Bill Simmons Looks Back At His Time With ESPN | SI Media
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- čas přidán 23. 10. 2023
- Bill Simmons, founder and CEO of The Ringer, joins SI Media With Jimmy Traina and looks back at his tenure with ESPN. Jimmy and Bill also discuss whether Tom Brady will go through with becoming an NFL analyst for FOX.
Watch the full episode: • Bill Simmons on ESPN T...
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You don't hear Bill talk about this kinda stuff often. Whether you like him or not, this guy paved the way for so many people and to this day is one of the most media savvy guys out there.
From a consumer standpoint, ESPN during Bill Simmons tenure had a reputation of culture and omniscience. For example, Simmons was the main producer for the ESPN 30 for 30 series. But in my opinion, his biggest influence is the blending of pop culture and sports journalism to the mainstream. Before Bill, sports journalism would tackle topics from a sports point of view such as stats and game analysis. This may be logical -- it isn't always entertaining and be pretty repetitive. But with Bill, he will tackle a topic by providing how a certain player's current season is like the character arc of Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) in Boogie Nights. And by the time you finished reading it, it would make sense and most importantly, it was entertaining. Now this sort of style of sports journalism is mainstream particularly on CZcams, which is why the Sports Media power dynamic has shifted from ESPN to now on CZcams.
Rick Reilly was an award winning journalist from 1985-2007 for SI. Back in 1997, his column “Life of Reilly” was similar to Simmons style & as entertaining. Bill isn’t the pioneer of blending pop culture & sports metaphors. It was Reilly and Jim Rome.
It’s funny to see the lack of journalistic integrity Simmons has shown by not acknowledging the people of his time. Paving a way & frankly were better writers and on-screen talent than him, at that time.
And all he did with ‘30 for 30’ was put a clear coat of paint on the award winning ESPN predecessor program ‘SportsCentury.’ He essentially re-made an 80s movie classic and Nick Cannon-ed ‘Can’t Buy me Love’ with ‘30 for 30.’
@@aaronalvarado2481Rick Reilly and Jim Rome are trash. Were trash then and are now. Bill had twice the following and was far more entertaining. Several 30 for 30s are amazing and neither of those two clowns have anything close to that on their resume. Reilly is more known for hating Tiger Woods and being a blowhard and Rome is just loud. Simmons had more of a following before he even worked for ESPN than Reilly for sure, nobody read sports illustrated anymore and Rome had his radio audience and that's it. You're a goof ball. Theres a reason neither of them are relevant anymore. Grantland, despite it not lasting long, had amazing long form and pop culture stuff to go along with the regular sports stuff. Zach Lowe Bill Barnwell etc became household names on Grantland. What a terrible old man take.
@@AceManning18 That’s a lot of hyperbole with very little facts about their respective popularities prior to working at ESPN. And the subject is “groundbreaking styles” not post-ESPN “success.” But let’s add a little context.
Reilly was an 11-time National Sportswriter Of the Year winner (2nd all-time) from 1985 until joining ESPN in 2007. In the sports realm, he was the original pop culture-life analogy opine. He didn’t get those accolades by writing “stuffy old white dude writing” from decades past. And his ‘Life of Reilly’ wasn’t a feature full-length column, it was on the literal back page of SI (much like Simmons).
As for Jim Rome, he did have a huge following during that late 90s-mid 2010s. And blended a style that was unique to him. He wasn’t a “New York loudmouth sports radio guy,” that is a bad take. Jim Rome had multiple popular comedians (at that time), actors, it was huge pop-culture theme. He gave the radio listener an even larger voice, through email and in-person interaction. With the ‘Smack-Off” which was in the same vane as a WWE promo, except it was about pro sports. And later he gave Kyle Brandt (a current popular media figure) his big break in media, on ‘The Jim Rome Show’ as a writer/producer. I mention Kyle Brandt because he is an illustration of Jim Rome’s style. You seem to have Jim confused with someone else. I would imagine even Kyle himself would or has attested to this. And Kyle (like Jim) isn’t “loud” as you incorrectly described.
@@aaronalvarado2481 I am very aware who Rick Reilly is, I love his book Commander in Cheat along with his SI articles. And you're right, there are certainly many sports writers who blended sports and pop culture prior to Simmons, but Simmons was the one who transitioned it into the social media age like Blogs, podcasts and internet. While Rick Reilly did have an audience, he was still very much in the print era of sports writing. Simmons is more internet age.
As much as I can’t stand him sometimes, Colin cowherd is also very good at using real life examples to compare and contract sports stories or athletes. There are plenty of poor imitation but bill was best at this.
Bill is proof that you are always your own boss. Even when you feel like you aren't organizationally. Even when someone is telling you what to do. You still own your own path.
