That’s right — an entire show talking Ringer Union. The BS Pod has continued to be released despite no contract after it expired, yet Bill added a disclaimer today that The Ringer is “owned, managed and operated by Spotify” - was this an attempt to pass the buck? We say yes. Bill not only has significant influence at Spotify, but he’s also Head of Podcast Monetization & Innovation!

We then get into the crux of the Ringer Union issue and wonder how Bill got himself into this in the first place. Incredibly, the hold up seems to be creative rights in AI, which Bill has discussed in-depth with guests on his podcast including Derek Thompson and Matt Belloni. Why hasn’t this been solved yet?

We next talk The Ringer at large and why it hasn't been successful at developing talent, before reviewing the first Ringer Union timeline and how they ultimately got a deal. You won’t want to miss this breakdown.

If you liked the pod, check out Neil on Twitter: @NeilYayamanj

Welcome to another episode! We bring back r/BS Pod OGs Pop & Bob — these guys have been here from the beginning. We haven't done a 3-man weave since late October, so we needed to get another evolutionary Ric Bucher, Steiny Mo and BS Report-era Bill Simmons 3-man weave episode out with so much going on in BS Land.

We start with how we're holding up during this BS Pod break (some Russillo, Bill on another pod) before talking Derek Thompson's last appearance. In the spirit of Derek we do a little social commentary for where everything's going in 2024, and touch on his Ozempic takes.

Next we talk Russillo's appearance on Pardon My Take and contrast it with him on the BS Pod; we get an all-time analogy from Bob on this dynamic. We also continue our discussion of whether Ryen would leave for Barstool and conclude that he probably doesn't fit in there.

Then we do a Bill Simmons subreddit check-in, talking state of the sub, some recent top posts and memes, and celebrate one poster with an incredible batting and slugging percentage — someone even asked if he's the evolutionary Knife Guy. Plus, did the sub have too many posts about fixing the NBA All-Star game?

We then talk about the absurdity of Bill's guys Michael Rubin messing up the MLB uniforms and Doc Rivers going on a media tour during the season, before finishing up with Pop with McAfee vs. Simmons commentary. Then Bob stays on for a fantasy football season recap. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 67! We bring back fan favorite Zach (@_zachblatter) from Episode 55 for a return visit to The Ringer & Bill Simmons' video, social media and growth strategies. Zach (Brand Manager at The Strickland) is highly experienced in the field as anyone who listened to #55 can attest to and once again brings a variety of excellent ideas to the pod.

We first discuss The Ringer's video progress in 2024. In Episode 55 Zach highlighted The Ringer's lack of focus on video, especially short-form, and thus we begin by evaluating Bill's new YouTube Shorts content and strategy. Bill also just last week finally got a high-res camera - another discussion point in Episode 55 - which is promising but has not yet been utilized effectively in his content. And, while The Ringer has begun posting more YouTube clips, we don't think it's enough. Our overall assessment is that while The Ringer & Bill have made progress here, and it's a good start, there's a long way to go.

Next we discuss The Ringer's social media. Zach brings the receipts and they are not positive - The Ringer barely has a presence on a variety of social media sites compared with their competitors. We formulate a gameplan for what The Ringer could do to massively boost their numbers. With so much good content generated from the site, the podcasts, Bill Simmons' tweets and more, this is a huge missed opportunity that would not take much additional effort in our view.

We then finish up the pod discussing Bill Simmons current events, including his enjoyable pod with Derek Thompson, JJ Redick and Pat McAfee market correcting him, and discuss the shock of no BS/Russillo pod this week - Zach had never listened to Pardon My Take before but did for the Russillo NBA Preview, and we suspect he wasn't the only one. We also touch on what a new NBA rights deal could look like if YouTube gets involved.

Hope you enjoy the show! Find Zach and his work (he created there podcast cover art) on Twitter @_zachblatter. Also thank you to Wiser Times (@WiserTimesmusic) for the intro song.

Welcome to a jam packed episode with Jake from Twitter (@DeAnime69)! We start off with Bill Simmons current events. Mark Titus recently spoke not so glowingly about Bill on a podcast, so we discuss their falling out - Bill used to refer to Mark as his "illegitimate son" - as well as Titus' career progression to date, including some drawbacks of being at Barstool, and why he and Tate ultimately parted ways.

Next we get further into the Simmons vs. McAfee feud, with excellent context from Jake who has been listening to both guys for several years now. We also hit on why Pardon My Take has been market correcting Bill for some listeners and Jake tells us why he does *not* think Russillo would ever leave for Barstool.

We then hit on the original reason we wanted to record the show - Jake attended the Live Rewatchables in DC! We get a behind the scenes look at the event. Plus, we have some Rewatchables discussion, including the age old "Should Bill be releasing the movie ahead of time" debate.

Next we play a game called "Guess the Lines - Apex Mountain or Nadir Canyon?" where Jake prepared some quotes from Guess the Lines seasons starting at the beginning, ultimately begging the question of whether Bill's football analysis has always been as shoddy as it was this last season.

