As you have likely heard (at least if you live on the East Coast or know a single person who lives on the East Coast), the entire Atlantic seaboard is currently being smothered by what meteorologists are calling a “bomb cyclone.” Basically, everywhere from Maine to Florida is facing huge amounts of snow and dangerous gusts of wind.
That, however, did not stop the New England Patriots from practicing Thursday. In fact, one player told reporters Wednesday that Bill Belichick had issued several reminders that weather is no excuse for tardiness, even amid a massive storm. Via ESPN:
“You certainly better leave yourself enough time to get here on time tomorrow. We all know there is weather. Coach has mentioned that several times to the team, so I wouldn’t want to be the guy who is late tomorrow,” special teams captain Matthew Slater said Wednesday.
According to ESPN, Belichick initially planned to have the Patriots practice outside Thursday morning before eventually acquiescing to Mother Nature and moving it indoors. To Belichick, each day is really just another rotation of the Earth, to be seized as part of an endless quest for success at football. No amount of weather can ever truly change that.
Belichick was asked Thursday morning if showing up in blizzard-like conditions was a lesson in accountability for his players.
“Every day is a work day,” he responded, flatly.
If you don’t understand why practicing Thursday — and insisting on rigid timeliness — is such a ridiculous idea, here is a sense of what the Boston area looks like during this storm:
Here’s a shot from the Patriots themselves.
Icy roads, flooding, 50 mile per hour winds. What could possibly go wrong?
If you look out your window Thursday afternoon and see a car trudging back from Foxborough, that’s probably a Patriots player, doing his best to avoid a car crash that might knock him out of the Patriots’ playoff game next weekend.