kearly
New member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2007
- Messages
- 15,974
- Reaction score
- 0
http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/05/1 ... hn-skipper
This news is actually about a week old, though it became a bit more official on Friday when Simmons informed Grantland staff he wouldn't be back.
It sounds like Simmons was not liked at ESPN, though from what I can piece together, it is based out of jealousy and pettiness against him. There is a pretty good writeup that talks about it here.
Simmons got in trouble for calling Goodell a Liar over the Ray Rice debacle last year. A week ago, he made comments on the Dan Patrick show saying Goodell lacked 'testicular fortitude'. Simmons was fired immediately after that interview was conducted.
[youtube]28V-Jd938Bg[/youtube]
My personal feeling is that ESPN made a pretty big mistake here, canning their most talented and financially valuable staff member for the most petty of reasons. In the week since his firing, there haven't been any stories coming out of the woodwork about how Simmons had secretly been some kind of insufferable dickhead all along... like the stories we heard after Keith Olbermann's multiple firings. So I'm inclined to believe that ESPN is either way too protective of their NFL relationship, or they got fed up with some minor details way too easily.
I will say though, Simmons, who is normally very reasonable, can be a bit of a homer and douche when it comes to his Patriots fandom. That ultimately played a small role in his being fired, which feels somewhat cathartic to me. Of course, he'll land on his feet somewhere else and probably be better off for it.
This news is actually about a week old, though it became a bit more official on Friday when Simmons informed Grantland staff he wouldn't be back.
It sounds like Simmons was not liked at ESPN, though from what I can piece together, it is based out of jealousy and pettiness against him. There is a pretty good writeup that talks about it here.
Simmons got in trouble for calling Goodell a Liar over the Ray Rice debacle last year. A week ago, he made comments on the Dan Patrick show saying Goodell lacked 'testicular fortitude'. Simmons was fired immediately after that interview was conducted.
[youtube]28V-Jd938Bg[/youtube]
My personal feeling is that ESPN made a pretty big mistake here, canning their most talented and financially valuable staff member for the most petty of reasons. In the week since his firing, there haven't been any stories coming out of the woodwork about how Simmons had secretly been some kind of insufferable dickhead all along... like the stories we heard after Keith Olbermann's multiple firings. So I'm inclined to believe that ESPN is either way too protective of their NFL relationship, or they got fed up with some minor details way too easily.
I will say though, Simmons, who is normally very reasonable, can be a bit of a homer and douche when it comes to his Patriots fandom. That ultimately played a small role in his being fired, which feels somewhat cathartic to me. Of course, he'll land on his feet somewhere else and probably be better off for it.