Belichick surprisingly open at combine, then remembers he hates stupid questions

Photo via cleveland.cbslocal.com

The combine is always fun to watch just because it's the first look NFL scouts and NFL fans get at the top college prospects. Every combine will have their surprises: top players performing poorly, no names making a name for themselves, Rich Eisen running the 40 in a suit and still beating Tom Brady, etc. But this combine has already started with a big surprise! Bill Belichick conducted his first combine press confrence since 2009. But wait, theres more! He actually seemed human and even shared a little anecdote about his first combine:

“I was walking over here thinking about how far the whole combine has come. This is probably my 30th year. The first one I was at, was I think the second one at Arizona State, obviously held outdoors. One of the days ended, I would say not in total darkness, but certainly past dusk. I still have the image of Refrigerator Perry doing the vertical jump out there on the vertex in the middle of Arizona State Field in almost total darkness. Now we have the banners on the streets, we have NFL Network, this is a huge media event and fan event. It started for me about 30 years ago. 1985 would have been (Perry’s) rookie year. It’s really come a long way."

Who is this man? Since when has Bill shared little stories about his life with the media? He didn't stop there. Bill even shared his favorite part of the combie:

"From a medical standpoint, that’s the biggest thing that we get out of this. To have the physical examinations, to have them done at one time -- I know we have the re-checks in the spring, but just to be able to get through all the physicals, and not have to fly guys back and forth, like we had to a couple decades ago, giving them 20 MRIs on their shoulder in every different city."

First of all I find it hilarious that Bill's favorite part of the combine is a players medical history. Not his 40 time, not his bench press, but the medical history. Bill knows what's important.

But alas, that was the end of warm, open, reminiscent Bill Belichick. Once questions started up again, it was right back to business for the Hoodie. Here are a few of my favorite:

Q: What will Mike Lombardi be doing for you?

A: "Mike’s got a lot of experience. He’s done a lot of things in his career in the NFL. I’m sure he’ll be doing many of those things for us. We’ll see how it goes."

Q: What is his exact title?

A: “We announced that today."

And my personal favorite:

Q: Do you feel it’s important to have more continuity on the offensive side of the ball this year?

A: “I don’t know.”

Good to have you back Mr. Belichick. But, please do let out that old man who shares stories about Refridgerator Perry. He seems like a cool guy.

Entire press conference at bostonherald.com

- Pete Rogers
@ftcsports
@petahrahgas