Bill Simmons, ESPN.com's ubiquitous Sports Guy, was going to have Barack Obama on his weekly podcast but ESPN officials nixed the interview at the last moment, the NYDN's Rush & Malloy report.

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz told us: "It's absolutely not an issue about any one candidate. Our position is that when they're down to the final two candidates, we'll look for options to interview each accordingly. Fans don't expect political coverage on our air. "We did Kerry and Bush on ESPN. Separate one-on-ones that were sports related."

The Worldwide Leader also killed an interview Stuart Scott scheduled with the potential Democratic nominee.