The r/BillSimmons Podcast

Welcome to Episode 34! We bring on OG pod guests BobWeir and Popinjay from r/BillSimmons for a classic three-man weave.

We start off with a season review of the Russillo-Bill pods, and speculate on their future. Who could replace Russillo as Bill's go-to NBA guy?

Next we discuss the results of the Ringer March Madness bracket. Chris Ryan beat Bill...wait, what?? We debate who should've won in the Russillo-House matchup and give our favorite upsets.

Then we hit on Bill's most recent pods during his break before jumping into our mailbag. What did the Sports Gal think of Zoe joking about hooking up with Jayson Tatum, and what's the right O/U for Bill's lifetime sex partners? Yes, we go there, Page 2 Bill style.

We finish up with an r/BillSimmons check-in, plus offer an invitation to the listeners. Thanks for listening - rate us 5-stars on Spotify and Apple, leave a positive written review and follow us on Twitter @rBillSimmonsPod.

Welcome to Episode 33! Disney reported earnings today and we break it down from the perspective of what it means for ESPN:

— How were ESPN earnings specifically and Disney earnings overall

— What kind of strategic partnerships could ESPN strike

— Discussion of Penn National deal

— What this means for the next NBA rights deal

Hope you enjoy the show! Rate us 5-stars, follow us on Apple Pods & Spotify and follow us on Twitter @rBillSimmonsPod

Welcome to Episode 32! We have instant reaction to a wild flurry of sports gambling news. Penn National, which owned 100% of Barstool, entered into a 10-year, $2 Billion sports gambling alliance with ESPN. At the same time, they dropped Barstool and divested it to Dave Portnoy for free, except for the right to 50% of the proceeds of the next sale.

We look back at the original Penn-Barstool deal in 2020 and break down why this happened, why now, Portnoy's total return, winners and losers, the outlook for Barstool, where Portnoy stands now vs. Bill Simmons and Clay Travis, and a lot more. Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter @rBillSimmonsPod

Welome to the latest episode! Bill Simmons has been tweeting about the Red Sox recently for the first time since April, so we had to bring on some Boston baseball & Bill fans to talk about it. Fitz (@FitzyMoPena on Twitter) from Pod On Lansdowne (https://linktr.ee/PodOnLansdowne) answered the call, and we have a lot of fun discussing baseball and Bill.

Welcome to Episode 30! We bring on Dhvani from Twitter (@abolishcxps) to discuss all things Bill Simmons from a perspective we don’t usually get - the female one.

We first touch on her background with Bill, including the meaning behind saying she's "the Bill Simmons of Austin." We also discuss the hilarity that ensued from changing her name to "Bill Simmons" on Instagram.

Next we go through several examples of Bill Simmons-related DMs she's gotten - yes, the 86 Celtics are involved. We also discover a wonky r/BillSimmons Podcast-related DM slide-in. (Note to listeners - this will not work! Don't try it).

After some Taylor Swift and Adam Friedland talk we move onto Bill Simmons history. Back in the early ESPN days in the mid-2000s Bill did not hold back including (and especially) when discussing women - we've highlighted many of these in our ReReadables tweets.

We get Dhvani's takes on a number of Bill's career highlights (lowlights?) such as his former Olsen Twins obsession, his current infatuation with Sydney Sweeney, and Bill's Survivor theory about well endowed women. Plus, we also try to figure out how exactly Bill "pulled the goalie" on his wife, and discuss Bill's most scorching take of all-time: the infamous column where he called a 13-year old Natalie Portman hot.

We finish up the pod talking r/BillSimmons and Bachelor drama and fantasy leagues.

Hope you enjoy the episode! Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and leave us a 5-start review - and find us on Twitter @rBillSimmonsPod

Welcome to Episode 29! We bring on NBA Twitter legend @HubieTalksHoops for a wide ranging discussion on Bill, the NBA, comedy in 2023 and more.

We start off with Hubie's history with Simmons and then dive into how he started his account, including inspiration from Bill who was the first to "throw on his Hubie Brown wig." We then talk NBA and Ringer podcasters, and Hubie offers his support for KOC and Big Wos.

Then we discuss Bill's influence on NBA discourse - "everyone is a mini-Bill Simmons now" - and examine his time on NBA Countdown and look back fondly on Bill & Jalen's Previews.

We delve into the Bill Simmons Universe - Hubie breaks out a Chuck Klosterman impression - and we discuss why Hubie doesn't listen to Adam Carolla anymore. That gets us into who Hubie's enjoying in comedy in 2023 - and why it's been suffering - no one even noticed the late night shows aren't on because of the writer's strike.

We finish up talking funny moments in the history of the @HubieTalksHoops account.

