He shook Coughlin’s hand before walking off the field. Remember that the final play ended, everyone poured onto the field and the two coaches met at midfield. It was several minutes before the officials cleared the field and forced the pointless last snap, by which time Belichick and most of the Patriots were already in the locker room.
The first Mangini snub was week 1 in 2007. Mangini then became the little bitch he is by running to the league to tattle on Belichick taping signals. The original bad blood between them – and the reason Belichick refused to shake his hand in the first place – was a tampering accusation.
I call BS on this. I was a FAN (not a die-hard, rabid fan, but I usually rooted for them against most other teams) until all that stuff happened. I would probably still have liked them fine if they’d acted the least bit repentant instead of having the “f*** off and die” approach they took when–understandably–their integrity was called into question.
It weren’t no sour grapes on MY part, it were sour attitudes on THEIRS.
As for the hand-shaking thing–well I’ve never seen an outright refusal to do it, but boy, I’ve sure seen it done with the most begrudging manner Belichick could muster. (Hating to lose is no excuse, IMO. I don’t care if he doesn’t like to lose–he’s not special because he feels that way. I’ve never yet seen one coach or team going, “Whoopee, we lost!” and yukking it up. But as adults, most can put aside–for a few moments anyway–the disappointment and irritation at losing for the sake of sportsmanship.)
He also broke his contract to coach the Jets to go to New England. A number of coaches have done so but his leaving was particularly surreal. Also gave a whining interview about how he might have to clip coupons after getting $1 million bonus the previous year to stay as his assistant. Plus he is a real controlling personality.
I’m sorry, but your explanation doesn’t ring true to me.
How should the Patriots have responded? “We’re terribly sorry that we were in technical violation by having our camera in the wrong place, instead of taping from the press box where it would have been completely legal, and we understand that the fact that many other teams are also doing this in no way excuses it. Clearly having a camera in the wrong location is an egregious enough violation that we feel the only option is to retroactively forfeit all of our games for the last five years, and mail checks to any fans who cheered for the team. And, I Belichek, personally acknowledge that not pasting on a fake smile when meeting the opposing coach after a game is a terrible offense to the fans, far worse than for instance giving the entire stadium the bird from the owners box, and encourage all morally-thinking people to cheer against me from now on, and support such class acts as Jerry Jones, Terrel Owens, every Colts reciever that pops up waving his hand asking for a PI flag after every incompletion, any college football team in the state of Florida, and others.”
I actually suspect the hate is partially because he doesn’t brag/whine/complain – I think because it only underscores that he’s so successful that he doesn’t need to brag. I also suspect the League dislikes the Patriots because Kraft committed the unpardonable sin of demonstrating that an NFL team could be successful without extorting the city to pay for a new stadium.