This is something Mike and Mike do ALL THE TIME. They are the absolute worst and embody everything wrong with sports talk radio. The fact that they are the most successful sports talk show right now tells you something about how dumb people are. Their formula is simple. -Plant a polarizing opinion into your show, and have it introduced in the most polarizing way AKA headline grabbing. Say something like "There are those out there that think.... blank polarizing opinion"...... Then have the other host then come in to say that "this is ridiculous... (enter rant)". All the while.. NOBODY actually said that opinion in the first place... YOU other Mike were the one that insinuated that THIS was some radical opinion out there. In the case of Bill Simmons, they did something shameless by throwing their own colleague Bill under the bus by grabbing his one sentence which wasn't really that polarizing (Lebron does look different and WILL at some point decline), and then play what Bill says is Mr. Moral Authority. If you can sit through Mike and Mike in the Morning than more power to you, but I find them to be about as annoying as the Rich B#$%es that rant on an after show of some reality TV show about Rich B$%^es.
What M&M did was shameful but just about all the ESPN crew do crap like that. Cowherd comes to mind. Plus, it's not like Simmons LBJ comments were that insightful. It did come across like Simmons used a ridiculous analogy but M&M crossed the line when Golic basically insulted BS. What this shows is that Simmons is ready to leave/wants to get fired. End of. There was no need to go on a public/social media rant against M&M. Why not take it to the ESPN execs that he is close to? Also, Jalen has failed Simmons imo. Jalen's job is to remind Simmons not to get fired. Simmons is apparently in IDGAF mode and has no chill left in him. It wasn't that serious that Simmons needed to go nuclear on twitter.
I'd imagine Fox Sports and NBC Sports are salivating over this but I'd have to imagine ESPN has a non-compete in Simmons contract whereby there's a set amount of time that has to pass before he is allowed to join a rival network/website.
ESPN can try to fire Simmons, but Disney won't. Grantland is a different entity to ESPN both are owned by Disney. Simmons is ESPN's biggest star but also their greatest inter-company rival.
Honestly, I see it both ways here. Simmons should be pissed that another ESPN entity criticized him, that’s totally fair to assume your co-workers will have you back, I can’t disagree with him on that point. And if it was taken out of context that also is bull****, probably more the producers fault than Golic’s but I get the anger on that. But at the same time, what exactly did Golic say that was wrong? It may not have been the full truth in this particular occasion but what he said was true overall. Simmons makes a living off grand theories and knee jerk reactions like this. He’s throwing this Lebron thing out there so he can be the first to say he called it, even though it’s FOUR GAMES INTO THE SEASON. He just wrote a story titled “Are Tom Brady And Peyton Manning Cheating?”. That was the headline, the actual article was obviously about the rule changes in the NFL but he knew what he was doing when he phrased it that way. And that’s the point Golic is making, this is you Bill, you say things like this all the time, it’s part of your allure to many, coming up with wild theories about sports and pop culture, relating everything back to Teen Wolf, Karate Kid, and Vegas. This is what made you who you are. You’re a non-traditional thinker and you love to throw out ideas that may have a sliver of truth, taking credit for them when they are actually realized. You’re a contrarian by nature, and Golic is saying that in this case being a contrarian this early in the season is bull****. So when he calls you on it I don’t think you should get pissy. Yeah you should have had the chance to debate it on air, that’s completely reasonable, but come on, nothing Golic said was factually wrong here. And honestly, if you’re going to cry about ESPN every single day just quit. Clearly you think you’re being stifled. Right now you’re the “hold me back” guy in a fight. You keep saying how edgy you are and how your ideas are being censored, well **** it, leave. People will follow you, you know that. Call their bluff if you’re so unhappy. PS Still a 50/50 chance this was all staged for ratings. Vince McMahon does live fairly close to Bristol right? Just saying.
I'd guess Golic didn't take it out of context. I figure the producers would be the ones who took it out of context.
