Retired NFL star Bart Scott is proudly one of the bigger haters in sports media and has one target that is bigger than others: Bill Belicheck.
While the rivalry between Scott’s New York Jets and Belichick’s New England Patriots is enough to sustain a lifetime of beef, it’s deeper than that for Scott. In an interview on Pardon My Take released Friday, Scott did not hold back his hatred.
“Pretty soon, Bill Belichick is entering the Sith Lord type of realm where I think that fans are going to start to hate him,” Scott said. “They’ll realize the Patriot way was more about Tom Brady than him.”
While fans may not turn as quickly as Scott has, the longtime linebacker has a well-documented history with Belichick he can’t hide.
The beef dates back to when Scott worked on The NFL Today at CBS and was covering a playoff game between the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts. Belichick chopped it up with Tony Gonzalez and Bill Cowher, but evidently ignored Scott completely.
“Bill was an ass to me on something that had nothing to do with football, after my career,” Scott explained. “I’m an equal opportunist asshole … if we’ve got smoke, we’ve got smoke.”
Bart Scott is NOT a fan of Bill Belichick pic.twitter.com/5lPKCXgFB0
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) December 8, 2023
However, Scott clearly hates the Patriots and their fans as well.
On PMT, Scott told a story of trolling a 12-year-old Pats fan at the Super Bowl in 2017 (in which New England led maybe the greatest comeback in NFL history).
“He was just a kid who was following a wave. Same difference probably when you look up and see a bunch of Golden State Warriors, they’re probably fugazi,” Scott explained. “I just wanted to inform this 12-year-old that when 12 retires, his life as a Patriots fan would be miserable.”
As Scott said, equal opportunity. Whether you’re 71-year-old Belichick or a 12-year-old fan, Scott will in fact fight you about football.
“The same people that were pounding their chests out like a peacock strutting they’re stuff, they’re going to realize they’ve got a life full of misery ahead of them, because that’s pathetic over there,” Scott finished.
It’s not a surprise that a former Jets player would hate the Patriots, but 11 years after retiring, Scott still snaps right into hate mode surprisingly well.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.