ESPN Slaps Bill Simmons

ESPN suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks because he repeatedly called Roger Goodell a bullshitting liar on his podcast and then double-dog dared ESPN to suspend him for ripping the Commissioner a new one:

“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell, because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner’s a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast. Thank you.”

About 99% of the sports public believes Goodell lied in fact or in spirit about not seeing Ray Rice punch his then girlfriend in the mug before coming down with a meager two-game suspension. Simmons calling Goodell a liar is only the least bit shocking because he takes a paycheck from ESPN which is clearly beholden to professional and college sports leagues. Any chink in Goodell’s revisionist history could cause the NFL to lose a portion of their battered housewife demo and those bloodied chicks buy a ton of Pepsi.

If Simmons really wanted to make a point, he would have called out his employer for being part of the whitewashing media conspiracy between billionaire owners and the TV networks instead of just daring them to tell him to shut the fuck up. Now they can call him insubordinate and replace him with a a timid sycophant to spew a few cliches, make some ill advised predictions, and smile broadly to let America know their sports world is groovy. I think Bryant Gumbel is available.