Yassss!! Listening to the latest podcast right now so good.
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Bill Simmons going to HBO
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linsanity 2.0 has begun, prepare yourself
Steelyuhas
Member
Yeah that's awesome.
bodyofanamerican
Member
"Bill Simmons's cavalcade of Showtime shows only he still watches"
So great. I missed this.
So great. I missed this.
Even more funny now that he works for HBO
Yeah I'm well aware of that - there was a moment in the podcast where he kind of flippantly mentions "I was talking to him recently" or something along those lines.
Such great news that Greenwald and Ryan will be back. I missed the Hollywood Prospectus. Renner! NARCOS!
bodyofanamerican
Member
Structures!
Do we need an OT for displaced Grantland podcast fans? Or should we keep using this topic?
diffusionx
Gold Member
Blaine Gabbert is now a starting QB in the NFL and I can't hear the Grantland NFL podcast. This is criminal.
Macadinho94
Member
Loved how Bill's Dad guilt tripped Bill into buying him NBA Season Pass haha
bodyofanamerican
Member
I haven't had a chance to listen, but maybe he can't expense it anymore?
Whoa, awesome! Apologies, haven't heard the episode yet, but this is part of Bill's thing?
So is Bill launching another website? I mean that's what that handful of Grantland editors who joined him a few weeks ago would probably be for, right?
All we need now is Zach Lowe to join and Mays and Barnwell to resurrect the NFL podcast.
Hasphat'sAnts
Member
I was most sad that Hollywood Prospectus ended than anything else from Grantland. But they did end on the Lindelof/Greenwald story, which will probably never be topped.
Glad those two doofuses are back.
Glad those two doofuses are back.
bodyofanamerican
Member
If you listen to the Bill/Andy/Chris pod, it doesn't sound like he's going back to writing any time soon, or at least, it won't be a big part of this next phase of his career. They talked about how podcasts are so much more personal than columns, and really implied that he liked doing them a lot better than columns.
slightconfuse
Banned
Sounds like it.
So far we got
BS pod
Andy and Chris
Juliet is also getting a pod
Has to be another sports on in the works
Also think we should make a Bill Simmions OT.
So glad to get an Affair check in
Juliet is doing the NBA pod with Chris.
diffusionx
Gold Member
I doubt it's happening - whatever Simmons is doing next, it seems to be more focused on the pop culture side. NBA After Dark was always more about the pop culture side of the NBA anyway.
I'm not sure Simmons could give sports writers something they can't get at ESPN, provided ESPN is still interested in those guys (and why wouldn't they be?).
Nah, you're right. Just a pipe dream really for them to resurrect their podcasts.
bodyofanamerican
Member
And it's called the Watch, if anyone's going to start hunting for an RSS feed. I haven't found anything yet.
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/espn-president-says-one-person-152913527.html
Skipper basically saying he fucked up the whole Grantland thing. What a fuck up.
Skipper basically saying he fucked up the whole Grantland thing. What a fuck up.
bodyofanamerican
Member
How could they be unaware how loyal everyone was to Simmons? The guy literally handpicked every writer. Stunningly ignorant.
it's a prime example of shit management. ESPN never really believed in grantland. bill's first 5 podcasts with HBO had 4 million + listens total. You're telling me you can't find some way to advertise within those podcasts? why the fuck not? complete shit by espn
plus the best NBA writer on their entire staff was hired by bill. zach lowe needs to keep writing. stop fucking holding him back!
He's still displaying impressive ignorance by pushing the blame off to Fennessey. No, the person who could have saved Grantland was John Skipper, by not firing somebody on the editorial staff for editorializing.
bodyofanamerican
Member
Yup.
Ironically though, Bill admitted that he was super over-worked at the time, should have given that Goodell pod a second listen, and would have pulled/edited it if given the chance.
Crazymoogle
Member
Yep. But not because of what he said - he reiterated he would say every word again - but simply that they should have reviewed what he said, thought "it's not worth all of our jobs" and then pulled it. Because what you say can be right, just, and even the right idea at the time, but it's not always worth the rigmarole afterwards.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
I heard Bill say that on his pod, but I wonder if hindsight isn't 20/20 here. It's easy for him to say now that he would have pulled it, knowing that so many Grantlanders were relying on him for their jobs, but I think it would have been really difficult to predict the shitstorm that would unfold at the time. And clearly Bill has contempt for Goodell, justifiably so, which is why he said what he said in the first place. Even if he had listened to it before releasing the pod, I doubt that he would have pulled it.
Furthermore, it seems funny that Bill keeps pointing to that specific Goodell-bashing as what created his exit from ESPN. True, he was suspended for it, but that was only for what, two weeks? It was after he went on Dan Patrick's show earlier this year to bash Goodell that really set ESPN off (or more accurately, Goodell the Puppet Master), as the decision to not renew his contract was made/leaked just days later.
Randolph Freelander
Member
It was the next day, if I recall correctly.
But Simmons pointed to that prior suspension (and the loss of income) as the thing that sealed in his mind the fact that he would not return, he was just playing out the string.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
I think that's revisionist history by Bill. There was no doubt he was supremely pissed about his suspension. However, I don't think he had officially decided to leave by the time he was fired, and I think the firing really took him off guard.