Grantland was an allstar team from a writer perspective.
Miss the days of Jalen Jacoby and Bill. The chemistry was unmatched!
Jalen and jacoby are clowns
Bill Simmons was being held back he didn't need ESPN
Yea he’s a complete unit and workhorse, he def is way better off w o them. He especially w espn being so woke
@ryanflynn6819 I love Bill too but he is also very woke lol
@@MasterJoeda_ not really. He seems very reasonable most of the time. At the end of the pandemic he was making fun of people still being very careful for example. That’s not very woke.
@@MasterJoeda_what's woke about him?
I really appreciate that he regrets going 150% after Goodell because of how it affected his team.
The Simmons haters will always find a way or reason to hate him, sure...but any sane or balanced person can't help but appreciate his outlook on that whole scenario.
Grantland was AMAZING! The Ringer is still high quality but I still miss Grantland. There was something special going on there
His column was a must read. Funny and insightful guy and while I’m not sure he knows all sports ver well( at least back when I read him) he did know Boston sports and the NBA generally inside and out. I lost track of Simmons so I honestly don’t know much of what he did afterwards, except I did see him interview Larry Bird and it was the single best interview of Bird I have seen.
Bill Simmons a pioneer
Bill Simmons was one of the most authentic guy in the media
I still rewatch/relisten to the BS report, it’s timeless and when he used to call his buddy Jacko with the Yankees and Red Sox was just brilliant
Best idea man in the business
Muy bueno, siempre es lindo escuchar a Bill
The Sports Guy!
Bill Simmons leaving ESPN was good for him being himself. Let's see what happens to McAfee from this point on.... I'm not sure he hasn't peaked last year......
Its like his finger spoke to him 😂😂
Matt Ryan is good on CBS in his first year.
Nba countdown was the best back in the day
whether you like bill or not he is objectively correct
Pti was great back in the day
sounds like Bill Simmons does regret it. Even though he claims he doesn't. BUT all the qualifiers he adds behind it implies he does at least regret the manner in which he said it.
Bills is right, who doesn’t think Roger Gordell is lying about everything
Media companies shouldn't partner with leagues, period. Any Talk show becomes just indirect PR rather than analyzing with no agenda. Bill became lot bigger without ESPN editing his segments and laid out the blueprint for many others to be their own employers
Bill was the only reason I watched ESPN. It’s completely garbage now with a bunch of idiots that have their own shows
Among sport daily tv hosts/writers/reporters/analysts, BS at his height is unmatched.
Grantland was amazing.
I dont follow his stuff anymore, but thats due to me not caring any more.
Poor Jimmy Traina's lower third is listed as "SI Media Podcast" 😂
ESPN is different without Bill...
Legend in his own mind
Dude has been a pioneer in his field. He grew a huge audience for an online column before that was widespread. He launched a podcast on ESPN that was going tens of millions in downloads years before podcasting became a widely consumed thing. He was one of the creators of the 30 for 30 documentary series. Launched a more analytic sports media platform with grsntlsnd. When that was all done he founded a podcast network, sold it to Spotify for allegedly $200M, and was kept on to run it and has a Spotify executive position to boot. The dude has innovated and had win after win through the years. Hate if you want but the dude can’t be considered anything other than wildly successful through his entire career. Always ahead of the curve.
He has done some amazing things in his career
Was a big fan of Bills, read all his stuff for ESPN, followed him to Grantland and then the Ringer.
But right around 2017 the Ringer decided they didnt like me as a customer, so I basically havent consumed any of their content since then other than the occasional Bill Simmons pod clip on youtube.
Curious. Care to expand, what changed?
@jeremyoneill3830 I don't really know. Followed a bunch of his writers on social media and basically all of them blocked me around the same time (maybe because I followed Joe Rogan and maybe they had a blockchain etc? who knows...at the time I thought it was because I mentioned GoT leaks but again I dont know).
Noticed a lot of their work just after fell into the same sensationalist trap other media outlets were and those two factors just really made me feel like I was wasting my time. If half the writers don't want me reading their stuff and the other half "fell off" in standard I feel like that's a reasonable move
Edited to add: Bill I think mentions this but the quality of Grantland was really a strong draw and he lost of lot of those talents who got promoted to bigger and better things. Maybe I'm attributing some negative feelings towards the Ringer because I'm just upset old Grantland was gone. I'll totally allow for that
@@jeremyoneill3830 you already know he's about to say some trump stuff. or "they went woke" its the same thing when somebody says "didn't like me as a consumer" these days.
@djacks247 glad you were able to solve the situation. When's your Mensa meeting?
went full LA mode
The Sports Dilettante
ESPN continues its downward spiral...I started reading Bill on Page 2 when he started. And now, after his departure and how many others, I do not read ESPN at all. It's not rocket science.
