So Bill Simmons and ESPN are splitting up. What the fuck?! We asked around at the Worldwide Leader to get water-cooler reactions to the news. This is what we got from our sources at ESPN and Grantland.
—Four sources tell us there’s a rumor going around ESPN and Grantland that Simmons found out about the move via Twitter. (A fifth source denies this.) “Cold-hearted/hilarious,” one person says. “Guy is a massive dickhead. But he’ll just land at Fox Sports with Horowitz now for the same money. Yay.”
—“Ding Dong the witch is dead.” (That’s how one ESPN staffer describes the vibe in Bristol.)
—“Sounds like Skipper’s the one who said ‘Man, fuck this.’”
—“It was pretty clear they haven’t gotten along in a long time.”
—“Can’t say anything right now.”
—“Everything is high school.”
—“Not unexpected.”
—“From everything I heard, [Grantland] was only viable due to Simmons traffic and sponsorship $.”
—One ESPNer points us to Simmons’s appearance on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday morning. (He took to the show to talk about Ballghazi.) Here’s the clip in question. On its face, nothing he said was too offensive, though he did take a couple shots at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, saying the handling of the scandal was “pathetic” and that Goodell lacked the “testicular fortitude to do anything until he gauges public reaction.” Not even wrong! Speaking about Ballghazi on another network, however, may have been a final, final, final straw.
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