simmons will be fine, he'll find his way obv. But it's probably super dumb of espn to ditch the cult of simmons, there's no other figures like him out there and what like 95% of their on-air talent is either toxic or inoffensive to the point of insult. I mostly feel for the grantland writers who must feel like their career is very much in flux because bill simmons rightly is unafraid of saying roger goodell is a monster.
― Clay, Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:20 (nine years ago) link
by all accounts simmons had vision and treated his staff well. when grantland goes the way of idolator it'll be sad
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:23 (nine years ago) link
Can't for the life of me see what ESPN has to gain by doing this.
― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:23 (nine years ago) link
the amount of money simmons brings ESPN is probably a drop in their overall bucket. from that standpoint, and given how he openly flouts the company line, it's an understandable business decision
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:25 (nine years ago) link
i think it's clear they had no intention of paying simmons after this contract was up but the decision to announce it now is impulsive and dumb. i really don't see simmons being the good soldier type for the next 4 months.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:26 (nine years ago) link
― k3vin k., Friday, May 8, 2015 9:23 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah, i didn't read that much grantland stuff but it did a good job of being a general purpose site where you could go putter around without being offended or irritated which is a bigger compliment than it sounds.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:28 (nine years ago) link
yeah i mean i didn't fuck with their pop culture stuff, i was strictly simmons/lowe/keri
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:33 (nine years ago) link
espn can afford to keep grantland and its writers well-paid no matter its hits; it offers a modicum of journalistic integrity to an organization that otherwise has none. bless simmons for assembling (and being able to assemble) the talent, but i'm skeptical that his editorial prowess is what made it work. and i would hope espn would be very much at pains to demonstrate that
nor was simmons wrong about goodell, etc., but there's a difference between truth-telling and very deliberately being a dick to your employer
― mookieproof, Saturday, 9 May 2015 01:40 (nine years ago) link
simmons has been a pretty firm proponent of 'just hire talented ppl, leave them alone, and let them do what they do' w/ 30 for 30 and grantland and it's worked to their benefit w/ both. 30 for 30 is probably the real money making thing he's come up w/ them (esp now that they're going into stuff that doesn't even feel like the original spirit of 30 for 30 ie another documentary about the willis reed knicks)(which i enjoyed mind you and they did dig up that awesome footage of reed taking on an entire team but it wasn't exactly a story that hadn't been told before).
i think he wanted to stay at espn and was even being a good soldier in his way - he's been on espn radio alot more than he was in the past (though not mike and mike lol)(and some of that is just him and russillo becoming bros i guess) and he had this weird long monologue about his history w/ espn on a podcast a little while back. from what i've read today fox seems like a good bet, they're thirsty as hell and it would put them on the map, he's apparently got friends over there already and he's a big katie nolan fan. they don't have nba but it's not like he was going back to working pregames at espn anyway.
― balls, Saturday, 9 May 2015 02:10 (nine years ago) link
and he's a big katie nolan fan.
lool
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 9 May 2015 02:27 (nine years ago) link
idk who that is
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 May 2015 02:34 (nine years ago) link
didn't want to do it; felt i owed it to him
― mookieproof, Saturday, 9 May 2015 02:41 (nine years ago) link
give it to Olberman imo
― polyphonic, Saturday, 9 May 2015 03:15 (nine years ago) link
yeah pretty rough for nba/sox/pats/godfather fans, too bad they'll no longer get the inside scoop --mookieproof
you tell em
― slothroprhymes, Saturday, 9 May 2015 04:55 (nine years ago) link
<3
― mookieproof, Saturday, 9 May 2015 05:09 (nine years ago) link
I'm w Kevin on this. Use grantland like he does.
― #wegonnabechampionship (Spottie), Saturday, 9 May 2015 05:10 (nine years ago) link
grantland is pretty bad imo, there are a few good writers on there but overall it perfectly represents the middlebrow quality signifying nothing ethos of hacks everywhere, there doesnt seem to be any sort of vision behind it besides the vague idea of making something "good"
― lag∞n, Saturday, 9 May 2015 15:22 (nine years ago) link
shd be noted too they publish some of the most remarkably pop culture begging ass face basketball writing ever written on a regular basis
― lag∞n, Saturday, 9 May 2015 15:24 (nine years ago) link
like u want to read a bunch of grown men get all wound up about a vine of a vicious dunk and then compare it to some game of thrones gifs grantland.com is the website 4 u
― lag∞n, Saturday, 9 May 2015 15:27 (nine years ago) link
I mean sometimes there's nothing wrong with that, and sometimes you end up with the enshrined memeification of dion waiters, it's a fine line
― slothroprhymes, Saturday, 9 May 2015 15:33 (nine years ago) link
― lag∞n, Saturday, May 9, 2015 11:22 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― lag∞n, Saturday, May 9, 2015 11:24 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― lag∞n, Saturday, May 9, 2015 11:27 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
all of this
― k3vin k., Saturday, 9 May 2015 16:55 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/Ht5MKwZ.png
...
