Happy Birthday, Coach!

Believe it or not, I'm not much of a birthday guy. For me, the best birthdays simply come and go with little to no fanfare, and those closest to me know that I prefer to spend the day just doing my thing and not making a big deal out of it. Some people take birthdays to a whole other level and see it as a great reason to get together with friends and celebrate something fun, and to those people I say more power to you. But the way I see it, all I really did on my birthday was cause my mother a ton of pain and start steadily draining my father's bank account - two activities that I still practice to this day. So for that and several other reasons, I'm just not that into birthdays.

However, that has never stopped me from celebrating the birthdays of people or events that really matter. I'll give Jesus a virtual high-five every Christmas. You're damn right I get after it on the 4th of July. Back when Washington's birthday was it's own separate holiday, I always took a moment to salute the general. And every April 16th, I bow my head and say a hearty prayer of thanks to the football gods for gracing my life with Bill Belichick.

62 years ago today, William Stephen "Bill" Belichick was born, son to proud parents Jeanette and Steve, the latter of whom was something of a football legend already. Growing up completely immersed in the sport, it's no surprise that Belichick has gone on to become one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and the man after which almost every other coach in the league models himself. When all is said and done and they finally get rid of those lame presidents on Mount Rushmore and replace them with NFL Head Coaches, Bill Belichick's unsmiling mug will be right up there with the best of them and you won't find many people who argue otherwise.

And if Belichick's birth alone isn't enough reason to get after it today, we Patriots fans have another reason to get good and hydrated in celebration of our good fortune. Exactly 14 years ago today, Coach Belichick was partying it up  exactly the way he wanted to -  by working the 2000 NFL Draft Board like a man possessed - and decided to take a flyer with pick number 199 on some skinny Michigan quarterback named Tom Brady. Now I don't know coach as well as I'd like to - he's really ramped up his home security system and I don't think any of my calls have been going through - but I'd like to think that Tommy B represents one of the better birthday gifts that he has ever gotten.

So happy birthday, coach. And happy draft day, Tom. Couldn't be more fitting that the birth of a legend and the birth of a dynasty happened on the same day, right around a time where America will forever turn to Boston as a symbol of strength, patriotism, and mental fortitude.