Tom Curran: Inside the head of Bill Belichick

[DeSi_PatzGal]

http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/sit...c032c03RCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextrefresh=1

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/sit...c032c03RCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextrefresh=1

I <3 Bill Belichick.

 

[xmarkd400x]

FTA:

TC: You watched Unitas. You coached against Montana, Marino, Favre and Manning. Can you rank guys or are skills so varied that it's impossible to pick one over the other.
BB: All players have different styles but the name of the game's winning. That’s what every quarterback's real mantra is: to win. Whatever it takes. Play-action. Two-minute. Running. Throwing. Managing the game. Managing the clock. Whatever it is. That’s a big part of the quarterback's job. To manage the game so his team can win. I don’t think stats -- and I respect stats and production -- but in the end the quarterback's job is to manage the game.

TC: Are any of the quarterbacks I mentioned better than Tom Brady?
BB: There’s no quarterback I'd rather have than Tom Brady, let's put it that way.

TC: Past or present?
BB: Past or present.

ten chars

 

[SVN]

i think his answer to the parcells question tells how differently he thinks than most and how much he thinks about these things.

 

[Wildo7]

TC: What's your relationship these days with Bill Parcells?
BB: This isn't a Bill Parcells answer but I think personal relationships are personal relationships. I don't think they need to be public relationships. What's your relationship with your wife? What do you guys fight about? I mean, I think that’s personal. That doesn't have anything to do with Bill just like it doesn’t have anything to do with Don Shula. I respect Don Shula and always have. But there's a personal relationship and a public relationship.

This pretty much sums up what I love about BB and why the media has and always will have nothing but contempt for him. People unwilling to sell their personalities and personal story lines to the media will always be assassinated by them. It's like this forgotten dignity that has been successfully bought from the American public and flushed down the memory hole. It's just so sad that people aren't smart enough to see through that.

 

[sieglo]

Great interview. I liked the answer to the last question. Wonder what that thing is?

 

[bradmahn]

TC: Is there anything about what occurred during the first week of the season with the videotaping that hasn't been said that would make us all see it in a different light?
BB: I'm sure there is.

Any chance you'd fill us in on that, Bill?

 

[ALP]

Any chance you'd fill us in on that, Bill?

huh, prob after this season well find out...all in good time...

 

[psychoPat]

Don't wanna go overboard with this, but
it's a splendid interview in part because
Curran beta-tested his scripted questions on me.
....................................................................(He did NOT, you silly!)

Here's a bit of what i told him:


TC: Best bike you ever owned.
BB: Y'know, I only ever had two bikes. I went from a tricycle, then a little bike and then like a 26-inch bike from like Sears. Unlike kids now who seem like they get a new bike every other year, I had one bike. I had one bike until I outgrew it then I had another bike. And that's it. And that's all anybody had. Once I got to 11, 12, you get the new bike from Sears, cost 50 bucks when that was a big deal and that bike lasted me until probably college. Until it just wore out and we threw it away.

TC: What color?
BB: Red.

PP: I got that red 26-incher from Sears too. But i'm a bit older than Bill, and mine
cost only 42 dollars back then. Same big deal.
But how can anyone just THROW IT AWAY?
I've still got mine.
That wastrel !
(Haven't pedaled it in many a year, though.)

....
TC: Do you like barbecue?
BB: I do.

TC: Favorite BBQ place in the country?
BB: Aww, that's a controversial one. I could say the Outlaw Barbecue place down the street (in Foxborough) and we’ll get more free stuff from them. But, I’m not an expert on this but I’d have to say if I had to go with one I'd probably say Corky's in Memphis.

PP: Bill ain't tried the BadAss Barbeque yet. In Black Canyon City, Arizona ...
just up I-17 from Phoenix.
PARKING LOT sometimes looks so tough, ya don't even wanna get out to eat.

But best of all may be a place whose name i've forgot
on the south side of the highway on the east side of Twentynine Palms, California.
Fabulous meat !
Great troopers there too - from the nearby Marine base.

 

[psychoPat]

TC: I'll cross off the Mangini question.
BB: OK.

 

[363839]

http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/sit...c032c03RCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextrefresh=1

What a great interview. Thanks for the link, DeSi_PatzGal.

I found his last comment on cameragate interesting.

 

[ClevTrev]

Can anyone dispute the fact that Tom Curran is one of the better sports writers in the US today, and his ability to understand how to reach Belichick is far beyond the comprehension of the vast majority of the media today? When every other scribe was dying to know how BB felt about Mangini in light of the news about the Jets' videotaping, the media were stumbling over themselves to figure out a way to query BB about Mangini without having him shut them down.

