Bill Simmons is this this week’s guest on the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast and he spent some of the episode talking about his long run at ESPN.
Simmons, who is now the founder and CEO of The Ringer, spent 14 years at ESPN before being fired in 2015 shortly after he was suspended by the network for comments he made about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Simmons had this to say when asked about how he looks back at his years at ESPN:
"Super proud. I was there for 14 years and I feel like I elevated that place in just a slew of ways. That’s it. I don’t think that’s bragging. I look back at the ESPN experience and I f------ killed it for those guys. There’s no question. And that’s it," Simmons said.
"I had the biggest column they ever had. The biggest book they ever had. The biggest podcast they ever had. And I co-created 30-for-30 and I created Grantland. And I did TV stuff. I did all kinds of things for them and it was all in a 14-year span and I’m really proud of it. I don’t have bad blood for ESPN. I look at that as that place elevated me and I elevated them so if people wanna aggregate that, that’s fine. That’s how I feel."
Simmons and Traina talked about a ton of other topics on the podcast:
A brand new SI MEDIA PODCAST is out. It was a thrill to have @BillSimmons on for the first time. We covered a ton of topics during the 90-minute conversation so I had to go Google doc screenshot to list them all.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) October 19, 2023
Apple: https://t.co/ck0BFM7TyA
Spotify: https://t.co/diM3f0Z0wr pic.twitter.com/tljDq6yZfU
You can listen to the whole episode right here:
And you can watch it right here:
