bill simmons IS bill simmons IN the book of BASKETBALL

lag∞n
Posted: May 8, 2015 at 1:48:45 PM
hes the biggest sportswriter in the country, also espn gave nytimes the exclusive xp

didn't know abt the latter. But idk Simmons is such a goof and to me he's eternally the gasbag making up insane trades next to Loaded Weapon metaphors on Page 2. Seems weird for him to occupy notification space usually reserved for election results or terrorism updates.

i mostly skim lowe these days, i hate the structure of his columns

Guys are you ready

Since they didn't fire him they're just not renewing him...

What is Bill Simmons's expiring contract worth?

lol

Seems weird for him to occupy notification space usually reserved for election results or terrorism updates.

― Clay, Friday, May 8, 2015 4:52 PM (26 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya tbh felt the same when i saw the alert way up at the top of the site

He's one of those so overrated he's underrated guys, like in rocky 4 where Stallone is so wait what am I doing kill me xps

at this point he has to be inserting those refs in there to provoke those exact reactions

i have a theory that grantland will be much better now simmons has gone, sorta like when the knicks lost patrick ewing

― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, May 8, 2015 3:10 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a+

talking out of my ass, but i'm gonna guess fox

this sucks tbh

yeah pretty rough for nba/sox/pats/godfather fans, too bad they'll no longer get the inside scoop

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.

by all accounts simmons had vision and treated his staff well. when grantland goes the way of idolator it'll be sad

Can't for the life of me see what ESPN has to gain by doing this.

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

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.

by all accounts simmons had vision and treated his staff well. when grantland goes the way of idolator it'll be sad

― 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.

yeah i mean i didn't fuck with their pop culture stuff, i was strictly simmons/lowe/keri

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

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.

and he's a big katie nolan fan.

lool

idk who that is

didn't want to do it; felt i owed it to him

give it to Olberman imo

yeah pretty rough for nba/sox/pats/godfather fans, too bad they'll no longer get the inside scoop
--mookieproof

you tell em

<3

I'm w Kevin on this. Use grantland like he does.

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"

shd be noted too they publish some of the most remarkably pop culture begging ass face basketball writing ever written on a regular basis

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

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

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, May 9, 2015 11:22 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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, May 9, 2015 11:24 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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, May 9, 2015 11:27 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all of this

http://i.imgur.com/Ht5MKwZ.png

...

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

k

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.

Yea you don't stop to the lord god nfl and expect to come out clean in the end

all true i respect simmons for being a rebel and speaking truth to power in this case

and publicly beefing w yr evil employer is p cool / more ppl shd do it

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, May 9, 2015 2:18 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no one should be celebrating this

i don't think the nfl had a whole lot to do with this decision on espn's part

spinner just wanted simmons to spend more time with his family?

who is spinner? what are you talking about?

sorry, the ceo of espn is skipper

aw sad that a dullard lost a gig

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.

lolol

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

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.

that piece says the BS report might continue with a new host, which...

ya u know theyre gonna cant just let all those subscribers go