It was just a few hours after the other New England pro sports head coach who makes a weekly appearance on OMF -- Bill Belichick -- finished his super awkward exchange with the show.
Appearing on the Bradfo Sho podcast Monday night, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was informed of the 15-second awkward pause delivered by Belichick after Lou Merloni's question regarding Jarrett Stidham possibly replacing Cam Newton.
"Wow!" Cora said upon hearing the latest experience involving his in-season WEEI interview partners.
"That's my goal," he joked. "Hopefully in 10 years I can shut it down." When suggested that Belichick's unwillingness when it came to offering answers was rooted in 20 years on the job, Cora responded, "I don't know about 20 years. Twenty years is a lot."
Cora might not have the experience of Belichick when it comes to sitting in that interviewee's seat, but he does has a pretty good grasp on the landscape. (Let's just say that if the Red Sox are out of a pennant race and there is an opportunity to try out a young player, he's not going to give the silent treatment as a form of response.)
Throughout his playing days in Boston, media stint at ESPN, two seasons as a manager and one year observing from afar due to a one-season suspension, he has learned the landscape ... even if there is still the occasional eye-roll.
"When we won in '18, Halloween parade, right, the parade is over and I'm driving home," Cora remembered. "I'm at a stop light and I think it was Lou, he started talking about (Craig) Kimbrel and Joe Kelly coming back next year. I'm like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me enjoy this first.' That's the nature of it.
"Matty V (Matt Vasgersian) on MLB Network, somebody sent me something he said about this market, not in a bad way. He was like, 'I'm glad Alex is back. I saw him working '17, '18 and '19. We know what happened. He paid the price. But there is something about that market, it's very difficult and he did a good job for two years and he still looks 45.' I like the challenge. I like the interactions with you guys. I learned a lot this year watching from afar."
There was one aspect of the media, however, that Cora did gain a new perspective of during his time away in 2020.
"It's very different being on that seat managing a game than watching a game on TV and having your Twitter account open and you can read. It was eye-opening, to be honest with you," Cora said. "But it happens everywhere. In the world that we live in with social media, it's instant feedback. It doesn't matter if this guy didn't hustle, or this manager made a bad decision. It's there for the fans and this year for the wrong reasons I was a baseball fan. Watching and reading, I was like 'Wow.'"
With his previous time outside the game, prior to serving as the Astros' bench coach in 2017, did Cora have an inkling to how this is how it was? Evidently not.
"No, because when I was working at ESPN you get locked in with games and you don't have time to sit there and watch and read," he said. "This year I had plenty of time. It was interesting to read about it. Respecting everybody's opinion, because like I said, this game it's not black and white. You might think something about pitch usage or something.
"I'm going to tell (Red Sox media relations director) Kevin (Gregg), 'After the game, one of the beat writers sit where I'm sitting and answer questions about the game.' You can't change it. It's the nature of the game. It's where we're going and people like that. The fan base, they want to know and they read you guys and believe what they want to believe. I'm not saying it in a bad way. It is what it is. You guys have a job to do, which is to follow the team and giving your opinions and feed our fan base with information. It is what it is."