New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made sure the booze was flowing when the Celtics won the 2008 NBA championship.
The Celtics defeated the Lakers in six games, and were up big over Los Angeles at halftime with a chance to win the trophy. Celtics CEO Wyc Grousbeck was in a club at the stadium with Belichick, and the legendary NFL coach was ready to start celebrating long before the game was over. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Grousbeck said the following about the incident during an appearance on “Extra Sauce” this past Saturday, according to WEEI:
I go Bill, ‘What do you think?’ and I was thinking he would calm me down because we could have won the championship that night, or not if we blew it. If anyone is going to give you the party line, ‘One play at a time, do your job’ it’s going to be Bill. I looked to him for that and I said, ‘Bill, what do you think?’ He goes, ‘Are you kidding me? You’re the bleeping world champions. You can celebrate right now.’ I was like, ‘I just got jinxed by Bill Belichick.’ He bought a round of tequila shots for the entire bar, the entire club and we beat them by 30. I love Bill.
This is such an awesome story because it’s not at all what you’d expect. Generally in the sports world, you never take a single play for granted.
Despite the fact the Celtics were leading at halftime, you’d think Belichick and everybody else would want to be cautious.
After all, if there’s anyone who would know about not assuming anything’s done before the final whistle, it’d be a fellow pro coach.
Instead, Belichick busted out his wallet and bought a round of drinks for the entire place. If that doesn’t make you smile, then you have a heart of stone.
Belichick must have been damn confident. Again, things can change fast in the world of sports. Belichick famously led the best comeback in Super Bowl history when the Patriots came back from 28-3 against the Falcons.
Yet, on that fateful night in 2008, he was ready to celebrate early, and it sounds like it was a hell of a time.