Bill Belichick

The story has been told many times over the past three decades, as Bill Belichick went from being an up-and-coming defensive coordinator in the NFL to an unsuccessful first-time head coach with the Cleveland Browns to eventually becoming one of the most accomplished coaches in league history. No matter where and how Belichick's story unfolds, it always begins in Annapolis. It also begins with his father, Steve, a college football coach who moved the family there from North Carolina to work at the Naval Academy in 1956.

CBS Sports will cover the Super Bowl with 62 cameras, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said in a teleconference Thursday promoting the Feb. 3 game between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. "That includes all of the unmanned cameras," he said. "It includes any aerial cameras we might have. But listen, there are a lot of cameras ... " By comparison, the norm for Baltimore Ravens games, which were usually covered by second- or third-string CBS crews this year, has been 9 to 12 cameras.

PHOENIX -- The New England Patriots' no-nonsense coach had his sights set on perfection long before his players did. Back when the Patriots were 2-0 this season, Bill Belichick had six plays on tape cued up for a team meeting. Super Bowl Patriots vs. Giants, Sunday, 6:17 p.m., Glendale, Ariz., chs. 45, 5, 1090 AM Records: Patriots (18-0), Giants (13-6) Line: Patriots by 12 BELICHICK'S SECRETS? A tongue-in-cheek look at what makes Bill Belichick so successful: He wears the hooded sweat shirt to hide his thoughts.

It almost seems wrong to complain about the telecast of a game that ended as happily as Sunday's AFC championship victory by the Baltimore Ravens 28-13 over the New England Patriots. Almost. But CBS Sports once again failed to deliver the goods on a Ravens game. And just because I'm euphoric over the Ravens' victory doesn't mean I should soft pedal how much I hated the telecast. Last week, CBS Sports brass boasted about the Super-Bowl cameras and technology they were going to have on hand for the game.

Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala has often been a guest of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, attending games while standing on the sideline at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. With the Patriots slated to meet the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on Sunday, Pietramala has a ticket to the contest -- but will not attend. “I have a ticket, I have a hotel room with the Pats and I'm not going,” Pietramala said Friday morning. “I can't. Just too much here.

Genius? That's for scientists and surgeons, artists and entrepreneurs - not paranoid football coaches whose long-term vision is staring at game tape from a distance of five feet. So if Bill Belichick is not a genius, he must be a conundrum, or at least a mystery. The coach of the New England Patriots has set himself apart by winning two Super Bowls in three years at a time when dynasties are supposed to be passe. He accomplished this after he forged a reputation as the best defensive coordinator in the NFL, helping Bill Parcells win a pair of Super Bowls with the New York Giants.

A classic confrontation will unfold in today's AFC championship game in Foxboro, Mass., where the NFL's most unstoppable offense will clash with the most immovable defense. On a chilly day at Gillette Stadium, the precision passing of Peyton Manning will collide with the sharp defensive mind of Bill Belichick, headlining the battle between the third-seeded Indianapolis Colts (14-4) and the top-seeded New England Patriots (15-2). It's the NFL's co-Most Valuable Player vs. the league's Coach of the Year.

Believe in them or not, the New England Patriots have forced their way into the NFL's grand finale. Next stop: New Orleans. Next miracle target: the so-called Greatest Show on Earth. The Patriots made the Pittsburgh Steelers disappear yesterday with a glut of special teams plays, a rhythm-breaking blitz on defense and just a pinch of offense. When Super Bowl XXXVI unfolds Sunday at the Superdome, it will be the AFC's unlikeliest playoff team against the NFC team everyone expected to be there -- the St. Louis Rams.

Good morning--Bill Belichick--It's too bad you couldn't have figured out a way to help a needy team like the Orioles before you got caught.

Kevin Cowherd Patriots 24,: Ravens 20 : I flipped a coin. The Hoodie won. It'll be that close. Jamison Hensley Patriots 27, : Ravens 23: It will come down to the fourth quarter, and Tom Brady will win the game against the Ravens' secondary. Edward Lee Patriots 26,: Ravens 24 : Unlike Norv Turner, Bill Belichick will go for the jugular, and Tom Brady isn't about to concede to Joe Flacco. Ken Murray Ravens 24, : Patriots 20: The Ravens are probably the better team at this point already.

