The New England Patriots don’t play Saturday, but it still is one of Bill Belichick’s favorite days of the year.
That’s because Saturday marks the 117th installment of the Army vs. Navy football game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. There are few things Belichick loves more than football — except for perhaps the U.S. Naval Academy, where his father, Steve, was an assistant coach and where a young Bill first developed his passion for the game by hanging around the Midshipmen.
Combine those two things, and Belichick is in heaven. For proof, here’s a clip from CBS’ pregame interview with Belichick and former Navy star running back Joe Bellino. Host Lesley Visser hands Belichick a whiteboard and asks him to design a play that Bellino would have run at Navy, where the Massachusetts native played from 1958 to 1960.
Belichick didn’t skip a beat.
Bill Belichick can diagram a 58-year-old play using only his memory.
His Navy football fandom runs THAT deep. https://t.co/m1URE31Sp0
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) December 10, 2016
The only thing greater than Belichick diagramming “27 F Trap” from memory 58 years later might be the sheer delight he takes in doing so.
Find someone to look at you the way Belichick looks at football plays from the late 1950s pic.twitter.com/CJAOfcsH2k
— Frank Mel Clark (@NdubGazette) December 10, 2016
Another awesome moment: At the end of the clip, Visser asks Belichick if the seemingly archaic play would work in today’s changed NFL. His response?
“Yeah, football is football.”
It’s simple: Belichick’s love affair with football and the Navy knows no bounds.
Click for Belichick’s reflection on Pearl Harbor’s 75th anniversary >>
Thumbnail photo via Jason Bridge/USA TODAY Sports Images
