I Don't Understand The #FreeSimmons Movement And People Who Are Defending Bill Simmons

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 … Please, call me and say I’m in trouble. I dare you.

-Bill Simmons

Quick Disclaimer – I actual still enjoy Simmons from time to time and don’t blindly hate him, but this particular thing really pissed me off.

So let’s say this wasn’t all planned like Pres implied last night (which I have to agree with him, could very well be the case). Let’s take this at face value. No publicity stunt, no backroom dealings, the Simmons suspension is 3 weeks and ESPN is genuinely upset at him. So now my question is this? Why the hell is anyone defending him? I feel like I’m living on another planet right now. Bill Simmons wanted to be the tough guy on his podcast and challenge the establishment. He DARED his boss to do something. He provided them with a vague threat of some form of blackmail “I’m going public”, and basically said I’m bigger than ESPN so you better not try and punish me. So my question to you is this, in what universe does that actually fly? Where in America can you do something like that at your place of work? Nowhere is the answer. Absolutely nowhere. If anyone pulled even half the stunt Simmons pulled they would be fired immediately.

Look, I know we like to call ourselves a Pirate Ship and this and that but there are still rules in life, we still live in a society, and one of the bigger rules is that you don’t threaten your boss and expect to go unpunished. If anything I hate Simmons for this move because he knew he wouldn’t be fired, he knew that he gets to play by a different set of rules, but he still pretends like he’s being some renegade bad boy. Would Bill Simmons have pulled this stunt his first year at ESPN? Of course not, because he was a real person who had real person thoughts, like, “I don’t want to lose my job because I have a family to provide for”. But now that he’s this big ball of money for ESPN, rolling down the hill, he will pretend to be outspoken against the system even though he knows no real repercussions are coming his way. Paid (I’m assuming) suspension for 3 weeks is exactly what Simmons wants. He wants to keep up his street cred as some anti-establishment figure even though he works for ESPN and has been given the keys to the world under their umbrella. It’s bullshit, and if you can’t see through it I don’t know what to tell you. Don’t feel bad for Bill Simmons, he makes millions of dollars a year and publicly called out his employer. He deserved to get fired and instead got a vacation. The #FreeSimmons movement is EXACTLY what he wanted you to do. You’re playing directly into his hands. He wants you to think that he speaks for the common man, and that he’s showing the big corporate big wigs he won’t take it. It’s the same Simmons that wants you to believe that he’s Joe Sports Fan with no locker room access, even though he has a million sources and Front Office guys on speed dial. And while you’re tweeting FreeSimmons and fighting for some undefined injustice he’s sitting in his mansion, cashing his Disney checks, laughing at you for falling for it all. If he hated ESPN that much, or thought they were in cahoots with the NFL he would quit. Oh but wait, then he wouldn’t get to make documentaries and have a website built around him and be on NBA countdown. See? This is all the game, it’s bullshit, and Simmons knew exactly what he was doing from the jump.

PS

For anyone who says Simmons is getting suspended for speaking out against the NFL I say that is complete and utter bullshit. Olbermann has been doing it for weeks. I’m pretty sure Bob Ley won’t shave until Goodell is fired. Schefter, as much as he bothers me, has taken the league to task on multiple occasions. If anything Simmons was late to the party of public opinion on this one. Everyone thinks Goodell has done a shitty job, it is a universally agreed upon opinion. The only thing that Simmons did differently was threaten his boss and tell everyone he’s “going public”, take that part out and none of this is a story.