The ornery and opinionated Bill Simmons was suspended for three weeks last week after he unleashed on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Simmons called Goodell a liar and laced his entire monologue with profanity. But if you ask some folks, the ESPN analyst was really suspended for daring his bosses to punish him. It was a power play and the founder of Grantland.com lost. But he may come out ahead in the long run.
Simmons' tirade was entirely on the side of public opinion. The evidence seems to suggest that the Commissioner and his staff had all the information needed to make a fair decision regarding Ray Rice. It appears there may have been a cover up.
The problem was that Simmons, who has a lot of clout at ESPN, flexed his muscles perhaps a bit too much (via Sports on Earth):
"I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I'm in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell, because if one person says that to me, I'm going public. You leave me alone."
This power play kind of forced ESPN's hand; the brass had to respond to his taunt (via Slate):
"When Simmons said 'I dare you,' he was talking like a made man-someone who, on account of his popularity, reputation, and well-placed allies, could break the rules that ordinary people have to follow."
Despite the arrogance of Simmons' statement, however, ESPN may come out looking like the bad guy at the end of the day. After all, as previously mentioned, Goodell is universally maligned at this point. Also, Simmons' suspension is one week longer than Ray Rice's initial sentence, and two weeks longer than Simmon's colleague Stephen A. Smith's recent suspension for blaming Rice's wife for her own beating.
Talk about disproportional response.
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