The Bill Simmons Thread

ifmanis5

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"He kept up a long-running diatribe on how terrible it was to work here.”
Literally 4 out of 5 people who work in Bristol have been spewing the same diatribe since 1979. Clear hatchet job on Bill. And they dumped Magic and blamed it on him as well. All class.
 

twibnotes

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@GlobeChadFinn: "Nobody wanted to work with @BillSimmons line" from ESPN exec is laughable. Have friends who did work with him. *Adored* him as a boss.
 

Kliq

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Nobody wanted to work with him so much that half the Grantland editorial staff just quit to sign on with his new project.
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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I think it should be read as no suit wanted to work with him. Everything points to him being an awesome boss, but a big headache for upper management.
 

JimBoSox9

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That's definitely it; interpret the exec as "no on in Bristol wanted to work with him", probably because he called out corporate BS for what it was.
 

moondog80

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I like his work, but the prediction about him being unhappy with some aspect of HBO within a year rings true to me. 
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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moondog80 said:
I like his work, but the prediction about him being unhappy with some aspect of HBO within a year rings true to me. 
 
I was going to say the same thing. It's going to end badly there, but then again most things do. 
 

Leather

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It's entirely possible that he was a giant pain in the ass to work with.   
 
That doesn't mean he wasn't a great boss, or didn't have great ideas.   
 
Talent asking for money vs. Management telling them no is the oldest story in the Showbiz book.
 
That's not to say that ESPN isn't acting childish by putting this out there.  They don't even need to; it's obvious that Simmons thought he deserved X and ESPN thought he was only worth Y.  
 

deanx0

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This is one of the most common recent dynamics. Bill probably was difficult to work with and never felt he was getting enough support. However, he was a success and super creative for all the reasons we can list here, and was far and away the most successful ESPN personality. So as an organization, you take the bad with the good as the good outweighs the bad, if your ultimate goal is viewers/readers/ etc. But companies today think they are the brand and viewers/readers care more about them than the individual personalities. And ultimately, organizations need to think somewhat like this because what would happen if the talent die/retire etc. You need a succession plan. But ESPN's hubris is stunning in this area. The fact that when the Simmons thing started, there were reports that they were going to keep running the BS report without Simmons was all you need to know about their belief how little talent matters to what they do. So co-ordinated PR hit pieces like this should come as no surprise. They serve the dual purpose of absolving ESPN of any blame in the breakup (or so they hope), as well as poisoning the well in the future relationship between HBO (an ESPN competitor) and Simmons, as HBO executives will read this and the first time Simmons chafes at one of their "notes" or complains about not getting something, this article will be in the back of their minds. 
 

JBill

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It's just extraordinarily petty on ESPN's part. The guy already found out he was fired via Twitter, not just humiliating for him, but also upsetting for your other employees, the Grantland staff, to find out that way. And now you're going to trash him even further? Why, because after you fired him in that fashion, several months later he talks about how he and the site didn't have enough support? So what? ESPN is amazing sometimes.
 

allstonite

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I think he'll be fine. For all the trouble, he did last almost 15 years at ESPN. And looking back most of the trouble was caused by ESPN's pettiness. He called Goodell a liar and that was proven to be 100% true. Him daring his bosses to suspend him was childish but I thought it was more of a joke. The new SI Media podcast gets into it with Jim Miller and is interesting. He's extremely plugged in at ESPN. I went into being more on Simmons' side and nothing they said did anything to change that.
 
As for HBO I think he'll be fine. They seem to let creative talent do pretty much what they want and work to keep them happy. Isn't David Simon a notorious curmudgeon? Plus all of his shows are low rated but they keep him around and let him make a miniseries on a housing crisis because he does great work for them. 
 

ifmanis5

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Domer said:
ESPN has laid off Bill's friend Gus Ramsay after over 20 years at the company
http://gusramsey.blogspot.com/2015/10/espn-thanks-for-memories.html
I'm stunned. Not only is he a nice guy he's actually good at what he does. Feels like this is a little bit of payback for being close to Bill. There's no other explanation I can think of. Gus is well liked by everybody, works hard and is a team player. What a terrible firing.
 

jacklamabe65

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Domer said:
ESPN has laid off Bill's friend Gus Ramsay after over 20 years at the company
http://gusramsey.blogspot.com/2015/10/espn-thanks-for-memories.html
As someone who knows both Gus and Bill and who also worked with Wally Ramsay, Gus beloved father, this is incredibly upsetting. By the way, the "Win it For" thread began in Wally Ramsay's old classroom (I moved in there after Wally left to teach in California). Gus and Wally are both simply fantastic individuals.
 

