http://www.boston.com/sports/baseba.../03/12/belichick_enjoys_his_time_on_new_turf/
Belichick enjoys his time on new turf
By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff | March 12, 2007
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- He sat beside Terry Francona in the Red Sox dugout, wearing shorts, not a hoodie.And when Bill Belichick wasn't there, Scott Pioli, the Patriots' vice president of player personnel, slid onto the bench occupied earlier this week by Keith Olbermann, the MSNBC anchorman.
Can anyone tell it's spring training?
"It was fun," Francona said of his time visiting with the coach of the Patriots, who just a couple of days earlier dropped in on Joe Torre and the Yankees as he makes the rounds of a few camps.
"We talked about the culture of the game, which is interesting. Just the different culture. They're 16 games. We're every day. We talked about sending guys down, cuts, that type of stuff. It was interesting. Spring training is relaxed, and he's relaxed. It was fun. He came and sat for about three innings and we BS'd around."
Francona said this was the first time he'd spoken at any length with Belichick, who is a big fan of Tony La Russa. During the postseason last year, Belichick showed up at a Patriots news conference wearing a Cardinals jersey. He'd spent a couple of days last spring with La Russa, and they'd hit it off. But he also called himself a Francona fan at that news conference.
Francona and Pioli have a friendship stemming in part from their mutual friendship with Indians general manager Mark Shapiro. "I think the world of him," Francona said of Pioli, who accompanied the manager to a back diamond to watch Jon Lester throw a simulated game yesterday morning.
"He told me, 'You have no idea how relaxing this is for me,' " Francona said of Pioli.
Jonathan Papelbon said he would have liked to have had a chance to talk with Belichick. "But [Curt ] Schilling and Wake [Tim Wakefield] had him for most of the time," Papelbon said in mock complaint.
Kevin Youkilis also spent some time chatting with Belichick, who, it can be reliably reported, did not ask Wily Mo Peña if he'd prefer playing outside linebacker for the three-time Super Bowl champions.
