Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN

[Mori Chu]

No wonder this site's traffic is so low and Buzzfeed's is so high!

[Indy]

No wonder this site's traffic is so low and Buzzfeed's is so high!

You mean, "Top 11 reasons traffic on this site could KILL you!"

[Mori Chu]

"He made a Suns message board. What happened next will SHOCK you."

[SDC]

I just don't understand why people would sit in front of their tvs and watch idiots argue about sports.

Same reason people sit in front of their TVs and watch idiots argue about politics, or how well someone can sing, or why they voted someone off the island. We are a culture that consumes shit and likes it. That's why McDonald's has served billions and billions and why WalMart seems to have every single person on the planet in their stores at all times.

are you talking about the 47%?

[JCSunsfan]

I just don't understand why people would sit in front of their tvs and watch idiots argue about sports.

Same reason people sit in front of their TVs and watch idiots argue about politics, or how well someone can sing, or why they voted someone off the island. We are a culture that consumes shit and likes it. That's why McDonald's has served billions and billions and why WalMart seems to have every single person on the planet in their stores at all times.

Ugh. Walmart is such a miserable place to be. Dirty, disorganized, and the worst employees on the planet.

Its almost as bad as KMart.

[Uncle_Gene]

So, no more Grantland Basketball hour on ESPN ?

I liked that show.

[SDC]

wait for adam carolla's podcast with bill simmons in sept. will talk about his exit with espn.

[carey]

I just can't believe he's doing nothing right now. ESPN completely neutered him. I hope he has some big plan in the works. 6 months out of the public eye is a long time with as fast as news and media moves these days.

[Mori Chu]

I think they figured that the best way to hurt him was to make him irrelevant, to muzzle him and make him unable to talk about anything sports for half a year and hope people move on and forget about him. Makes ESPN look really petty, though. Bad move on their part. I don't agree 100% with how Simmons conducted himself but ESPN makes themselves look like the villain here.

[SDC]

I think they figured that the best way to hurt him was to make him irrelevant, to muzzle him and make him unable to talk about anything sports for half a year and hope people move on and forget about him. Makes ESPN look really petty, though. Bad move on their part. I don't agree 100% with how Simmons conducted himself but ESPN makes themselves look like the villain here.

bill's still tweeting though.

[carey]

Barely. A fraction of what he once tweeted.

[Mori Chu]

I don't know if they told him he couldn't tweet, or what. He's definitely still sending the occasional tweet, but it's very slow right now. And half of them aren't even about sports.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

I think they figured that the best way to hurt him was to make him irrelevant, to muzzle him and make him unable to talk about anything sports for half a year and hope people move on and forget about him. Makes ESPN look really petty, though. Bad move on their part. I don't agree 100% with how Simmons conducted himself but ESPN makes themselves look like the villain here.

Yeah, Simmons was getting a very big head, but ESPN is almost reinvindicating him with this treatment. He can comeback in sox months. dressed in white clothes as an independent voice -almost a survivor- and take all the shots he wants against the four-letter-evil-empire from his new venture.

Simmons is getting back eventually, and will be news worthy, but for how long, and how relevant he can establish himself, is a complete different issue, one that doesn't need the current blackout from ESPN's side.

[EDC]

He is probably writing a book during his down time to help cash in when he comes back. I do think he has one big splash left then he will kinda move into the background and not be as big of a deal.

[SDC]

what if he takes a job at an nba team during sabbatical?

[carey]

Simmons is getting a weekly HBO show.

[Mori Chu]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/sport ... .html?_r=0

Interesting. Good for him. He'll be more appreciated there, and he'll be able to mostly do what he wants without being censored all the time.

And I think it'll be good for him to work for a corporate entity that isn't directly partnered with the sports or broadcasting the games. ESPN had too deep of relationships with the NBA, NFL, etc., to where they couldn't let him go off and criticize any of those leagues. Working for HBO will let him say what he thinks. HBO isn't afraid of any sports leagues.

[Indy]

I wonder what the legal terms are of his departure, or the people that he picked to run the 30 for 30 series. I think those could be really awesome on HBO (obviously they would have to be under a different name).

[carey]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/sport ... .html?_r=0

Interesting. Good for him. He'll be more appreciated there, and he'll be able to mostly do what he wants without being censored all the time.

And I think it'll be good for him to work for a corporate entity that isn't directly partnered with the sports or broadcasting the games. ESPN had too deep of relationships with the NBA, NFL, etc., to where they couldn't let him go off and criticize any of those leagues. Working for HBO will let him say what he thinks. HBO isn't afraid of any sports leagues.

HBO is owned by Time Warner. Know what else they own? Turner Broadcasting. Guess who partners with Turner? The NBA. All these companies are connected. Unless he struck out on his own there's little chance he wouldn't bite the hand that feeds him at some point.