Well I can see some people that could get tired of the Cousin Sal and House podcasts every week. I really did like the Chris Ryan podcast and the Gladwell podcast. Both had good discussions.
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Bill Simmons going to HBO
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Well I can see some people that could get tired of the Cousin Sal and House podcasts every week. I really did like the Chris Ryan podcast and the Gladwell podcast. Both had good discussions.
bodyofanamerican
Member
Ah right. That makes sense.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Not talking shit about other ESPN talent or not going on other shows is perfectly defensible for business reasons. Not talking about Goodell is pretty much crap but it's not the first time ESPN has stepped in it because they are too close to the NFL (the concussion documentary, etc.).
I mean, what would have made Bill Simmons happy as an ESPN employee? He complained about everything, even after he was given a site with dozens of writers that put up stuff he liked. Should they have just made him CEO and be done with it?
I want to be paid not to work.
daemissary
Member
Couldn't disagree more about him needing more guests. Love Simmons but whenever he gets a big time Hollywood or sports star, he spends the entire interview pandering to them. I'd much rather listen to him shoot the shit with Sal and House every week than hear interviews that may as well be on the Tonight Show.
bodyofanamerican
Member
What I'm curious about is if he's going to start a podcast network of some kind. Will Andy and Chris's podcast be on the same feed? If not, will there be an umbrella feed that gets you all of Simmons' and Andy/Chris's podcast in one place? And most importantly, CAN WE GET ANDREW SHARP AND START NBA AFTER DARK ASAP PLEASE.
Pretty sure Litman and Ryan are doing a NBA After Dark podcast but who knows if they get Andrew Sharp
Simmons hasn't signed any sports writers yet, but maybe he can guest? It depends if he still works for ESPN or not
bodyofanamerican
Member
True, and I mean, I was being a little facetious. As long as Litman and Ryan are doing some sort of NBA show, I won't miss Sharp that much.
Listening to Bill with Chris and Andy last week, I'm kind of convinced that writing isn't in his or any of their futures. I think it's podcasts/short form video/HBO show from here on out. I don't think a new Grantland site is in the cards.
slightconfuse
Banned
Need a podcast with H-Bob soon.
Masked Man just tweeted that Cheap Heat is coming back. No word if he work with Simmons or doing it some where else
https://twitter.com/AKATheMaskedMan/status/664481638810783744
https://twitter.com/AKATheMaskedMan/status/664481638810783744
Promoting the site and trying to monetize it so that it wouldn't be set up to fail? Which they pretty clearly did none of. There are clearly lots of factions at ESPN -- that's very well documented -- and that's why you see some of the nonsense scenarios like "why would they set up this big site, pay its writers, but then make no effort to actually make it successful?" Simmons isn't some hero, but ESPN constantly makes incredibly dumb decisions and puts bad people in positions of power -- also all well documented -- so it's pretty easy to see Simmons as the better half of that battle.
Oh well, water under the bridge. ESPN seems to be in absolutely terrible shape right now even apart from this whole Grantland fiasco so it's probably best for all parties that it worked out the way it did.
diffusionx
Gold Member
I guess this is where we fundamentally disagree it. I don't think the site was "set up to fail" at all. I base this on the fact that 538 is still around and they just hired a new EIC for The Undefeated even though Whitlock wasted years and who knows how much money with nothing to show for it. Do you think Grantland would have gotten killed off if Simmons was still at ESPN? No way. It died because it was a vanity site set up to make Simmons happy and thus lost its reason to exist when Simmons left.
bodyofanamerican
Member
I disagree that it was a "vanity" project, it was a site Bill built from the ground up (he, I believe, literally hand picked every writer), and John Skipper himself admitted that they didn't realize how interwoven Bill was into every aspect of the site.
My point is I think they knew the quality of the writing they had, but didn't realize it literally could not function without Simmons at the head.
diffusionx
Gold Member
It's a vanity site because they said, "sure Bill you can run a site, here's a bunch of money, go hire people and set it up." I remember reading that ESPN insisted on the name but everything else was more or less free rein. It wasn't like ESPN had this idea for Grantland, went out looking for people, and hired Bill Simmons to work on it.
peppermints
Member
Where did the name come from, by the way? Always been a mystery to me.
