TL's Sunday Sports Notes | Jan 14, 2024

January 14, 2024

By TERRY LYONS

FOXBOROUGH – Sunrise, sunset. Cold running water, direct from your home faucet. The unconditional love of a puppy. The U.S. Mail. The dial tone (remember those?).

What are the things we count on but always take for granted?

For two dozen years, at 1:00pm or 4:00pm on an NFL Football Sunday (or Sunday Night, Monday Night or Thursday night), we could count on seeing Bill Belichick run out to a football field to coach the New England Patriots.

During the week, leading up to the game, we could count of Belichick to say nothing about his game plan. He’d complement the opposing team and say absolutely nothing else. He sometimes answered media questions with one word or even one syllable answers.

It’s something we could count on.

Patented answers to basic, softball questions: “Good, solid contributions from the players – all three phases of the game.”

On an excellent contribution by any one player: “Well, some good things and again, a lot of things we can improve on.”

We heard it week-after-week, year-after-year for 24 years. In the twenty-four years of postgame press conferences and Monday morning reviews, Belichick gave up nothing. Often expressionless, he dead-panned one short answer after another. Print, radio, TV all got the same – nothing.

Then, an appearance on an NFL at 100 special or a guest appearance for ESPN’s College Game Day before the Army vs. Navy game, and Belichick would turn into a quote machine. He’d tell stories, provide anecdotes, remember everything from his childhood to his first coaching job to yesterday afternoon – as long as it wasn’t about the New England Patriots.

He’d delve deeply into the history of the NFL, the great coaches, the Top 100 players of all-time. All tremendous, meaningful commentary. But, a question about the Patriots’ recent loss?

“It’s on to Cincinnati.”

After 333 wins, 31 postseason wins and six Super Bowl titles, he’s gone – “a mutual decision,” said team guidance counselor and franchise owner Robert Kraft. Yes, he’s gone – like the lyrics in a Hall and Oates song. He’s gone, surely to coach somewhere else and set the NFL’s all-time record for coaching wins. He’s gone, but he’s only 27 NFL wins away from passing the great Don Shula as the winningest coach the game has ever seen.

In a town where the Celtics’ Red Auerbach was the greatest coach of all-time, Boston might have to commission a statue of Belichick to sit right down on the bench with Red.

There are fond memories, of course. Belichick with Tom Brady. Belichick dressed up as a pirate to go roller skating at a Halloween Party at the request of Randy Moss. Belichick focused for the win even though the NFC’s Atlanta Falcons led Super Bowl LI, 28-3, midway through the third quarter.

But, just like the 6:00am train from South Station, Belichick was there, on time, ready to “Do His Job,” as he encouraged his every player to do the same.

Off the field, he’s delightful. A summertime gathering for the Bill Belichick Foundation would produce stories, smiles and hundreds of photos with the fans. At the press conference (with no Q&A), Belichick’s voice broke when he paid tribute to the fans. Somehow, he made it through speaking about the organization, the team owners, the coaches, the players and he even named his “right hand man,” Berj Najarian with a voice as solid as his successor, Jerod Mayo. But, the fans … it was the thought of the fans that made the toughest guy in pro football crack, for just a second.

It revealed one thing about a guy who would do anything for his players, his coaches, his staff. It revealed he doesn’t coach for the money or the fame. He’s got enough of both. It revealed he does what he does, he does his job and asks others to do their job all for the benefit of the fans of the New England Patriots.

The fans might count on him to be there for a 1:00pm game next Fall, but he’ll be on the other sideline and he’ll be coaching for the fans of another team.

It will be the New England Patriots’ biggest loss in franchise history. They let the greatest coach in all of sports walk out the door in the stupidest “mutual decision” in the history of American sports.

WINNINGEST COACHES IN NFL HISTORY

(Name, Regular Season Victories)

Don Shula – 328
George Hallas – 318
Bill Belichick – 302
Andy Reid – 258
Tom Landry – 250
Curly Lambeau – 226
Marty Schottenheimer – 200
Chuck Noll – 193
Dan Reeves – 190
Chuck Knox – 186

Here’s what “Seat Club” looked like for this week’s CFB Playoff Championship

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: You’ve heard of Sam’s Club, Lions Club, Lending Club, or Boys & Girls Clubs. Get ready for the “Seat Club.” Sports industry veteran and serial entrepreneur Cole Rubin recently launched “Seat Club,” a new marketplace designed to help consumers avoid all hidden fees and markups when purchasing tickets for live events at the lowest possible price on the secondary market. The marketplace, which sells tickets to its members at its cost without any markups or fees, officially launched this week and can be found at https://seatclub.com

“The biggest complaint consumers have in the event space, are fees and markups,” said Rubin. “Fees and markups make the ticket buying process frustrating and more expensive than necessary, so we built Seat Club as the pathway to solve these problems.

“We have spent a great deal of time talking to fans and event producers, and can now deliver this unique value proposition, where our members know they are getting the best pricing, and will save countless hours comparing ticket prices online. The price you see listed on our platform is the price you pay, with no fees added on later in the checkout process.

“There are no hidden markups, unlike other platforms who claim they don’t charge fees, but bake profits into the listed cost of tickets. Seat Club’s pricing may be as much as 35% less than competitors for the same exact tickets, which is significant, especially on high profile events. We believe in transparency, and our sole source of revenue comes from our membership fee,” added Rubin.

Seat Club’s $99/year membership includes:

Access to the same ticket inventory as the top secondary sites
No fees or markups, members buy tickets AT OUR COST
There is no cap of the number of tickets that can be purchased. Subscribers are entitled to unlimited ticket purchases annually.
Fan Protect Guarantee on tickets purchased (24/7 support staff)

(At this point in time, WWYI is not in position to vouch for Seat Club but we’ll check it out for the Celtics, Bruins, College Hoops, the NY Rangers/Islanders and NY Knicks and let you know in the near future).

TIDBITS: Every four years, we’re lucky enough to drop one of the greatest one-liners of all-time into the column. The scenario was a mid-January NBA on NBC game and the legendary play by play man, Marv Albert, opened the broadcast with Mike “The Czar of the Telestrator” Fratello. After the opening “scene setter,” Marv threw oit to NBA courtside reporter extraordinaire, Ahmad Rashad, with the following introduction: “Now it’s down to Ahmad Rashad, the man who thinks the Iowa Caucus is a CBA team.” … Of course, the line is dated as the CBA (Continental Basketball Association) was the predecessor of the NBA D-League which was the predecessor of the current NBA G-League. … Not to make light of such a potentially dangerous situation, but I think I saw the Houthis at CBGBs in 1980 … The New England Patriots wasted no time in naming Jerod Mayo as the club’s new head coach. What about the rest of the NFL as it stands on January 12? … Does former Seattle head coach Pete Carroll head for the opening at NCAA No. 2 Washington? Or, does he toss his name into one of the growing number of NFL head coaching jobs? … Wouldn’t the dream be for Bill Belichick, Carroll and recently retired Alabama Coach Nick Saban to all hook-up and share the helm as scouts, college draft prep, training camp, and then coaching together as one? … Wouldn’t Saban be the very best at drafting players from all the SEC schools?

That said, SportsBetting.ag provided a listing of predictions for the landing places for all the revolving NFL coaches. Here it is: