As fascinatingly silly as this whole Bill Simmons online temper tantrum is — plus the inevitable change of direction Page 2 must undertake should he no longer write for them — it's getting pretty hilarious how conspicous he's being about being pissed off at (supposedly) ESPN.com .

His latest posting, a 1999 Sports Guy column in its "unplugged" version, begins with this intro:

I thought it would be fun to post some of my old columns from the "Boston Sports Guy" site (where I wrote columns from May '97 to June '01), if only because none of them have a home on the internet right now. This particular one was written right as I was starting to find a groove and my column was starting to resemble what it's like now, only if nobody was killing five of the best jokes or making me re-write them so they weren't as funny

You see? This is a battle for Bill Simmons' very soul.

The Truth About Possess [SportsGuy Unplugged]
Bill Simmons Is Enjoying His Rebellious Status [Deadspin]

Send an email to A.J. Daulerio, the author of this post, at ajd@deadspin.com.