The pod with the guy who's running the LA Olympic bid was quite interesting as well.
Watch the Thrones has to be coming back in some form, right? He hired 3/4 of the team behind it for a reason. Maybe a show a la Talking Dead?
WesternHeretic
Member
Does anyone know where i can get his old podcast? I want to listen to his FNL one because i didn't watch the show when he did it, but recently finished it on netflix.
bodyofanamerican
Member
Greenwald and Ryan pod is up under Bill's feed! Of note in the show summary:
He's starting a podcast network.
He's starting a podcast network.
I'm sure Rapaport is an acquired taste, but I was cracking up most of that podcast, especially at the many times he made Simmons cringe.
Yeah, I mean who knows what really happened start to finish. Just comes down to who you have more faith in I guess and I've always been a Simmons guy. Also makes me pretty glad to hear he was really good to his employees, and is clearly working his ass off well after the fact to bring them on board. But yeah drama between ESPN and Simmons has been going on for a long time. I'm sure if you talk to Bristol people they'll say how horrible he is etc.
DerangedHermit
Member
Done and done
Discotheque
Banned
Rapaport episode was the best yet imo
Lmao at paulie being a good "stickman"
edit: mickie i mean haha
Lmao at paulie being a good "stickman"
edit: mickie i mean haha
bodyofanamerican
Member
He was great but could he do like, three less lines of coke next time? Bill was trying to make points I wanted to hear, and he kept talking over him.
Also god dammit BSPN. Perfect.
CastleRybread
Member
Is Rapaport like he is on Stern? I can't listen to that shit when he gets all whiny and self entitled. I turn the channel off every time I hear him.
I don't mind his acting, but him on Stern drives me nuts. He's worse than bobo.
I don't mind his acting, but him on Stern drives me nuts. He's worse than bobo.
infiniteloop
Member
slightconfuse
Banned
Chanel 34 is the affair.
Lol
Lol
Simmons interviewed Obama for GQ:
http://www.gq.com/story/president-obama-bill-simmons-interview-gq-men-of-the-year
http://www.gq.com/story/president-obama-bill-simmons-interview-gq-men-of-the-year
Good interview. Wish it was a podcast
Gully State
Member
No, but Latvia is.
NoctisVsStar
Member
new podcast with chuck klosterman is up and is great. goes into CK's interview for gq with tom brady and some grantland background. simmons basically says that the narrative around his departure (and other personalities' departures) was not about financials but other reasons, his being obviously the goodell thing. i think it's a little bit of spin, a little combination of both: espn didn't like simmons going at goodell, saw an opportunity to cut him loose and basically rationalized it by saying grantland wasn't profitable and let other people write the narrative of saying espn needs to cut costs.
i think simmons is probably better off doing his podcast network stuff on channel 33; he can monetize the podcasts better than espn could and isn't under the thumb of an overlord.
i think simmons is probably better off doing his podcast network stuff on channel 33; he can monetize the podcasts better than espn could and isn't under the thumb of an overlord.
Nastrodamous
Member
#bringbackbarnwell
Stabby McSter
Member
on the wrong site, though
I wonder if Lowe would leave ESPN? I feel like chances are pretty slim now, especially if it sounds like Simmons's new project is just a podcast network.
slightconfuse
Banned
on the wrong site, though
I wonder if Lowe would leave ESPN? I feel like chances are pretty slim now, especially if it sounds like Simmons's new project is just a podcast network.
He should join Woj at yahoo
Simmons new thing is a HBO show weekly. Podcasts are just a side part of that.on the wrong site, though
I wonder if Lowe would leave ESPN? I feel like chances are pretty slim now, especially if it sounds like Simmons's new project is just a podcast network.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
So long as he can continue to produce long form pieces for ESPN.com and continue his podcast, he should probably just stay with ESPN. They can continue to provide him fantastic access to the NBA. I'll miss the combo pods of Simmons & Lowe, but I don't think there's much that can be done there.
Basileus777
Member
I'm glad the Lowe post is continuing, Lowe's podcasts with other people are better than the his ones with Simmons anyway.
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