As Expected, Bill Belichick Will Spend 2024 Dominating the Sports Media World on 'Manningcast'
Unless you thought that Bill Belichick was going to spend 2024 unemployed, sleeping in, playing Wordle, building ships in bottles, and reading those coffee table books about naval warfare the grandkids gave him, you knew he was destined to take his talents to television. Ever since he lost out on the Atlanta job (which is explicable only by accepting that is a loser organization run by imbeciles who'd gladly keep losing in order to keep the status quo), he'd reportedly been fielding offers from every football broadcasting outlet asking him to bring his unparalleled talents to them. There hasn't been a bidding war like in the history of the medium. Not even when Letterman left NBC did the industry see anything like it.
And now we get this report that he has made his choice:
Source - The famously concise Bill Belichick is about to become Mr. Media.
In his transition from the sidelines, Belichick, the longtime New England Patriots coach, will make millions with an anticipated recurring role with the Manning brothers on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli,” a book deal, a potential inside football show and possibly a podcast, executives briefed on his plans told The Athletic. ...
While a deal with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions is not yet fully agreed upon, it is moving in that direction. The “Manningcast” was on ESPN’s networks for 10 of the network’s 25 games last season.
Belichick would not be on for every game but would appear pretty regularly during the season, which would be a new wrinkle for the show.
Ideally, I'd prefer to see him go someplace where his talent would be better appreciated. To work alongside the peers who have respected him all these years, like Jimmy Johnson, Terry Bradshaw, Al Michaels and the like. And not for the network that has essentially been Roger Goodell's state-run media. That has expended more energy denouncing him as a cheater, a liar, a cruel and conniving super villain, or worse, just lucky to have a quarterback hide all his shortcomings. I hate the idea of him generating revenue for the very people who spent decades trying to tear him down. From Tom Jackson's "Let's face it, they hate their coach" in 2003 to Trent Dilfer's "Let's face it, they're not good any more" 11 years later, to the infamously wrong Chris Mortensen Tweet after that. ESPN has done a lot of facing it on Belichick, and never in a positive way.
On the other hand, there's something empowering about getting recruited by the very people who purported to hate you and resent your very existence. It's them having to admit they need you more than you need them. He gets to walk into the offices at Bristol as the brand new Cock o' the Walk. Making all the hosts, producers, assistants and other assorted peons who were once his enemies bow down to him. It's some real Game of Thrones shit. And he's got all the dragons.
And sure, looking into those screens and seeing four more Super Bowls he should've won reflected in the dull, beady eyes of Peyton and Eli Manning isn't something I'd choose for him. But he can take it, one champion to two others, since he has twice as many rings as their whole family tree combined.
But most importantly, we get treated to the best perspective of anyone in the business. Anyone who saw Belichick on with Pat McAfee and AJ Hawk can confirm how great he was in this format:
First, you had to respect the display case behind him with all the Lombardis, plus the Emmy. Next, he was prepared. Brought strong opinions thoughtful insights into how the whole draft process works. He was also funny. Gracious. Affable. He went on for a couple of minutes about a PacMan Jones punt return for a touchdown that cost him a game in 2006, where he showed didactic memory of every aspect of the play. Especially how he said beforehand the only way Tennessee score was a Jones punt return, ordered his punter to boom it out of bounds, but it went right to him between the hash marks and he was gone for 81 yards. Imagine that kind of knowledge over the three hours of a Monday Night Game. Now picture the room he's going to need on that shelf for his next Emmy. And the fact that he's now going to dominate the same media that he degraded and humiliated all this time will only make it that much sweeter. I can't wait.
