Believe it or not, Bill Belichick and the 2011 Red Sox have a lot in common. Belichick coaches a sport where you try to smash people and the Red Sox play a sport where you try to smash the ball, but they all know a great deal about disappointment. In 2008, the Patriots suffered arguably the most disappointing loss in professional sports history. Last month, they failed to get revenge. A season ago, Boston went through arguably the worst collapse in professional sports history, posting a 7-20 record over the final month of a season in which they were a consensus World Series favorite.
On Tuesday before their spring training game against the Blue Jays, Belichick paid the Sox a visit. The three-time Super Bowl winner offered some valuable advice on how to turn the page and start a new year.
“It was nice,” Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said according to NESN.com. “He’s a good baseball fan. He talked to us guys. I think he used a little reference of when things don’t go right, you can turn the page. A new year is a new year. Make it the best you can make it. He follows our team. It’s not just like he dropped out from Mars and wanted to say hey, how you doing. He kind of gets it.”
As far as suffering letdowns goes, he more than “kind of” gets it. Belichick knows all there is to know about dealing with the pressures of the Boston media while trying to fulfill the astronomical expectations that New England fans carry. While it was a nice gesture from the Patriots’ coach and Daniel Bard described it as a “pump up” ordeal, the Red Sox are already screwed if they needed additional motivation this year after what transpired last season.
