ESPN broadcasters Stephen A. Smith and Chris Russo teed off on Bill Belichick on Wednesday over the fiasco surrounding his awkward interview and complaints about media not doing enough to focus on the book he’s trying to promote.
Belichick’s interview on “CBS News Sunday Morning” has been the talk of the sports world since it aired on Sunday — particularly, Jordon Hudson chiming in to shut down a question about how the two met. Hudson then released an April 10 email allegedly showcasing Belichick’s complaints about another story that was going to be published.
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Smith and Russo each took their giving their thoughts on how Belichick has handled the book tour.
“We certainly don’t want to see someone with you telling folks we’re not answering those questions either,” Smith said of Hudson on “First Take.” “You’re a grown man, and when somebody asks you a question, you don’t want to answer it, don’t answer it.
“You spent 20 years not answering questions you didn’t want to answer. We don’t need somebody else telling us you’re not answering something.”
Russo took issue with Belichick wanting to promote himself as someone who moved up the ranks of the NFL with a business mindset. He suggested that’s not what he nor NFL fans want to hear from him or read about him.
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“Nobody cares how you figured out the formula and came up the NFL corporate ladder,” Russo said. “The only thing in the NFL corporate ladder that saved you was (Tom) Brady. Because without Brady, you got one playoff win, and you wouldn’t be writing any books.
“Furthermore, I want to know about Malcolm Butler and why he didn’t play in a game against Philadelphia in the Super Bowl where you gave up a million points. I want to know about Spygate. What happened? Why’d you do this? The team lost a first-round pick, and the whole team got fined $1 million. I want to know about Deflategate. I want to know about your interview with (Robert) Kraft.”
Russo added that Belichick was terse with the media for most of his career, so it would be wrong of him to direct reporters on what they should be able to talk about with him.
“Now all of a sudden, he needs the media to sell a book, and he’s gonna tell the media, like me, book interviewers, what to ask him and what to focus in on a dopey book,” Russo said. “You wanna read 269 pages of Bill Belichick? No thank you. That is a disgrace. You’re gonna write a book, do the interviews, and if they want to ask you about Malcolm Butler for 20 minutes, deal with it!”
Belichick and CBS released dueling statements about the interview from Sunday. The North Carolina coach accused the network of creating a “false narrative” while reneging on an agreement to only ask questions about the book. CBS denied those claims.
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