There appears to be yet more tension between Bill Simmons and his colleagues at ESPN, less than a month after he finished serving a suspension that was handed down by the sports media empire.
Simmons, the editor-in-chief of the ESPN-owned Grantland.com and a multi-platformed commentator for the “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” responded angrily Thursday to a segment made on “Mike & Mike,” a flagship program on ESPN Radio.
“What Mike and Mike did today was absolute garbage. I would say I lost respect for that show, but I never had it,” Simmons tweeted.
What was it that drew his ire?
Mike Golic, a co-host of talk radio show, reacted to something Simmons had said on another ESPN Radio program. It was, as Deadspin put it, “a big orgy of ESPN people talking about things ESPN people said on ESPN programming.”
Simmons said that LeBron James hasn’t quite looked the same this season and suggested that the NBA superstar might be declining the same way that baseball slugger Albert Pujols has in recent seasons. Golic called that “ridiculous” and said that Simmons “loves” to grab headlines. Simmons then fired back with a flurry of tweets posted within minutes of one another.
What Mike and Mike did today was absolute garbage. I would say I lost respect for that show, but I never had it. http://t.co/LRd8YzFfO8
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) November 6, 2014
For an ESPN Radio show to pull an interview out of context from another ESPN Radio show, then play the moral authority card, is disgusting.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) November 6, 2014
Have the balls to call me to discuss it on the show. Don’t pull it out of context just because you need fodder for a segment. Pathetic.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) November 6, 2014
But hey – I’m just a guy who can’t evolve, right? http://t.co/XJ0GWbc5gJ
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) November 6, 2014
Simmons, of course, was just suspended for three-weeks after he called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a liar and dared his bosses at ESPN to punish him.
“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell,” Simmons said on his podcast in September. “Because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone.”
It wasn’t the first time Simmons had been reprimanded by his superiors, and Thursday wasn’t the first time he’s publicly called out his colleagues.
He feuded with former ESPN.com columnist Rick Reilly when the two shared prime real estate on the website’s front page. In 2009, Simmons was suspended for two weeks from Twitter after he used the medium to go after “deceitful scumbags” at an ESPN Radio affiliate who had labeled him a “fraud.”
With his contract up next year, his most recent suspension prompted questions about his status and future at ESPN. Those questions figure to get louder following Thursday’s Twitter rant.