From the network that brought you Keith Olbermann, I present this:
The B.S. Report made a special road trip to the White House yesterday to make podcast history: the first-ever podcast with a sitting U.S. President. Take that, Marc Maron! Even if we only had 25 minutes, Grantland editor-in-chief Bill Simmons and President Obama covered a bunch of sports-related topics, including how the President manages to make time to follow sports; his feelings on Linsanity and the Bulls’ title chances; whether he considered getting involved with the NBA lockout; the wisdom of a college football playoff system; his feelings on concussions and the NFL; what it’s like to throw out the first pitch before baseball games; his favorite White House visits from championship teams; coaching his daughter’s basketball team; the pearls of wisdom he recently dispensed to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin; and his answers to two “greatest ever” questions (one basketball, one television).
It’s technically not ESPN.com, but the story is linked on ESPN.com’s front page.
Its looks like President Obama has ESPN employees ready to vote for him. That is another group locked up. Stay classy Bill Simmons - Jumped the Shark.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo interviewing the President = Not Classy?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo its not classy. Simmons is just a bleeding heart liberal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat's just asinine. Interviewing the president is a huge get for a journalist and is going to generate a tremendous amount of traffic (which is, of course, the business that Simmons is in...ears and eyeballs).
When interviewing the President of the United States is considered beyond the pale for a decent American, that is a sad day indeed. Have you never met an Obama voter or a liberal that you admired or respected as a human being despite some significant differences of opinion?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSimmons is not a journalist. He is a comedy writer. Remember he wrote for Kimmel?Plus, he is from Boston. ESPN interviewing the president is not a "Get", he has an interview who someone at ESPN whenever he wants. Get ready for Bracket interview.
Very few liberals or Obama voters can be respected, look at what they believe and who they vote for.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHe "makes time to follow sports" by not working particularly hard.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI particularly enjoyed him scolding Simmons when asked if he gets more "gimme" puts when golfing, now that he's president. "I don't cheat at golf. I count all my shots." *Icy stare*
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI remember 17ish years ago working as a youngster at the sports desk of a big newspaper, listening to everyone there b*tch about Clinton like they typically did, when everyone on the news side had gone home for the night, and thinking - at least the American sports page is still rock-ribbed. I thought it would be for a while. Nope. Too bad they're chock full of the same kind of pansies on the news side. I don't know what it is about the entire news industry that attracts these clowns. Actually, I think I do but don't feel like getting into it. Just gonna say it stinks.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo true. Sports page writers are really liberal due to their "underdog" mentality.
They all come from Dick Schap School of Sports Journalism - I want to be buddies with the athletes.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHmm, I'm not sure that the headline here is entirely fair.
Now, if you want to beat on Simmons for "political" stuff that he puts into his columns (which he's done in the past occasionally), that's fine. He also personally is on "the left", but that's also fine, and you can certainly choose to personally boycott his stuff because of that.
However, calling the network as a whole "leftist" BASED ON that interview is a stretch. It's a great "get" for Simmons, and I'm not sure that anyone would turn that down.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGrantland is a joke - I'll assume no one asked Obama why he throws like a girl...
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