It’s easy to view Patriots coach Bill Belichick as a football automaton, a man so focused on his job that saying “We’re on to Cincinnati” isn’t a tactic, it’s a way of life.
But in a pair of acts yesterday, Belichick established himself as a man with an emotional side as well.
Via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald, Belichick made his own subtle personal statement yesterday, wearing an Armenian flag pin on his label.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, when 1.5 million of their people were killed by the Ottoman Turks during World War I.
Belichick has a number of Armenian friends, and the pin was described as a personal statement rather than political.
He also took a busload of players to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center before their visit to the White House. The team began doing that after winning Super Bowl XXXVI.
“The first year we did this, we went over to Walter Reed and started a tradition that we’ve continued and we had a chance to do it this year,” owner Robert Kraft said. “We’ve realized what a great country this is and how thankful we are to be here. We celebrate sports today, but we also celebrate what’s great about America, being at that hospital and seeing those men.”
Belichick has made similar trips before, taking his team to Naval Medical Center in San Diego in December to see wounded veterans.
So as good as they are at football, it’s a solid reminder for all of them and all of us that there are actual heroes out there as well.