One of the more underrated bromances of our time is the one between President of the United States Barack Obama and Bill Simmons. It’s kind of impossible to fathom this, but Simmons’ ESPN career is inextricably linked to Obama. There was the big dust-up during the 2008 Presidential Campaign where ESPN nixed an interview between the two that was one of the first of the public disputes between Simmons and Bristol. Then, when Simmons was at the height of his power at ESPN, he actually did score that long-awaited interview with the sitting president.
But what about now? Simmons’ most recent interview with President Obama is another benchmark in his career because of where the interview took place at. It wasn’t at ESPN, of course. It wasn’t at new home HBO either or his new independent podcast. No, Simmons sat down with President Obama for… GQ.
It’s a wide-ranging interview with a lot of sports questions in there, but Simmons didn’t miss the opportunity to relay this note to readers (most likely to those in the Bristol, Connecticut area) – the leader of the free world was bummed out when ESPN gave The Sports Guy the boot:
Obama lives in America’s most famous museum and uses it to his advantage. You’re sitting there in some ancient tearoom waiting for him to show up, surrounded by portraits of former first ladies and framed maps from battles that America won over the centuries. Everyone is friendly but suspicious. Everyone talks in hushed tones. You feel like you’re intruding at all times. You’re just…waiting. Suddenly, ten anonymous security guards pop out of hallways and doorways that you didn’t know were there. The energy shifts. And then, there’s Obama—big smile, big handshake, some ball-busting comments to put everyone at ease. Within seconds of greeting me, he was poking fun at my shoes and teasing me for not writing anymore.
“It’s really aggravating not having you on Grantland,” he said, almost like I betrayed him. “I go to the site and there’s no Simmons. Come on, man, it’s not the same.”
There’s some other sports media thoughts from the president including the fact that Golf Channel reality show Big Break is his guilty television pleasure.
You can imagine it took all the restraint in the world for Simmons and his editors to not add some editorializing that it was John Skipper that truly betrayed President Obama and the American people. (Maybe “betrayed” is a bit of a strong word, but whatever.) Just imagine the President’s indignation the day he discovered there was no Grantland, period.
So there you go, now that President Obama himself has weighed in, that’s the last word on the ESPN-Simmons divorce. The final one. For all-time. Ever. At least until Simmons returns to ESPN in 2023 in the biggest and most shocking comeback since Keith Olbermann. C’mon, you know it’s going to happen…
[GQ]
Comments are closed.