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Kalli posted:I'm not worried about them eliminating Grantland, I'm worried about them turning it into what Page 2 / Page 3 were. And I always thought Simmons' preferred endgame was to become a big-money Hollywood producer.
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May 8, 2015 16:15
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ESPN is going to try to monetize grantland differently and a while bunch of executives are going to try to "make a splash" to accelerate their careers and totally ruin it. That's a Shane, but Simmons is probably going to get an offer to create something new with creative freedom so maybe he'll do it again. But yeah gently caress ESPN.
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May 8, 2015 17:25
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gently caress, i can't wait for Simmons' next project
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May 8, 2015 17:32
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Geno posted:gently caress, i can't wait for Simmons' next project I'm curious to see if he goes to somewhere like Bleacher Report, or essentially tries to build his own Grantland from scratch, which he's more than capable of doing. I don't want to read the guys articles and editorials, if you can even call them that, I just want him to keep producing really good content and build a great team.
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May 8, 2015 17:38
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Oh god, he did itoatgan posted:Ewing Theory would dictate that Grantland is about to enter a golden age And Simmons is playing the role of Craig Kilborn e: Grantland's publisher is leaving too http://recode.net/2015/05/08/grantland-publisher-david-cho-is-leaving-too/
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May 8, 2015 17:42
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Wrap it up the hottest of takes has been taken: Jay Mariotti @MariottiSports 22m22 minutes ago ESPN created a superfan, now ESPN has uncreated him. Superfans are not real and don't have staying power.
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May 8, 2015 17:49
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Give the website to Brian Phillips. Or Shea Serrano.
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May 8, 2015 17:55
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Christ Pseudoscientist posted:Wrap it up the hottest of takes has been taken: PFT commentor would be proud
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May 8, 2015 18:01
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Christ Pseudoscientist posted:Wrap it up the hottest of takes has been taken: Jay is the lamest of the lames
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May 8, 2015 18:04
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Good of Jay Mariotti to chime in and remind us of the difference between "contract not renewed" and "loving fired for being a piece of human poo poo".
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May 8, 2015 18:07
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Kalli posted:Good of Jay Mariotti to chime in and remind us of the difference between "contract not renewed" and "loving fired for being a piece of human poo poo". It would have been nice for them to let him go due to his lovely hot takes but thankfully his ex stepped up to the plate and took one for the team.
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May 8, 2015 18:13
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It is time. Black Grantland and White Grantland must merge to make something beautiful. It is time. 
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May 8, 2015 18:13
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Lol has anyone paid a single thought to Jay mariotti in like ten years? Or a non negative thought in his entire life span
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May 8, 2015 18:32
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Dutchy posted:Lol has anyone paid a single thought to Jay mariotti in like ten years?
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May 8, 2015 18:47
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To draw the ire of Ebert one has to be a piece of poo poo.
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May 8, 2015 18:55
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Some choice (anonymous) quotes from ESPNers: http://deadspin.com/espners-bill-simmons-found-out-he-was-fired-on-twitter-1703112625 —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, gently caress 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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May 8, 2015 19:59
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Deadspin hates Simmons because he 'poached' people from them, so I wouldn't count on getting a fair take from them
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May 8, 2015 20:16
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He wasn't fired either despite what that deadspin article asserts. I mean I understand an employer choosing to not extend a contract can be the same thing as firing, but it isn't even clear yet that is actually what happened versus Simmons himself choosing to not re-up the contract, or most likely a combination of both. Seems like the type of misleading title that deadspin would mock if another outlet wrote it.
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May 8, 2015 20:18
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I dunno, that language is pretty clearly a firing. Deadspin just put up another piece that describes it better than I can but yeah, that was a public demonstration. I'm interested to see what Bill's response will be.
