ESPN and Grantland editor Bill Simmons was suspended for three weeks by the network after his rant about Roger Goodell on his podcast and the three week suspension (which was longer than Ray Rice's for punching his wife) sparked a Twitter Hashtag of #FreeSimmons that went to number one in the United States.
According to Pro Football Talk, Simmons spoke about the issues surrounding the NFL on his podcast and called out roger Goodell as a liar and he also cursed, saying the situation was "fu*cking bull**it" and he continued to criticize the commissioner. Simmons also called out his ESPN bosses, daring them to tell him to stop and clearly they got the message. PFT reported that the call out of bosses was more likely the reason he was suspended rather than his NFL comments.
SI.com writer Richard Deitsch wrote in his post on the matter that ESPN likely pulled the hammer on Simmons because many in and outside of Bristol think that he can get away with anything, or that the impression of that is there. The network gave him one of the harshest suspensions and he happens to be one of their most high profile employees.
The move is a win for Simmons, an embarrassment from ESPN and another bad mark for the NFL. Sure it doesn't really matter for the NFL, but they suspended Rise for two weeks and Simmons got three, it's simply not a good look. On top of that, Simmons was hired by ESPN because in a way he is the voice fo the regular dude and he basically said what every regular dude has been thinking. But they don't work for ESPN.
