OT: ESPN suspends Simmons for 3 weeks for calling Goodell a liar

[Husky25]

Simmons is a $&@"ing p r i c k who thinks he's a lot funnier than he is. He's like the family guy of sports columnists, dropping unrelated movie and pop culture references randomly into columns that add nothing to the subject at hand. He also hates UConn (he encouraged one of his goons tear into us on his podcast a few years ago).

I mean "@&$ ESPN too, but I'm not going to prop this jabroni up as some martyr

Simmons used to be more funny, but he's getting old and his "pop culture" references haven't changed in 13 years, so he's material is dated.

Also, Simmons' insight of college sports comes from his guests and his college buddy, Jack-O (John O'Connell, who from the sound of his phone greeting, is a corporate lawyer at an insurance company in Hartford...not that there is anything wrong with that...). Simmons hates BC. He really has no opinion of UConn because he doesn't know anything of college basketball players until they declare for the NBA Draft. That is why his pre-NCAA Tournament columns are filled with misinformation and half-truths. O'Connell resents UConn and Jim Calhoun for their success and their following by instate non-alums and non-students. The two of them subscribe to the same asinine theory on sports fandom, where there MUST be a connection to the teams for which one roots. What's funny is that Jack-O will roundly ridicule the books and parades that celebration the Dream Season (When UConn only advanced to the Elite Eight), when he himself celebrated the parade the one time the Whalers advanced past the Adams division semi-finals (For those of you not familiar with the old Stanley Cup playoff format, the Divisional semi finals was the first round).

I’m a fan of Simmons but I find his rant a little disingenuous.

Where was his outrage of Rice’s slap on the wrist initial suspension? We all knew Rice knocked this girl out in an elevator, why should actually seeing it make any difference? Only now we are seeing the timelines of other player’s domestic violence and criminal records being reported. Did we have to see the girl get hit to cause Simmons to go on a cuss filled rant? No, the NFL commissioner had to lie about seeing the tape to get Simmons all worked up.

I believe he was outraged, just like everyone else. I rarely read his articles (or listen to his podcasts) once the NBA starts because that's all he writes about, but I do follow him on Twitter and he's been worked up over the faux concern on domestic violence for a while now. I also just listened to his latest podcast where he made the rant (not sure if ESPN took it off Grantland), but I downloaded it last night for the drive home from work (Week 4 betting line predictions with Cousin Sal). I thought it was one of his better podcasts.

I wonder if the gag order extends to other mediums. It probably does. If he goes on the Howard Stern show, The Corolla podcast or Jimmy Kimmel Live, he probably get fired immediately.

 

[Waquoit]

Whether Simmons is a fraud or a jerk is irrelevant to me. He got punished for biting the hand that feeds ESPN and for telling the truth. He may relish the chain of events, may have plotted this, may benefit from it, but it doesn't change my second sentence.

Yeah, he pretty much invited the suspension. It would have been better/more interesting if he said the exact same thing without waving the red cape at his employers. He's been dead-on about Goodell long before the Rice incident.

 

[Husky25]

Yeah, he pretty much invited the suspension. It would have been better/more interesting if he said the exact same thing without waving the red cape at his employers. He's been dead-on about Goodell long before the Rice incident.

Correct. Regardless of what ESPN says, Simmons didn't get suspended for Calling Goodell a liar and he didn't get suspended for using profanity. He didn't even get suspended for calling Goodell a liar while using profanity. He got suspended for publicly calling out his paycheck signer. Period the end.

I will now boycott ESPN for pieces of 3 games over the next three weeks. They are lucky the Patriots and Redskins are playing in their next 2 Monday Night games, or else it would have been more substantial (I.e. the Jamies Winston treatment).

 

[dogpause]

If you don't get suspended once in a while, you're not trying hard enough.

 

[UCweCONN]

If you're gonna get suspended for 3 weeks, at least call him a . Go big or go home.

 

[tzznandrew]

There are many who have grown to dislike Simmons out there. I think his writing shtick gets a little old, and definitely his pop culture references are weak...but he has an eye for talent, and his work with 30 for 30 has been awesome. He genuinely loves sports, and he's been able to parlay that into a lucrative career. Good for him.

This suspension is BS. As people have said, you give someone a platform and more freedom, and then profit off of that, it's disingenuous to punish him when you dislike what he says.

 

[Jerry1714]

Simmons is the biggest fraud out there.

This is all a media stunt and Simmons knew what was coming.

 

[Deepster]

Media stunt? Why would he do that?

Oh, wait. His Grantland Basketball Show debuts in 3 weeks.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...ith-bill-simmons-to-debut-october-21-on-espn/

 

[Waquoit]

Stunt or no, it kept the heat on Goodell and the NFL. And that's a good thing.

 

[intlzncster]

They suspended Simmons three times longer than they suspended Stephen A. Smith for suggesting that female domestic violence victims ought not "provoke" men into beating them.

I guess we can see where their priorities lie.

Even if you think this is "justified," are they paying attention to the PR surrounding all of this? Why are people in $4,000 suits with fancy degrees acting so stupidly?

This strange prioritization is analogous to the NFL originally dinging Rice for 2 games, while tacking on 4 for smoking some weed. Just weird.

 

[intlzncster]

Media stunt? Why would he do that?

Oh, wait. His Grantland Basketball Show debuts in 3 weeks.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...ith-bill-simmons-to-debut-october-21-on-espn/

Yeah, people saying he's going to severe his relationship with ESPN are nuts. Grantland is his baby; his chips are all in on that one.

 

[Jerry1714]

Stunt or no, it kept the heat on Goodell and the NFL. And that's a good thing.

No it did not.

Nothing is happening to Goodell, no matter how many writers with no say in the matter speak out.

 

[intlzncster]

I've grown a bit tired of the Simmons schtick and theories(alpha dog, ewing theory), but at the same time the guy has been an absolute beast producing/promoting NBA material on Grantland, really elevating smart NBA writers like Lowe to prominence. I also enjoy Simmons on TV. And he takes it seriously that he speaks his mind, regardless of consequence.

Weird, I can't stand him on TV. From an analytic perspective, especially NBA, I think Simmons is pretty good. He's just so uncomfortable/unnatural behind the camera.

 

[intlzncster]

No it did not.

Nothing is happening to Goodell, no matter how many writers with no say in the matter speak out.

Yeah, it's almost as if the Goodell bit has been lost in this. Simmons said, "as;dfojao sdiflasdkjf asdfad Goodell asdfasdfas duckck asdfasdfasdf". The story is really all about Simmons.

 

[beerfan]

His picture is still on the front page of ESPN.com, next to the links to Grantland. I guess ESPN didn't care enough to remove his celebrity from their website.