The Bill Simmons-ESPN bridge burning saga is not over by a long shot.
Wednesday morning, The NFL weighed in on the Deflategate appeal. Tom Brady will officially miss the first four games of the 2016 season. This prompted a couple of tweets from ESPN employee Stephen A. Smith, in which he celebrated the decision.
Tom Brady was ARROGANT, UPPITY, SELFISH and in the end he brought this on himself.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 13, 2016
How many times have yo told y'all: you're never bigger than the brand. Not even Tom Brady. He brought it all on himself. Do the crime.......
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 13, 2016
Smith’s latest stop at the Hot Take Emporium was challenged by none other than former ESPN employee and current Ringer owner and HBO host, Bill Simmons.
One of multiple ESPN employees used by the NFL to leak anti-Brady info during this saga decides to weigh in. https://t.co/g7rejeMaRZ
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) July 14, 2016
Smith was the man who broke the news of Brady smashing his cell phone so that the NFL couldn’t go through it in the immediate aftermath of the story breaking. Noted Boston homer Simmons is essentially alleging that this was some sort of conspiracy to keep Touchdown Tom out of the NFL. Simmons wasn’t finished with Smith, Goodell, or the NFL yet, though.
FYI - DeflateGate stopped being about Brady a few months ago. It's now about Goodell legally protecting his power to do whatever he wants.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) July 14, 2016
It's the NFLPA's fault b/c in the last CBA, they gave Goodell the power to do whatever the F he wants... Legally they can't do anything now.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) July 14, 2016
Nobody cares b/c the DeflateGate story is too dense and nobody has the time to follow it... But that's what DeflateGate is now.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) July 14, 2016
Goodell could have suspended Brady for 5 seasons / we'd be in the same place right now. NFLPA gave him the power to do whatever he wants.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) July 14, 2016
According to Simmons, it’s now a power struggle between Goodell and the rest of the NFL. This isn’t the first time Goodell has been accused of being a bad commissioner, in fact, he’s booed at every single NFL event with hilarious regularity.
Bill Simmons might be right here. Goodell has a track record of puzzling decisions that only make sense if you operate under the premise of “Roger Goodell does what he pleases”. However, it’s probably not an ESPN-wide conspiracy to keep Tom Brady and the Patriots down.
ESPN thrives off pumping up the big dogs in sports, the LeBrons, the Currys, and the Bradys of the world. It wouldn’t make sense for ESPN to cut someone down who makes them money whenever they cover him, because whether you like Tom Brady or not, you will watch him when he plays.
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