Bill Simmons goes after Goodell, in a big way

“Goodell, if he didn’t know what was on that tape, he’s a liar. I’m just saying it. He is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test, that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn’t know is such [expletive] [expletive]. It really is, it’s such [expletive] [expletive]. For him to go into that press conference and pretend otherwise — I was so insulted.”

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Looking to get fired in the process? Maybe:

“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.”

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ESPN's Bill Simmons calls Roger Goodell a liar in profanity-laced tirade | For The Win


One thing's for sure. It's not over yet for Roger the dodger.

One can only hope. Goodell's playing the "time is on his side" angle, hoping that people will just forget about it. It works in Washington, so I can understand the play. We'll just have to see what happens, but I'm no longer holding my breath, waiting for his resignation/termination.

I like the way he called out his employer, too. Takes guts.

What does he mean when he threatens that he will go public. Isn't calling goodell a liar on his podcast already public?

sure the 24 hour nonstop feeding frenzy has stopped, but the open flesh on the carcass is STILL bleeding and will attract the carnivores every time there's a court appearance or press conference on ANY of the events of the past three weeks. There's a smorgasbord of material roiling, boiling and bubbling up out there just waiting for one of the major sports outlet chefs to whip up a NEW scandal sauce ala Goodell.

Deus Irae said:

Looking to get fired in the process? Maybe:



http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/09/espn-bill-simmons-profane-rant-roger-goodell


One thing's for sure. It's not over yet for Roger the dodger.

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I admit that I like reading Bill Simmons most of time, but I think he has overextended himself. The talking head things that he now does for ESPN are usually forgettable, I seldom listen to them. His podcasts are somewhat entertaining, I listen to most of them. But, in my opinion, he is really a writer and editor. Some of the Grantland pieces are pretty interesting, and the website concept is clearly very creative. His writing (especially the mailbags) range from somewhat to very entertaining to me. But very occasionally he writes a full fledged article that is really sublime. I wish he would do more writing and less of the ESPN talking head thing. Maybe he has had had a belly full of ESPN, he really doesn't seem to fit in there anymore.

Joker said:

sure the 24 hour nonstop feeding frenzy has stopped, but the open flesh on the carcass is STILL bleeding and will attract the carnivores every time there's a court appearance or press conference on ANY of the events of the past three weeks. There's a smorgasbord of material roiling, boiling and bubbling up out there just waiting for one of the major sports outlet chefs to whip up a NEW scandal sauce ala Goodell.

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If you look at it from the prospective of an NFL fan, well, there's games to be watched so maybe the focus is off of Roger, but the thing is that there really is no closure to the case so indeed the trails of blood are still being followed by many who hunger for a kill. Roger's press conference did nothing to put the predators off his trail, if anything it gave them more reason to keep trailing him.

The owners and Goodell are playing "run out the clock" with this one simply trying the well used tactic of taking a low profile until the media finds something fresh and new to get eyeballs & clicks. It has worked so well in Washington as new scandals, with 140 character twitter level attention span voters distracted & forgetting that absolutely nothing substantive was done about the prior one.

Deus Irae said:

Looking to get fired in the process? Maybe:



http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/09/espn-bill-simmons-profane-rant-roger-goodell


One thing's for sure. It's not over yet for Roger the dodger.

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I think Simmons just realizes that he's unfirable. He's behind just about every interesting and/or successful ESPN project of the past few years, and if they fired him he could go and start a new site tomorrow that would get a ton of traffic. ESPN's trying to build on the Grantland model (see: the538 launch), and firing Simmons wouldn't exactly help that effort. Meanwhile, SI is trying to ape it with MMQB. He's probably the most valuable individual in their organization, and he knows it.

Not saying this as Simmons' biggest fan or anything, either. The guy is completely clueless re: football; I bet if you asked him what the difference is between a split end and a flanker, he couldn't tell you. And in that same podcast he went on a rant about how the Ray Rice fiasco casts Spygate into further suspicion, completely ignoring that Bountygate is a much better comp that demonstrated the opposite. But he's really good and really connected when it comes to writing about basketball, and he knows what people want to read.

I remember when I liked Simmons. Now he's just an insufferable L.A. d-bag. Still a talented writer but incredibly thin-skinned and his voice is just blechhhhhh.

Goodell burned too many bridges with all the fines and penalties through the years. And all while acting holier than thou. This is all catching up to him right now.

one of the finest pieces of sports writing i've ever read.

Brave too
Daring to Ask the PED Question | Grantland

ESPN Statement on Bill Simmons << ESPN Media Spin Zone

3 week suspension for Simmons. Cowards.

Well, now we'll see if Simmons has the balls to back his bluster.

and now Bedard with a letter to owners:


Roger Goodell Must Go: Open Letter to NFL Owners about Commissioner | MMQB

Deus Irae said:

Well, now we'll see if Simmons has the balls to back his bluster.

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Deus, I would argue that your original comment seemed on target to me. It was as if he wanted to get fired. Maybe it was unintentional, but I suspect not.

I am a fan of Bill Simmons (at least of his writing), and I would argue he clearly is not afraid to take risks, as shown by his Grantland channel. Whatever you think of him, Grantland is very, very brave and innovative.

His writing ranges from sometimes blah to, every so often, something sublime that makes you say: no other sportswriter can write like this. These sublime type of articles were more common before he had so much on his plate. I remember a couple of his articles on Lebron James where I thought "no other sports writer is this good".

The webcasts range between OK and entertaining. I listen to most of his webcasts, I guess I am a fan of those, but again they don't compare to his writing.

His EPSN appearances are not very memorable. I am not trying to be critical, I just think that he needs a re-focus.

Bill: I don't know if you read Patsfan.com, but if you do: hear goes:

Lean into what you do best. You are a writer. I would argue you are occasionally a very, very gifted writer.

You seem to be a pretty good editor also. Grantland is amazingly original and very, very thought provoking.

ESPN is holding you back. Lean into your strengths. You are above being one of the EPSN talking heads.

I think Roger Goodell is guilty of trying to cover up the Ray Rice video. it ws a calculated risk that is blowing up in his face. I do somewhat feel bad that he is also an indirect victim of Ray Rice's stupidity.

This is good thread and Simmons was entertaining, but we NFL fans are also indirectly losing in all of this as well. I feel like everything I turn on ESPN, NFL Network, or Sports talk radio they are always talking about domestic abuse and not about actual NFL games. To be clear, I understand the stories are so big that they must be talked about, I'm more saying it's a shame that these people committed these unspeakable acts and created this media storm in the first place.

I'm kind of torn here. I can't stand Goodell and would do a dance if he finally got fired. On the other hand, it would make the sports media's already overinflated heads that much worse.

Simmons has been all over Goodell for years. I am glad that he called him out in his weekly article and on his podcast. It sounds to me like he has some sources that know Goodell lied. Hopefully he opens the floodgates.

Nikolai said:

One can only hope. Goodell's playing the "time is on his side" angle, hoping that people will just forget about it. It works in Washington, so I can understand the play. We'll just have to see what happens, but I'm no longer holding my breath, waiting for his resignation/termination.

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as soon as sponsors start pulling out of NFL deal, only then will Goodell get fired. It's all about money and as long as sponsors are still paying, then everything is good.