― lag∞n, Saturday, 9 May 2015 17:22 (nine years ago) link
of the many things you can knock grantland for I fail to see how a pun headline and a perfectly decent if not exactly earth shaking article in praise of tony allen is one of them
― slothroprhymes, Saturday, 9 May 2015 17:35 (nine years ago) link
k
― lag∞n, Saturday, 9 May 2015 17:37 (nine years ago) link
the amount of money simmons brings ESPN is probably a drop in their overall bucket.
^ this
roger goodell may be a monster, but game recognizes game so to speak, and the ceo of espn knows that the nfl is worth billions to them, and goodell (being a monster like himself) will doubtless crush any entity that even vaguely threatens his vastly profitable machine. so spinner obligingly crushed simmons as a gesture of good will toward goodell, as one monster to another. that's business, ladies and gentlemen.
― Aimless, Saturday, 9 May 2015 18:18 (nine years ago) link
Yea you don't stop to the lord god nfl and expect to come out clean in the end
― panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Saturday, 9 May 2015 18:26 (nine years ago) link
all true i respect simmons for being a rebel and speaking truth to power in this case
― lag∞n, Saturday, 9 May 2015 18:40 (nine years ago) link
and publicly beefing w yr evil employer is p cool / more ppl shd do it
― lag∞n, Saturday, 9 May 2015 18:41 (nine years ago) link
― Aimless, Saturday, May 9, 2015 2:18 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
no one should be celebrating this
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 9 May 2015 19:19 (nine years ago) link
i don't think the nfl had a whole lot to do with this decision on espn's part
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 10 May 2015 03:44 (nine years ago) link
spinner just wanted simmons to spend more time with his family?
― Aimless, Sunday, 10 May 2015 03:46 (nine years ago) link
who is spinner? what are you talking about?
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 10 May 2015 03:50 (nine years ago) link
sorry, the ceo of espn is skipper
― Aimless, Sunday, 10 May 2015 03:53 (nine years ago) link
aw sad that a dullard lost a gig
― hunangarage, Sunday, 10 May 2015 05:43 (nine years ago) link
Damn, it's really hitting me now. No more podcasts. No more Guesss the Lines with Cousin Sal. No more mailbags. This really sucks. Fuck you, ESPN.
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 10 May 2015 14:12 (nine years ago) link
lolol
― mookieproof, Sunday, 10 May 2015 18:50 (nine years ago) link
bill mad halftime wasnt longer my lord
He also seemed frustrated by what he considered the inadequate amount of time devoted to halftime, and other ancillary shows, and objected to slotting pre- and post-game coverage directly opposite big playoff games on other networks.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/05/inside-shocking-abrupt-divorce-bill-simmons-and-espn
― lag∞n, Sunday, 10 May 2015 22:10 (nine years ago) link
my dvr says there is a new episode of the grantland basketball hour on tuesday but i'm guessing that is not going to happen. it would be great tho if they replaced him as host w/ someone and made jalen and lowe sit through it all like nothing happened.
― Clay, Monday, 11 May 2015 01:34 (nine years ago) link
that piece says the BS report might continue with a new host, which...
― k3vin k., Monday, 11 May 2015 01:36 (nine years ago) link
ya u know theyre gonna cant just let all those subscribers go
― lag∞n, Monday, 11 May 2015 01:45 (nine years ago) link
big steendriver report
― mookieproof, Monday, 11 May 2015 01:59 (nine years ago) link
The author of that story in Vanity fair seems to think that Simmons' criticism of Roger Goodell had a whole lot to do with his firing.
― Aimless, Monday, 11 May 2015 04:35 (nine years ago) link
bill is sadhttp://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--WUGsExgy--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/1246882598124803732.jpg
― slothroprhymes, Monday, 11 May 2015 15:28 (nine years ago) link
:(
― lag∞n, Monday, 11 May 2015 15:46 (nine years ago) link
one thing thats weird abt this is the universal acclaim for the 30 for 30 series, like theyre alright prob better than ur average basic cable doc but nothing on level of what say pbs regularly produces and nowhere near a theatrical release, some of them ive seen have been down right bad like the loyola marymount one showing hank gathers collapsing in slow mo 100 times and only showing 5 seconds of game footage while spending a good chunk of the piece talking about their crazy exciting style of play
― lag∞n, Monday, 11 May 2015 15:51 (nine years ago) link
do tons of ppl watch them are they a huge ratings winner why do they merit such high praise
― lag∞n, Monday, 11 May 2015 15:52 (nine years ago) link
winning time, benji, bad boys, price of gold all really good imo
― slothroprhymes, Monday, 11 May 2015 15:54 (nine years ago) link
bad boys /is/ marred by its kid rock narration though :l
― slothroprhymes, Monday, 11 May 2015 15:55 (nine years ago) link
is it cause there has to be a non writing simmons endeavor writers can point and and be like this was successful otherwise ur just left with a money losing website and a flameout as a tv guy
― lag∞n, Monday, 11 May 2015 15:55 (nine years ago) link
or was espn paying him $5m a year to write infrequently and dispassionately