Bill Simmons came out firing against
ESPN this week in the debut episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast," calling the sports giant out for its lack of coverage on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Simmons, a former ESPN employee, didn't hold back with his opinion that ESPN failed to cover the scandal known as "Deflategate" in an open, aboveboard way.
"Granted, I'm a little biased here. The way everyone else was covering Roger Goodell in this whole story versus the way ESPN covered it, it was embarrassing," he said. "I couldn't believe nobody called out ESPN about it."
He added that it seemed "ESPN is in the bag for the NFL" and took the show "Mike and Mike" to task, as well.
Simmons and ESPN parted ways in May 2016 when the network failed to renew his contract.
According to CNN Money, the relationship between the popular sports star and ESPN had been "stormy, marked by suspensions and public spats with fellow ESPN personalities."
In addition, the problems often stemmed from Simmons' criticism of the NFL and Goodell, CNN said, including a three-week suspension for calling out Goodell about how he handled the Ray Rice domestic abuse issue.
Simmons' podcast was ranked No. 1 on iTunes Wednesday, and retained that spot through the afternoon Thursday. He tweeted his appreciation for the support:
The sports commentator has found a new home on HBO, where he'll have a
weekly sports show, Sports Illustrated reported.
"Simmons is very smart and he's a fantastic writer (especially when he was the Boston Sports Guy). However, he has an ego the size of Texas to match it. He just can't get out of his own way. I agree with just about everything he says (especially about the Worldwide Leader) but I definitely can see why so many people despise him," one person commented on an SI article about Simmons' criticisms.
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