Bill Belichick is the master of never getting ahead of himself and imbuing that same philosophy on his players.
However, every once in a while the New England Patriots head coach throws caution to the wind.
During an appearance Saturday on WEEI’s “Extra Sauce” program, Boston Celtics CEO Wyc Grousbeck told an awesome story about Belichick from the 2008 NBA Finals. With the Celtics leading the Los Angeles Lakers by 20 at halftime of Game 6 at TD Garden, Grousbeck found himself in the same arena club as Belichick.
“I go Bill, ‘What do you think?’ and I was thinking he would calm me down because we could have won the championship that night, or not if we blew it,” Grousbeck said, as transcribed by WEEI’s Ryan Hannable. “If anyone is going to give you the party line, ‘One play at a time, do your job’ it’s going to be Bill. I looked to him for that and I said, ‘Bill, what do you think?’ He goes, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re the bleeping world champions. You can celebrate right now.’ I was like, ‘I just got jinxed by Bill Belichick.’
“He bought a round of tequila shots for the entire bar, the entire club and we beat them by 30. I love Bill.”
Since taking over as head coach of the Patriots, Belichick never has enjoyed such a care-free mentality during a Super Bowl. Despite orchestrating arguably the greatest dynasty in sports history, Belichick has yet to lead New England to a blowout victory in the Big Game.
