ESPN’s Bill Simmons has yet to “go public” regarding management’s decision to call his B.S. Report bluff with a three-week suspension. But the man reportedly furious with the decision to put him on the bench for three weeks in the wake of Simmons’ Goodell-is-a-liar-and-I-dare-the-bosses-to-call-me rant found himself publicly sparring with ESPN colleague Mike Golic on Thursday.
The Big Lead has the details. Golic called out Simmons for comparing the early-season struggles of LeBron James to Albert Pujols, after he left the Cardinals for the Angels in free agency.
“I think it’s one of the most ridiculous statements I’ve heard four games into a season in my life in any sport,” Golic said of the comments that were made while Simmons appeared as a guest on Colin Cowherd’s show. “That’s what I’ll say about Bill Simmons. So, you know, he grabbed a headline, which is something I know he loves — and that’s one of the most ridiculous lines I’ve ever heard in any sport in my life. Four games into a season. I don’t even . . . that’s ridiculous.”
Simmons fired back on Twitter. With a howitzer.
“Have the balls to call me to discuss it on the show,” Simmons initially said. “Don’t pull it out of context just because you need fodder for a segment. Pathetic.”
And then this: “What Mike and Mike did today was absolute garbage. I would say I lost respect for that show, but I never had it.”
And then this: “For an ESPN Radio show to pull an interview out of context from another ESPN Radio show, then play the moral authority card, is disgusting.”
The spat, an overt (and delightful) case of ESPN-on-ESPN crime, generated plenty of buzz on Thursday. Golic eventually said on Twitter that he spoke to Simmons and “all is good.”
It’s unknown whether Simmons or management feel the same way. At a time when industry observers wonder whether Simmons will exit the four-letter network’s first-tier platform when his contract expires next year, Simmons’ decision to publicly engage Golic suggests that, at a minimum, Simmons fears no reprisal. At most, it shows that Simmons already is disengaging from ESPN, and that in a roundabout way he could he hoping to expedite the process.
But the nuclear option for ESPN wouldn’t be to fire Simmons but to put him on the bench with pay until his contract ends. Certainly, that option has at least been discussed -- especially after whatever it was that happened on Thursday.
