Bill Belichick: 'being part of New England sports is pretty special'
Bill Belichick and his girlfriend, Linda Holliday at Game Five of the 2010 NBA Finals. Getty Images. |
Bill Belichick has been the head coach of the New England Patriots for the last 16 years, and has been at the center of four of Boston's nine major pro sports championships since 2000. When he's not leading the Patriots to victory, he can sometimes be found at TD Garden supporting the Celtics and Bruins, or at Fenway Park cheering on the Red Sox.
Belichick was at the 2016 Salesforce World Tour event last night and was part of the keynote address. He was asked how he feels about being part of the Boston sports scene.
ESPN:
“It’s pretty special. I grew up in Maryland but went to school here in Andover and four years at Wesleyan in Connecticut. So I’m pretty familiar with this area. I spent a lot of summers on Nantucket, even when I was with other teams, other organizations. So I really feel like it’s home,” he said.
“When you walk through Logan Airport, you see all the banners there; Celtics banners up until recently. And then recently you kind of got one from everybody, or more than one. It’s an awesome feeling, great pride. Of course, the support that Boston fans give our teams is unbelievable, not just the Patriots. Certainly we feel like we have that 12th man in the stadium every time we play at home, but going to the Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics games, it’s just an awesome support that this community gives the pro sports teams.
“I have a good relationship with all those coaches. I talk to Claude [Julien], I talk to Brad [Stevens] on a regular basis, and we wish them well here as they come to the home stretch in their seasons. It’s a great community, [with] great support for our sports teams. We want to make our fans proud of what we do. We work hard at that literally every day, every year.”
Belichick and Claude Julien's relationship is very well documented. The two were last seen skating together at Gillette Stadium prior to the Winter Classic. Belichick also had very good relationships with Doc Rivers when he coached the Celtics, as well Terry Francona when he managed the Red Sox.
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