Parcells Reminds New England of Dreaded Curse of Bambino

They had Babe Ruth and let him go. Same thing with Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs and now Bill Parcells. Al Davis was born in Massachusetts, and he went all the way to the other side of the country.

Larry Bird is going to coach the Indiana Pacers.

It’s a rich tradition here, beginning with Paul Revere--last seen screaming and riding out of town as fast as he could.

“Once they leave they have the best years,” said Joe Casalino, a lifelong New England Patriot fan. “You ever notice that?”

You could understand people heading for the exits in Philadelphia or Cleveland, but Boston’s no dump.

Boston just doesn’t get it: In Ruth, it thought it had a pitcher. In Clemens, it thought it had a broken-down pitcher.

Red Auerbach said on TV the other day he had no idea Bird wanted to be a basketball coach, and looking at Davis today you can imagine why he was overlooked as a kid.

But Parcells was standing on the New England sideline last year at the Super Bowl, a proven football demigod. All the Patriots had to do was let him rule like Caesar, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

The rest has all been documented, Parcells leaving in a tiff--some of his power swiped, the Patriots getting draft picks as compensation, starting all over with Pete Carroll as head coach, and Sunday 60,000 will boo Parcells’ return when they should be thanking their lucky stars Parcells was ever here to save them.

Most likely the Patriots will have their day, too, maybe even a year to remember. The first time Parcells returned to New York after leaving as head coach of the Giants, he took his young Patriot team to the Meadowlands to play the Jets and suffered the worst defeat in his coaching career: 45-7.

Babe Ruth struck out, too.

The whole thing is so dumb, so chock-full of potential regrets, all lost now in the vengeful exuberance of showing up Parcells. .

Patriot owner Robert Kraft said this week, “It’s time for this team to grow on its own,” which is apparently why he hired a head coach who appears to be no factor.

“We share this team,” explained Carroll, and imagine someone suggesting a democracy to Parcells.

Easy Pete’s a nice guy, all right, and everyone knows where nice guys finish. He was 6-10 as head coach with the Jets in 1994, and when the 49ers went looking for a head coach they bypassed Carroll, who was working down the hall as defensive coordinator, to hire college coach Steve Mariucci. The Rams weren’t even interested.

Carroll is 2-0--with Parcells’ players--and the Patriots just love him because he loves them. There is talk here the Patriots are 2-0 and looking so dominant because the players want to prove their worthiness without Parcells, much as the 49ers did years ago when Bill Walsh stepped aside and George Seifert took over. That makes Carroll, at best, a consultant right now.

“I really like the way Coach Carroll, his personality and demeanor, comes across,” running back Curtis Martin said. “It’s so much fun going out there and performing and making him look good.”

Seifert went on to carve his own path to the Hall of Fame--too early to say yet when Carroll will be fired.

In the meantime, Carroll has become beneficiary of a highly motivated team without so much as raising his voice. Parcells ruled by intimidation. Carroll took his team to a bowling alley at the end of training camp.

“Outsiders may say, ‘Why in the world would you ever be doing that?’ Well, that doesn’t matter to me a bit,” Carroll said. “We do different things together for bonding opportunities or just having fun.”

Fun? “I don’t think fun is an appropriate word for coaching in the NFL,” Parcells said.

A question of style? No, a question of success: Who has the best chance to win in the NFL? The NFL head coach who acts like commander in chief, or the NFL coach who hopes the starting quarterback includes him in one of his commercials some day?

In Parcells and Carroll we have both ends of the spectrum: from tyrant to bubbly players’ coach. “To an extent that’s a fairly true statement,” said New England linebacker Ted Johnson, who has played for both coaches. “I don’t think that’s too exaggerated.

“With Pete, there’s much more of an open line of communication between player and coach. It’s encouraged. It was a little more impersonal when we came to work last year, and that’s fine. This is fine, too, but all my life I’ve only been coached one way--the Parcellian way. So I don’t know any better; this [Carroll] way is all new to me.

“If we keep having the same results, then, hey, I won’t care. But if we start losing, then I would probably have to question it.”

How different are Carroll and Parcells?

“We don’t have that much time,” Carroll said. “To tell you the truth, I’m just going by the seat of my pants.”

Linebacker Chris Slade, who felt abused by Parcells last year, said, “When Bill was here, it was more of the ‘Put my foot down, we’re going to do it my way.’ Bill got it done his way.”

Slade is happier these days without Parcells glaring at him, but “Whenever that guy’s coaching, he could be a factor,” Slade said.

“He’s a great sideline coach. He can dissect defenses and offenses and define weaknesses. Who knows what he’s going to do Sunday? The guy has so many methods of coaching that you don’t know what you’re going to get.”

The Patriots, while pitted against the likes of Neil O’Donnell and Keyshawn Johnson, have spent the better part of the week worrying about Parcells and his intimate knowledge of their shortcomings.

Quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who has thrown eight touchdown passes in two games, an indication to some that he is having the time of his life now that Parcells is gone, will be watched closely to see if he is rattled once again by Parcells’ presence.

Bledsoe, much like John Elway, who could not handle the controlling coaching style of Dan Reeves, has downplayed his rocky relationship with Parcells publicly this week, but privately he has told people he remains driven to personally repay the Big Tuna for so many miserable moments.

Parcells, who has said Bledsoe one day will look back on him the way most children come to regard their parents in later life, will have the Jets blitzing, because he knows it has been Bledsoe’s undoing in the past. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the blitzers to throw much of a scare into Bledsoe at this time.

That will come later after Parcells yells, screams and berates his Jets into becoming a contender.

“He has his way,” New England defensive back Willie Clay said. “Bill won’t ask for opinions, and he isn’t even that friendly to the players. This guy, on the other hand, wants you to ask questions. He wants players’ input.”

Carroll, working more as a professor with his class than someone trying to be bigger than life, said the Parcellian coaching approach “is probably the most proven documented way in terms of leadership and the proper direction to take a team. It’s just highly successful.”

So, Easy Pete, why not be more like Bill?

“I can’t,” Carroll said. “The best thing I can do is do what I do best--and that’s be me. I can’t do that style. My approach is to work real hard, demand extreme detail and exact preparation and show them that through that their confidence can soar. They won’t have to worry about what ifs, and if I screw up and all that stuff. That’s my teaching and approach, much like the 49ers have done business.”

Pete Carroll talking about Bill Parcells. All the Patriots talking about Bill Parcells. All the radio and TV shows here dominated by Parcells, and the guy is no longer here.

“Shame on me if I let myself get distracted from doing my job,” New England linebacker Todd Collins said. “I’d be playing right into Bill’s hands.

“You know he loves it. About the only thing he’d love more is to come up here with his team and beat us Sunday night. We can’t let that happen.”

As if they will have any say in it.

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INFOSTAT

No quarterback had a higher rating in the last two minutes of a half last season than John Elway. A look:

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Quarterback, Team Comp Att. Pct Yds TD Int Rating John Elway, Denver 32 51 62.7 337 6 1 113.0 Brett Favre, Green Bay 55 92 59.8 717 10 2 111.6 Brad Johnson, Minnesota 22 36 61.1 299 5 2 104.1 Ty Detmer, Philadelphia 30 49 61.2 388 3 1 98.0 Boomer Esiason, Cincinnati 31 61 50.8 489 4 1 92.9 LEAGUE AVERAGE 70.8

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