Bill Belichick shows no love for Patriots owner Robert Kraft in new book, and other thoughts
As an author of many books, I'd estimate this one's about 80,000 words.
Two words not in the book: Robert Kraft.
OK, this is somewhat predictable, I guess. The obvious snub is yet another demonstration that things often end badly here on the Boston sports scene.
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Kraft and Bill Parcells have been feuding since the Tuna took a hike after the 1996 season and it took a full 30 years for
It was the same with Nomar Garciaparra and Curt Schilling after their glory days with the Red Sox were over. Rick Pitino with the Celtics. Chuck Fairbanks and the Patriots. Terry Francona and the Fenway Sports Group. And something tells me we won't see
The Belichick-Kraft feud is real.
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Remember the phony moments at Gillette when the owner and the coach officially parted ways.
'For me this is a day of gratitude and celebration,' Belichick said.
It was parsed out as an amicable split, a mutual parting of the ways.
Baloney. The strained relationship grew fully toxic in its later years and everything we've witnessed since the day. Bill was politely fired is evidence that the dislike is real. Somewhere, in the middle of all that winning, it became about who gets the credit and who gets the blame, and fans are left to slice up their credit/blame pie accordingly.
Kraft's big salvo came with the hideous, 10-part 'Dynasty' documentary that aired at this time last year. While Kraft denied having editorial control, the final credit of every episode featured, 'Copyright Kraft Dynasty LLC,' and the content was a clear message that the Patriots somehow did all that winning despite their misguided head coach. Then it came out that Kraft encouraged his pal, Falcons owner Arthur Blank, not to hire Belichick as head coach.
Bill's book is Bill's answer. Complete dismissal. Like Bogey's response to Peter Lorre in 'Casablanca' when Lorre says, 'You despise me, don't you?' 'If I gave you any thought I probably would.'
Bill's lone reference to Kraft in this book appears to be this:
'Somewhere, someone came up with the phrase, 'The Patriot Way.' I think they made some money off it. Good for them. Here's something you should know: The Patriot Way does not exist.'
There you go.
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Bill's exhaustive 'Acknowledgements' section features a nice shout-out to wingman Berj Najarian, plus, 'Thank you to my idea mill and creative muse, Jordon Hudson,' but no mention of Robert K. Kraft. There are 363 people thanked, including Malcolm Butler. Incredibly, Butler's name is not mentioned in the chapter devoted to 'Mistakes.'
The book goes on sale May 6.
Nowhere in Bill Belichick's new book does the former Patriots coach mention Robert Kraft.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
⋅ Quiz: 1. Name the last five MLB players to bat .370 or higher in a season; 2. Name six Hall of Famers inducted since 2000 who played at least five seasons with the White Sox (answers below).
⋅ Sorry Julian Edelman and Logan Mankins fans. Those two will have their moments, but the vote's got to be for Adam Vinatieri for the Patriots Hall of Fame. Bill Parcells finally goes into the Kraft Hall, and he should have his kicker alongside.
⋅ There's an end in sight! Only two more weeks of listening to sports talk radio dwelling on what the Patriots are going to do with the No. 4 pick in the NFL Draft.
⋅ Watching the wannabe Knicks vs. the Celtics has become comical. They finally got the Celts into a close game Tuesday in New York — overtime — and still couldn't get the job done. We all think it's going to be Celtics-Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, but the Knicks had better hope they don't see the Pistons in Round 1.
⋅ The Red Sox do their fans a disservice with the handling of
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⋅ Speaking of poor treatment for fans, how'd you like to be a Celtics fan in Orlando and pay big cash for Wednesday night's G-League farce at Kia Center?
⋅ Think the rest of America has had enough documentaries about our teams. In less than 14 months, we've had
⋅ Classy to the finish, we learned this past week that
⋅ Big congrats to
⋅ Embarrassed to admit that I did not know
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Sarah Strong (right), daughter of Celtics executive Allison Feaster, had 24 points and 15 rebounds in UConn's national championship game victory over South Carolina.⋅ Love the UConn champs, but still have a quarrel with Geno Auriemma for keeping his starters in the
⋅ Duke freshman big man Khaman Maluach no doubt had a lot on his mind going into last Saturday's stunning semifinal loss to Houston. Maluach is from South Sudan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on social media last Saturday that the US is taking action to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders.
⋅ Told you last week about Wade Boggs offending teammate Roger Clemens in 1992 by asking Fenway's official scorer to change a Boggs error to a hit, which resulted in some extra earned runs for Clemens. New information reveals that Sox pitcher Danny Darwin, a proud Texas righthander like Clemens, was offended by Boggs's move and told the future Hall of Famer — who was scheduled to be a free agent after '92 — that he would take his revenge when he faced Boggs in another uniform in 1993. Darwin was set to face Boggs, who signed with the Yankees, in Yankee Stadium the following June, but Boggs sat out with an injury and was replaced by the immortal Dave Silvestri. When they faced one another later that season, Boggs went 0 for 2 with a walk against Darwin. He hit three singles in three at-bats off Darwin later in his career but was not hit by a pitch after the '92 incident. Clemens faced Boggs 33 times after 1992, walking him 10 times, but never hitting him. Boggs batted .261 with three homers and three RBIs off the Rocket between 1993-99.
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⋅ Overrated ball hog Carmelo Anthony, a top-10, all-time NBA scorer, is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Not bad for a guy who played for
⋅ A horse named 'Journalism' won the Santa Anita Derby last weekend and is the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby next month. Journalism is 4-0-1 in five starts and takes a four-race winning streak to Churchill Downs. Hardly sounds like an enemy of the people.
⋅ Now would be a good time to pre-order Jane Leavy's 'Make Me Commissioner — I Know What's Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It" (Grand Central Publishing). Leavy is the author of a great trilogy of baseball books on Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, and Babe Ruth. This time she puts her hardball chops to exploring how baseball lost America and how to make it better. The first two pages will hook you for everything that follows, including time spent at Eldredge Park in Orleans, the MIT Sloan Analytics Conference, a deep dive on Driveline, and lots of Dave Roberts, Alex Bregman, and Janet Marie Smith. The book will be in stores in December.
⋅ The great Cedric Maxwell has a new book with co-author Mike Isenberg, 'Banner Year — How Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Brad Stevens Preserved to Lead the Boston Celtics to an Historic 18th Title.'
⋅ Congrats to Phyllis Dumart, widow of Bruins great and Hockey Hall of Famer Woody Dumart. Phyllis lives in Andover, turns 102 April 19, and is believed to be the NHL's oldest-living widow.
⋅ Quiz answers: 1. Larry Walker (.379, 1999), Todd Helton (.372, 2000), Nomar Garciaparra (.372, 2000), Barry Bonds (.370, 2002), and Ichiro Suzuki (.372, 2004). 2. Carlton Fisk, Goose Gossage, Frank Thomas, Tim Raines, Harold Baines, and Minnie Miñoso.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
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