Author Topic: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN  (Read 36053 times)

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Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #60 on: May 13, 2015, 04:10:29 PM »

Offline D.o.s.

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I suppose TBoB is the only one that says "HEY GUYS THIS IS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF BASKETBALL" but for my money it's actually The Rivalry that does the best job of covering the changes in the NBA.

Sort of the same way The Metamorphosis says more about the human condition than War & Peace does, even though one is more explicitly historical in description and setting.

And yes, the free darko book is phenomenal (both free darko books, are). It is much more like a history textbook than you might think from the ad copy/reviews, though.

If nothing else, Simmons gets people (and especially C's fans) excited about talking about writing about sports, which is awesome.
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Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #61 on: May 13, 2015, 04:32:16 PM »

Offline LarBrd33

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Simmons seems to be a walking basketball encyclopedia.  He writes in an entertaining way.  Yeah, his stuff is very accessible for casual fans.  He fully admits he writes from the perspective of fan and in a lot of ways it's sort of a gimmick... so the article comparing him to CM Punk isn't too far off.

I feel like bashing his writing ability is akin to bashing John Oliver as a newscaster.  Sure, there are certainly better television journalists out there than John Oliver, but it doesn't change the fact that I find "Last Week Tonight" to be a very entertaining show.  His mechanism for delivering the news is appealing. 

I like how Simmons writes about Sports.  His articles are entertaining.  His podcasts are entertaining.  He comes across like one of us and I dig that about him.   

It was interesting listening to Simmons talk about his journey on a podcast recently.   He originally was blogging about Boston sports for a Boston audience.  He learned early that he could keep his articles entertaining by referencing Boston sports/news history in a funny way.  Similar to one of us name-dropping Mark Blount in a comical comment about spending money foolishly.  As Simmons reach expanded and his audience grew outside Boston, he could no longer use the Boston inside jokes.  He discovered that pop culture references could be a great fill-in for the Boston jokes.  So you take that same "Don't spend money foolishly" comment national and instead of referencing Boston spending $41 million on Mark Blount, you make a joke about Fox Broadcasting spending $70 million on "Terra Nova".    And there you have the origin of the entire Bill Simmons "pop culture/fan" persona.

Pretty much everyone on this blog is influenced in some way by Simmons' writing.  I'm still a fan.  I'm excited to see what he does next.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2015, 04:45:22 PM by LarBrd33 »

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #62 on: May 14, 2015, 09:18:06 AM »

Offline D.o.s.

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To use a better pop culture analogy, it's more like bashing Nickelback. John Oliver has a much higher seal of quality behind his product, as well as being behind what is ostensibly a pay wall.

Splitting hairs though. I'm sure his Fox Sports 1 podcast series will do very well.
At least a goldfish with a Lincoln Log on its back goin' across your floor to your sock drawer has a miraculous connotation to it.

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #63 on: May 23, 2015, 10:41:52 AM »

Offline JSD

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Man, I'm late to the game on this one. I was literally refreshing my BS Report and Bill Don't Lie podcast feeds for a while with thoughts ranging from, "What the heck is he doing?" to "Is my freakin iPhone broken?". It wasn't until Zack Lowe's mention of the situation, in his latest podcast, did I find out that something had happened.

I'm thrilled about the change though, anything signifying the downfall of ESPN makes me happy.
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Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #64 on: May 29, 2015, 04:55:54 AM »

Offline LarBrd33

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http://national.suntimes.com/nba/7/72/1194936/bill-simmons-bleacher-report

Quote
Last night, as the Golden State Warriors were punching their ticket to the NBA Finals with a 104-90 win over the Houston Rockets, Simmons was posted up in the bar of the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco on Market Street, as you can see in the photo above.

According to our tipster, Simmons was armed with his luggage and was kindly taking photos with people while taking in the game.

After ESPN pulled Simmons from all of its platforms, he is likely not allowed to go to any sporting events as a credentialed member of the media, so why was he in San Francisco watching the Rockets and Warriors?

It just so happens that Bleacher Report?s headquarters are .2 miles down the road from the Four Seasons.

If Simmons ends up with Turner and Bleacher Report, he will have an opportunity to do something as big as Grantland ? that could even be self-sustaining.

Would they rebrand his podcast the "BS Bleacher Report"?

Vice Sports a possibility?

http://deadspin.com/editor-in-chief-tomas-rios-has-left-vice-sports-1707360421

Quote
Vice Sports editor-in-chief Tom?s R?os has left the company in what was described by a source as a mutual agreement to part ways. The Vice Sports masthead has been updated and no longer lists R?os?or any other staffers?as it did previously.

They certainly want him there:  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shane-smith-offers-bill-simmons-794458

Meanwhile, looks like Grantland found a (temporary?) replacement in Chris Connelly:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/27/media/chris-connelly-replaces-bill-simmons-grantland/

« Last Edit: May 29, 2015, 05:07:15 AM by LarBrd33 »

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #65 on: May 29, 2015, 09:39:03 AM »

Offline D.o.s.

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Vice is consolidating their sports vertical because they're not making any money. Lots of horror stories out there about working for Vice, but most of those don't/wouldn't apply to Lion prince Simm-bah. I think their demographics don't particularly overlap, but it makes sense in a 'fit' kind of way, insofar as Simmons is a 40+ year old millionaire who writes like a broke teenager and Vice markets edge to people who aren't.

