On The Block no more

[SUFan44]

wildhack prob cancelled his Grantland bball show and/or took him off countdown

Simmons as a TV personality was atrocious. His podcast is more ingestible… but he was a really good writer. Smart guy who has strayed from what set him apart, but has done it well so who can argue?

 

[JeremyCuse]

Posted this on the thread about Axe on the football board but bears repeating:

HR and Media reps in Corporate America should print that interview out and use it as a tool on what not to do in interviews with media. That Levine guy did about everything wrong you can possibly do. His quotes and that story about people coming up to him which sounds beyond made up is an awful look. SU has to be livid this guy opened his mouth.

 

[br801]

The CEO Levine and head coach of SU basketball can't stand the guy. I think it was Axe who stepped in his own poo. Much ado about nothing.

I was talking about Levine creating an unnecessary PR problem for all concerned. It will ultimately blow over, but it's the last thing the SU program needed as it moves into the post-Boeheim era.

 

[SUFan44]

just to be clear...and maybe I’m not as I didn’t listen to his show much as all, but did over the last couple weeks off and on...

the “negativity” is that he wanted JB to step down, do I have that right? That’s tearing down a program? Asking for something that the majority of this board wanted to happen so we could move forward?

I think they all want media members to be Paulie.

 

[MikeSU02]

Simmons as a TV personality was atrocious. His podcast is more ingestible… but he was a really good writer. Smart guy who has strayed from what set him apart, but has done it well so who can argue?

He is very good at a few things even if you don't like him:
1) He is good at podcasting and was on of the first to do it and do it well way before anyone was doing it.
2) He can identify talent and grow it.
3) He can build from the ground up a content creation machine.
4) He used to be a very good writer and saved Page 2.
5) He is fantastic at having his finger on the pulse of what content is on cusp of breaking. Like I said, his podcasting and 30 for 30, for example.

He also can sense when things aren't going right and pulls the rip cord like he did as being a writer on Jimmy Kimmel's show.

Love him or hate him, his eye and ability to grow content creation from zero is incredible and I think that came into conflict with what Wildhack was doing at ESPN in his role. And, to put it mildly, I actually think Simmons has a case here as having a better track record for the current landscape.

 

[bnoro]

"Reflects poorly on the university" LOL

Not a single person outside Syracuse will remember or care about this in a month. This isn't a scandal.

 

[Orangezoo]

So I've only listened to Axe a handful of times. I also would prefer we don't have local media on a witchhunt. His presser questions are annoying and at times awkward in when and how he asks them. All that said, this feels like an embarrassing safe space kind of call to me. I also think Red seems more than capable of managing some tough questions and we don't need a buffer for our new coach.

Makes us look like a weaker program.. but that's just me.

All in all.. since he never mattered much to me - its basically a tree falling in the forest in the night.

 

[MikeSU02]

Add another guy:

 

[Jake]

This is going to sooooo backfire. They just made Axe a martyr.

JB looks like our own John Duton…and Levine is his Rip.

 

[MikeSU02]

This is going to sooooo backfire.

They just made Axe a martyr. JB looks like our own John Duton…and Levine is his Rip.

Yeah, I'm not sure how people are dismissing it as nothing.

The grossness of the situation with a CEO saying you had to be blindly supportive, the long tail from the JB's ongoing debacle of a transition dating back to Hop, the burned bridges that Wildhack has...

There are a number of people who are going to want to take a bite out of this apple.

Fun stuff.

 

[Cusefan0307]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

This is going to sooooo backfire. They just made Axe a martyr.

JB looks like our own John Duton…and Levine is his Rip.

They took Axe to the train station.

 

[Scott11]

Imagine working at that station. By retaining you, the station is basically saying, you know you are a fan boy, and have no stones to say what you think.

 

[Chip]

"Reflects poorly on the university" LOL

Not a single person outside Syracuse will remember or care about this in a month. This isn't a scandal.

That's because no one outside Syracuse really cares about Syracuse. Especially these days, we're so far off the radar.

But for today, any sports media personality that cares to shred the ridiculous Levine quote will have a field day.

Come tomorrow, they'll be onto something else.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Say what you want… he has a large platform. And is successful. Therefore, it doesn’t matter in the public’s eye.

Does he? In all honesty I didn't know that he was relevant anymore. I used to like him a long time ago. I even enjoyed his book. It seemed that success went to his head and he became bitter and nasty. I'm not sure that I've seen or heard anything from him in the last decade.

 

[Cheriehoop]

lol, not the 1st time the sports guy has gone after Wildhack. They definitely didn't get along.

Simmons was let go from ESPN in 2015 so not that surprising he’d have an agenda as a result.

 

[Jake]

The people up at Newhouse have got to be losing their mind this morning. This reflects poorly on everybody and they will get caught in the wash.

 

[xc84]

Yeah, I'm not sure how people are dismissing it as nothing.

The grossness of the situation with a CEO saying you had to be blindly supportive, the long tail from the JB's ongoing debacle of a transition dating back to Hop, the burned bridges that Wildhack has...

There are a number of people who are going to want to take a bite out of this apple.

Fun stuff.

This problem with this is you translate "too negative" to " blindly supportive".
Axe was too negative. Didn't know when to stop. This past friday was a good example.

 

[kingtidge]

Simmons was let go from ESPN in 2015 so not that surprising he’d have an agenda as a result.

Plus you add to it all the people ESPN let go (was it 2017??)... Andy Katz, et al. and I bet this gets some legs behind it... Plenty of people to grind the ax for Axe...

 

[MikeSU02]

This problem with this is you translate "too negative" to " blindly supportive".
Axe was too negative. Didn't know when to stop. This past friday was a good example.

"too negative" is ridiculously subjective.

Also, you want to see negative? Come deal with the media in NYC.

JB has been handled with kid gloves.

 

[djcon57]

Does he? In all honesty I didn't know that he was relevant anymore. I used to like him a long time ago. I even enjoyed his book. It seemed that success went to his head and he became bitter and nasty. I'm not sure that I've seen or heard anything from him in the last decade.

The Ringer is massively successful. Has a huge contract with Spotify

Edit: Sorry, was incorrect, he sold it to Spotify for 200 mill

 

[SUFan44]

Does he? In all honesty I didn't know that he was relevant anymore. I used to like him a long time ago. I even enjoyed his book. It seemed that success went to his head and he became bitter and nasty. I'm not sure that I've seen or heard anything from him in the last decade.

https://twitter.com/billsimmons?s=21&t=DXLXsY_9MdChimtsZ6pXVA

He has 5.6 million followers on Twitter. I don’t have the podcast numbers but I’m pretty sure they do well there.

He is still very much a big name, like it or not. Whether people listen to him or care is a different story, but he still has a very big platform to push his agenda.

 

[MikeSU02]

https://twitter.com/billsimmons?s=21&t=DXLXsY_9MdChimtsZ6pXVA

He has 5.6 million followers on Twitter. I don’t have the podcast numbers but I’m pretty sure they do well there.

He is still very much a big name, like it or not. Whether people listen to him or care is a different story, but he still has a very big platform to push his agenda.

Spotify gave him a 9 figure deal.

Nine figures.

I cannot stress that he is a HUGE name in new media/content creation.

 

[CIL]

lol, not the 1st time the sports guy has gone after Wildhack. They definitely didn't get along.

Have it on good authority Simmons was extremely difficult to work with. Wouldn’t surprise me.

 

[DilemaCuse]

This is going to sooooo backfire. They just made Axe a martyr.

JB looks like our own John Duton…and Levine is his Rip.

Great Yellowstone reference, so appropriate