Bill was one who pushed the boundaries, always testing to see how far he could go. I don't think he expected the Dan Patrick Show appearance to be the straw that broke the camel's back, or he wouldn't have gone on it and said what he said.
I'm sure Bill already had some idea of what he would do if the relationship with ESPN turned sour quickly, but I don't think he was ready for it when it did, and I think ESPN could have still kept him in the fold if they had tried hard enough.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
Yeah, it was an unpaid suspension. He made some kind of comment about them "taking away his livelihood". Bill also made about $5 million per year, according to the NY Times (http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/1...s-return-sets-intrigue-in-motion-at-espn.html), so I don't think his kids were going to starve anytime soon.
Same here.
Bill Simmons was fined $192,000 by the ESPN for saying that Goodell was a liar. You really think he was going to be alright with that?
diffusionx
Gold Member
Simmons has had an edgy relationship with ESPN for years. I remember reading that he seriously considered going somewhere else during the last contract negotiations. Ultimately ESPN gave him Grantland as a way to make him happy.
I still think this idea that ESPN didn't back him because they didn't let him flog MeUndies on his podcast is kind of ridiculous. I mean, it fits into the Simmons worldview but I think any EIC would have killed to have his resources.
The one thing that always made me wonder about the financial reasons is that they are still sinking money into the black hole that is The Undefeated, and for some reason 538 is still around even though it is terrible in every way. If Grantland was so poor financially then why would ESPN keep those other sites around? I really can't picture a world where a site as uninteresting and lousy as 538 is thriving while Grantland loses money.
I still think this idea that ESPN didn't back him because they didn't let him flog MeUndies on his podcast is kind of ridiculous. I mean, it fits into the Simmons worldview but I think any EIC would have killed to have his resources.
The one thing that always made me wonder about the financial reasons is that they are still sinking money into the black hole that is The Undefeated, and for some reason 538 is still around even though it is terrible in every way. If Grantland was so poor financially then why would ESPN keep those other sites around? I really can't picture a world where a site as uninteresting and lousy as 538 is thriving while Grantland loses money.
I imagine 538's traffic will climb rapidly over the next year before plummeting after the election. ESPN would be smart to keep it open until early 2017 to capitalize on the election audience.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
It's a lot of money for you and me, yeah. But we're talking about a guy who was making $5 million a year. It's like when a pro athlete gets suspended or fined and loses what appears to be big money to us regular folk; it ain't such a big amount of money to them.
I think Bill was probably more pissed about the public flogging he received from ESPN, as well as them preventing him from doing his podcasts or columns, than he was about the money lost. But I may be wrong about that, I don't know.
CastleRybread
Member
Not monetizing the podcast more was about everyone always mentioning their lack of revenue and grantland being a money loser. They stuck way more ads on their pods after he left, so he wasn't wrong. They never branded the studio either, which they should have.
diffusionx
Gold Member
My point is that I don't think ESPN cared as much about money as much as people think (going by 538 and The Undefeated), and even if ESPN hated Grantland because it lost money, it was still a site that employed dozens of writers who Bill Simmons hired and it was a site that hosted thousands of Bill Simmons approved articles. I mean, where else would you find a oral history of Boogie Nights? I'm pretty sure virtually any EIC in the country would kill to have the freedom and resources Bill had and he was still playing the "nobody believed in us" card.
Contrast some level of editorial freedom with complete lack of promotion though. I think Bill was focused on the latter -- and his complaints were legit. His editorial freedom was obviously not that enviable either btw -- can't mock Goodell, can't say anything about ESPN personalities or shows, can't go on non-ESPN-Radio programs. Seems pretty crappy tbh.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
I like Bill a lot, have been reading him since the early days of Page 2. But a lot of the stuff he whines about is actually somewhat legitimate business decisions by ESPN.
Of course he shouldn't be allowed to say anything about other ESPN personalities, because that brings down the entire brand. You don't want infighting between Bill and Mike & Mike, for example.
The not going on non-ESPN Radio programs makes some sense too. They want to exclusively feature their own talent; ESPN doesn't want that talent helping competitors. Bill wanted to go on other shows to help build his brand, but he's ultimately an ESPN employee, and if they think it's better for their brand to keep their talent on their own radio network, that's their prerogative.
The Goodell stuff, however, is difficult to defend from ESPN's point of view. Goodell is a liar, and I don't really have an issue with Simmons calling him out on that. It's the kind of take ESPN would have gladly accepted if it was levied at, say the NHL's Gary Bettman instead, someone with whom ESPN isn't totally in bed with.
Roland_Gunner
Member
Bill Barnwell just tweeted said:
Sounds like Barnwell's being paid to not write at this point. Good times.
bodyofanamerican
Member
Anyone know why Bill kept saying that he can't bet on the NBA on the last pod with Sal?
baudelinog
Member
IIRC that about betting on the MVP, and I believe that's because he still has a vote.
Because he is an official MVP/Finals MVP voter for the NBA I believe.
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