Thursday night brings a huge moment for Ben Simmons, who becomes the #1 overall pick in the NBA Draft, by the Philadelphia 76ers. Wednesday night is an enormous milestone for Bill Simmons as he will debut his new HBO show entitled “Any Given Wednesday Bill Simmons” Wednesday, June 22 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT).
Simmons was on The Herd with Colin Cowherd and he made some interesting conspiracy theory-ish comments about Lebron James and Tom Brady.
Bill Simmons: “This guy (Tom Brady) is one of the best football players of all time and they get word that he might have been deflating the balls… Think about if this happened in the NBA…Adam Silver found out that LeBron maybe, something happened. Are they going to try and catch LeBron James? The NBA would rather destroy evidence that would implicate LeBron. Why would they want LeBron in a scandal?”
.@BillSimmons finally gets @ColinCowherd to apologize to John Wall. #TheHerdhttps://t.co/2NX6Ifh87p
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 5, 2016
If there’s one person the moronic “stick to sports” cliche doesn’t/shouldn’t “stick” to, it’s Simmons.
And his new show on HBO will reflect this, as it will have stories and guests from “across the sports and cultural landscapes.”
“I’m excited about the show, I’m excited about the title and I’m really, really excited to drop my first F-bomb on TV,” reads a statement attributed to Simmons. “We are going to figure out nudity down the road, as long as it’s tasteful.”
The release also said that Simmons will also work with HBO Sports.
Given how The Sports Guy helped to create the higher brow 30 for 30 series and Grantland, you can see how he would be a natural fit for segments on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. I would imagine there would be a place from time to time for Simmons on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Yes, HBO is the second best fit for Bill Simmons. Turner Sports/Bleacher Report would have been the first. Given that Turner is in bed with the NBA, Simmons’ forte, it would have been a perfect marriage. Provided that the league’s close relationship with league wouldn’t censor him or inspire to self-censor.
Also, Bleacher Report would have given Bill Simmons a strong SEO website with a primary search engine presence to showcase his columns. But again HBO is a very good fit in itself. They have no corporate sponsors to kowtow to. He can drop the f-bomb all he wants. When Maher was deemed no longer fit for primetime, too hot for regular network television, he find a new role at HBO and flourished.
Simmons’ story is very different from Maher’s, but the career arcs are similar enough to draw parallels, and envision that this arrangement would work very well.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram