Bill Simmons just won’t bite his tongue when the subject of Roger Goodell comes up. Criticizing the NFL commissioner on his podcast presumably got Simmons suspended for a week, with another two weeks tacked onto the penalty for daring his ESPN bosses to punish him for speaking his mind on Goodell.
Simmons has already demonstrated that the suspension wouldn’t get him to sheath his harsh criticisms of the job Goodell has done. Soon after his suspension ended, he was taking shots again at the commish on ESPN Radio. But since Simmons didn’t outright call Goodell a liar that time (nor call out his bosses), he didn’t get in trouble.
Following the release of the Ted Wells “Deflategate” report, however, Simmons had another opportunity to criticize the NFL boss and did just that during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show Thursday morning.
Here’s a transcript of Simmons’ remarks about Goodell:
“He has handled so many things so badly, Roger Goodell, that it’s reached a point now where you have something like this, where it took four months to release the report and he knew everything that was in it. He knows the results before the report comes out, you know, before it’s released to the public and yet doesn’t have the testicular fortitude to do anything until he gauges the public reaction.
Like look at the difference between that and Adam Silver, who’s done a great job with the NBA this first year-and-a-half. Adam Silver gives the MVP to Steph Curry the other night, gets a huge ovation from the Warriors crowd. Everyone’s like, ‘Hey, it’s Adam Silver! We love that guy! That guy’s working in our interests. He’s making the league better. Let’s give him some applause!’ And then you have Goodell the week before at the draft, he’s literally getting booed off the stage after every pick. That’s where the NFL is right now. Look at the difference between how Adam Silver was treated before Game 2 of the Warriors [series] versus the NFL Draft. That’s the NFL right now.”
The NFL and how its commissioner is perceived by the public weren’t the only topics the Grantland editor-in-chief and Patrick discussed. Yet their conversation was all about the Wells report, giving Simmons a chance to fire stingers at broadcasters Tony Dungy, Bill Polian and Marshall Faulk, all of whom suffered defeat at the hands of his beloved Patriots.
However, both Simmons and Patrick criticize Tom Brady for how he handled the situation after the “Deflategate” allegations came out and knock the NFL for waiting to see what public opinion is before making any decisions regarding punishment.
Here is the full interview from Thursday’s show:
Audio courtesy The Dan Patrick Show
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