It’s been a while since we’ve heard a good Bill Belichick-Jordon Hudson zinger, but Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot delivered.
The veteran reporter accepted the Bill Nunn Memorial Award on Friday evening at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Gold Jacket Dinner. Cabot is the second woman to win the award, given by the Pro Football Writers of America to a reporter who has made a long and distinguished contribution to pro football through their coverage. She’s also the second reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer to win the award, joining Chuck Heaton.
While a big chunk of her speech was about breaking down NFL locker room barriers, figuratively and literally, Cabot made sure to get in a great burn of former Browns head coach Bill Belichick.
“Fortunately, I went to the school of hard knocks in the NFL because Bill Belichick was the first Browns coach I ever covered,” she said in her speech. “You see, if you start out with Bill Belichick, no one can rattle you after that. If Bill didn’t like something I wrote, he’d call and yell at me. If you asked a dumb question, he’d call you out. Eventually, I had to learn to stand up to him. During one of those yelling matches, I told him, if you don’t have the ‘footballs’ to say that to the guys, then don’t say it to me. Bam.
“But now I totally understand why Bill gave me such a hard time. I was 28 at the time, and he just couldn’t relate to a woman that old.”
The 73-year-old Belichick, now the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels, has been making headlines the past year for his relationship with 24-year-old Jordon Hudson.
The six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach might get a good chance to zing Cabot back next year when he’s eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is as much of a shoo-in as anyone in NFL history.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.