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NFL Week3-4: Revenge of the Nerd?


Sivin

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And now it's on Talking Points Memo, a politics site!

Way to Streisand Effect the shit out of this, ESPN.

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What are people's thoughts on what is going on in ESPN v. Simmons?

Do people think Simmons did this intentionally to get suspended? Many in the media are saying that Simmons did this as a publicity stunt (with ESPN falling for his ruse, nit as a co-conspirator) and that he was hoping to get suspended.

I honestly did not feel this way. Simmons was more than vocal about his disdain for Goodell; I don't think he was doing it in the hopes of getting himself fired.

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What are people's thoughts on what is going on in ESPN v. Simmons?

Do people think Simmons did this intentionally to get suspended? Many in the media are saying that Simmons did this as a publicity stunt (with ESPN falling for his ruse, nit as a co-conspirator) and that he was hoping to get suspended.

I honestly did not feel this way. Simmons was more than vocal about his disdain for Goodell; I don't think he was doing it in the hopes of getting himself fired.

I think it was a little bit of arrogance from Simmons, thinking he could say stuff that we all knwo to be true, but his company's financial interests dictating that they would censor. And then he topped it off with the arrogance of believing he could taunt his bosses about directly defying them.

ESPN tells their employees exactly what they can and can't say on sensitive issues. They're a PR/advertising firm masquerading as some kind of journalistic enttity. It's why I absolutely despise ESPN, and try to avoid their non-live-sports programming (although I do admittedly enjoy Grantland, maybe less so if they start censoring that the way they do their regular tripe).

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I don't think he was hoping to get fired - and he didn't. I think he was absolutely sure he'd be suspended for it. And he got suspended. I think it really pisses him off, and this is a good way to get even more publicity towards it.


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What are people's thoughts on what is going on in ESPN v. Simmons?

Do people think Simmons did this intentionally to get suspended? Many in the media are saying that Simmons did this as a publicity stunt (with ESPN falling for his ruse, nit as a co-conspirator) and that he was hoping to get suspended.

I honestly did not feel this way. Simmons was more than vocal about his disdain for Goodell; I don't think he was doing it in the hopes of getting himself fired.

Simmons has gotten suspended or disciplined before by ESPN, and has made reference to it in past columns. I'd be willing to bet a significant amount that his "I sure do hope someone calls me or emails me about this" thing from the podcast was in response to previous contact from ESPN management about how much he'd been bashing Goodell. The "What Does It Take to Get Goodell Fired?" article (not written by Simmons but published on Grantland) and Simmons' own "Goodell must go" mailbag preceded this podcast by a significant amount of time -- so yeah, I bet ESPN, possibly goosed by some signal of displeasure from the NFL, had already told him to lay off Goodell, and that's what made him pick this fight.

That said, I kind of hope he did do it to create publicity. I'm sure the possibility at least occurred to him as he was thinking about future Goodell-related commentary in his work. I hope he's doing it to build himself up enough to get a deal that allows him to break free of ESPN.

And, just so we know where ESPN's standards lie, if anyone hasn't seen it yet, check out another of their employees, Ray Lewis, and his three minutes of word salad, faux gravitas, arrant nonsense, and witless narcissism, all interspersed with his trademark Wannabe Preacherly Profound Pauses, talking about the same subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22ehhK89-OI

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I doubt it was too premeditated, but they'll both happily take the p.r.

KO's been hammering the NFL from the beginning of this whole Rice thing, and ESPN's only comment was to applaud him. Simmons and ESPN have had this dance before, just not as extreme or noteworthy. Joe Sixpack will back ESPN under the 'hand that feeds' ethos, ___Coast Liberals will cry shenanigans, and the NFL will embrace the spotlight shift, however ephemeral/ minor.

None of this will make Simmons eyes look less crazy during NBA broadcasts, or wake his Dad up at the draft. (He's still alive, right?)

My only question is whether one of the 2 parties uses this crisis to break along established stress lines. I'm sure there's long standing mutual annoyance.

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Wow, that really got out of hand fast. And it's pretty surprising. I remember thinking the 2012 top 10, maybe wouldn't be as good the insane 2011 draft class, but still would be pretty damn good. Instead it's mostly varying shades of disaster. Crazy that only Luck and Kuechly have lived up to their draft status.

All that said, it's still an intriguing class because of the QBs and how that all pans out. Even with RG3 out, Tannehill possibly benched and Weeden a disaster from the first moment, there's still Luck, Wilson, Foles and Cousins all lighting up the league in week 3.

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What are people's thoughts on what is going on in ESPN v. Simmons?

Do people think Simmons did this intentionally to get suspended? Many in the media are saying that Simmons did this as a publicity stunt (with ESPN falling for his ruse, nit as a co-conspirator) and that he was hoping to get suspended.

I honestly did not feel this way. Simmons was more than vocal about his disdain for Goodell; I don't think he was doing it in the hopes of getting himself fired.

It's possible that ESPN's in on it. They get to make one of their top personalities look cooler and more rebellious in exchange for the company looking a bit worse. I'm not sure how podcasts get edited, but since it was posted on the ESPN podcenter, I think maybe the ESPN higher ups knew what was going to be on it and published it anyways.

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It's possible that ESPN's in on it. They get to make one of their top personalities look cooler and more rebellious in exchange for the company looking a bit worse. I'm not sure how podcasts get edited, but since it was posted on the ESPN podcenter, I think maybe the ESPN higher ups knew what was going to be on it and published it anyways.

It's hard to believe ESPN would be crafty enough to make that trade-off. Their shtick is that no one personality is bigger than their brand. Doesn't fit their MO to let a personality "get one over" at the brand's expense.

As for the podcasts, I believe it's edited and posted by one of Simmons' Grantland producers. The fact that the podcast was pulled from the ESPN podcenter is telling to me.

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