $50. There were about 20 guys sitting up there on a wall and the car stops and they scatter. How did they know it was DEA? They just know. (I wanted to see) what was going on in urban America and in the projects. Some of our guys are from there, and when you go out and start looking at the draft, you hear, 'This guy is from the project, that guy is from the projects.' I was lucky enough not to grow up that way, but it was interesting for me to see what it was like to live there."

 

[pheenix11]

BB for President!

 

[sieglo]

""I went to the warden and said, 'What did this guy do?' So he pulls out a rap sheet with 50 convictions. Armed robbery, aggravated assault, assault and battery. And if a guy's been convicted of that many, how many has he done? These guys are professional criminals. That is their job and they're good at it."

"These guys are good at what they do. They've been convicted 50 times but that record could be a lot better if a couple plays had gone their way. They're a smart team that can make plays in all phases of criminal life...."

 

[Gwedd]

Fellers,

Reminds me of the phrase:

"Not by his words, but by his deeds shall ye know him".

Says a lot about the good man coach B is. He doesn't ask for anything for himself, but works for others. Yeah, he's not a saint. He plays to win, and will push the envelope. But he certainly knows what it's like to be on the bottom rung, and from this article, he's happy to help others with a hand up, rather than a hand out.

Good for him

Respects,
2B1ASK1

 

[carolinatony]

The Media has a Vendetta against BB so they would mention anything good that he does.
I understand why more and more players won't talk to the media.