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 …
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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