I hate that politics has permeated every aspect of American life - including sports, However, I completely understand why Belichick acted the way he did.
There's nothing the Patriots dislike more than either giving opponents bulletin board material or turnovers especially unforced errors. To accept the Medal of Freedom in this charged political atmosphere would have been detrimental to the team. Like it or not many free agents would have considered a Belichick /Trump relationship a reason not to sign with New England this coming off-season. And other teams would have played up that angle too in their attempts to win over those same free agents. Accepting the Medal at this time would have been an unforced error.
Belichick was put into a bit of a "damned if you do - damned if you don't" situation but has seemingly made the best of it.
The motto in New England is "Do your job!" And this week part of Bill Belichick's job was to decline the Medal of Freedom.
No I think this was the right move.
ReplyDeleteWhen Robert Kraft was asked to denounce his friend Donald Trump - he pointed out that Trump was the only friend to call him every week after the passing of Kraft's wife. And Belichick wrote Trump a letter of support that Trump read to a big NH crowd prior to the 2016 NH primary. Trump knows where they stand.
And that should be enough.
If you can't accept an award because of the hands that award it, then what value is there in the award? What value is friendship if it is not expressed in times of distress?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Belichick was in contact with the President before he made his announcement.
ReplyDeleteI'm more ticked off at Kraft and Brady accepting Lombardi trophies from Goodell after deflategate without telling Roger to fuck off.