Unlike a majority of the internet, I thought ESPN’s suspension of Bill Simmons was warranted. Guy basically walked into ESPN HQ, pulled down his pants and took a steaming dump on the carpet. Then had the audacity to say: “Do something about it.” I don’t know about you but that’s a fire-able offense at most jobs in America. But Simmons got lucky in my opinion, he got three weeks unpaid. Sure, that looks harsh by ESPN standards but in the real world Simmons is standing in the unemployment line.
John Ourand of the Sports Business Daily offered a brief glimpse into the psyche of ESPN execs. Turns out, yeah, they were mad about Simmons threatening them.
But what really rankled the execs was the belief that Simmons dared his bosses to reprimand him and threatened to “go public” with any message that came from corporate. ESPN execs felt they had to take a stand on what they viewed as public insubordination by one of their most visible stars. It was that challenge, even more than Simmons’ comments about Goodell, that forced ESPN’s top execs to take action.
Like I said, the NFL stuff was ho-hum, maybe worthy of a stern talking to and a Twitter suspension. After all, ESPN personalities had been drilling Roger Goodell and the NFL for weeks (and deservedly so). But this was something else, this was something the four letter network deemed over-the-top.
Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead echoed much of the same sentiments:
But it was all undercut by the Simmons challenge. The old guard at ESPN, which has gone after Simmons for years (as documented here), made some points to the ESPN President that were irrefutable: This sets a horrible precedent. What happens if this sort of brazen challenge is issued by someone on First Take? Or PTI? We must do something.
But you can see why Skipper is so peeved he got a middle finger from Simmons on a podcast. ABC loved the synergy when we put his guy, Cousin Sal, on Sportscenter to make NFL picks and he’s gonna do me like this? is how someone close to Skipper described the situation.
I like Bill Simmons. I don’t necessarily like him on TV, but I enjoy his podcasts and still occasionally read his articles. The 30 for 30’s are genius, producing some of sports’ best documentaries. And Grantland is a huge success with some of the finest writers on the internet. He’s done good for himself, he’s done good for bloggers everywhere, he’s done good for the ESPN brand. But like the rest of us, he has his faults. Like a great fighter past his prime, he caught a hook right to the jaw and looks wobbly. He’s currently in a 3-week long standing eight count. I’m interested to see how he fights back…if he fights back at all.
