Pats Fan Pissed Over #DeflateGate Coverage Won't Let ESPN Use Bill Belichick Photo

A Patriots fan who hated ESPN's DeflateGate coverage denied their request to use his sleeping Bill Belichick photo.

Bill Belichick and his girlfriend passed out on a ferry.
Twitter

Image via @AdamMarko

Bill Belichick and his girlfriend passed out on a ferry.

On Sunday afternoon an eagle-eyed Patriots fan caught Bill Belichick and his girlfriend passed out while taking a ferry to the New England resort island of Nantucket. After snagging a glimpse of the prickly coach napping like a cute little middle-aged baby, he did what everybody does nowadays: he took a picture and posted it on social media.

Hello, can ESPN use this on all platforms? Please let us know. Thanks

— ESPNAssignmentDesk (@ESPNAssignDesk) January 9, 2017

As is frequently the case with a viral image like this, ESPN's Assignment Desk reached out to @AdamMarko to see if they could use the image on their shows/website/etc.:

Chris Mortensen's incorrect tweet about DeflateGate

Now, as you may know, Patriots fans are still pretty pissed about how ESPN covered/over-covered DeflateGate, which was perhaps best summed up by this now-deleted Chris Mortensen tweet that inaccurately stated 11 of 12 of the footballs used by the Pats against the Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship were under-inflated:

@jeffphowe Tom Brady throwing passes at Milton Academy for an Under Armour commercial #GOAT pic.twitter.com/P2Z4ULV1fM

— Billy Lacey (@BillyTLacey) September 30, 2016

The overkill that was the coverage of air pressure in footballs eventually died down when Brady was finally forced to serve a four-game suspension at the beginning of the 2016 season. Because of all of this, it wasn't surprising that ESPN's request to use the sleeping Bill Belichick pic was smacked down by @AdamMarko in a very public manner on Monday:

Hi Billy! Did you shoot this? May we show on our TV&Web platforms w/your handle as its courtesy? Thanks!

— ESPNAssignmentDesk (@ESPNAssignDesk) September 30, 2016

If this all seems familiar to you, it's probably because it also happened with a different Pats fan back in September. Here's a recap in three tweets:

No chance ESPN, you all started Deflategate, do not use my video #loyaltytoTom

— Billy Lacey (@BillyTLacey) September 30, 2016

Get your revenge any way you can, Pats nation.

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