Bill Simmons was once one of the most important sports personalities at ESPN, but because of several incidents of insubordination, frequent barbs aimed at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and discontent over the handling of the now defunct Grantland.com, he was unceremoniously booted from the Worldwide Leader before his contract was finished.
Simmons hasn’t been damaged by his departure from ESPN, however. Here are three reasons why Simmons may, in fact, be better than ever.
Sports Guy Makes An Educated Guess About Where Chip Kelly Will Coach Next
The Podcast Is Better
Simmons is going to have his own television show next spring, but until then, he has resumed his weekly podcasts. What used to be “The B.S. Report” is now “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” and the new editions are raunchier, contain more expletives, and give a better general sense of Simmons’ personality.
Even better, Simmons does not have to hold back when he wants to throw haymakers at Goodell or his old bosses and colleagues at ESPN. He’s even been more lively on Twitter, because he does not have to fear repercussions such as being suspended from social media platforms, which has happened to him more than once.
Bill Simmons Has A Twitter Laugh At The Expense Of ESPN's Stat QBR
He Can Stick It To ESPN By Defeating His Own Creation
ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series was Simmons’ brainchild, and now it will continue without him. Even worse, Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo are going to participate in a 30 for 30; Francesa announced that when Simmons went on his show, which he had never been allowed to do as an ESPN employee. The pain in Simmons’ voice was real, as he has said numerous times "Mike and the Mad Dog" was one of his favorite radio shows.
Simmons doesn’t have 30 for 30 anymore, but he has all of HBO’s might if he wants to start a new series of sports documentaries. HBO may not have quite the reach and funding of ESPN, but they can push boundaries that ESPN can not, and they also have Simmons’ talent.
Simmons’ Pockets Ain’t Hurting
The Sports Guy was reportedly making $5 million a year at ESPN, but he clearly wasn’t hurt financially during his time off. Simmons, who already owns a 4,200-square-foot home in Hancock Park that he bought for $3.1 million, just snapped up a $7.5 million beach house in Malibu, according to Variety.
The house is along Carbon Beach, where notable bigwigs David Geffen, Leslie Moonves and Julie Chen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Joel Silver all own properties. Oh, one more person has at least nine homes there, per Variety. His name is Larry Ellison, he was the former CEO of Oracle, and he’s reportedly worth $49.3 billion. Good company, Bill.
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