First came the desperation for sports. We got that, albeit via a world of fan-less, hold-your-breath bubbles. Thank you sports.
But part of the deal when it comes to digesting and enjoying the experience is soaking in the personalities that come with each team. We need to care. We need to be entertained. We need some conversation-starters.
That’s where the interviews come in.
I’m not here to be wax poetic about the good old days and how players and coaches would let their guard down, never fearing the pitfalls that come with social media or the quest for clicks. And having to live this life of Zoom calls certainty take the art of conversation out of the equation in many circumstances.
But let’s face it, regardless of how we got here, this isn’t exactly the golden era of Boston sports sound bytes.
Who do you got? Cam Newton. Yup.
Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Celtics. Red Sox. Bruins. Patriots. There are some decent talkers. But who among the bunch are you going to sit down, lean your chair back and feel like 80 percent of the conversation is going to be something carefully canned? Again, waiting.
There is another candidate: Jeff Hafley.
He is the Boston College football coach (so you are excused if that name might not ring a bell quite yet). He has been in the NFL. He was the defensive coordinator for Ohio State. And now he is the latest contestant in the always popular, “Let’s see how viable we can make BC football in a market that cares about its own professional sports teams and not much else.”
We used to care about Boston College athletics on at least near the same level of some of these pro teams (thanks Doug Flutie). But that dynamic slowly dwindled away, leaving those at The Heights trying to sell something that few were buying. There were some teams that were OK. And there were some coaches who offered dribs and drabs of personality. But it always came off like they were trying to recruit a fan base that simply had no interest in matriculating at the institution.
But there seems to be something different about Hafley. As we were reminded during his interview with OMF Thursday, he actually can hold a conversation on the radio in the same manner you would hope somebody might carry on at the lunch table. He doesn’t sell too hard. He sells just enough. And because of it he is starting to get us to do what so many have failed to do before him, buy in.
Sound familiar. Hint: Mr. Newton does the same thing.
It helps Hafley has a pretty good team that hung with 12th-ranked North Carolina until the end Saturday. It doesn’t hurt that his quarterback, Phil Jurkovec, came from Notre Dame and has the makings of a pro prospect. And there is even a tight end in Hunter Long that even the most casual college football fan should want to check in on.
Who knows if any of this will last.
If BC keeps winning, we could see Hafley in Texas in a year or two. If the ACC proves too much for something better than a season-ending Pinstripe Bowl, then the bloom will becoming off the well-spoken rose. But that’s all moot. The 40-year-old is giving us a dose of much-needed interview intrigue.
Like Bill Belichick, Hafley is doing what he believes is best for the team. And in his case part of that is to keep us entertained. For that we thank him. We needed that.