The shot fired from Chapel Hill on the eve of the Super Bowl did Belichick\u2019s image no favors and eroded some of the pro-Bill sentiment of Super Bowl LX.<\/p>\n
BILL BELICHICK\u2018S GIRLFRIEND JORDON HUDSON WAS WEARING A SHIRT TAUNTING #PATRIOTS<\/a> OWNER ROBERT KRAFT.<\/p>\n Hudson was wearing a T-shirt from Orchids of Asia Day Spa, which was the massage parlor tied to Robert Kraft’s prostitution bust in 2019.<\/p>\n This is wild \ud83d\udc80 pic.twitter.com\/4CF4o3GZkj<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLFootball (@MLFootball) February 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n This was nothing less than a declaration of war on the Krafts. It almost guarantees that the Belichick-Kraft feud will never end, and creates a world in which it\u2019s impossible to imagine Belichick ever being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n One has to believe Belichick is now dead to the Krafts. Forget about a statue. By the time Jonathan Kraft is through, Bill\u2019s name might be purged from Gillette altogether, Kremlin-style.<\/p>\n We know the history. The coach and the owner enjoyed unprecedented success in their quarter-century together. They won 17 division titles, and went to 13 AFC Championship games and nine Super Bowls, winning six.<\/p>\n Their partnership grew frosty through the years, and got nasty at the end, especially after Tom Brady left. Sides were taken. Camps were aligned. Who should get the most credit for the success? Or the most blame for the failures at the finish? There was subtle sniping from both sides. Kraft put together a self-aggrandizing documentary, \u201cThe Dynasty,\u201d in which it seemed that the Patriots\u2019 success was accomplished without a head coach<\/a>. Belichick said he felt unwelcome in Foxborough and barred Patriots personnel from UNC\u2019s football activities<\/a>. The two traded verbal jabs<\/a> around a Kraft interview in which the owner said he took a \u201cbig risk\u201d initially hiring Belichick, who had failed as head coach of the Browns.<\/p>\n Sincere or not, Kraft did a better job taking the high road. After Brady\u2019s statue was dedicated last August, Kraft told WBZ-TV, \u201cWhen Bill\u2019s coaching career ends, we look forward to sitting down with him and having a statue made to be right next to Tommy.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, after Belichick\u2019s Hall snub \u2014 which was revealed one week before Kraft was denied \u2014 Kraft issued a glowing statement on his former coach<\/a>, acknowledging their differences, then saying, \u201cHe is the greatest coach of all time and he unequivocally deserves to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.\u201d<\/p>\n That was 10 days before Jordon Hudson paraded around the nationally televised Duke-UNC basketball game wearing a T-shirt that\u2019s an homage to Kraft\u2019s most embarrassing moment. (In 2019 Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution<\/a> after a visit to the establishment. Charges were later dropped<\/a>.) On the eve of Kraft\u2019s return to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n This feels unrecoverable. After Kraft dies, or hands the Patriots over to his family, the team will be run by Jonathan Kraft, who loathes Belichick with the power of a thousand suns. It\u2019s hard to imagine the Krafts taking the high road any longer.<\/p>\n Despite this year\u2019s curious votes, both will likely end up in the Pro Football Hall, possibly together in the summer of 2027. That\u2019ll be the biggest bowl of awkward ever.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Quiz: 1. Name the last three men to coach the Seahawks before Super Bowl champion, Boston-born, Mike Macdonald; 2. Name four active NBA players who have averaged 30 points in a season three or more times (answers below).<\/p>\n \u22c5 There was no local TV crew on hand for the Red Sox\u2019 first week of spring training. Can\u2019t remember that ever happening. Loud statement.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Craig Breslow conceded there might not be a 20-homer guy on the 2026 Red Sox. Sorry, but this just can\u2019t happen. I grew up in a sorry Sox era when the team annually finished in eighth or ninth place in the American League. But we always had home run hitters. Dick Stuart\u2019s 42 bombs in 1963 almost made up for a 76-85 won-loss record. Tony C. was the American League home run champ two years later, when he hit 32 for the ninth-place, 62-100 Sox. Bet Roman Anthony has more than 20 by the end of August this year.<\/p>\n \u22c5 When the boss of the no-star Sox was challenged<\/a> about having a roster with maybe no future Hall of Famers, Breslow countered, saying, \u201cIt\u2019d be really premature to say that there aren\u2019t Hall of Famers on our roster right now, right? I think that\u2019s exactly why our fans can get excited, because we\u2019ve got young cornerstone pieces, whether we think about Roman and Garrett [Crochet], you know, and many others. I think there\u2019s a group of position players and pitchers that are going to be here for a long time that fans can kind of attach themselves to and watch them develop. And I think that for the most part, the best years of players\u2019 careers are still in front of them. So if there\u2019s this really exciting, young athletic core that\u2019s going to be a part of championship contender.\u201d<\/p>\n \u22c5 New Red Sox infielder Caleb Durbin<\/a> looks a little like Christian V\u00e1zquez.