ESPN dropping the axe on Bill Simmons in May must still burn the sports personality.
How else would you explain Simmons' ultimate trolling of his former employer by naming his podcast, BSPN, The Bill Simmons Podcasting Network? You just can't make this stuff up.
As confirmation of the carefully-plotted name, the Chicago Sun Times spotted this description on Soundcloud:
"Channel 33 is the first podcast from The Bill Simmons Podcast Network. It's the exclusive home for the glorious reunion of co-hosts and best friends Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan, as well as excessive thoughts on The Bachelor and every other unapologetically ridiculous reality show from Juliet Litman. Channel 33 will cover mostly pop culture, with various surprise guests and occasional appearances from Bill."
Upon learning of Simmons' blatant podcast title, a healthy portion of social media piled on the praise for the sports personality, who also founded the now-shuttered Grantland and was a co-creator of ESPN's 30 for 30 sports documentary film series.
After being fired by ESPN in May, it only took two months for Simmons to rebound, inking a deal with HBO for a talk show and other content. But that hasn't stopped Simmons from taking shots at ESPN seemingly every chance he gets.
The Worldwide Leader in Sports doused their feud with more gasoline, shuttering Grantland late last month.
"I made the decision," ESPN president John Skipper told Vanity Fair of the move to shut down the sports feature website. "There was no influence from [ESPN corporate parent] Disney on this. And I made sure that I divorced my feelings about Bill from this decision because I would never let that affect the people who are there."
Seems like this might have been Simmons's response.
Your move, ESPN.
