Just A Little Patience

Bill Parcells was inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame last week. Shank was one of the few people who talked to Parcells after his induction:

Bill Parcells, now a Patriots Hall of Famer, looks back: ‘I should have been more patient’

A few choice words got my attention when Bill Parcells delivered his eight-minute speech as he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame on Saturday.

“This place has a place in my heart and it always will,” said the 84-year-old former Patriots coach. “We sometimes reflect on things and you wish you would have done things a little different. Well, when I come back here and see this — I wish I would have done things a little different."

If you weren’t around 30 years ago, you might not know the complex, combustible history between Parcells and Patriots owner Bob Kraft.

A two-time Super Bowl winner, and perhaps the greatest team-builder in NFL history, Parcells already was in place when Kraft bought the Patriots in 1994, and the two fought bitterly when Kraft went behind the Tuna’s back on draft day in 1996. Parcells bolted for the Jets immediately after the Patriots were beaten by the Packers in Super Bowl XXXI, triggering a legal battle that had to be settled by the NFL commissioner. New England came away with draft picks and cash, but Parcells got a bigger prize when he signed Patriots running back Curtis Martin, who went on to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Parcells-Kraft Border War was every bit as bad as what we’re seeing today between Bill Belichick and the now 84-year-old Patriots owner.