Bill Simmons the Sports Guy - Back at ESPN

Today ESPN.com announced that Bill Simmons the Sports Guy was coming back to ESPN full time and that he is no longer with the Jimmy Kimmel Show (I'll have more thoughts on that tomorrow). Here is a column I wrote for SportsPages.com back on December 20, 2002. I think some of the observations made at that time are worth revisiting given the current circumstances.

ESPN.com's Page 2 is probably my favorite site on the Internet but things are changing there and not necessarily for the better. I became a fan of ESPN.com's Page 2 mainly because I was a fan of Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons. This column will focus on the Bill Simmons Era at Page 2 while Part II will focus on the other columnists and some changes I would like to see made.

Bill Simmons used to be known as the Boston Sports Guy and had his own page on the Digital City Boston site. Every day I would visit his site without fail.

Bill used to surf the web in the morning and post all the good links for his readers. He was a human search engine for interesting or funny stories and pictures. My personal favorite was the site that had a clock that was counting down to the day that the Olsen twins would be "legal". It was also though these daily links that I first became aware of Sportspages.com.

In the afternoon Bill would post a story, or some Ramblings (which was what he called his miscellaneous thoughts) or a collection of reader emails and his responses. Nothing was sacred and the topics ranged from the inadequacies of certain Boston sportswriters to "who would you do?" questions (which of course started with the mother of all who would you do's - Ginger or Mary Ann).

This was a great arrangement for the reader but not a very good arrangement for Bill. He wasn't making any money.

Just about this time Bill was able to get an inside view of the taping of Baseball Tonight on ESPN and he wrote a very interesting column about the experience. During this visit to ESPN something happened and the next thing you knew Bill Simmons was moving on up. (Right now I am singing the theme song to the Jefferson's and picturing Simmons strutting around like George Jefferson).

The timing was very good. ESPN had too much material for their main web site page and much of the additional stuff didn't fit the classic mold of sports reporting. Bill Simmons became the anchorman of sorts for ESPN.com's Page 2 and I became a Page 2 junkie.

Bill's workload was actually greatly lightened by moving to Page 2. No more posting hot links in the morning (which is Ok because Fark.com, College Humor and Jim Romenesko usually had the same links). Also - instead of an almost daily column Bill now only had to put up something two or three times a week. One of these offerings would usually be either a Ramblings column or a mailbag column. Bill was living large and we were all enjoying the new arrangement.

Of course Bill had to tone down his columns from R-rated to PG-13 and any criticism of anyone from the Disney/ABC/ESPN family was strictly verboten. But all in all it was still all puppy dogs and roses.

Bill was doing so well that he even got a regular gig writing a column for ESPN The Magazine. Then came the column and the switch.

This past fall Bill had a column that announced that he had gone over to the dark side of luxury boxes instead of bleacher seats. He even switched the picture that accompanied his columns from the one of him wearing a Red Sox jersey to one of him wearing a suit and tie. (In yesterday's mailbag Bill tries to pass the buck to management on the new picture but the excuse is as weak as the last few columns - come on Bill you could have said no to the new picture and you know it.)

I don't think that Bill realized that the "going over to the dark side" column was symbolic in more than just his choice of seating at the ballpark.

Now less than three months later - Bill has announced that he is moving to LA to work as a writer for the new Jimmy Kimmel Live Show. Career wise this may be very good for Bill and lord knows nobody likes Jimmy Kimmel more than me but the two words that keep popping into my head are "Bruce Hurst".

In case you don't know the story - Hurst was the Ace of the Red Sox staff and was one out from being the World Series MVP in 1986. That off-season - the left-handed Hurst took more money from the Padres and moved to the West Coast. He now freely admits that leaving Boston was the biggest mistake he's ever made.

This may not be the case for Bill Simmons but I cannot keep those two words from popping into my head.

Nevertheless, Bill's departure is bad news for ESPN's Page 2. His offerings since he had his moving to LA confession have been - to be kind - very weak. He says that he will still be a regular contributor but I get the feeling that Page 2 is now an afterthought for him.

I can picture him getting up on Tuesday morning and saying "Oh shit - the Page 2 column!"

You have to believe that the really good reader emails will wind up as the source of jokes for Jimmy Kimmel instead of as a Page 2 Mailbag - same for the Ramblings. Do you think his interesting observations will go to his paying job or his moonlighting Page 2 job? Page 2 will be lucky to get the scraps (Exhibit A: Yesterday's mailbag.).

This can come back to bite Simmons because many people liked the idea of sending a funny thought or observation to "The Sports Guy". I don't think sending an email to "Kimmel's Butt Munch" will have the same appeal. Simmons may find the source of much of his humor slowly but surely drying up.

Another thought about the new dynamics in the Sports Guy / Page 2 relationship - it is bound to be awkward. It is like someone breaking up with a girl but promising to still be friends. Every time they see each other they will be slightly uncomfortable and maybe even force the "friendly cheerfulness" part too much. Page 2 got dumped for Jimmy Kimmel and now whenever Bill Simmons posts anything people will look at it in a different light. People in love tend to overlook little deficiencies but people who have been jilted tend to magnify them.

I wish Bill Simmons and the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show the best of luck and I admit that I am jealous and probably would have made the same choice but I still wish I had Page 2 the way it used to be.

The Sports Guy Era at Page 2 was glorious indeed. It gave rise to both the Ewing Theory and the Doug Christie Jersey. It will be remembered fondly.

Bill Simmons now likes to say that he is only 4 hours drive from Vegas to which I always think - "yeah but you are now over 3,000 miles away from your core fans."

Please send any thoughts or comments to of4dad@hotmail.com.