My son Mike said that today, 9/1/11. He heard ESPN sports writer Rick Reilly on the radio quoting New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on the subject of how the P.A.T. rules should be changed and other non-competitive play rules should be changed.
Did Belichick copy my ideas? Sounds like it, but I can’t be sure. You can read my article on non-competitive plays at http://www.johntreed.com/fttboring.html.
The title of that article is “Boring football plays that should be eliminated.” That article is one of many at a part of my website I call my Football Think Tank. If you like outside-the-box stuff about football, take a look at it.
I wrote that a year or more ago. Don’t remember it was so long ago.
Here is what I said about P.A.T.s:
a) make a touchdown count seven points, eliminate the opportunity to kick a one-point field goal after a touchdown, and change the number of additional points for a run or pass P.A.T. to one or
b) make the team that scored a touchdown choose whether they want the ball on the 25-yard line at which location they could kick a one-point field goal from the 25-yard line or go for two (fake field goal play) or put the ball on the two-yard line in which case they could not kick a one-point field goal but could run or pass for a two-point conversion
My son said Reilly said Belichick advocated my plan b including the 25-yard line specifically.
Apparently Reilly also spoke of other non-competitive plays as I call them.
Sound like a coincidence?
When my book The Contrarian Edge for Football Offense came out, I sent Belichick a copy. Never heard from him. But if you hear him quoted as advocating some outside-the-box approach to offense, you might check my Contrarian book to see if it’s there, too.
I often see myself quoted without attribution, in various fields, not just football, by guys who one would think would not engage in such behavior. My guess is that people figure I am not famous enough, therefore they can take the full credit for doing the hard work of digging up my obscure idea. In short, I wonder if they quote me without attribution, a.k.a. take credit for my idea, because they think they can get away with it.
Am I sure that happened with Belichick? Nope. It’s possible Belichick did atribute to me but Reilly left that off.
Is great minds running in the same channels—total coincidence—the possible explanation? Seems doubtful in this particular case.
How do I feel about non-attribution? It pisses me off.
John T. Reed
John T. Reed, a.k.a. John Reed, Jack Reed, 342 Bryan Drive, Alamo, CA 94507, Voice: 925-820-7262, Fax: 925-820-1259, Email: johnreed@johntreed.com