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May 8, 2015 20:26
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Deadspin's fondness for taking shots at Simmons comes from the fact that he's an amazingly easy target that they can get good quotes on from their sources at Bristol, not because of some personal animus. If I recall correctly most of the Deadspin "poaching" took place before Tommy Craggs even took over Deadspin, and even he's moved on to Gawker EiC at this point. That said, my pessimistic assumption is that while Simmons is going to be fine, everyone at Grantland that still has to work for a living is going to see their article rates plummet and contracts expire as ESPN throttles back their investment to "sustainable" levels, now that the one guy who kept a wall between Grantland and ESPN editorial at-large is gone. Rates have already been in freefall with the SoE and Score shutterings as well as ongoing industry standard-lowering from places like SBN and Bleacher Report, so I expect it to be even harder for people to earn a living in the field come this time next year. And you can complain about this not being a field worth paying people money for all you want, but if that's the case you're welcome to stop reading any of the content it produces, and also go gently caress yourself. Crion fucked around with this message at 20:33 on May 8, 2015 |
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May 8, 2015 20:29
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I love Grantland. I go there everyday as much for its pop culture coverage as its sports stuff. If it starts to suffer or fall apart I will be sad.
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May 8, 2015 20:39
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Crion posted:Deadspin's fondness for taking shots at Simmons comes from the fact that he's an amazingly easy target that they can get good quotes on from their sources at Bristol, not because of some personal animus. If I recall correctly most of the Deadspin "poaching" took place before Tommy Craggs even took over Deadspin, and even he's moved on to Gawker EiC at this point.
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May 8, 2015 20:45
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I think Simmons is an rear end in a top hat with a huge ego and very thin skin. And still everything on that deadspin story about him being fired makes me side with him over ESPN.
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May 8, 2015 21:32
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FMguru posted:Grantland could get even better in Simmons' absence, insofar as some of his more annoying editorial tics would be further marginalize Bill Simmons acts like a baby a lot of times, but the only times he has gotten in trouble in the last 2 years have involved correctly calling out Roger Goodell. What a coincidence, he goes on the radio yesterday and craps on Goodell, and today, 5 months before his contract expires, they announce they won't renew his deal. It could not be more obvious what happened if Goodell himself handed over the pink slip. I wonder if John Skipper called him Roger or Mr. Goodell when he took the order.
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May 8, 2015 21:39
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Simmons is clearly a dude with a large ego but he also did an incredible job at reading the currents of popular culture, cultivating exceptional talent and pushing things in a good direction to let that talent flourish. This is so much an NFL/Goodell thing it's not even funny.
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May 8, 2015 22:04
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I hope he goes the route of private funding a new website instead of joining up with Yahoo/SBNation/Bleacher Report. He seems to have enough big money connections that funding the venture shouldn't be an issue. He should then steal all of the good writers back from Grantland before it becomes Page 2 2.0.
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May 8, 2015 22:07
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I know Simmons is a baby and I find his writing at this point pretty unbearable but I loving love Grantland. I'm pissed he got pushed out and it's pretty clear ESPN hosed him over in this negotiation—the timing of this tells all I worry about Grantland moving forward. Simmons' pubic persona and popularity allowed the site to take really interesting subjects that would never find a home on a Page2 like site. I hope a memo from the NFL leaks that says they asked Skipper to get rid of him.
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May 8, 2015 22:19
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Simmons likes being a patron, but what he likes even more is access. The kind of access he specifically craves is NBA access. That probably means Bleacher Report/Yahoo/FOX Sports is in his future, perhaps with some kind of fiefdom like Grantland set up to tickle his patronage bone -- though I'd be shocked if this time he didn't focus far, far more on video content than written.
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May 8, 2015 22:34
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I don't know how anyone could think Grantland would get better. Look at the kind of people ESPN hires for their main site. I'd be surprised if the site is even up in 5 years. Probably best to just absorb the good sports writers like Lowe and dump the rest. Simmons has a huge following and I'm guessing drew most of the traffic to Grantland and it's authors. I'm also kind of interested to see where he goes next. I hope he gets funding to start his own site. He's clearly good at finding talent and letting them do what they do. And without huge editorial oversight from a company like ESPN that has to cater to all the leagues they cover, we could really get some great stuff. Imagine the group of writers he has being allowed to go all in on the NFL or any other hot button issue that was sort of off-limits. I know these types of sites have been attempted in the past, but never with someone who can generate the funding and attention Simmons can.
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May 8, 2015 22:59
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Simmons was down to like one article a month on Grantland. I liked him but he hasn't been the main draw to that site in years. Really, I like everyone on that site except the stupid NFL stats guy who is never correct.
