back to article NFL is No Fondleslab League: Top coach says he'd rather use pen and paper than Surface tab

Microsoft's multi-year deal with the National Football League has lost some of its luster after one of the game's top coaches says he would rather use paper printouts than rely on the Surface Tablet. Speaking at his weekly press conference, New England Patriots head coach and general manager Bill Belichick says he is tired of …

  1. Sven Coenye
    Coat

    That'd be sidelined tablets then...

    (Although, if the league disabled the cameras, that might also go a ways to explain Belichick's dislike >:-)

  2. J. R. Hartley

    Oh dear

    How long before Microsoft ditch everything and just stick to Windows-as-a-Service and Office 365?

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Oh dear

      Just to clarify:

      Another news outlet used more direct quotes from this coach when reporting this story, in which he said it wasn't the Microsoft Surface per se that didn't suit his work flow, but all tablets.

      That's not too shocking; designers such as Marc Newson and Jony Ive are known for known for preferring pen and paper for parts of their work flow.

      There was also an episode of Have I Got News For You, when Jeremy Clarkson threw a pen at Ian Hislop. We do not know if Clarkson would have preferred to have thrown a 2lb computer at Mr Hislop instead.

      1. BillG
        WTF?

        Re: Oh dear

        Another news outlet used more direct quotes from this coach when reporting this story, in which he said it wasn't the Microsoft Surface per se that didn't suit his work flow, but all tablets.

        I saw the same thing.

        Look, I'm no fan of Micro$oft, but El Reg's biases have really caused me to doubt the accuracy of each and every article here. Assange's internet access is cut off by Ecuador and El Reg forgets to mention that it was the Obama administration that pressed them to do it. Belecheat's quotes are selectively used here to make it appear that he does not like the Surface, when really he does not like all tablets.

        It's inaccuracies like these that keeps one out of Apple launch parties, sad but true.

  3. P. Lee

    Wrong form-factor, wrong application

    On the touchline, what do electronics give you that a whiteboard does not - apart from cost and unreliability?

    Backup solution is an extra pen and a paper towel. With planning, you have a play book, which everyone has memorised and the coach may have printed out.

    As in smartphone maps, proper planning means they aren't really required. IT is often used when people don't know stuff.

    IT is not the solution to everything.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wrong form-factor, wrong application

      You misunderstand why the tablets are there in the first place. The league really wanted that $400M and figured they would suggest the coaches use them to keep the suckers, I mean Microsoft, happy. Didn't work out the way they'd hoped it appears.

      Next time MS will need to get an NDA from every coach, and add a "must use" clause as well. Then old Bill B. will just have to suck it up and use the wretched thing.

      1. Mark 85

        Re: Wrong form-factor, wrong application

        Just get one of those huge paper clamps and use the Surface as a clipboard.

      2. Wade Burchette

        Re: Wrong form-factor, wrong application

        "Next time MS will need to get an NDA from every coach, and add a "must use" clause as well. Then old Bill B. will just have to suck it up and use the wretched thing."

        This will happen. If players don't wear NFL approved shoes, they get a fine. If coaches and inactive players don't wear NFL approved clothing, they get a fine. One coach wanted to wear a suit and tie on the sideline, but Nike doesn't make suits. To appease the corporate overlords and compromise on the situation, Nike made a suit just for this coach.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Wrong form-factor, wrong application

          > "To appease the corporate overlords and compromise on the situation, Nike made a suit just for this coach."

          No doubt with a large "swoosh" right across the back.

    2. Locky
      Childcatcher

      Re: Wrong form-factor, wrong application

      @ P. Lee - "IT is not the solution to everything."

      Heresy. Burn the witch

  4. DNTP

    Yes lets give out highly breakable devices to incredibly competitive individuals who are inevitably going to be placed in losing situations and traditionally experience catharsis by slamming or throwing various handheld objects against the cold, unfeeling earth that is betraying their team. What could go wrong.

    Belichick has too much self-control to actually slam his tablet, but it leaves him frustrated.

    1. Ohb1knewbie

      Or not....

      Watch Bill Belichick throw his tablet in a moment of frustration against the Bills

      "Following LeSean McCoy’s opening touchdown which gave the Bills a 7-0 lead, Belichick was spotted on the sidelines throwing his Microsoft Surface tablet."

      https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2016/10/02/watch-bill-belichick-throw-his-tablet-in-a-moment-of-frustration-against-the-bills

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Or not....

        It's just not the same as that wonderful explosion of paper we used to see.

      2. DNTP

        Re: Or not....

        Haha wow, thanks for posting this, I guess life follows art. Or tablets follow trajectories.

  5. wsm

    Which technology?

    The pictures to which the coach refers are digital photos distributed via fax machines on the sideline. Each team gets the same pictures. If that produces the consistency he wants to see, who will argue with him?

    The only problem is that I believe this coach is the same one who has his email printed for him because he couldn't carry his PC to meetings and point at the screen while shouting at his staff.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Which technology?

      If that's so, then a tablet would be just the thing for him, wouldn't it? Yet he rejects the MS tablet. Maybe he's not just a dumb jock who made good after all.

  6. Ole Juul

    "I just can't take it anymore"

    Gets critical MS comment of the year award. Priceless!

  7. Mikel

    We feel your pain, Bill

    This is where the comment would go if there were one.

  8. Eguro

    I wonder if he'll be fined

    League players have been fined for wearing the wrong headphones and similar, so I reckon it's possible.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: I wonder if he'll be fined

      He can probably afford it...

  9. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Mushroom

    I'd do it too

    I mean, the thing doesn't know if it's asleep or not, it doesn't charge, and the battery constantly drains.

  10. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Well, you can't roll up a tablet and beat players round the head with it.

    Okay, okay, technically you can do it once per tablet.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Poor Microsoft can't win with the NFL

    At first coaches, players and TV announcers kept calling them iPads, so Microsoft made sure they had prominent branding on them that's highly visible. Now that everyone knows what they are, the best coach in league history publicly announces they suck.

    I'd almost feel sorry for them, if not for all those years of extending and extinguishing when they were kind of the mountain!

  12. Peter Clarke 1

    It Sucks

    Bill managed to keep a lid on it- I dread to think what Jim Mora would have said

    https://youtu.be/Tie0tz7jGDI

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    He tried to deflate one...

    ... but he couldn't. Nor he could break into his opponents' ones.

  14. MT Field

    So it's true

    The NFL descended into a nightmarish abyss after I stopped watching the highlights here on Blighty TV. Do the 49ers still play at 3Com stadium? <shudders>

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like