Hope you enjoy the episode! Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and leave us a 5-start review! And find us on Twitter @rBillSimmonsPod

Welcome to the latest episode! We bring on guest and long-time Bill fan @TikTokInvestors (TTI) from Twitter. 

We start talking the recent Stephen A BS pod. We both really enjoyed the chemistry and mutual respect he and Bill had for eachother. They meshed well, similar to Bill with Windy and Zach Lowe - we both prefer those combos over Bill & Russillo. We then discuss how KOC might actually be underrated now given his consistent content yet increasing dislike. We also wonder what whatever happened to the original BS Report 3-man weave; where are Steiny Mo & Rich Bucher?

Next we discuss fixes to ESPN’s NBA coverage: Who should join NBA Countdown and the top announcing booth? We settle on JJ Redick and Richard Jefferson joining Mike Breen, and want Zach Lowe and/or Windhorst on NBA Countdown. We also need a new host instead of Mike Greenberg, and look back fondly at Bill's time on the show. TTI, a Warriors fan, also reveals how he and the Warriors fanbase feels about KD - it might surprise you.

We then discuss some other Ringer shows. We both don't get the allure of the Rewatchables or Chris Ryan, and laugh about how film nerd culture occasionally makes it way into r/BillSimmons. We also debate whether Bill, KOC and Ryen read the subreddit.

To end the show we get into the origin story of TTI - why and how did he start the account, and what made it take off? Plus we talk about how wonky it was to be investing during the pandemic, such as Dave Portnoy going long stock tickers picked from random Scrabble letters, and the rise and fall of the (former) Dogecoin Milllonaire. We finish up with a financial markets and bitcoin outlook for the rest of the year.

We hope you enjoy the pod! Subscribe on Spotfy, give us a 5-star rating and find us on Twitter @rBillSimmonsPod

Welcome to the latest show! We bring on Richard from Episode 18, Kevin from Episode 25 and new guest Johnny for a Chuck Klosterman double feature.

We first discuss the recent Klosterman episode. Was Chuck messing with Bill or does he really believe in “unreal” people? We debate Bill’s “podcasting is replacing books” idea and laugh about Bill continuing to believe in ghosts. We go inside the mind and personality of Chuck, including a look back at his books and HYPERthetical cards. Plus, would Bill ever let Chuck write a biography about him? And do these guys really know music? Maybe not! We all agree this was one of the better Simmons-Klosterman pods in awhile. 

At 51 minutes in, we embark on the first entry in our new series, the “ReListenables” - yes, just like the ReWatchables, except we re-listen to classic Bill Simmons podcasts. We start with the best Bill-Chuck epsiode of all-time, when they debated the reason why newspapers fell, back in 2009 [Link: https://youtu.be/NZl5YzmJTqk B.S Report — Chuck Klosterman (2009.03.13) Pt.2]

Bill blamed unions, which Chuck particpated in and benefitted from, and it took off from there. It got heated at times; Bill was frustrated in his mid-20s that he'd have to wait until 35 at the youngest to be a columnist at The Boston Globe, while Chuck countered saying Bill, purveyor of the Sports Guy's World and leading ESPN.com every article, was in a better position than Bob Ryan ever was. Through the episode we learn a lot about Bill’s career motivations, get some classic introspection of Bill by Chuck, and enjoy two friends letting their guard down a bit and dropping the gloves in a debate.

We hope you enjoy the pod! Subscribe on Spotfy, give us a 5-star rating and find us on Twitter @rBillSimmonsPod. And if you have any ReListenables you'd like us to cover, reach out!

Welcome to the latest episode! We channeled our inner Bill Simmons and recorded a 30 for 30-esque, Book of Basketball Podcast-like, career retrospective of Bill Simmons. In this show we go through it all:

— Bill starting out writing in college, his early disillusionment with the Boston newspaper scene, and the absolute grind he was on for several years before he made it to ESPN; and the Sports Gal signed up for this?

— Bill's early success at Page 2, his quick pivot to briefly writing for Jimmy Kimmel, then finding his groove again and creating the most famous sports podcast in history; Bill is a master of embracing new mediums

— His impressive rise through the ESPN ranks and becoming tight with upper management, including 30 for 30, NBA Countdown and culminating with being given the keys to his own website in Grantland; there are several professional lessons to takeaway from Bill's success

— Bill's ESPN firing (was it inevitable?), his free agency period, and what went wrong at Any Given Wednesday

— What comes next for Bill after his Spotify sale

We also discuss how Bill might have the most well known group of male friends in the country, what Bill's true goal in life is, what % of equity in The Ringer we think key talent and executives had, and discuss Bill's upcoming break, among a lot, lot more.

We hope you enjoy the show! Follow us Spotify and find us on Twitter @rbillsimmonspod. And for those looking to split it into two parts, we recommend stopping at 1 hour and 48 minutes in for Part I and the rest Part II.