Sage Steele shakes her head at Bill Simmons’ pouting

On the ESPN NBA Finals postgame show/SportsCenter, there was a brief moment of awkward tension on the main set.  After sitting silently for the majority of the show, Bill Simmons made it known that he didn’t appreciate having to wait his turn to speak.  His first comments to a nationwide audience were, “Do I get to speak now, it’s been like 10 minutes?”

Now, ESPN is trying to cram a lot into their postgame show including the main set and Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon.  But the real intrigue here is not the Sports Guy sending a very public message to his producers, it’s the reaction from his cohorts.  Doug Collins offers a very light, forced chuckle.  Jalen Rose stares at him without blinking.  And Sage Steele shakes her head and shoots a death stare at the camera.  It’s all just so fantastic…

Here’s a closer look at Steele’s reaction to Simmons pouting on national television about his airtime:

Reading between the lines, this short clip implies there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes on the ESPN set.  That is not the face of someone who looks very content with her co-worker’s whining.  It looks like there’s just as many issues on the ESPN set as there are with the Miami Heat at the moment.