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Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Songbird, May 8, 2015.

  1. PaperClip529

    PaperClip529 Active Member

    I am skeptical about a Simmons talk show. I honestly thought that his best podcasts were the ones in which he just riffed with his regular friends (Jack-O, Cousin Sal, etc.) or fellow journalists. I can't believe that line-up would work on a TV talk show. With the exception of a Jimmy Kimmel or a Seth Meyers, I rarely got through his podcasts with random celebrities and athletes. I just didn't think he was a good interviewer when he veered outside of his comfort zone.

    The one thing that Simmons may have going for him is that he worked on Kimmel's show, and I am sure that Kimmel and Simmons' friends at ESPN won't be shy about giving him advice about the talk show format.
     
  2. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    One fewer than the number of times Alma uses the word "middlebrow."

    Love ya Alma !
     
    Alma likes this.
  3. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

  4. sgreenwell

    sgreenwell Well-Known Member

    Bump - The first couple episodes came out this past week. Not many surprises in terms of the guests lined up - Cousin Sal on show one, Jack-O on show two. Wesley Morris is on show three or four, and a write-up I saw said they get into Grantland stuff, but I haven't listened to it yet.

    To segue off of that, Morris left to take a job at The New York Times. They've also moved / promoted the Jalen and Jacoby Podcast to a regular ESPN Radio show, I believe. (They still offer downloads of it after the fact, but they plug that it's 7 to 9 nightly on ESPN Radio.)
     
  5. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    @JimMiller: 4 highly regarded @Grantland33 staffers turned in resignations today to @ESPN and will be going to work for @BillSimmons
     
  6. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    So why doesn't Miller name them if he knows? Carrying Simmons' water on this one to make this more of a story.
     
  7. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    One would have to be Bill Barnwell, whom Simmons often refers to as "my illegitimate son."

    I'm guessing Zach Lowe is another, simply because of Simmons' obsession with the NBA.

    As for the others ... Andy Greenwald and Rembert Browne maybe?
     
  8. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    There are people who consider Barnwell "highly regarded"? I guess if Simmons does...

    The other ones you named make sense to me. I'd be shocked if Lowe wasn't one of them. Maybe Molly Lambert? Jonah Keri? I feel like aside from those names, all the best Grantland talent is freelancers like Pierce and Rany.
     
  9. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I thought about Keri, but he has a pretty big platform on ESPN with a podcast and regular appearances on Baseball Tonight. I'd be surprised if he left.

    Plus, I have a hard time believing he'd up and quit in the middle of the baseball playoffs.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2015
  10. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

  11. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    If I was ESPN, I'd be doing everything to keep Lowe.
     
    sgreenwell likes this.
  12. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Are they highly regarded? Are they regarded at all? I'm sure they're good at their jobs, but I don't see the fuss.
     
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