Belichick reflects on special bond with his mother: 'We watched hundreds of games together' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It's a very emotional time for New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. His mother, Jeannette, died earlier this week at age 98.
Belichick, during his video press conference Thursday morning, spoke about his mother and the special bond he shared with his parents.
“Everybody has a certain relationship with their mom and dad, but as an only child, I was especially close to my parents,” Belichick said. “My mom and I spent a lot of time together. She was a great woman and I certainly learned pretty much everything from my parents. And then, with her love that she gave to her grandkids — to Amanda, Steve and Brian — was ultra special to me as well. I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and condolences. She had almost 99 years, so a very long and happy life. So she will be with my dad now.”
Belichick's father, Steve, was often away on weekends doing scouting for Navy's football team, and that meant Bill would spend a lot of time watching games with his mom.
“Yeah, well, she was a very unselfish person and sacrificed a lot for her family,” Belichick said. “And so of course me personally and I appreciate and love her for that, and many other things. But my dad was away a lot on scouting trips, and so I always kind of grew up with her on the weekends, on football weekends at home. So we watched hundreds of games together, whether it was Navy games or listen to them on the radio or watch other games that were on TV and so forth when my dad was away on Friday night, Saturday and, sometimes Sunday morning, depending on how far he had to travel for the games that he was scouting. So football season for me as a kid was, my dad getting home late during the week, and my mom on the weekends to watch football games. And so that was, we became very close and shared those experiences together.”
The Patriots will soon travel to Seattle for their Week 2 game against the Seahawks on Sunday night. Belichick took time Thursday to thank Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and others around the league for sending their condolences.
U.S. & World
“I want to thank everyone who’s reached out and expressed their sympathy and condolences for my mom,” Belichick said to start Thursday’s video conference call. “Especially Pete (Carroll) had some really great words and John Harbaugh, many others that I know, friends, football people and honestly, many people that I’ve never met or contacted before. So, I do really appreciate the support there."
