Remember when Bill Simmons got suspended for dropping napalm on Roger Goodell? Remember when he called out his bosses, daring them to suspend him? Yeah, well, he’s sort of at it again. This morning, ESPN’s Mike and Mike ripped Simmons for comments he made about LeBron James. In short, Simmons said James doesn’t look the same and he’s certainly not playing like it (he’s right by the way).
“Anyone who thinks LeBron looks the same is fooling themselves,” Simmons said. “He doesn’t have the same impulsiveness. He looks 20 pounds lighter physically. Just his general force-of-natureness capacity — whatever you want to say — it’s not there. And he’s driving to the basket, and he’s under the rim now, and I don’t know what that means. I don’t know if he’s hurt, I don’t know if the big weight loss has affected his game or whatever. This is not a jump-to-conclusion thing. I have been watching this Cavs team since the preseason games started, and he does not look the same.”
Mike and Mike followed that with “and that’s one of the most ridiculous lines I’ve ever heard in any sport in my life. Four games into a season. I don’t even … that’s ridiculous.” Kinda overboard and kinda nonsense to tell you the truth. That’s why Simmons WENT OFF.
I’m up and down with Simmons. I truly enjoy his writing but he’s come off petty on TV. Combine that with the time he basically challenged his employer to suspend him, and well, I’m not so sure he’s the “joe blogger” he once was. That being said, in this particular instance, it’s hard not to be on his side. Mike and Mike’s attack was totally taken out of context.
Stay tuned as this will likely heat up in the next 24 hours…
