The Sports Fella Takes A Breather

Whether this was caused by his public display of annoyance with ESPN in May is uncertain, but it appears everybody's favorite Deadspin contributor, Bill Simmons, is taking some time off. The rest of the summer off, actually:

Quick announcement from Bill: ESPN was gracious enough to give me 10 weeks off to finish my second book. My column will return right before Week 1 of the NFL season, just in time for another year of crappy football picks! If you're a fan of the "B.S. Report," we're still doing weekly podcasts, but that's it. Enjoy the summer.

Maybe he's just got a lot of vacation time stored up — or maybe he's just super-behind on deadline — but this is quite a vacation. He should go to Europe. Or finish his book. One of those.

Just, for the record, the scrappy Midwestern kid who used to haunt this space did not take any vacation time at all to finish his book. No, he did it while manning Deadspin, freelancing, and inventing his own special soap. This Simmons guy could use a little bit of that Mattoonian toughness, methinks.

Be disgraceful tonight, but bright-and-bushy tomorrow. It's off to the Phillies/Cardinals game for me. Look for me tonight on SportsCenter wrestling with the Phanatic.

Anyway, thank you for your continued patronage.

Gone Fishin' [Simmons]