Sports

Birthday Messages Pouring In For Bill Belichick's 69th Trip Around The Sun

/ CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- A long, long time ago, back in 2009, a spry 57-year-old Bill Belichick told NFL Films that he doesn't want to end up like Marv Levy, roaming NFL sidelines in his 70s. Now more than a decade later, Belichick has taken back that statement, and he seemingly intends to continue coaching the Patriots for as long as he's feeling well enough to do so.

The legendary head coach and future Hall of Famer is celebrating his latest birthday on Friday, as he turns 69 years old. Though he's likely knee deep in draft preparation  and film study, he may just take a break for a few minutes to have someone show him all of the birthday messages sent in his direction on all of those newfangled social media platforms like MyFace, YourFace, and SnapFace. (All of the Faces, really. He loves them all.)

Julian Edelman, who announced his retirement earlier this week, sent a sincere message of thanks for his former head coach's birthday.

Edelman was far from the only one wishing Belichick well on this day, as the messages poured in from all over.

Belichick's birth is not the only significant anniversary on this day, either. On April 16, 2000, Belichick and his staff took a sixth-round flier on a doughy quarterback out of Michigan. His name was Tom Brady, and it ended up being a fairly useful pick for the franchise.

(This next tweet is a few years old, so replace the "18" with "21." The video is too good to not share again.)

Belichick also shares his birthday with long snapper Joe Cardona, who has to be one of Belichick's favorite picks from his career, given his love and admiration of the U.S. Naval Academy.

All in all, April 16 is quite a day on the Patriots calendar. How many more birthdays Belichick will celebrate as the head coach of the team remains anyone's guess, but based on his extensive comments on Thursday about the team's draft preparation, he does not appear to have any plans of slowing down any time soon.

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