The Ryan Murphy-led American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez on FX this fall has seen a lot of discussion amongst football fans for how odd it sometimes seems compared to what actually happened with the New England Patriots during Hernandez’s time there. One case in point there came in the show’s most recent episode Tuesday, where an interaction between Josh Rivera as Hernandez and Laith Wallschleger as Rob Gronkowski drew buzz:
Beyond that, though, an even-more-discussed moment came from the show’s portrayal of Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick (played by Norbert Leo Butz) cranking up Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” before going out to practice:
With Belichick and (recent Religion of Sports documentary subject) Bon Jovi, though, there is outside context for that shot through the heart. Earlier this month, Bon Jovi frontman Jon Bon Jovi appeared on former Patriot receiver Julian Edelman’s Games With Names podcast, and talked about how Belichick once accompanied his band on a European tour long before he took over as New England’s head coach in 2000. Here’s more on that via Hayden Bird of Boston.com:
“Few people know that he was a closet drummer,” Bon Jovi explained, catching Edelman — who spent years with Belichick — a little off-guard.
“Tico [Torres] gave him some lessons and we bought him a [drum] kit,” Bon Jovi recalled.
Beyond that, Belichick has spent time on tour with the band. Bon Jovi remembered one moment from a European tour in 1995.
“He came on the road with us, especially in Europe where he could come and hang for a week at a time,” said Bon Jovi. “We took him to Paris. We took him to Italy. We took him all around with us, and he was just on the plane.”
Thus, Belichick listening to “It’s My Life” is actually one of the more believable parts of this FX series so far. And yes, it’s not going for full Patriots’ realism. But it’s still amusing that one of its more unusual and more-discussed moments to date is about Belichick cranking up a band…that he enjoyed to the point of going on a European tour with.
[Boston.com; image via The Kirk Minihane Show on X]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.