As Pablo Torre watched Jordon Hudson interrupt Bill Belichick’s interview on CBS Sunday Morning last month, the Meadowlark Media host believed the moment was fit for an unspecified HBO comedy.
But as he has since emerged as the preeminent reporter covering college football’s most famous couple, one particular HBO program has come to mind: Succession.
For the uninitiated — warning: spoilers ahead —the latter half of the popular comedy/drama series featured a storyline in which the family’s patriarch, Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox), maintained a half-professional half-personal relationship with a much younger woman. And after Vanity Fair‘s Tom Kludt drew a comparison to that very storyline in an interview with Torre published late last week, the ex-ESPN writer agreed that it was apropos.
“Dude, it’s a bit on the nose,” Torre said. “It’s not that I’ve seen this specific television show before, but I’ve seen television shows that, when you combine all of them together, provide a familiar arc. And I think what the people who love Bill Belichick and rely on him are worried about is they know how this story’s going to end, and it’s not going to be a happy ending.”
Torre didn’t specify what that ending might be, but it’s worth noting that the preceding question focused on the concerns that his family has reportedly expressed about the relationship between the 73-year-old head coach and the 24-year-old ex-Bridgewater State cheerleader. Citing a family source, Torre stated that “they’re worried that he doesn’t understand the extent of what’s happening here” before going on to make the interview’s initial Succession reference.
“I just can’t stop thinking about Logan Roy and Succession,” he said. “There are people who operate so intimately in and around his life, and yet feel very remote from him. And I think that speaks to just his personality and his style of fatherhood.”
At this point, Torre’s reporting on Belichick on Hudson has been so thorough that it’s prompted public pushback from Hudson. But while the Pablo Tore Finds Out host said that he found her criticism (and quick deletion of said post) “bizarrely appropriate,” he also insisted that he stands by his reporting, which recently uncovered how the original Ring camera video featuring a shirtless Belichick came to light.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.