AB in DC

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ifmanis5 said:
I'm stunned. Not only is he a nice guy he's actually good at what he does. Feels like this is a little bit of payback for being close to Bill. There's no other explanation I can think of. Gus is well liked by everybody, works hard and is a team player. What a terrible firing.
 
Ummm....
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/21/450580585/espn-cuts-around-300-jobs-as-cable-subscriptions-fall
 
 
A source at ESPN confirmed to NPR that the number of eliminated positions would be around 300, approximately 4 percent of the channel's 8,000-person workforce.
 

ifmanis5

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Yes, I understand that the layoffs were coming but Gus is literally the last guy you would dump. Model employee. He'll find a new gig instantly but I can't help but think this was somewhat BS related. Pun intended.
 

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ifmanis5 said:
I'm stunned. Not only is he a nice guy he's actually good at what he does. Feels like this is a little bit of payback for being close to Bill. There's no other explanation I can think of. Gus is well liked by everybody, works hard and is a team player. What a terrible firing.
And yet they kept Cousin Sal?

I don't understand that.
 

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John Marzano Olympic Hero said:
 
I was going to say the same thing. It's going to end badly there, but then again most things do. 
 
Obviously. Otherwise they wouldn't end.
 

mwonow

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drleather2001 said:
It's entirely possible that he was a giant pain in the ass to work with.   
 
That doesn't mean he wasn't a great boss, or didn't have great ideas.   
 
Talent asking for money vs. Management telling them no is the oldest story in the Showbiz book.
 
That's not to say that ESPN isn't acting childish by putting this out there.  They don't even need to; it's obvious that Simmons thought he deserved X and ESPN thought he was only worth Y.  
 
Not just a showbiz phenomenon - "manage up" (in sync with your bosses) vs. "manage down" (in sync with your staff) is a basic dichotomy in business, too.
 
It isn't hard to cast BS as a "manage down" guy who would take a certain amount of pride in building barriers between HQ suits and his team.
 
FWIW, I always considered "manage up" guys to be brownnosers who generally add little in terms of individual talent, but there's no denying that senior management often takes a different view...
 

Reverend

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mwonow said:
Not just a showbizphenomenon - "manage up" (in sync with your bosses) vs. "manage down" (in sync with your staff) is a basic dichotomy in business, too.
 
It isn't hard to cast BS as a "manage down" guy who would take a certain amount of pride in building barriers between HQ suits and his team.
 
FWIW, I always considered "manage up" guys to be brownnosers who generally add little in terms of individual talent, but there's no denying that senior management often takes a different view...
I feel like even expressing this sentiment in business-speak is conceding important ground.
 

luckiestman

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At this point BS is basically Isaac Jaffe (benson/Robert guillaume) character from Sorkins show Sportsnight
 

Number45forever

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Clears Cleaver said:
The Apatow podcast was terrific.
Seconded.  I'm about 2/3 through and it's fantastic.  Simmons' podcasts with comics and with any inside-baseball kind of people in the entertainment industry seem to always deliver.  Most recent one before this was the Brian Grazer pod from earlier this year...I'd have listened to them talk for 2-3 hours.
 

mwonow

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There is no Rev said:
I feel like even expressing this sentiment in business-speak is conceding important ground.
Fair enough - retracted, apologies!
 

Blacken

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luckiestman said:
What's Bill pulling down per live read? Any idea? On the podcast "start up" the number 6000 came out as the revenue from a podcast ad. Bill is doing like 4 live reads a show 3 times a week. That's 72000 a week and 96000 if he does 4 shows. That's a lot of bread and I can't imagine the costs are very high. Is he tossing cash to his guests?
As a rule of thumb, a 30-second ad varies from $20 to $45 per thousand listeners.
 

luckiestman

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Blacken said:
As a rule of thumb, a 30-second ad varies from $20 to $45 per thousand listeners.
Sounds high. 4 million listeners would be 80000 per 30 seconds on the low end. Could your number be right but maybe capped? I really can't see me undies paying Bill 80 grand for a thirty second spot.

Edit: those numbers seem reasonable for things like maron and bill burr but if they are linear, Simmons' earnings from his podcast will be incredible.

Edit2: I thought I read 4 million downloads for first episode, but it was 10 episodes. So 8 not 80 grand seems much more reasonable. Still, I think he is doing 4 reads a show, 3 times a week and he is probably charging the high end, so that is still around $200 grand a week in revenues. That's awesome, good for him.
 

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johnmd20 said:
Just wanted to comment that the Apatow podcast was awesome, thanks for the recommendation. 
 
