Sports Media Discussion (RIP ESPN)

Do yourself a favor and download the episode from August 30. Al Michaels was the guest, it's pretty great stuff.

Layoffs at ESPN. Ryan Clark fired while he was on the air for NFL live. I thought he had better insights than most former players turned media personalities. Karl Ravech, fired after 33 years with the Worldwide Leader. Thats tough. And also Stephania Bell, who I listened to lots of fantasy football podcasts, in the early days of podcasting. Negotiating a new deal to take Pat McAfee up to $65M a year. I guess the future is him, Greeny, Stephen A., and 24-hour shouty shows, when they’re not broadcasting a live game.

Didn't know Charles Davis worked for ESPN in some capacity, but I also learned that he was moved over to the lead college crew for CBS and that's why JJ Watt has been doing commentary instead of him, which I kinda also didn't really realize he wasn't at FOX anymore, but thank **** I don't have to listen to his awful commentary anymore since IDGAF about college football.

Ryan Clark was excellent. man fu.ck espn

checking in on ol' billy boy simba for the first time in years...

https://defector.com/bill-simmons-is-de-apexing defector Bill Simmons Is De-Apexing | Defector (https://defector.com/bill-simmons-is-de-apexing)

It's been an eventful year for Ringer founder and podcast host Bill Simmons. He ended 2025 and began 2026 at a peak in popularity, thanks to his performance on a podcast titled "Bill’s 50 Most Rewatchable Movies of the 21st Century," which earned him the kind of crossover appeal he's rarely enjoyed. Just before that, he signed a deal to have to have several Ringer podcasts licensed to Netflix. Then he got to tell the world about how the Jaylen Brown trade happened during his colonoscopy. For the last eight months or so, Simmons has been, to borrow a phrase, on Apex Mountain. But mountains are slippery, and Simmons has been steadily sliding back to sea level over the last few months. Consider the following pieces of information:

• During episodes of The Rewatchables, Simmons established a new segment in which he uses ChatGPT to produce, in Roger Ebert's voice, a review of a movie that Ebert never got to write about, on account of him being dead.
• ChatGPT recently became a presenting sponsor of The Bill Simmons Podcast, and during his first attempt at reading the ad copy he pronounced it "ChatGBT."
• On the Aug. 9 episode of his podcast, he once again brought up the fact that he does not wear a seatbelt when he drives.
• On the Aug. 25 episode of a Ringer podcast about historic box-office flops, he wore an Anduril hat. Where one even acquires an Anduril hat is not a question that can be answered by a person in my tax bracket.
• On the most recent episode of his podcast, he gave a detailed description of his participation in proxy betting. Because he lives in California, where sports gambling has not been legalized, he calls his daughter's boyfriend, who lives in a state where sports gambling is legal, gives him his FanDuel login information, and has the boyfriend place bets on his behalf. FanDuel, with whom The Ringer signed a lucrative sponsorship deal, explicitly prohibits proxy betting.

is you podding notes on a criminal ****ing conspiracy involving a sponsor? bonus lol for cousin gregging your daughter's boyfriend The Big Picture host Amanda Dobbins appears shocked that Bill Simmons is sponsored by ChatGBT Sean Fennessey later says he doesn’t approve of Bill’s ChatGBT-Ebert Fennessey expresses some consternation over the fact that his podcast has been licensed to Netflix, as the deal creates a conflict any time he wants to cover a movie that is released by Netflix.

fun times in boston again

Everyone under 40: What WHO

by 72off m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59389750#post59389750)

checking in on ol' billysimba for the first time in years...

It obviously has been. Nice DFW reference. It's been an eventful year for Ringer founder and podcast host Bill Simmons. He ended 2025 and began 2026 at a peak in popularity snips reams of AI generated prose

fun times in boston again

Simmons has lived in LA for over 20 years.

Just slow invisible crashing

Bill Simmons, the popular sports podcaster who has championed sports betting, is under review by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission after he admitted on a recent episode to using his daughter’s boyfriend to place bets for him. The commission announced the review Tuesday, two days after Simmons said on an episode of his podcast that he’d used a proxy on multiple occasions to log in to his account and make wagers in Massachusetts. Simmons, founder of The Ringer, is based in California, where sports betting is not legal. In Massachusetts, mobile and online betting is allowed. But proxy betting — having someone place bets on behalf of someone else — is illegal in Massachusetts and is not allowed by FanDuel, the sportsbook with which the wagers were issued. ... On the podcast episode, Simmons said there were bets “that I really wanted to get in — the UCLA overs. But Houston, the market had not shifted appropriately yet. I can’t have my daughter do it; my dad would have no idea how to do it.” But, Simmons said, he trusted his daughter’s boyfriend and allowed him to log in to his FanDuel account. “I get the code to make sure it’s me to my phone, I give him the code, he logs in. And I have all this money that I had from last year because I actually hit a bunch of futures last year. And he’s putting in bets for me,” Simmons said, adding that “it was a real bonding moment for us.” “A week later, I called him up, ran it back,” Simmons continued. “We did some more.” In a new episode released Tuesday, Simmons said he was unaware that such bets could not be made.

George Costanza: Was That Wrong? - YouTube

Tap to unmute

George Costanza: Was That Wrong? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td67kYY9mdQ)Whiskey Alpha (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO_YFq59GsD-tdjFVdaGFvw) Whiskey Alpha52 subscribers

elite seinfeld reference

I wonder if ESPN will have the balls to can Stephen A.

did he do something recently, or just because he sucks?

by newguyhere m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59413337#post59413337)

I wonder if ESPN will have the balls to can Stephen A.

1. they should fire him
2. i'd love it if they would
3. they wont

by 72off m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59413687#post59413687)

did he do something recently, or just because he sucks?

He sucks. But he also called Lane Johnson weak or something along those lines for retiring, and then immediately issued an "apology"

that's it? weak. wouldn't rank that in the top-1000 of dumb **** he's said...

he criticized his mental health reason for retiring