ESPN suspends Bill Simmons for comments trashing Goodell and NFL on Ray Rice scandal

Sports commentator Bill Simmons has now been suspended by ESPN for three weeks, following a set of provocative — and obscentiy-filled — comments about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's handling of the Ray Rice scandal.

ESPN announced the suspension in a statement:

"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." [ESPN]

"Goodell, if he didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar," Simmons said in his podcast on Monday. He went on to add: "For all these people to pretend they didn't know is such f--king bulls--t. It really is, it's such f--king bulls--t. For him to go into that press conference and pretend otherwise — I was so insulted."

And as USA Today points out, Simmons also practically dared somebody to try to punish him for his comments: "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. Thank you."
- - Eric Kleefeld

So what about the Guess the Lines pod?

I am surprised. Of course higher level with more direct relation to the NFL but Bernsie has to take notice.

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Elections have consequences.

Stephen A Smith gets a week for telling women not to provoke men, and Simmons gets 3 weeks for this?

If I'm Bill, I would stick with this story. Call for Goodell to take a lie detector test. Don't back down. Make the NFL prove him wrong.

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This. Nice to see some ESPN folks step outside the corporate line.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... l-ray-rice
Worth reading.


Haha, "That Guy."

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Completely agree.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I'd be more intrigued if it was someone besides Simmons; his past suggests it's hyperbole for attention's sake.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

You can still flush your money down the toilet. This just cuts out the middleman for a few weeks.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

Bill Simmons just got a longer timeout than the first Ray Rice suspension. Think about that for a second...

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It's conceivable ESPN is doing it to draw more attention to Simmons without drawing the ire of the NFL upon themselves ... which sticks with my contention the whole thing is a 'work' rather than the result of any personal conviction.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Nailed it, as usual. I'd also add this quote from his epic takedown of Grantland:



Kinda explains both the suspension and the "I dare you" shit, huh?

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

You want to have the NFL as a business partner, you want to be paid big money, STFU.

You want to say whatever you want, have Simmons.com...you can say what you want and make as much as you can.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

It absolutely does. Somehow I had forgotten about that part.

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Seems like a wink wink deal to me. ESPN wants to trash Goodell but they cant due to MNF, so they let Simmons up his street cred by being the guy to say 'what everyone is thinking but cant say at ESPN'. ESPN slaps his hand publically and shakes his hand behind closed doors. Great pub for Simmons/Grantland and covers the tracks for ESPN to say 'Sorry Rog, this guy is a tool. We suspended him for you.'

This whole thing is about as disingenuous as the Goodell press conference in the first place.

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