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He actually dared them to do something to him... Uhm, not smart, dude.
ESPN suspends Bill Simmons for three weeks
- Thread starter WoodysGirl
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He actually dared them to do something to him... Uhm, not smart, dude.
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It should. The suspension is excessive and he was right.
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He wasn't suspended for his comments re: Goodell. He was suspended for daring the ESPN suits to do anything about profane comments in his podcast.
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Right. But 3 weeks is still excessive. Guess I needed to seperate the points better sorry.
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Better than being fired. lol
From what I been reading, he REALLY pissed off his boss.
RonSpringsdaman20
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they should suspend him from the basketball broadcast.....he's terrible
Yakuza Rich
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He's still getting paid from what I have been told.
Bill has made plenty of profane comments on his podcast before and never got suspended for it.
And ESPN claimed to the effect that he was suspended for not meeting journalistic standards. I wish I was making that up because apparently it's okay to pull all of the nonsense that countless ESPN reporters who are actually reporting on something pull almost on a weekly basis.
I think it's obvious that he got suspended because the reality is that it really ticked ESPN off.
But, I don't think he really needs ESPN and I think him leaving would be a serious blow to the station, particularly if he decided to go to Fox Sports. Although ESPN probably has a non-compete clause. Then again, Bill is pretty smart about contracts (his step-dad was a high profile attorney) and he's about as smart as a person I've ever come across when it comes to the business side and seeing how VP's, C-Level execs and people on the Board of Directors think and how it impacts the company and himself.
It's pretty clear that he's fed up with ESPN. The money has to be terrific, but it has become almost unrecognizable to what it once was. It's not that he called Goodell a liar that got him in trouble, it's that he got sick and tired of getting e-mails that he was going to be in hot water for not towing the company line and he made that public. You could be as big of a creep as Mike Tirico and not get fired at ESPN, but once you start to say something disparaging about the company or somebody at the company, they will respond swiftly.
YR
Bill has made plenty of profane comments on his podcast before and never got suspended for it.
And ESPN claimed to the effect that he was suspended for not meeting journalistic standards. I wish I was making that up because apparently it's okay to pull all of the nonsense that countless ESPN reporters who are actually reporting on something pull almost on a weekly basis.
I think it's obvious that he got suspended because the reality is that it really ticked ESPN off.
But, I don't think he really needs ESPN and I think him leaving would be a serious blow to the station, particularly if he decided to go to Fox Sports. Although ESPN probably has a non-compete clause. Then again, Bill is pretty smart about contracts (his step-dad was a high profile attorney) and he's about as smart as a person I've ever come across when it comes to the business side and seeing how VP's, C-Level execs and people on the Board of Directors think and how it impacts the company and himself.
It's pretty clear that he's fed up with ESPN. The money has to be terrific, but it has become almost unrecognizable to what it once was. It's not that he called Goodell a liar that got him in trouble, it's that he got sick and tired of getting e-mails that he was going to be in hot water for not towing the company line and he made that public. You could be as big of a creep as Mike Tirico and not get fired at ESPN, but once you start to say something disparaging about the company or somebody at the company, they will respond swiftly.
YR
casmith07
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I don't know about non-compete. The Tim Tebow force-feeding is what drove Doug Gottlieb to abruptly quit and move to CBS Sports.
joseephuss
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Different, different contracts. Was there any time between Gottlieb leaving ESPN and when he started at CBS?
darthseinfeld
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Its a shame because his Draft Live Blogs were hilarious and he cant do them anymore
casmith07
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Don't know the details.
At any rate it doesn't matter. Bill Simmons made the mistake of selling Grantland to ESPN and now he works for the suits. He forgot his place.
trickblue
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This is sports... to Hell with the PC crapola... tell it like it is...
jterrell
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He was fired for badmouthing the NFL.
Challenging his bosses is one thing but his Bosses Bosses care far more about receiving calls from the NFL saying we won't do business with you.
You take action when you are worried about people above you not so much for people below you.
He'll leave ESPN and make a killing somewhere else.
His irreverent style is what draws an audience.
We have everyone at ESPN to kiss butt and make noise about nothing.
Challenging his bosses is one thing but his Bosses Bosses care far more about receiving calls from the NFL saying we won't do business with you.
You take action when you are worried about people above you not so much for people below you.
He'll leave ESPN and make a killing somewhere else.
His irreverent style is what draws an audience.
We have everyone at ESPN to kiss butt and make noise about nothing.
Yakuza Rich
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Olbermann has badmouthed the NFL even more and wasn't suspended (Simmons has not been fired, he's been suspended).
What got him in trouble was daring people at ESPN to give him flak because he was intimating that he would expose this person on the air.
It's how ESPN works...you can do just about anything there, but if you badmouth somebody there you will get in trouble. Bill didn't exactly badmouth anybody, but he basically implied that his bosses are lapdogs for the NFL and that he was going to fight back if they gave him garbage.
He's still getting paid, it's just a little downtime for him. He will come back more popular for standing up against the NFL basically for the sake of domestic violence and being the pariah.
I hope he does leave ESPN someday and really sticks it to them in podcasts, articles, books, etc. while taking his fans with him. The chickens have to come home to roost sometime.
YR
jterrell
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I've read other media takes on this and it boils down to this.
ESPN is built off the NFL and no one in Bristol wants to anger the NFL.
Simmons is looking to leave ESPN and he has offers coming in fast and furious.
Again, to be clear, ESPN is worried more about it's next multi-million dollar NFL contract than a bosses ruffled feathers.
We are talking about an ESPN President that worked for Rolling Stone and US weekly and Spin and was educated at Columbia.
He isn't some sensitive white collar.
The reality is VERY simple. As always it is about dollars and cents.
You never threaten the biggest customer and come away unscathed.