Belichick will not accept the Medal of Freedom Trivia question

We just couldn’t let this stuff go …

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a statement Monday that he had turned down the opportunity to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump because of the “tragic events of last week,” a reference to the insurrection at the Capitol.

In a statement, Belichick said he was flattered to be nominated for the award, the highest civilian honor in the country, because of its past recipients, writes Ken Belson of The New York Times. But he said he has great reverence for “our nation’s values,” represents his family and the Patriots, and has worked with his players to combat social injustice.

“Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country that I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award,” he wrote in a statement.

With just days left in his term, Trump had planned to give Belichick the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday, setting off questions about whether Belichick would accept it after the riots at the Capitol last week plunged the country into a political crisis that could include Trump’s second impeachment.

There were calls for Belichick, 68, to decline the award, including on Monday from Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who called accepting it “disgraceful.”

“Bill Belichick should do the right thing and say, ‘No thanks,’ ” he told The Hill newspaper.

Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) also said Monday that Belichick should turn down the award.

“That could be the day that Donald Trump is being impeached in the United States House of Representatives for inciting an insurgency against the United States,” Markey said of Belichick on Boston Public Radio.

Many presidents have given the Presidential Medal of Freedom to sports figures. Last week, Trump gave it posthumously to golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias, as well as two other golfers, Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player, who played golf with the president in 2019. Former football coach Lou Holtz, golfer Tiger Woods and Mariano Rivera, the longtime New York Yankees reliever, are among a long list of others to receive the award from Trump.

Belichick has 280 wins as an NFL coach for third on the career list. What active coach is next on that list?