Peter King – In the last conversation [Pat] Tillman had with Bauer, he told his agent, “You won’t believe the letter I got from Bill Belichick.” In the letter, Belichick praised him for his courage, his leadership, his willingness to set an example for people in this materialistic society, and he said it was an honor to be in the same league he’d been in. “In the letter,” Bauer told me, “Belichick said, ‘If you ever need a job when you get out of the Army, give me a call.’ ” So what would have happened if Tillman hadn’t been killed? He’d have been 28 at the time of his scheduled discharge… I don’t know what team would have signed him. But the Patriots, even with Rodney Harrison, then 32, ensconced at strong safety, were not deep on the back end, with only one other solid NFL player, Eugene Wilson (let go two years later). After the Belichick letter, I bet Tillman would have walked to Foxboro and taken any role Belichick would have offered.

For years now I’ve stood in awe at the public’s inability or unwillingness to “get” Bill Belichick. How he still gets portrayed as this sullen little misanthrope. This power-hungry, bitter, wretch who wants to succeed in order to get back at his critics like he’s Dick Nixon or somebody. And yet barely a month goes by where we don’t hear some story like this. Some coach who says he owes everything he has to Belichick. Or the SI article about Jim Brown back in 2002 where Brown said:

Let me tell you about someone I do admire. Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots has contributed more to the work I surround myself with than any black athlete in modern times—financially, intellectually, every way. He’s been in the prisons with me. He’s met gang members in my home; he’s met gang members in Cleveland [where Belichick coached the Browns from 1991 to '95]. He’s put up money. He’s opened up areas of education for us very quietly and very strongly.

And now we find out that Belichick, alone apparently among NFL coaches, took the time to write to Pat Tillman as he was going off to war to thank him for his sacrifice and say how much he admired him. Maybe it has to do with growing up the son of a coach at Annapolis, surrounded by selfless heroes. Or maybe it was just the decent thing to do. But I’m no longer just saying some people don’t “get” Belichick. I’m saying flat out he is THE most misunderstood figure in America today.