It's crazy the different things I hear/read about Simmons. Some people say people within ESPN hate him, others seem to love him. I guess time will tell as some of the Grantland staff's contracts are up this year as well. One thing I'm wondering is who will follow him. Dude is annoying at times but he's really talented and is unafraid to speak from his perspective as a fan. A lot of these media types are political so I applaud Bill for staying true.
Out of a company of thousands, you're never going to find a consensus on a single person. Also, I'm guessing some of the people at ESPN who say they can't stand him have probably never even worked for him or met him. Corporate mob mentality. On another note, I forgot that HBO is under the same umbrella that Turner is. They're both owned by Time Warner, so that gives Bill even another outlet if he goes that direction. And, no, he does not carry enough weight to start his own thing. He's much better off latching on to an established media entity that has a lot of financial backing.
Cousin Sal, Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Simmons beginning of The BS Report after the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight: Sal: "Well, we know why you weren't there..." Jimmy: "Yes, tell us about this... to me, this is far more interesting..." Bill: "We'll get into that later..."
He's right about ESPN's NBA coverage though. ESPN's NBA coverage is a joke. I'd be upset too if the network practically begged him to join the Countdown crew to make it more loose and light hearted like TNT, but then didn't actually allow any format changes. It became pretty evident Simmons was on his way out when the network favored Sage Steele (as if she's irreplaceable?) over him. Also, I knew something was up when he started the BDL podcast. As if to establish another brand on his way out the door.
I don't get the huge deal made of him going at Goodell. Is he above scrutiny? I wasn't a fan of Bill at first, but he grew on me a lot. And he's a huge Boston fan, so by default I should hate him. Interested in seeing where he turns up and what he does next.
espn covers the nfl 12 months a year so I guess they didn't want to sully goodell's name too much even though he deserves all the criticism he gets.
Vice might not have to fork over 6 million . I think Bills 5 mill a year at espn is all inclusive.. I don't think he gets that subways ad money for the bs report. Could be incentived but if vice gives him a weekly one hour show at 24-34 episodes a year for 2.1 mill base salary he could do his podcast on his own and collect the ad money off that.. that and a book deal and whatever ventures he wants could possibly net over 6 mill a year especially if he bangs out a best seller every 2-4 years
I really enjoy the Grantland podcasts with Jalen and Jacoby, listen to them on my way to campus. Also enjoy Simmons and his podcasts interviewing celebs. Not a huge fan of Simmons as an analyst but i can appreciate what he brought to a pretty unentertaining network in ESPN. Interested to see where he goes next
Great point. We exist in the world though where a guy with some actual talent (Simmons) can be buried or even discarded but no-talented wind bags like Stephen A. Smith continue to be propped up on our televisions 7 days a week during every sport making everyone dumber.
I wonder what todays Bill Dont Lie is gonna sound like? I expect him to keep it professional all the way through though and not air ESPN out, at least not this early. Maybe in August, maybe.