Patriots coach Bill Belichick ranted for five minutes about why he's done using the NFL's official Microsoft Surface tablets
"There's just no consistency," Belichick says. "I've given them all I can give them. I just can't take it anymore."
NFL coaches like Belichick had been using the Surface tablets, issued by the NFL as part of a partnership with Microsoft, as a replacement for printed-out charts and field diagrams. Belichick now says he'll go back to good old fashioned paper printouts.
NESN's Zack Cox posted the full transcript of Belichick's response to Twitter, where he expresses his frustration at the complexity that technology like the Surface adds to the business of coaching, saying that "weekly, we have to deal with something," like network outages or dead batteries or other failures that need to be addressed.
All in all, Cox says, Belichick went on for a solid five minutes and 25 seconds about his technological frustrations.
In fairness to Microsoft, it sounds the source of Belichick's agitation may not be the Surface itself. Back in January, the Surace appeared to fail during a game between Belichick's New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos - but the real culprit turned out to be a WiFi failure in the stadium.
In fact, Microsoft said earlier in 2016 that the NFL's tablets have never broken, even when Johnny Manziel hit his head on one. Still, it's not a great look for Microsoft if famous coaches like Belichick are giving up on using the Surface at the sidelines, even if it's not the company's fault, strictly speaking.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.