Bill Simmons on HBO

[Krgrecw]

That's the big rumor. Simmons will be a getting a weekly show (bill maher like) and will also get a website for his online work.

[weso1]

And a giant warehouse for his ego.

[BRule]

And it's official today, Simmons is going to HBO.

[Julio3000]

I think he's one of the most overrated writers in, like, ever, but compared to the cohort of droolers and paint-huffers on ESPN, he's Roger Angell.

[Krgrecw]

cowherd is rumored to be going to fox sports.

[The Chosen One]

cowherd is rumored to be going to fox sports.

Well he already confirmed he's leaving ESPN, and he said he wanted to get into politics radio in addition to sports... so Fox seems like a viable option. I'm not sure where he is politically but I think he's pretty conservative from his personality, so he'd fit in right at Fox.

[Tapate50]

Not sure what Bill Simmons is famous for honestly. Never read his pieces or heard of him/them

[Hawk]

Not sure what Bill Simmons is famous for honestly. Never read his pieces or heard of him/them

He created this website called 'Grantland' which successfully blended sports and culture (read: the perfect demographic). He also helped produce ESPN's 30 for 30 documentaries.

I think he caught lightening in a bottle with Grantland. There are literally 1 billion sites which try and do the same thing, he was just lucky to be out a hair in front of the curve (with well-monied financiers).

[jpx7]

He created this website called 'Grantland' which successfully blended sports and culture (read: the perfect demographic). He also helped produce ESPN's 30 for 30 documentaries.

I think he caught lightening in a bottle with Grantland. There are literally 1 billion sites which try and do the same thing, he was just lucky to be out a hair in front of the curve (with well-monied financiers).

Well, and before that, he piloted Page 2 (which was essentially the predecessor to Grantland, except that Grantland is better written because they brought in some very good writers). But even before that, he was writing about sports—mostly NBA, along with weekly NFL picks—in a way that tossed in mostly hacky humor and was, moreover, very upfront about various rooting biases (Celtics, Clippers; "just not liking" certain people and things), which is very en vogue today but wasn't really ten or fifteen years ago (when the majority of sports-reporters, as opposed to a minority, still squeezed the pearls of "journalistic objectivity").

His ascendance, I think, has less to do with his artfulness and more, as you say, to do with his output coming at a time when it looked like "novelty" instead of ubiquity—but there's something to be said for beating the curve, even though I agree with Julio that he's terribly overrated.