Chris Connelly is a good choice from ESPN.
At least a goldfish with a Lincoln Log on its back goin' across your floor to your sock drawer has a miraculous connotation to it.

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #66 on: May 29, 2015, 09:49:41 AM »

Offline Roy H.

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From the Connelly article above:

Quote
Simmons has been Grantland's chief draw, and the site -- which has long generated mediocre traffic numbers -- will have an enormous void in his absence.

Money talks.  If Grantland wasn't performing with Simmons, it makes sense that they might not want to put up with both the financial outlay and the constant headache, with the former being significantly more important.


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Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #67 on: May 29, 2015, 10:27:35 AM »

Offline The One

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From the Connelly article above:

Quote
Simmons has been Grantland's chief draw, and the site -- which has long generated mediocre traffic numbers -- will have an enormous void in his absence.

Money talks.  If Grantland wasn't performing with Simmons, it makes sense that they might not want to put up with both the financial outlay and the constant headache, with the former being significantly more important.

What does it say about society when Bleacher Report gets more traffic than Grantland?

My opinion...people don't like to read and/or think.

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #68 on: May 29, 2015, 10:29:29 AM »

Offline Donoghus

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From the Connelly article above:

Quote
Simmons has been Grantland's chief draw, and the site -- which has long generated mediocre traffic numbers -- will have an enormous void in his absence.

Money talks.  If Grantland wasn't performing with Simmons, it makes sense that they might not want to put up with both the financial outlay and the constant headache, with the former being significantly more important.

What does it say about society when Bleacher Report gets more traffic than Grantland?

My opinion...people don't like to read and/or think.

That people have short attention spans.  I love the quality of Grantland, but let's not kid ourselves,  plenty of those articles are mini-novels.


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Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #69 on: May 29, 2015, 10:29:53 AM »

Offline Roy H.

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From the Connelly article above:

Quote
Simmons has been Grantland's chief draw, and the site -- which has long generated mediocre traffic numbers -- will have an enormous void in his absence.

Money talks.  If Grantland wasn't performing with Simmons, it makes sense that they might not want to put up with both the financial outlay and the constant headache, with the former being significantly more important.

What does it say about society when Bleacher Report gets more traffic than Grantland?

My opinion...people don't like to read and/or think.

That opinion borderlines very closely to the line of "absolute fact".


I'M THE SILVERBACK GORILLA IN THIS MOTHER——— AND DON'T NONE OF YA'LL EVER FORGET IT!@ 34 minutes

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #70 on: May 29, 2015, 10:38:56 AM »

Offline D.o.s.

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Yeah this was something that got brought up earlier: which is a real shame because a lot of people who write for Grantland deserve to have good jobs in the industry.

Also interesting to note: Tom Rios was brought onto Vice after Sports on Earth died an ignoble death (mostly because it wasn't making any money). Rios is a quality sportswriter, and I hope he finds gainful employment somewhere soon. However, if Vice is trying to generate larger traffic than Rios and company were bringing in, it would make sense for them  to hire Simmons and get him to write something screed-y about the evils of ESPN. Particularly because, now that he's definitely got his access to NBA stars reduced, Simmons doesn't have much else going for him from a pitch/angle perspective.
At least a goldfish with a Lincoln Log on its back goin' across your floor to your sock drawer has a miraculous connotation to it.

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #71 on: May 29, 2015, 05:51:58 PM »

Offline strokeracevt

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I think ESPN has made a big mistake. I find it painful to watch those 2 new jokers commentate with Jalen and Doug Collins during these playoffs. Bring back BS and pay up. BS was the best thing ESPN had going and they blew it again. Can ESPN get any worse??

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #72 on: May 29, 2015, 05:58:18 PM »

Offline PhoSita

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It stinks that the closest thing we have to the B.S. Report now is Jalen and Jacoby, which to be perfectly honest, is fairly awful.  Those guys are plugged into things and have a sense of humor like Bill, but they don't exactly have the greatest basketball minds out there.

I enjoy The Lowe Post, but Zach lacks the charisma and "in the know" quality that Bill brought to the table.
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Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #73 on: May 29, 2015, 06:38:24 PM »

Offline gift

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I'm definitely missing the bs report. I thought a good play for Simmons would be Yahoo! and vice versa. But the Turner/Bleacher Report may be more ready to go when Simmons' contract allows plus tied into the NBA (plus television), which I believe is Simmons' favorite.

What I'd really like to see is ESPN give up on Grantland and Simmons basically recreates it with more freedom somewhere else (meaning he grabs a bunch of his old staff).

Re: Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN
« Reply #74 on: May 29, 2015, 06:53:27 PM »

Offline boscel33

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I'm definitely missing the bs report. I thought a good play for Simmons would be Yahoo! and vice versa. But the Turner/Bleacher Report may be more ready to go when Simmons' contract allows plus tied into the NBA (plus television), which I believe is Simmons' favorite.

What I'd really like to see is ESPN give up on Grantland and Simmons basically recreates it with more freedom somewhere else (meaning he grabs a bunch of his old staff).

I know people have beat some of my posts up when I mention I got the material from Bleacher Report, but I find myself reading it mire than ESPN.
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