Bill Simmons: ESPN‘s Bristol Headquarters Can Be ‘Cultish’

The book isn’t even out yet, but Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales is generating an awful lot of controversy in the sports media world. Awful Announcing got a hold of an excerpt of ESPN star blogger Bill Simmons‘ interview in the book, which takes some digs at ESPN‘s corporate culture in Bristol, Connecticut.

“I need to figure out a way that I can operate in my own sphere and not deal with Bristol as much. Nothing against Bristol, but I do worry that it becomes a little cultish after a while. You go there and there’s ESPN everywhere. At the cafeteria, there’s Mike & Mike getting a sandwich… It’s really hard to think out of the box when you’re trapped in that box the whole time… that’s one of the reasons PTI succeeds – it’s in Washington, it’s out of the box, they leave it alone.”

Simmons really isn’t saying anything that bad. But that doesn’t mean his bosses won’t overreact. Deadspin reports suspensions are already being mulled by ESPN execs for some current employees quoted in the book.

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