The Audacity of This Journo Calling Bill Belichick a 'Hypocrite' for Taking Media Jobs Knows No Bounds
As The Summer of Belichick rolls on, and the most perfect life by any living human just keeps getting more perfect, it was no surprise to anyone that he would be offered media jobs. This, after all, is a man who won an Emmy for his exemplary work on the NFL 100 Players countdown a few years ago, while he was still in the middle of running a football dynasty. Plus there was his prepared, insightful and loquacious coverage of April's draft on The Pat McAfee Show. So it was inevitable other outlets would come running with the lucrative offers:
Because unlike the 31 NFL owners who were too up inside their own asses to hire the man, these media conglomerates need to hustle in order to stay competitive in a tough industry. And that means bidding wars to hire the very best talent and keep eyeballs on screens. It's just good business. And we all benefit from it.
Though not everybody sees it that way. Like with every controversy and non-troversy in Belichick's coaching career, what seems like just a good opportunity for him to earn a living between coaching gigs is being portrayed as a major character flaw. By one journo, at least:
Source - Andrew Perloff isn’t happy that the NFL great, who was notoriously uncooperative with the media, will appear on multiple outlets this season.
Networks have to stop hiring Bill Belichick. Someone who openly mocked the media for two decades as head coach of the New England Patriots shouldn’t be able to walk right in and get multiple media jobs. He never said anything useful as an NFL coach and now he’s going to get paid talk? As brilliant as Belichick is, find someone else.
Belichick was recently added to the cast of “Inside the NFL” on the CW. He’ll also be seen each week on ESPN’s “ManningCast” and the “The Pat McAfee Show.” It’s still early, maybe he’ll add FS1 or the Cooking Channel gigs before the season starts.
Being nice or open with reporters should not be a requirement to becoming a television analyst. Tom Brady offered nothing but clichés as a player, and he’ll probably be outstanding on TV. But Belichick showing disdain for the very existence of the media and grumbling his way through every media session is too much to ignore.
When Belichick famously responded to each question in a 2014 press conferences with “We’re on to Cincinnati,” his answer became a rallying cry for Pats fans. It was also obnoxious and unnecessary.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Forgive me. That wasn't just me imply I'm bored with this guy. Reading this drivel actually did put me to sleep and my nose landed on the Z key.
Get a load of the pretzel logic at work here. I'm not saying yo have to be nice or open to reporters in order to work in television. Until he literally is saying that. Sure, "We're on to Cincinnati" took all the wind out of the sails of a controversy, deflected criticism being hurled at a struggling Brady, galvanized his team in a way that they regained their focus and won a fucking Super Bowl. But let's talk about how it became a rallying cry for dumbass Pats fans while being obnoxious and unnecessary.
And consider how resentful you have to be toward another man's success to argue he can't be allowed to do a job because he was often dismissive toward the people who do that job. Is that the rule now? You can't get hired to perform some task unless you've spent years grabassing with people who do that task? Where does that line get drawn? If you're a movie critic, are you not allowed to make a movie? If I had a problem with the carpet cleaning company I hired, am I not allowed to clean carpets? If Elon Musk didn't like his Toyota Camry, is he still free to create Tesla? The last I looked, we had two Vice Presidential nominees "openly mocked" the men who are currently at the top of their ticket. Should they be disqualified?
Simply put, what if the person "who was notoriously uncooperative" is way fucking better at the job than the ones he mocked? Does that get factored into the equation at all? Media is a competitive, Dog Eat Dog world, where no one is promised a tomorrow. It's a meritocracy, period. If you're in charge of doing the hiring and firing, it's your fiduciary responsibility to hire the very best. And that means the most interesting. The one who brings the best insight and who can deliver it in a compelling way that keeps the audience entertained so they'll stay tuned in through all the Jake from State Farm ads.
What TV is not is all about who was the jolly, affable, hail fellow well met, who always had a kind word and a warm smile for the people who kept telling him what an arrogant, cheating prick he was through all his success.
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So lighten up, Andrew Perloff. Green is not your color. And get used to hearing Bill Belichick's melodious voice all season until he gets hired and back on the sideline in 2025. At which point he'll get back to the business of mopping the press room floors with the likes of you. Because he's still the best in the business at that, too.