Report: Bill Belichick is Single Again

I love these answers. Short. Simple. To the point. And still very much revealing about Bill Belichick and what he's all about. 

I've been asked a lot over the years if I think he's close to retiring. That's especially true now since he's getting so close to breaking Don Shula's all time wins record. And my answer has always been the same, without wavering. 

Just watch him. And tell me this isn't someone who's doing exactly what he wants to do, where he wants to be doing it. From him strolling around the heat of an August practice field spinning a whistle and pulling aside a prospect to impart some nuanced piece of coaching wisdom, or on the sidelines in the middle of a game in December, taking a knee in front of the bench in front of his defensive linemen with a white board to illustrate some tendency he's picked up on. A man in full. The lord of all he surveys. With zero desire to do anything else with his life but continue to harvest souls around the NFL. 

But that sort of dedication to your life's work can come at a price. And if the reports are to be believed, the coaching GOAT may be paying it:

Source - Page Six hears that the legendary Patriots coach has split with longtime love Linda Holliday. 

But the boss’s love woes are causing stormy seas around his usually peaceful Nantucket existence — and they’re even making team execs nervy. 

Six-time Super Bowl champ Belichick has been with Holiday since 2007, but we hear that they’ve been involved in a drawn-out, back-and-forth breakup for nearly a year. 

(In fact, we’re told Holliday has even been staying at his home lately, despite the split). ...

We’re told she wants to stick around. ...

Now we’re told the team bigs are nervously wondering what Holliday might choose to muse about online next, now they’ve split.

Far be it for me to comment on the personal life of this couple whose love I've been in love with for years. Whatever dynamic may or may not be going between them, they have kept it private. And private it shall remain. But I'll still take exception to the language here. All this stuff about "awkwardness," "stormy seas" and "nervy" Patriots executives. What are we supposed to be worried about Linda Holliday potentially spilling the beans on? How Bill created a Dynasty out of one of the most dysfunctional situations in league history? That Spygate and Deflategate were garbage non-troversies? How he and Tom Brady forged a working relationship that lasted longer than any coach and player in the history of pro sports? How he's managed the salary cap? Why Ernie Adams had "Pink Stripes" on the board in his office? (OK, that one I'd like to hear.) Why Malcolm Butler was benched in Super Bowl LII? (I'd like that one even more, but I doubt even she knows.) Just how awesome he is in so many ways that the public doesn't realize even after 49 years in the league? (Now we're talking.) 

Yeah, don't hold your breath. On second thought, do. Anyone who thinks her still living at their place in Nantucket (if true) sounds like the kind of contentious breakup that's going to lead to all sorts of salacious gossip mongering deserves to hold their breath until they asphyxiate. 

If we're going to give any sort of weight this report of a breakup, I'm pinning it all on what I said earlier. It's hard to be the greatest in the world at something, and have a perfect home life. Call it that Work/Life Balance, if you must. But I call it a man in love with his work. Achieving impossible things requires total dedication to your vocation. Too much so for personal relationships to survive forever. I mean, look at the trope of the movie cop whose personal life is a shambles because he's so fixated on bringing down the bad guys. Think Al Pacino in Heat. Or the main character in every musical biopic who has a tumultous romantic life because they're so dedicated to their art. Better yet, think of Star Trek. Do you have any idea how many hot women - human and otherwise - threw themselves at Captain Kirk only to realize they couldn't have him because he was already devoted to his first love. Namely:

The Patriots Dynasty is Belichick's Enterprise. And his enterprise. And like so many other legendarily successful men, there's only room in his heart for his profession. As the man himself said, "It's what I do." Thoughts and prayers to the lovely couple in this difficult time.