Here's a perfect example, as Curran's question at Belichick's press conference the other day was a classic:
TC: "Who is your favorite former Cleveland Browns ball boy?"
BB: "That's pretty good Tom, when did you come up with that one? (Mangini was a ball boy when Belichick was the Browns head coach). Probably my son, Stephen. That's probably who it would be. I couldn't put anybody ahead of him. He was young and inexperienced, but you know, I had a soft spot for him there."

Classic! And this is why Curran gets BB, and the rest of the media has no ability to crack the BB veneer to get some great responses.

 

[Patriot Missile]

I would of loved to see what the anser would be to "Do you respect Eric Mangini?"

 

[RayClay]

Can anyone dispute the fact that Tom Curran is one of the better sports writers in the US today, and his ability to understand how to reach Belichick is far beyond the comprehension of the vast majority of the media today? When every other scribe was dying to know how BB felt about Mangini in light of the news about the Jets' videotaping, the media were stumbling over themselves to figure out a way to query BB about Mangini without having him shut them down.

Here's a perfect example, as Curran's question at Belichick's press conference the other day was a classic:
TC: "Who is your favorite former Cleveland Browns ball boy?"
BB: "That's pretty good Tom, when did you come up with that one? (Mangini was a ball boy when Belichick was the Browns head coach). Probably my son, Stephen. That's probably who it would be. I couldn't put anybody ahead of him. He was young and inexperienced, but you know, I had a soft spot for him there."

Classic! And this is why Curran gets BB, and the rest of the media has no ability to crack the BB veneer to get some great responses.

No way. It was Ken Walter.

It certainly wasn't his punting that kept him around for so long.

 

[DarrylS]

Can anyone dispute the fact that Tom Curran is one of the better sports writers in the US today, and his ability to understand how to reach Belichick is far beyond the comprehension of the vast majority of the media today? When every other scribe was dying to know how BB felt about Mangini in light of the news about the Jets' videotaping, the media were stumbling over themselves to figure out a way to query BB about Mangini without having him shut them down.

Here's a perfect example, as Curran's question at Belichick's press conference the other day was a classic:
TC: "Who is your favorite former Cleveland Browns ball boy?"
BB: "That's pretty good Tom, when did you come up with that one? (Mangini was a ball boy when Belichick was the Browns head coach). Probably my son, Stephen. That's probably who it would be. I couldn't put anybody ahead of him. He was young and inexperienced, but you know, I had a soft spot for him there."

Classic! And this is why Curran gets BB, and the rest of the media has no ability to crack the BB veneer to get some great responses.

I agree completely, those of us who are around this man understand him well. But he does not fit the "Pete Carroll or Tony Dungy" mold, so he does not fit.. have felt all along the injury reports, his shabby Adidas outfit and press conferences are only done because he has to comply with some idiotic NFL rules.. he is a rebel at heart.

Tom Curran is the best at getting really good info about BB..

 

[Patjew]

I agree completely, those of us who are around this man understand him well. But he does not fit the "Pete Carroll or Tony Dungy" mold, so he does not fit.. have felt all along the injury reports, his shabby Adidas outfit and press conferences are only done because he has to comply with some idiotic NFL rules.. he is a rebel at heart.

Tom Curran is the best at getting really good info about BB..

Agree as well. I miss having Curran on the Pats beat. He's a smaht guy.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

...his shabby Adidas outfit ..

Isn't it Reebok?

Great interview. But I thought parts of it looked more like a questionnaire.

Hmmm... and BB plays better from the sand than the rough? Maybe I should hire him as my coach...

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Can anyone dispute the fact that Tom Curran is one of the better sports writers in the US today, and his ability to understand how to reach Belichick is far beyond the comprehension of the vast majority of the media today? When every other scribe was dying to know how BB felt about Mangini in light of the news about the Jets' videotaping, the media were stumbling over themselves to figure out a way to query BB about Mangini without having him shut them down.

I thought BB gave Curran a tweak back when Curran asked whether BB asked the hard question when he was a reporter at Navy, and Belichick responded that he just reported the game.

I've thought almost since it happened that Belichick would give a much more enlightening interview about spygate when the year is over. I wonder whether Curran will get the interview.

 

[Sam Malone]

I have never seen Rescue Me,I'll need to check it out now.

 

[RodThePat]

I have never seen Rescue Me,I'll need to check it out now.

Bill himself has appeared on the show.