Was most of the podcast spent heaping praise on their editors for tightening up their pieces and really making them sing?
 

Senator Donut

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John Marzano Olympic Hero said:
 
Was most of the podcast spent heaping praise on their editors for tightening up their pieces and really making them sing?
Well, Apatow did admit to liking the version of Funny People that he edited down for time and content on cable television.
 

JimBoSox9

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luckiestman said:
Sounds high. 4 million listeners would be 80000 per 30 seconds on the low end. Could your number be right but maybe capped? I really can't see me undies paying Bill 80 grand for a thirty second spot.

Edit: those numbers seem reasonable for things like maron and bill burr but if they are linear, Simmons' earnings from his podcast will be incredible.

Edit2: I thought I read 4 million downloads for first episode, but it was 10 episodes. So 8 not 80 grand seems much more reasonable. Still, I think he is doing 4 reads a show, 3 times a week and he is probably charging the high end, so that is still around $200 grand a week in revenues. That's awesome, good for him.
 
I don't think you understand how "rules of thumb" work.  
 

luckiestman

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JimBoSox9 said:
 
I don't think you understand how "rules of thumb" work.  
If you have a better estimate on his revenues, let me know. Blackens numbers, once I didn't fuck up the math, were pretty close to the 6000 per spot I mentioned. Celebrity net worth, who knows if they're right, says something similar.

Rules of thumb as I understand are ok in a relevant range. I thought Simmons pod did crazy numbers, it just did very very good numbers. If you're an insider, drop some knowledge.
 

DLew On Roids

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John Marzano Olympic Hero said:
I was going to say the same thing. It's going to end badly there, but then again most things do.
 
"Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end." - Doug Coughlin
 
mwonow said:
Not just a showbiz phenomenon - "manage up" (in sync with your bosses) vs. "manage down" (in sync with your staff) is a basic dichotomy in business, too.
 
I decided to jump out of management and back into an individual contributor job about 6 months after I realized that to be a great, great manager, I'd have to learn to make my employees feel like I was on their side (I was managing high achievers who didn't need parenting) and make my bosses feel like I was on their side. 
 

JimBoSox9

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luckiestman said:
If you have a better estimate on his revenues, let me know. Blackens numbers, once I didn't fuck up the math, were pretty close to the 6000 per spot I mentioned. Celebrity net worth, who knows if they're right, says something similar.

Rules of thumb as I understand are ok in a relevant range. I thought Simmons pod did crazy numbers, it just did very very good numbers. If you're an insider, drop some knowledge.
 
Not at all* and none to drop.  I'm simply suggesting that wrestling with math (even un-fucked-up) to vet a quick-and-dirty rule with an obvious outlier probably doesn't help you get much insight into either.  Just trying to save ya some time.
 
 
 
*This is a lie.  I am Bill Simmons.
 
DLew On Roids said:
 
"Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end." - Doug Coughlin
  
That was actually Brian Flanagan. I'm embarrassed to say I know that.

Edit - Thinking about it, maybe I'm wrong....maybe Doug said it earlier in the movie but I only remember Brian telling it to that older woman after she slaps him.

What an awful movie. And this is coming from someone who bartended in NY and LA for many years.
 

Leather

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BannedbyNYYFans.com said:
That was actually Brian Flanagan. I'm embarrassed to say I know that.

Edit - Thinking about it, maybe I'm wrong....maybe Doug said it earlier in the movie but I only remember Brian telling it to that older woman after she slaps him.

What an awful movie. And this is coming from someone who bartended in NY and LA for many years.
 
What?  Who wouldn't want go to a franchised bar in a suburban strip mall called "Cocktails and Dreams"? 
 

gtg807y

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drleather2001 said:
 
What?  Who wouldn't want go to a franchised bar in a suburban strip mall called "Cocktails and Dreams"? 
 
No one, but who wouldn't want to go to a franchised bar in a suburban strip mall called "Cocktails and Dreams" with live poetry?
 

Leather

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know what?

Bill Simmons would probably work at that bar.
 

shlincoln

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Is Malcolm Gladwell really so dumb that he would think the commissioner of a professional sports league would ever tell the owners to not try and get public money for stadium construction?
 

jimbobim

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shlincoln said:
Is Malcolm Gladwell really so dumb that he would think the commissioner of a professional sports league would ever tell the owners to not try and get public money for stadium construction?
I didn't take it as "really so dumb" . More a resigned acknowledgement it is an ideal that won't be realized as long as state and Federal laws continue to allow the game of extortion that results in the public money hand over to owners of teams who are merely protecting their incredible fortunes.