We then have a discussion of Bill's baseball book "Now I Can Die in Peace," which Jake recently read, and which features some absolutely classic but also outrageous Bill columns. It is must read if you haven't yet.

We finish up the episode talking Bill Simmons, The Ringer and Spotify and predict his next move.

Hope you enjoy! And thank you to Wiser Times for the intro music and Zach Blatter for the cover art.

Bill Simmons has been chirping at Pat McAfee for months. A few weeks back Bill ripped off a lengthy impression making in fun of McAfee on his show. This closely followed Bill & Cousin Sal's buddy Jimmy Kimmel being miffed at McAfee guest Aaron Rodgers.

McAfee waited a month, but today landed what I consider a nuclear blast on Simmons - audio included in the first two minutes of the pod.

In today's episode I break down the origins of the beef, why this was such an epic killshot by Pat, why Bill Simmons is finding himself in multiple beefs these days, and a lot more.

Welcome to Episode 64! We bring on Brett (@CCM_Brett) from the Chit Chat Stocks Podcast (@chitchatstocks) for a deep dive into Spotify. The company's been in the news lately following a robust earnings report celebrated by Wall Street and their new deal with Joe Rogan, where he will still be with Spotify, but non-exclusive to their platform.

On the pod we discuss 1) Why investors liked the recent earnings report, 2) Why does Spotify's music business keep growing so quickly, 3) Why Spotify got into podcasting, 4) How The Ringer helped their podcasting plans, 5) The implications of Joe Rogan's new deal, and 6) The future of Spotify podcasting, including where Bill Simmons and The Ringer fit going forward.

After that, we finish the pod talking sports media current events, including the new sports streaming service announced by Disney/Fox/Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix's WWE deal.

If you liked the show, check out Brett on the Chit Chat Stocks Podcast at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/show/4SBtOWGEOmD9pmltgIXO8r

Welcome to Episode 63! We had massive news last week with Joe Rogan re-upping his Spotify deal, but with major changes to his initial contract. We bring back Neil from Episode 62 to break it all down.

First, this deal is much different than Joe's previous deal, as he's going non-exclusive and Spotify will help with ads and distribution, including on YouTube. The contract is also structured as a lower guaranteed payout with revenue sharing, and Spotify aims to do this with all their top podcast deals.

Thus, what does this mean for Bill Simmons' future? We speculate, including our thoughts that this deal actually means Bill will *not* re-up at Spotify - unless he truly is in Keep Cashin' Dem Checks Mode for good.

We also talk podcasting and audio in general and assess the future of the medium, including lessons learned from Pardon My Take, Call Her Daddy and Rogan's pod - when and why did Bill lose the #1 sports podcast to PMT?

We finish up with a recap of the Larry David BS Pod. Enjoy!

Welcome to Episode 62! We bring on Neil from Twitter (@NeilYayamanj) to discuss his journey of Bill Simmons fanhood over the last several years. This is the spiritual sequel to the fan favorite 4-hour Epic, Definitive Bill Simmons Retrospective, this time exploring in depth the period of Bill Simmons from 2017-2024.

We kick off the pod talking about Neil's introduction to Bill and how he immediately took to him as he was yearning for sports talk. Bill mixed in other qualitative features that made him a great listen and hang, and Neil earnestly began his Podcast friendship or "pod-ship."

And for awhile, the pod-ship was great. Bill was the guy you could talk to at the bar who knew his stuff on sports and pop culture. Neil enjoyed his celebrity interviews, inside look at stories like Magic resigning from the Lakers, and his understanding of sports and pop culture as a plugged in operator.

But then we hit on the dissolution of the pod-ship. Bill started outright going through the motions and mailing it in, including zero mention of baseball (even though he made his name on the sport) and his MIA Mark Cuban selling the Mavs and McAfee vs. Norby takes. We also examine Bill's personality on his Smartness and Marc Maron appearances.

We finish up how Bill finalized his journey from epic columnist and podcaster to Shill Simmons.

Welcome to Episode 61! We bring on Henry from Twitter for a classic r/BS Pod episode. After discussing our backgrounds with Bill, we hit on several topics:

— Why does he focus so much on announcers & pre-game shows?

— What's worse these days, his NFL takes or NBA takes?

— Ringer employees: Who is good, who isn't?

— Downfall of The Rewatchables

— His overall hypocrisy

We also discuss Bill's KD takes, and use Bill's own The Book of Basketball to show how 2024 Bill Simmons is massively overrating KD based on 2010 Bill Simmons' Pyramid rankings formula.

Hope you enjoy, and thank you to Wiser Times for the intro song (@WiserTimesmusic) and Zach Blatter for the podcast art (@_zachblatter)

We break down the much maligned Peacock game! Enjoy

— 23 Million viewers much better than predictions

— Financials mean it was a great buy by NBC

— There will be a bidding war for next year's game(s)

— NBA on NBC/Peacock now close to locked in