With the Patriots having the weekend off, the possibilities for activities to keep Bob Kraft's loyal employees occupied on Saturday were endless. While Tom Brady may have hit the beach, Richard Seymour may have gone shopping at the Big and Tall retailer, and Adam Vinatieri probably did a Rotman's Furniture ad, Patriots coach Bill Belichick had other ideas.
Belichick, the unofficial governor of Massachusetts, was on our very own campus watching his Wesleyan Cardinals square up with our Jumbos. I heard around midway through the second quarter that he was at Ellis Oval, so I took the chance to approach him in the visiting bleachers at halftime.
When I asked him if a NESCAC game had the same feel as when he was playing for Wesleyan, he said in that classic my-dog-just-died tone "It's about the same."
He barely looked at me as he said it. I also asked him if Donavan Brown would have gotten a tryout had he returned his long interception unscathed rather than being caught at the one yard line.
"It'd take a little more than that to make the team."
I hounded him: He doesn't like being hounded, and short expressionless answers were in abundance. And I wouldn't have expected nor wanted anything else. Frankly, it would have worried me if he had been candid. All in a day's work for Lord Belichick.
- Tim Whelan
