You probably could have predicted some gloating from Bill Simmons after an arbitrator overruled the NFL’s indefinite suspension of Ray Rice last week.
After all, the former federal judge who handed down that decision concluded that Rice didn’t lie to the league about assaulting his wife inside an Atlantic City hotel elevator — contradicting NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s claim that the former Baltimore Ravens running back was “ambiguous” about what exactly transpired.
Simmons, the multimedia sports commentator and editor-in-chief of the ESPN-owned Grantland.com, famously earned a suspension in September after he called bull on Goodell’s claim and dared his bosses to punish him for repeatedly calling the commissioner a “liar.”
On his podcast Monday, Simmons found a way to address Rice’s overturned suspension by making light of his own.
Simmons was talking to “B.S. Report” regular Sal Iacono as the two discussed the latest NFL betting lines.
“So, Sal,” he began, “it turns out an independent judge —”
Right then, Simmons was cut off by the sound of hold music.
The gag continued like that. Simmons would begin to make a point about Rice’s successful appeal and then, right on cue, the Muzak would resume.
“God, I don’t want to be suspended again,” Iacono said. “Go ahead, keep going.”
An ESPN spokesperson declined to comment about the bit to TPM on Tuesday.
The arbitrator’s decision delivered some righteous vindication to Simmons, whose three-week suspension made him something of a martyr to his legions of fans.
It was on his podcast in September when Simmons asserted that Goodell lied about not knowing what happened in the hotel elevator until TMZ released surveillance footage showing Rice knocking his wife unconscious.
“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell,” Simmons said. “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. Please, call me and say I’m in trouble. I dare you.”
ESPN’s higher-ups took the dare, suspending Simmons two days after that podcast ran.
“Every employee must be accountable to ESPN and those engaged in our editorial operations must also operate within ESPN’s journalistic standards,” the company said in a statement announcing the suspension. “We have worked hard to ensure that our recent NFL coverage has met that criteria. Bill Simmons did not meet those obligations in a recent podcast, and as a result we have suspended him for three weeks.”
Listen to Monday’s exchange, via Awful Announcing:
