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Well, that snuck on me. BB's 70 now, Marv Levy retired at 72... and that was in '97, a few years after the Bill's Runner Up Dynasty of the early 90s.
ON THE OTHER HAND... back in the day, Ronald Reagan (who legit slept through most of his reign) was 70 when first elected POTUS, and everybody's head exploded at a few things, one being how dang old he was. Both our last 2 presidents have been older, and that includes the most recent one, who actually was the choice of the majority of voters. Biden is 80 now.
So the point isn't to trigger anybody w politics, it's that functioning into old age is more doable now for those who succeed in middle age. I think a large part of it is that stuff that used to straight up kill you can now be managed... but half of it is it's no longer okay to shrug, say "too old," and then move on. I mean, when my dad was my age, he had a heart issue different from my quite ordinary one. My quite ordinary one is, to date, resolved by a pretty much painless stent procedure, and subsequent treatment with statins. But here's the thing, none of that even existed in his time. These things might have bought him more time, I don't know. They might now cure what killed him, I don't know. But I do know that people with plain old cardiac artery disease now remain alert and functional and alive... just an example.
Marv Levy really showed his age too. Back then there were jokes about how old he was... you'll notice most people aren't really doing that with BB, nationally at least (I am sure some local sports jocks do, but generally when you say "Bill Belichick" the reaction isn't AARP, it's W.)
So I guess that interestingly enough, this is exactly where his career begins to echo Brady's. He can either try to coach another 5 years, or say "better a year early than a year late." I am sure he doesn't think he sucks yet.
Time for the Prevagen jellyfish ice cream.