The story has been told many times over the past three decades, as Bill Belichick went from being an up-and-coming defensive coordinator in the NFL to an unsuccessful first-time head coach with the Cleveland Browns to eventually becoming one of the most accomplished coaches in league history. No matter where and how Belichick's story unfolds, it always begins in Annapolis. It also begins with his father, Steve, a college football coach who moved the family there from North Carolina to work at the Naval Academy in 1956.

In the postgame interview room adjacent to his team's locker room, Bill Belichick wore a pained expression and was barely audible after the New England Patriots' last-second 31-30 loss to the Ravens on Sunday night. You could say he spoke in a monotone. Except a monotone sounds like the roar of Niagara Falls compared to how softly the Patriots' coach mumbled. “Good football game, tough loss, both teams competed hard,” Belichick said in his opening remarks. “In the end, we came up a little bit short.

Not even the end of the Ravens' 31-30 win against the New England Patriots Sunday night could escape controversy. Officials ruled that rookie kicker Justin Tucker's 27-yard field was good although the ball appeared to be very close to flying outside the right upright. Immediately after the kick, Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork berated officials and coach Bill Belichick placed his hand on another official just prior to his post-game handshake with Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

Every week, I hope to bring you a quick Q&A with someone who covers the Ravens' opponent that week. On Sunday night, the Ravens host the New England Patriots in a rematch of the AFC championship game. Since it's such a big game for both teams, let's go with double coverage this week. I chatted with Shalise Manza Young of The Boston Globe and Jeff Howe of The Boston Herald about a few hot topics entering Sunday night's game. MV: What is going on with Wes Welker? Julian Edelman replaced him in the starting lineup, but Welker ended up playing a lot after Aaron Hernandez injured his ankle early.

The controversy that has erupted around the New England Patriots is the reduced amount of playing time four-time wide receiver Wes Welker has gotten in the team's first two games of the season. As far as the Ravens are concerned, however, Welker remains as one of the primary focal points in the week leading up to Sunday night's contest at M&T Bank Stadium. “He's still a factor even though he's not 'The Guy,'” cornerback Cary Williams said Wednesday. “He's still 'The Guy' in our book, and we're still going to prepare like he's the No. 2 or the No. 1 wide receiver because we know what he's capable of, especially after last season.

The two names you read here and pretty much everywhere else in the days leading up to the draft as it related to the Ravens and their original 29th overall pick were Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower and Wisconsin center Peter Konz . As it turns out, neither was as high on the Ravens' draft board as we all thought. In a live chat yesterday on the Ravens' team website, www.baltimoreravens.com , director of player personnel Eric DeCosta said that the team had about seven players that it really liked in the first round and Hightower was “not one of the players that we would have traded to get.” Again, that doesn't mean that the Ravens weren't interested in Hightower, but it does make it pretty clear that they liked several other players better.

"The Tooth Fairy, NBA refs and Bill Belichick. ... It's not a good state of affairs ... when we now believe in politicians more than ... the NBA and the NFL." Cris Collinsworth On HBO's Inside the NFL

The Ravens have just released a statement from John Harbaugh regarding comments he made during a radio interview Tuesday about the New England Patriots' championships being 'stained.' Following is the full statement: “While on the 98 Rock show this morning to talk about the run to honor O.J. Brigance and raise funds for ALS research, I answered a question about playing within the rules and referred to the perception that...

Ravens coach John Harbaugh clarified comments he made on a local radio station Tuesday in which he said that Super Bowl championships won by the New England Patriots were "stained" and have "asterisks" because of the Spygate scandal in 2007. Those comments were made on the 98 Rock morning show in response to a question about the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal and cheating in the NFL in general. "In the end, everything is brought before the light of day, when it's all said and done," said Harbaugh in response to the question about the Saints.

The Ravens have just released a statement from John Harbaugh regarding comments he made during a radio interview Tuesday about the New England Patriots' championships being 'stained.' Following is the full statement: “While on the 98 Rock show this morning to talk about the run to honor O.J. Brigance and raise funds for ALS research, I answered a question about playing within the rules and referred to the perception that...