So players killing people, players beating their wives and kids, and players breaking the law constantly didn't make you stop being a fan. But one coach exercising his political rights did. Fascinating.
To be fair, there are a lot of people in the NFL, and all of them are usually 20-40 year old men. The fact that some of them get convicted of crimes does not surprise me. It may be shocking if the percentage of criminals in the NFL was much higher than non-professional athletes I guess?
Bill Belichick didn't just exercise his First Amendment rights to nexpress an opinion I disagreed with. That alone is hardly a problem for me; for example, Danny Ainge's political views have no impact on my Celtics fandom).
Belichick went further, however -- he supported a pack of lies meant to undermine the value of First Amendment rights anywhere. And we've seen subsequently just how destructive lying attacks on the press can be. Anybody who, while knowing better, spreads those lies is damaging our country. I do not want them to succeed; hence I do not want them to have the kind of success that strengthens their reputations.