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Drake Maye should be fine moving forward. He\u2019s only 23, has great character, and is unlikely to be damaged by his Super Bowl disaster. It wasn\u2019t the same for 1986 Patriots quarterback Tony Eason, who was never again a full-time starter after the 46-10 debacle against the Bears. Eason played five more seasons but registered only 16 starts for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n \u22c5 One of my favorite Super Bowl week vignettes was seeing Malcolm Butler sitting at the bar of the Globe\u2019s San Francisco hotel headquarters, watching a rerun of the February 2015 Super Bowl between the Patriots and Seahawks, a.k.a. The Malcolm Butler Game. Malcolm got up and left the bar before the video got to Pete Carroll making the dumbest play call in sports history. As always, the Globe\u2019s Stan Grossfeld got the money shot of Malcolm watching Malcolm.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Another Super Bowl moment: Walking down to legendary San Francisco steak house \u201cJohn\u2019s Grill\u201d (est. 1908) and seeing a casually dressed man throwing passes to friends in the middle of Ellis Street in the middle of the day, I couldn\u2019t help but notice that the football was flying a very long distance \u2014 stuff of Doug Flutie-Hail Mary lore. Suspecting this was not a college kid fresh from the quad, I asked him his name: Matt Simms. son of Phil Simms. A former Tennessee and NFL quarterback.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Candlestick Park, former home of the Giants and 49ers, was demolished more than 10 years ago, but there\u2019s still signage for Candlestick on Route 101, which connects the San Francisco airport to downtown. Maybe there should be directions to \u201cBraves Field\u201d on Commonwealth Avenue near Boston University.<\/p>\n \u22c5 New Pro Football Hall of Famer, ex-Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly<\/a> becomes the third Boston College player to make it to Canton, joining Art Donovan and Ernie Stautner.<\/p>\n \u22c5 I have seen Budweiser\u2019s \u201cAmerican Icons\u201d Super Bowl commercial and (without seeing any of the others) declare it the winner. Skynyrd\u2019s \u201cFree Bird,\u201d a Clydesdale, and a baby bald eagle get me every time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u22c5 When the Patriots played at shiny (opened 2014) Levi\u2019s Stadium in 2016, I took a photo of an odd sign posted above a urinal in the press box men\u2019s restroom. It reads, \u201cWarning: Recycled water do not drink.\u201d Nine years later, it\u2019s still there. <\/p>\n \u22c5 Why do so many older, big-time men\u2019s college basketball coaches dye their hair?<\/p>\n \u22c5 When the late David Stern brought the draft lottery to the NBA in 1985, he thought it would take care of the league\u2019s tanking problem. Not so. The Tank-a-Palooza we\u2019re seeing this winter should make the league blush.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Nine months after the breakup of the 2024-25 Celtics, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis are together again with the Warriors.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Our president is threatening to block the opening of the $4.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Would love to have seen The Donald drop the gloves with the late Red Wings legend.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Why it\u2019s always a good idea to scan the Irish Sports Pages (obituaries): Reading the New York Times obit for 83-year-old Chuck Negron, one of the lead singers of \u201cThree Dog Night,\u201d I learned that the guy who sang \u201cJeremiah Was A Bullfrog\u201d was recruited to play basketball at California State College at Los Angeles by a head coach named Bill Sharman. That\u2019s Hall of Famer Bill Sharman, Bob Cousy\u2019s backcourtmate in the early years of the Bill Russell Celtics dynasty. After winning four titles with the Celtics, Sharman became an NBA coach, won another ring with the Lakers (33 straight wins in 1971-72), and invented game-day morning shootaround, the bane of existence for many NBA players.<\/p>\n \u22c5 RIP Geraldine \u201cJerre\u201d Gowdy, 101-year-old wife of the late, great Curt Gowdy, who died in 2026 after 56 years of marriage. Mrs. Gowdy was a philanthropist and longtime supporter of the arts, medicine, and civic institutions in Boston and Palm Beach, Fla. The Gowdys are buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.<\/p>\n \u22c5 Quiz answers: 1. Pete Carroll, Jim Mora Jr., Mike Holmgren; 2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (four times), Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden (three each).<\/p>\n Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Malcolm](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/RBA6Z3XIRB22QWU7ALPG54I2UU.jpg\")
Malcolm Butler, the hero of Super Bowl XLIX, watched a replay of the game at a San Francisco hotel bar during this past Super Bowl week.Stan Grossfeld\/ Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/KSRFTRFGC6CPBXIJGB3T3LLKHM.jpg\")
Former Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2026.Charlie Riedel\/Associated Press<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GJ75SKXZLRE7TLMPGT22DWKLEE.jpg\")
The Gordie Howe International Bridge will connect Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.Sarah Rice\/Getty<\/p>\n