How to stop hating Bill Belichick and get on with your life

Hall of Fame safety and Green Bay Packers legend LeRoy Butler spoke to Fox News Digital about a potential landing spot for Bill Belichick.

Four years ago, when my father was in his last weeks due to kidney failure, I arranged for an ambulance to take him from the hospital near his home on Long Island, New York, to a care facility near our home in Boston. When he arrived, I asked him if he knew where he was. 

He looked a little confused and asked, "Connecticut?" 

"Boston," I explained. 

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Unlike me, my father was an ardent New York sports fan. His love centered on his treasured New York Jets. Dad processed the information about his new residence, and finally snarled a single word. 

Tom Brady #12 talks to head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at Gillette Stadium on November 24, 2019, in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

"Belichick!" 

My father, like all Jets fans, like all Cleveland Browns fans, and like countless fans across the land, despised Bill Belichick. I understood. Of course, we in New England loved the scowling coach in the cut-off hoodie. He turned a sports wasteland into Titletown, alongside a quarterback you may have heard of. Guy named Tom Brady. 

And now the Belichick era in New England ends not with a bang but a whimpering loss to my father’s beloved Jets. 

Sports fans know the broad outlines of Belichick’s story. Two rings won with the New York Giants as their defensive coordinator. His disastrous head coaching stint in Cleveland, where he cut loose the beloved quarterback Bernie Kosar.  

And then resurrection in the form of six