Mr. Congeniality

Bill Belichik as Genius.

Wait, lemme pick myself back up, rearrange my clothes, brush the time-space-continuum-breaks outa my hair.....

Belichik. Genius. He of the "We must release the incredibly popular Bernie Kosar because of diminishing skills" pronouncement (said skills, of course, still being present enough for Bernie to help lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl win)....he of the "I can only go by what I see".....

...he of the 3 rings.

That's the fact that stuck in my craw. At first. Three rings. I'm, um, no longer young....and in my more-than-youthful years, I've celebrated how many rings? Oh, yeah. Zero.

Yet fate would grant the "Genius" moniker on ol' Bill? I've even heard (more than once) the phrase "coaches from the Belichik Tree", as if his sap was somehow ambrosia. I really hated him in Cleveland, and really wanted to drink the Kool-aid when he won in New England.

But here's the thing: yes, I still hate what he did when he was here ...but...people change. He still may not be exactly the guy I want to go see that "Ya-Ya Sisterhood" movie with, but people do change, and (it turns out) he's a good coach. He actually does know what he's doing.

For those here in Cleveland, though, who believe we let a(nother) good one go, take heart in this: He didn't know what he was doing when he was here. He didn't figure it out until he was fired....and he's hard-headed enough that he (probably) woulda never figured it out until he got fired.

So (and I'm sure this will give him that sorely-missed sleep of serenity) I forgive him.