Bud Grant

And within three years, the Vikings are playing in the Super Bowl.

I don't know that Bud Grant really handled that game very well.

But Clinton Jones, when you think of the Vikings, they have been to multiple Super Bowls and have never hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy.

But that's better than some franchises that have only watched on television.

And I'm like, what a weird circle of life.

Like just the Minnesota connection, the Canadian connection, the Bud Grant, Jerry Burns, coming back to Minnesota.

I mean, take us through the book, I guess.

What's your goal with it and what's it about?

They're all in their 90s at this particular time.

But he still has classmates and teammates from his high school level, college, and certainly those who knew him as a former athlete because he and my mother were very active in the community.

So you know a little bit about Bud Grant as a player.

Yes.

The book is rife with this kind of historical anecdote, even ones that don't seem particularly relevant to the story.

Belichick is a football historian, so Halberstam becomes one too, tracking down stories that seem inconsequential but are too good to pass up, like one about how legendary Cleveland Browns fullback Marion Motley changed the trajectory of future Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant's life.

Quote, Motley was so impressive a physical specimen that when the Browns assembled a player tryout for positions, a young man named Bud Grant, who up to then had thought of himself as a fullback, spotted Motley and decided to try out for whatever position Motley did not try out for.

So when they called for the fullbacks to step forward and Motley stepped forward, Bud Grant instantly decided to become an end.

End quote.

Halberstam has plenty of goods on Belichick, too, like how he nearly became the head coach for the University of Toledo, which is of interest because his longtime friend Nick Saban would end up there for a time, or great little nuggets that humanize Belichick, who's badly in need of it.

But is that an easier path than just trying to plug the holes that you have in the current lineup?

Well, look back to when Bud Grant leaves the Blue Bombers in the 1960s.

It's 19 years between Grey Cup appearances.

Sometimes you better keep what you got because you may have to be patient.

Also, do you remember when the Mavericks had their new alternate uniforms in 2003? The silver ones designed by Nike to shimmer? They only wore them one game, and then they went, we got to get rid of these damn things.

And here's one, 1953, Bud Grant, Hall of Fame coach.

He played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

He intercepted five passes.

That is the football record for most interceptions in a playoff game.

Bud Grant.

Todd's got a picture on his desk.

Sure, dear.

Next year was Jimmy Johnson.

Next year was Bud Grant.

And it just sort of happened.

You know, I kind of, for lack of a better metaphor, I just took the ball and ran with it because I love the game.

They're still in turmoil over the trade of John Jefferson, the departure of Fred Dean.

But give Bud Grant and Tommy Kramer credit.

All one to Bob

Watson.