ESPN Irony on NFL and Simmons

[BrianFromWA]

Sorry if it's been posted somewhere, but I found this to be a bit ironic today.

I know many in here hate Simmons, and more are probably indifferent. I've liked reading him since 1998. I disagree with some of his takes, his homerism can be off the charts and he spends more time on pop culture than I like; but I love the premise and execution of Grantland and his role in the 30-for-30s.

He was suspended again for calling out Goodell and the NFL head shed with some measured profanity, which I figured was coming soon. But less than 6 hours after I read about Simmons, I read this from ESPN's ombudsman:

ESPN Flexes Journalistic Muscle
Running backs such as Baltimore’s Ray Rice have hit their girlfriends before, but never with such clear TMZ video, nor with such an inept and seemingly complicit response from the National Football League’s commissioner, Roger Goodell.

Nor with such strong coverage and commentary from ESPN.

The network’s heavyweights -- Keith Olbermann, Jason Whitlock and Bill Simmons, among others -- delivered their own verbal punches....I’d like to say I wasn’t the least bit surprised … but I was.

This was ESPN’s finest hour during my tenure as Ombudsman.

and then the tagline:

That’s the biggest story in sports, and, based on recent efforts, I look forward to how this muscular, thoughtful and hard-driving generation of ESPN journalists will make it theirs.

Six of those finest hours later, Simmons was on a 3-week timeout and unable to "make it his". I just thought it was, well, ironic. Like a 10,000-spoons-when-all-you-need-is-a-knife thing.

 

[julius]

Is it like rain on your wedding day? or a free ride, when you've already paid?

Thank you India!

(smart ass aside, it is strange how he got suspended longer than the initial penalty that Rice faced. Even though it's different companies, it's rather interesting how words were worse than physical violence)

 

[BrianFromWA]

For the record, a transcript of his quotes. I can't say I disagree with any of it.

"Goodell, if he didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar. I'm just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn't know is such fucking bullshit. It really is — it's such fucking bullshit. And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted. I really was."

He went on to challenge ESPN:

"I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I'm in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell. "Because if one person says that to me, I'm going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner's a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast."

ESPN called. Seems that John Skipper, President of ESPN, has spoken.

"Every employee must be accountable to ESPN and those engaged in our editorial operations must also operate within ESPN's journalistic standards. We have worked hard to ensure that our recent NFL coverage has met that criteria. Bill Simmons did not meet those obligations in a recent podcast, and as a result we have suspended him for three weeks."

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Love Simmons.

Stephen a smith has really come around for me too. Dude speaks his mind and doesn't care.

Espn needs more people like those two.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

1. It's fucking great to have Brian back!

2. This smacks of Goodel calling up ESPN threatening to never give them another NFL TV contract unless they make the bad man stop saying mean things about him.

 

[Rhal]

Simmons is entertaining and I love his podcast. This sounds like someone in the NFL heard this podcast got PISSED and threatened ESPN so they acted.
Simmons got a longer ban then Rices initial ban for doing nothing but calling Goodel out.

 

[Minstrel]

I've never found Simmons particularly funny, so when he tries to be "on," I find him unreadable. When he writes semi-seriously, he's a pretty decent read. And I agree that he's built some great stuff when it comes to Grantland and the 30 For 30 franchise.

I assume ESPN suspended him mostly because they don't want their columnists to sound like ranting bloggers, which I can understand. Still, three weeks seems excessive and it certainly looks bad, image-wise, considering what he was blasting and how correct he seems.

 

[Rhal]

I've never found Simmons particularly funny, so when he tries to be "on," I find him unreadable. When he writes semi-seriously, he's a pretty decent read. And I agree that he's built some great stuff when it comes to Grantland and the 30 For 30 franchise.

I assume ESPN suspended him mostly because they don't want their columnists to sound like ranting bloggers, which I can understand. Still, three weeks seems excessive and it certainly looks bad, image-wise, considering what he was blasting and how correct he seems.

Id have no qualm if Simmons wrote what he said in an artical that was posted or was said in a national broadcast and he got suspended but Simmons was suspended for a rant on a podcast thats all about gambling and he does it with a comedian writer.
Its a three week suspension as well. That seems awfully long almost a "this is your last chance" type of suspension.

 

[RR7]

I never listen to Simmons' podcasts or really read his articles any more, because, well, I have better things to do. So am curious, does he always swear a lot in his podcasts? I see people bashing ESPn on twitter, saying he's suspended for calling out the NFL, when I imagine it has more to do with him yelling that it'sfucking bullshit. Again, don't know, never listen to his podcasts. But I imagine ESPn would suspend any employee for yelling about something being fucking bullshit, regardless of what it was he was saying.

 

[BrianFromWA]

No, that's pretty normal. And in the podcast, it wasn't like he was on a Screamin' A rant or something.

Simmons (and ESPN) have been very clear in the past that the podcast is something a bit different than "standard" ESPN fare. He's always had leeway with swearing, calling people out, talking about gambling, etc. That's one of the (many) reasons people think this smells. If he'd never been allowed to drop an f-bomb and got suspended for it, I'd understand it. Wouldn't agree, but whatever--rules are rules. That wasn't the case here. It seems to wholly reside in his content, and especially in his use of the "L"-word. His last two mailbags and articles have blasted Goodell (especially his post-press conference one) with profanity. It's not like this was out of left field.

 

[Further]

I think it has to do with saying Goodell lied. Some times he said "I think" which allows him to give his opinion, but sometimes Simmons just said Goodell lied. That leaves Simmons and ESPN open to lawsuits.

 

[maxiep]

What stands out to me is that the ESPN Ombudsman declares the Ray Rice story "the biggest story in sports". Note to ESPN: It's not sports. It's domestic violence. It's assault. The accused happens to have played pro football. That doesn't make it sports.

ESPN needs to keep its eye on the ball. It's about sports. Leave the Ray Rice story to actual news outlets.