OT: If you had "November 2014" in the "when will ESPN fire Simmons" pool...

[jekelish]

Thanks for the insight...do you think those sponsors would support him when he pulls his spoiled brat meltdowns? I think he'd find that it might be a little tougher out on his own as many casual readers might not bother finding their way to his new home.

I do think the sponsors he would get would stick with him...at this point, Simmons is a known quantity, in that there's no mystery about him and if the sponsors back him, they know very well that he's got these meltdowns in his history and could have them again. They know what they're getting into. It's also why, as soon as he gets fired or his contract is up at ESPN, Fox is going to throw a Brink's truck at him.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

One of the NBA's issues is its coverage IMO. NBATV, TNT and ESPN all do a pretty poor job from what I can tell. Some of the guys calling games are good but the pregame and halftime stuff usually sucks and often has more to do with the personalities on set than the bball itself.

Baron Davis is a riot. He has a look like "Does anyone even know that I am high?" Rick Fox just rolls his eyes at him.

 

[Marsh01]

Simmons sucks. He used to be great when he had his little column and was a depressed red sox fan. Now he is just a douche. He thinks he is important. Anyone who takes the NBA that seriously is a jackwagon to begin with.

 

[realorange]

Simmons sucks. He used to be great when he had his little column and was a depressed red sox fan. Now he is just a douche. He thinks he is important. Anyone who takes the NBA that seriously is a jackwagon to begin with.

Good to have you back Marsh. But how do you really feel about Summons? :rolling:

 

[jekelish]

Simmons sucks. He used to be great when he had his little column and was a depressed red sox fan. Now he is just a douche. He thinks he is important. Anyone who takes the NBA that seriously is a jackwagon to begin with.

Plus he steals columns from people on this board.

 

[Alsacs]

Golic and Greenberg are company hacks who never say anything original.
They are prototype cookie cutter who drink the ESPN kool aid. Greenberg is worse than Golic but what Golic said was real douche. Golic should .

Now Simmons is a child and thin skinned but this time he is right. Simmons was right to go off the Awful Announcing articles on this subject were good.

 

[jekelish]

Golic and Greenberg are company hacks who never say anything original.
They are prototype cookie cutter who drink the ESPN kool aid. Greenberg is worse than Golic but what Golic said was real douche. Golic should .

Now Simmons is a child and thin skinned but this time he is right. Simmons was right to go off the Awful Announcing articles on this subject were good.

It was a little disappointing coming from Golic. I like him a lot better than Greenberg, who I agree, is a hack. He's playing every bit as much schtick as Stephen A. and Skip Bayless, but since it's less overt so he doesn't get called out.

 

[Melancer46]

ESPN pays Simmons an insane amount of money. He's by far their biggest name in terms of writers/personalities, at this point. That's not to say I dig the dude like I used to - my history with him is one I've spoken of before (personal grudge for life, yo). But I absolutely believe he could get the funding needed to start his own Grantland-esque site and most of his writers would follow him, and I think he'd easily get the sponsorships necessary to keep it running.

Yeah, I definitely think he could break out on his own and still get the funding, especially considering all the friends he's made in Hollywood/the absurd number of connections he has.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with him. Him and Jalen literally just started a new TV show on ESPN, so my gut feeling is that he'll stay. There's absolutely gotta be people trying to sway him to join a rival network though.

Personally, I still enjoy listening to him talk basketball. You can tell that's the one sport he REALLY loves. He likes football too, and I find his "Guess the Lines" podcasts to be an entertaining listen, but basketball is really the highlight of Grantland (and I guess for some, the pop culture stuff probably is too). And I cannot say enough good things about Zach Lowe. He's a tremendous basketball writer.

 

[Knicks411]

Zach Lowe is just the best

 

[Millhouse]

I wonder if grantland is a giant money loser for espn

 

[Melancer46]

I wonder if grantland is a giant money loser for espn

I doubt Simmons would be one of their highest paid guys if his site was losing money for them.

 

[BlackKnight76]

I wonder if grantland is a giant money loser for espn

Based on my admittedly still limited knowledge of how the industry works, probably. With the talent they have, no way all those writers are making pennies, and their traffic numbers aren't great. It's a shame, because Grantland is the best thing ESPN has going, by far.

 

[Alsacs]

http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/wrestlemedia-favorite-media-feuds-wwe-ppv.html

This article made me laugh a lot. I loved Francesa destroying Kay and the main event Wargames write off.

 

[cuseclappy]

this was from last wk. two disgruntled men

 

[MikeSU02]

Based on my admittedly still limited knowledge of how the industry works, probably. With the talent they have, no way all those writers are making pennies, and their traffic numbers aren't great. It's a shame, because Grantland is the best thing ESPN has going, by far.

They have way less traffic than espn.com, but the demo reading Grantland is very valuable.

With that said, having the power of the WWL driving to Grantland is pretty important.