Bill Simmons was once one of ESPN’s star personalities. He had a widely-read column, an iconic podcast, and he helped create the Grantland website, a haven for long-form sports and entertainment content. Now, Simmons is moving on to HBO and proving to be a thorn in the side of his former employer.
A few weeks ago Simmons needled the “Worldwide Leader” for mistakenly reporting how many balls were deflated in the Colts-Patriots AFC title game, and helping spur on the “Deflategate” controversy. Now, he’s bringing to light a brief apology issued by ESPN to the Patriots organization for citing a false story about their previous controversy, “Spygate.”
Bill Simmons Throws Deflategate Haymakers At ESPN
This apology in particular was for Hannah Storm saying this on SportsCenter. “Some would say that the filming of the practices earlier that that does qualify as cheating, which is certainly something that is part of the Patriots history.” Storm went on to clarify that she was referring to the Patriots recording the Jets’ sideline during a game.
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Some believed she was referencing a debunked report about the Patriots recording a Rams practice ahead of Super Bowl XXXVI. That report came from John Tomase of The Boston Herald, and the paper eventually issued their own apology for the false reporting.
“We now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed,” the Herald wrote. “We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification. The Boston Herald regrets the damage done to the team by publication of the allegation, and sincerely apologizes to its readers and to the New England Patriots’ owners, players, employees and fans for our error.”
Simmons has also spent some time needling ESPN in subtle fashion by shouting out rival organizations covering Deflategate. It should be noted that Simmons is a die-hard Bostonian with a well-known bias toward the Pats.
He even re-published an old mailbag dedicated to ripping NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. His harsh criticisms of Goodell led to a four-week suspension from ESPN last year, and his decision to appear on Dan Patrick’s radio show for Fox was the catalyst for his dismissal.
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