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May 8, 2015 23:02
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Crion posted:Simmons likes being a patron, but what he likes even more is access. The kind of access he specifically craves is NBA access. That probably means Bleacher Report/Yahoo/FOX Sports is in his future, perhaps with some kind of fiefdom like Grantland set up to tickle his patronage bone -- though I'd be shocked if this time he didn't focus far, far more on video content than written. Bleacher Report is tied in with the NBA which would be nice for him, but I don't think he needs the others to get access. The guy is a huge name. I mean the news of his departure made the front page of the NY Times website. If he starts his own outlet, he'll get access most anywhere because his name alone generates huge traffic.
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May 8, 2015 23:04
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Niwrad posted:I don't know how anyone could think Grantland would get better. Look at the kind of people ESPN hires for their main site. I'd be surprised if the site is even up in 5 years. Probably best to just absorb the good sports writers like Lowe and dump the rest. Simmons has a huge following and I'm guessing drew most of the traffic to Grantland and it's authors. Honestly that might not be a bad reason to fire Simmons on its own. ESPN.com gets way way more traffic than Grantland ever will, so absorbing its talent back into the mothership might actually make a lot of sense. Add in his tendency to bite the hand that feeds him, and the way he clearly has more than a professional level of animus against Goodell (he's bad, but it definitely seems personal with Simmons after the suspension), and I don't really blame ESPN at all. Besides, it's the most interesting option, so I look forward to seeing what happens next.
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May 8, 2015 23:06
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Niwrad posted:Bleacher Report is tied in with the NBA which would be nice for him, but I don't think he needs the others to get access. The guy is a huge name. I mean the news of his departure made the front page of the NY Times website. If he starts his own outlet, he'll get access most anywhere because his name alone generates huge traffic. There is a whole lot of institutional support and ease-of-access stuff regarding, e.g., credentialing, interviewing, facility access during non-game days that just Being Bill Simmons alone won't get him. He'll need people for that, and specifically he'll need institutional backing so that if he DOES say something the NBA or etc don't like, they can't just yank all credentials from BillSimmons.com in perpetuity -- they have to yank a Yahoo! Sports cred, or a FOX Sports cred, or whatever, and they have to deal with THOSE organizations taking it as an affront to themselves professionally and making their own phone calls. Being a huge name is great for moving clicks and attracting advertisers. In terms of the kind of access Simmons craves, however, he's going to want someone established to tie his brand to -- or he's going to have to spend years building up a media machine of his own from scratch.
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May 8, 2015 23:17
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I worry about the content getting lost if ESPN absorbs the Grantland sportswriters. ESPN loves promoting reporters/gossip mongers and often buries good analysis if it can't trigger some First Take-like discussion.
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May 8, 2015 23:23
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It will never happen for many, many reasons, but Simmons at Deadspin would be the funniest of all possible worlds. Even (or especially) if he just wrote a guest column bashing ESPN before moving on.
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May 8, 2015 23:23
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Sinteres posted:It will never happen for many, many reasons, but Simmons at Deadspin would be the funniest of all possible worlds. Even (or especially) if he just wrote a guest column bashing ESPN before moving on. That'd be hilarious just to read all the nerdrage it would cause.
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May 8, 2015 23:35
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I'm not sure I can put into words how quickly Deadspin would say "yes" to Bill Simmons defenestrating John Skipper and company on their page. If I were a betting man I'd put money down on them having already reached out to Simmons through every channel available for just that purpose.
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May 8, 2015 23:51
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Deadspin has yet another follow-up article up, and holy crap ESPN dropped the bomb on him.quote:The timing is vicious, even separate from the surprise. Simmons’s contract runs through the end of September. Rather than waiting out the string, Skipper made the announcement today, making it so that Simmons can no longer use ESPN’s offer as a bargaining chip as he enters negotiations with prospective employers. Whether this was Skipper’s intention or not, he’s functionally cost Simmons six or seven figures wherever he lands.
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May 8, 2015 23:53
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There's no way that any of the good Grantland writers would be used in a meaningful context on the ESPN mothership. Can you imagine Zach Lowe writing an in-depth, several thousand word piece about the Wizards that ends with a like/dislike list that makes fun of mascots?
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May 8, 2015 23:56
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I think that's slightly overblown. Chances are Fox/NBC and other sports websites will be falling all over trying to get Simmons for them. He will get paid a lot no matter where he goes.
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May 8, 2015 23:57
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