Deadspin: the b.s. report

Sports Fella + Sideline Princess = Exclamation Point-Riddled Inboxes

DAULERIO — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:15:44 EDT

Erin Andrews appears on The B.S. report. Number of emails we've received about this monumental event in the past two hours? 456. Enjoy. [The B.S. Report]

Sports Fella Still Miffed That ESPN Won't Let Him Run The Place

DAULERIO — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:45:04 EST

There's been little or no compelling Sports Fella/WWL melodrama in recent weeks, but yesterday, thankfully, Simmons is back to using his podcast to undermine his employer once again.

Simmons, while doing the requisite pithy pre-interview banter with "The Soup's" skinny-tied host Joel Mchale took the opportunity to not-so-subtly bash ESPN for inability to laugh at itself. To the podcast!:

"So let's talk some more about working for a network that has a sense of humor about it self. There's people on your network, that aren't related to you, that have become kind of self-parodies in a way. You are allowed to make fun of those people in a good-natured way..."

Usual pouting ensues, but he quickly moves past it and talks about The Soup instead, lest the Simmons Alarm is sounded in Bristol and Norby flies over to LA to whip the Sports Fella's back with a bamboo cane for insubordination. It's amazing how indignant he becomes over not being allowed to rip on Leatherheads for 20 minutes each week.

But doesn't mentioning the fact that your employer doesn't have a sense of humor about itself count as making fun of it in a "good-natured way."

B.S. Report [ESPN]

The Creative Impasse Between Bill Simmons and ESPN Appears To Be Over

DAULERIO — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:30:28 EST

The rumor about Bill Simmons "quitting" his B.S. Report podcast on ESPN due to restrictive over-editing policies were apparently overblown, for today the B.S. Report has miraculously reappeared. The one noticeable change to it is the new pre-show disclaimer from the Sports Fella himself that states , "The BS report is a free-flowing conversation that occasionally touches on mature subjects."

I'm assuming the "mature subjects" broached will come in the form of occasional profanity, sexual innuendo, or the inclusion of male porn stars in fantasy basketball leagues. Or maybe he's going to push it a little further and he'll start churning out the podcast equivalent of the Robin Byrd show. The possibilities are endless!

Also, Cousin Sal added at the end of his segment that Simmons should "let everyone on Facebook know that everything is cool between you and your bosses."

So congratulations to the Bill Simmons for fighting the good fight to attain the type of creative freedom enjoyed by... pretty much everyone who doesn't work for ESPN.

UPDATE: It's not on ESPN.com yet — only in the iTunes store.

Oh...And About Simmons' Podcast: "He Told Me He Quit It"

DAULERIO — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:36:57 EST

So, here's a little snippet of of information from an individual close to the ESPN/Simmons slap-fight. Remember last week, when we reported that ESPN insisted that there was nothing to the sudden disappearance of "The B.S. Report" and that, according to them, there's no smoke, fire, or truth to that rumor? Well, according to a person — let's just call them very, very close to the situation — that was, in itself, bullshit:

In one of his last podcasts, Bill made reference to not being able to put those porn stars in his fantasy league. Of course, they edited that out. Bill got pissed. He quit the podcasts.

This individual claims that they were supposed to be on an upcoming show, but were told by Simmons that it's not happening because he quit. Not surprisingly, the reason he gave was that he was being "overly edited."

Anyway, I wonder if ESPN knows this yet? I am eagerly awaiting their response.

When asked about this revelation, Mr. Simmons, our friend in mailbag, simply said that, once again, he cannot comment...

Oh, I'm sure he will at some point though.

UPDATE: It was not just because of the porn star thing (via: shhhhh...)

The Ongoing Odd Behavior of One Bill Simmons Continues to Captivate, Cause Concern

DAULERIO — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:50:44 EST

Many of you emailed to inform me that I was inexplicably name-dropped in the Sports Fella's most recent mailbag column, which was quite hilarious, if not a little jarring. Was this another not-so-subtle way of Mr. Simmons extending a bony middle finger to his employer? Not really. It was his own way of responding to the countless emails I'd sent him inquiring about his numerous public and private gripes, which would most often result in a "You know I can't say anything about this...." sort of response. The last pesky question I sent him was about his podcast, The B.S. Report, which hasn't aired in close to three weeks. Once again, he informed me that he could not say anything, but said he had made it up to me in his second mailbag column. Yay?

I appreciate the inclusion, obviously, but the podcast question remained. Once again his unresponsiveness to this pretty simple question was a little strange, but luckily some of the dot com side at ESPN issued this email statement via flack:

"Hes been busy i'm told, working on some other writing assignments and book edited...also, he did a bunch of bs reports in a short time so he hasnt gotten to a new..nothing more than that....believe it or not...i know youd like to think otherwise...."

So ESPN says it's because he's busy — but I doubt that's the answer Simmons would give if he could/would ever talk about it again. Maybe we'll find out in this week's mailbag.

ESPN About Simmons: Nothing To See Here, Please Disperse [Deadspin]