ESPN giving Bill Simmons his own site

[strahanfan92]

When news came out a couple days ago that Deadspin contributor Katie Baker was joining Bill Simmons’ new project full-time, it also came with news that more details about the project were soon to leak. As it turned out, “soon” was “two days” – today, both Simmons and ESPN gave their first comments on what the new project would actually be. If you’re familiar with Simmons, the details likely won’t be surprising, but there’s reason for intrigue all the same.

SportsBusiness Daily spoke to Simmons about the project – it’s going to be a website owned by ESPN, but “will not carry the ESPN brand.” The breakdown of the site’s content will be roughly 70% sports, 30% pop culture, which fits in neatly with the style Simmons himself established over the years. The name and exact launch date are yet to be determined, but according to the SBD piece, you can expect to see the site up “later this spring.”

Simmons also said that in addition to Baker, Chuck Klosterman (of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs fame, among other books) is on board for the project. Simmons and Klosterman have been friendly for some time now, so his addition isn’t a shock, but since Klosterman has significant name recognition himself, he’ll help bring added attention (and, one would expect, plenty of solid content) to the site. And Simmons recently broke news of another contributor via Twitter: New York’s Lane Brown, who’ll serve as pop culture editor.

The three announced names (plus, of course, Simmons – an ESPN release said, “the site will host Bill’s columns and podcasts”) form an interesting mix of well-established and up-and-coming writers. This, apparently, was a conscious effort on Simmons’ part, since the same ESPN release said he’s “building a team of lesser-known, talented young writers and editors” while also providing a space for “leading journalists” to offer occasional commentary.

The only thing we’re not sure about is this nugget from the ESPN release:

Bill sees the site functioning with limited fan interaction, including a selection of about 300 fans with exclusive access to comment on the site and interact with contributors.
“Limited fan interaction” sounds a bit alienating, especially when Simmons built up such a rabid fanbase by establishing a reputation as a man of the people. (Just your everyday “sports guy,” if you will. Call me crazy – I think that nickname could catch on for him.)

And while there’s no doubt Simmons’ notoriety ensures that everything on the site would get overrun with comments – not all of them civil – if they opened up commenting to everyone, Simmons must have enough fans who are also devoted to him enough that they’d be willing to collectively police the comments section and keep things under control. Cutting off access to all but a select group, on the other hand – even if the “select group” is of significant size – doesn’t feel quite right.

Even accounting for our worries about that aspect, though, it’s hard to imagine this site won’t be a success. We documented the lavish praise of Baker’s hiring, so it appears Simmons has some ability to spot talent. And he’s on a hot streak, considering the continued popularity of his column combined with the success of his sports documentary brainchild, 30 for 30. Based on the people Simmons is bringing on board for his latest project, we see no reason the hot streak won’t continue with this new site – whatever the name may be.

 

[Bigpapa42]

Read about it this morning, but not as much detail. Looks like it could be really sweet. Given that the site is still owned by ESPN, I wonder if he's gonna have to still watch himself...

 

[Chrispy]

Barstool Sports is and will be better

 

[NAHSTE]

Good.. I was tired of having to scroll half way down the ESPN front page to get to Simmons' stuff. God only knows how much of my life was wasted with doing that little half roll with the mouse wheel.

Pretty ironic because I was gonna thank your post until my finger cramped up while scrolling past your sig.

 

[BrntO4Life]

Good.. I was tired of having to scroll half way down the ESPN front page to get to Simmons' stuff. God only knows how much of my life was wasted with doing that little half roll with the mouse wheel.

Shrink your sig. It's already my desktop wallpaper, I don't need some weird "Pyramid of Greatness" wormhole on my laptop every time you post.

 

[BrntO4Life]

Sigs on? From a couple MM vets? This is disappointing.

I always had sigs on.

 

[BigHouseUSA]

We should see if we can merge.

 

[mgoblue2290]

Simmons is past his prime.

 

[NAHSTE]

Simmons is past his prime.

Yeah he's definitely in that Entourage category for me. I still follow him but only out of habit.

 

[SethMode]

Definitely past his prime...I rarely read his columns. His podcasts I'll listen to and are much better and that's only because of who he tends to have on.

 

[Youk]

I can only pray for more blatant Red Sox homerism.

 

[NAHSTE]

Definitely past his prime...I rarely read his columns. His podcasts I'll listen to and are much better and that's only because of who he tends to have on.

The thing is, his NBA columns are still usually REALLY good. Love his annual trade value rankings, and I usually like most of his other NBA material (didn't really care for his Pierce/Dirk/Kobe/Nash aging piece but that was an exception not the rule). But his other stuff is so god damn mind numbingly awful now, it makes me think he should really just stick to basketball.

His Manning/Brady column was so mailed in, including the decision to structure the whole piece on a forced Tupac/Biggie parallel. The best part was it ran two weeks before both were bounced out of the playoffs.

I am starting to get back into his podcasts now, like listening to them on the train. The one with Patton Oswalt was hilarious, and the David Stern interview was really well done I felt.

But he's stretched himself too thin with his terrible NFL picks and his overuse of his tried and true formulas. Once baseball season gets going I'm sure he'll be back to being an insufferable homer since the Sawx have a shot to be special this season.

 

[SuperKevin]

I don't like Bill Simmons as much as I used to

 

[SethMode]

I really do love his NBA stuff. Is he less homeristic for the NBA because he actually likes that sport? I'm still not buying that he is a football or baseball fan.

 

[NAHSTE]

I really do love his NBA stuff. Is he less homeristic for the NBA because he actually likes that sport? I'm still not buying that he is a football or baseball fan.

Yeah that's the only sport where he's more knowledgeable than the average fan. Pretty sure the only reason he likes the NFL is due to gambling. And aside from the Sawx he really doesn't like baseball. He said a few years back that he stopped following the NL because it's inferior which I think is a pretty unforgivable statement. Also has said in a recent column that baseball is really boring.

So basically he's an NBA fan first, a Celtics fan second, then a gambling fan third, then a Pats/Sawx fan.

 

[SethMode]

Yeah that's the only sport where he's more knowledgeable than the average fan. Pretty sure the only reason he likes the NFL is due to gambling. And aside from the Sawx he really doesn't like baseball. He said a few years back that he stopped following the NL because it's inferior which I think is a pretty unforgivable statement. Also has said in a recent column that baseball is really boring.

So basically he's an NBA fan first, a Celtics fan second, then a gambling fan third, then a Pats/Sawx fan.

He and JackO joke often about how "inferior" the NL is and their reasons for it are blatant evidence of how little both know about baseball.