With the ousting of Bill Simmons, ESPN created a firestorm and gave all of his colleagues with a platform under the ESPN banner the opportunity to air out their grievances on Disney’s dime. Today two of Bill’s closest associates, Grantland’s David Jacoby and Jalen Rose did just that on their podcast. Before jumping into a plethora of other topics including Jalen’s feud with Chris Webber and the Conference Finals, the duo tackled the elephant in the room: their now former Editor-in-Chief.
Jacoby: It feels strange to do this podcast, but you can’t say, “Got to give the people what they want” at the beginning of every pod and then shut it down.
Rose: Yeah, that’s not who we are. Team Grantland is just that, we are a family. And who’s our leader? Who’s our editor-in-chief? Who’s the guy who put it all together?
Jacoby: Bill Simmons.
Rose: And we see the reports. You know, fans are really knowledgable. We built a great fanbase. Whether it’s doing Job Interviews, preseason countdown, 33 day recap, Grantland TV, B.S. Report, writing. He did the forward for my book that’s coming out October 6th.
Jacoby: Oh yeah. What’s it called?
Rose: Got To Give The People What They Want.
Jacoby: So you can’t say every podcast “Got to give the people what they want” and then not address it. I just want to say without Bill Simmons there’s no Grantland. Without Bill Simmons this studio doesn’t exist and it doesn’t look as cool. Without Bill Simmons there’s no Jalen Rose podcast, there’s no Jalen and Jacoby. So we just want to salute him in our way. And we have a certain way of marking the end of eras on this podcast.
And how do Jalen and Jacoby salute the end of the Bill Simmons era? By pouring one out for the guy.
“To Bill Simmons,” Jacoby added. “Our brother,” Jalen chimed in. “Gone but certainly not forgotten. See you and talk to you soon.”
That may be the end of Jalen and Jacoby speaking on the manner, but they aren’t alone. Since Simmons was unceremoniously let go by ESPN, a number of his former employees have sent kind words his way — most notably Bill Barnwell. Simmons’ contract officially ends in September, so while he remains silent Jalen and Jacoby likely won’t be the last to speak on his current situation.
(Via Grantland)
