Lost in the news that the Hall of Fame voters snubbed Bill Belichick is that it shouldn’t have been news.
No one is supposed to know who did, and didn’t, make it until the official announcement happens, next Thursday. And so there’s an obvious question to ask.
How did it get out?
From the perspective of Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, they were absolutely right to report it. Far too much of the journalism in sports amounts to a five-minute, favor-trading head’s up before an official announcement is made. Anyone who works in this space should aspire to find out the things they don’t want us to know, and the Hall of Fame surely didn’t want us to know that Belichick didn’t make it.
Belichick, or someone close to him, surely did.
Belichick may not have been a source, directly. Supposedly, the candidates sign an NDA. (Then again, what’s the Hall of Fame going to do, sue him?) It’s obvious Belichick disclosed his snub to others, which he technically shouldn’t have done.
It’s also obvious that someone to whom he spoke then spoke to ESPN. From the story: “Several sources who spoke with the coach over the weekend described Belichick as ‘puzzled’ and ‘disappointed’ by his inability to secure support from at least 80% of Hall committee members. . . . ‘Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?’ Belichick asked an associate. . . . To another associate, he said, ‘What does a guy have to do?’”
With or without Belichick’s fingerprints on the disclosure of something that, from the Hall of Fame’s perspective, shouldn’t have been leaked, the news has sparked a tidal wave of good P.R. for a man who, starting with the on-off Hard Knocks thing from last February, has been dog-paddling in a shark tank.
While it likely won’t be enough to get the Raiders or the Cardinals to make him an eleventh-hour candidate for their head-coaching jobs, the complications of the past calendar year have been forgotten, at least for one or two news cycles.
