ESPNMedia Monster

ESPN Book: Bill Simmons And Keith Olbermann’s Common Bond

Those Guys Have All the Fun, the highly-anticipated ESPN book by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, will hit shelves next week. We’ve been lucky enough to receive an advance copy, and throughout the day will be highlighting some of the books’ more interesting tidbits.

Keith Olbermann and Bill Simmons do not like each other. That much was made clear in March of last year, when Olbermann criticized a column of Simmons’ and said Simmons had “no discernible talent.” Simmons responded by calling Olbermann a “pious, unlikable blowhard who lives alone.” During Round 2, which occurred earlier this month, Olbermann called Simmons tasteless, and Simmons, in turn, made fun of Olbermann’s new employer. Fun!

But while Olbermann, one of the most recognizable faces of the company in its formative years, and Simmons, ESPN’s most important writer at a time when it’s at its most powerful, don’t see eye-to-eye on many things, they do share one common trait: a willingness to piss off their superiors.

This is something that Simmons himself acknowledged in the upcoming ESPN book.

You know, it is interesting that that the really passionate people who don’t like authority also seem to be the people who have had problems with ESPN in the past. I’ve heard about the struggles that Olbermann had with the company and now that I know Kornheiser, knowing some of the shit that he’s dealt with, it does seem like we’re all certain types.

Progress in the Simmons-Olbermann relationship, perhaps? A common bond shared in rebelliousness? Maybe even something we can build on in the future?

Olbermann’s much crazier than I am.

Oh.

But we’re all kind of like the same mold – very impassioned almost to a fault, and we just can’t believe ESPN works this way, and why can’t it work better, and it’s just like we’re a bad match for a company like that, and I think that’s why a lot of those people have left.

And the Sports Guy is right. It takes a few crazies here and there – the type who call a partner radio station a bunch of “deceitful scumbags,” or who stick it to their bosses by saying “This is SportsCenter” - to ensure that a company, one that essentially has a monopoly on sports, never gets complacent.