Yonkers
He is a great example of being at the right place at the right time, and seemingly had parents rich enough not to have to earn an income while he worked on his writing. How many more talented people have we missed because BS got all the attention?
Exactly. Also, having given him a shot several times, I have yet to hear him say a single interesting or insightful thing. He was horrible on TV and I just do not understand his prominence in media. He knows a lot about the history of basketball, that is not in any way impressive. Just completely milquetoast and unintersting.
@@paullawrencedotnet He came to prominence at a time when blogs didn't exist, most writers had editors, and readers had an appetite for long rambling from a perspective that wasn't "old media". He was boring then too, but it felt more fresh. Now he is "old media" and has nothing interesting ever to say.
Bitter much? Get a life.
Podfather
Honestly hated him on ESPN
Bill Simmons is a narcissist
Nah. This interviewer is. Is asking questions and not having any sort of conversation about Bill's answers because he only cares about what he's asking not the answer.
It's always funny to see these guys lie to themselves about them being the only one's able to complain about their work environment
ESPN went to sh!t as soon as disney (no capital deserved) bought them plain and simple.
Only male from Mass I’ve ever heard with a California valley girl accent
Simmons’ has forgot….
Bill Simmons and Connor Schell got the idea for “30 for 30” from the 1999-2007 ESPN program “SportsCentury.” Simmons’ just expounded on an already (Peabody) award winning framework built by the aforementioned program.
And ‘SportsCentury’ was more than just the “Top 50 Athletes of All-Time” series. They documented such topics as “The Flu Game”, “1972 Olympic Men’s Basketball Final”, “1985 NCAA Championship Game”, “1999 Ryder Cup” and various other topics & athletes. Michael Husain was the writer/director.
Bill Simmons is a carbon copy of a previous sports media figure, Rick Reilly. Except Bill failed his way up after multiple opportunities given (HBO show). Simmons has the same approach regarding sports topics, “strike first, strike hard” the unabashed-without empathy assertions. Blending a myriad of pop culture references with this sentiment “I’m not belittling his play (obvious pejorative opinion), I love the guy, I think he’s a great player.”
I’ve yet to see him give any credit for the path media figures like Rick Reilly forged for others to follow. Maybe it takes longer than “30 seconds to see the ‘Heat’” that came around, before you.
Wth are you talking about. None of his claims about what he contributed and built at ESPN are inaccurate. Nor does he really need to pay homage to those people you mentioned on account that he was a WRITER long before he went into broadcasting.
Further, on Nolan's podcast a couple years ago, he himself stated he may not be best on TV.
But the cat has created a network that was bought by Spotify for a quarter of a billion. He's like the Elon Musk of sports journalism.
Lastly, that Heat quote is f'kin weird.
@@aaronphdbdnd5535 Do you have any recollection or have heard of the series ‘SportsCentury’? Or know of Rick Reilly’s column from SI?
If you don’t then you cannot give an accurate defense of Simmons lack of whitewashing the series or person. Take some time and watch one of the SportsCentury programs I mentioned. Then you can give a proper birds-eye view. The timelines I gave are accurate and I watched it & learned a lot about the history of many great athletes, incidents. And it doesn’t get the credit it deserves, given the proximity of years for the respective series.
The ‘Heat’ comment was a reference to Simmons and Chris Ryan’s “favorite movie.” And ‘The Rewatchables’ is the only current content I watch that he’s involved with. With Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey being the best contributors to the podcast. Bill’s a great GM.
@@aaronphdbdnd5535 30 for 30 made (re-made) some the same subject matter. One example, is the remarkable story of Bo Jackson’s life and on-field accolades.
It’s akin the lazy proliferation of Movie re-makes. Except it’s worse, these are within a 7-10 year span, on the same network. Yet it’s heralded as “groundbreaking”, it’s absurd.
"Except Bill failed his way up after multiple opportunities given (HBO show)."
Says "multiple" but only names one. And it is a failure in a space (TV show) that they didn't pursue further so what is he failing up to in that sense? Also, he was already much more successful than his peers (started as internet sports writer) at that time that he got the HBO show (top Page 2 column along with Reilly, led 30 for 30, led Grantland, was an early advocate/pioneer in podcasting, was in an NBA panel show, best-selling book, etc.). HBO show was a bump in the road.
.....and Sportcentury stole from Wide World of Sports, when they did stories like the hostage rescue of the Jewish athletes. I've been consuming Rick Reilly stories since the 80's. Bill owes him nothing. Reilly was a reporter just like Bill, they both had ways to come at sports in a different way.
Kimmel went from new to good to political to terrible.
Who?
Espn a complete joke now so is Stephen a
Podfather