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Posts Tagged ‘Bill Simmons’

No Women Among The ‘Most Powerful’ in Sports Media

According to Sports Illustrated’Richard Deitsch, women carry zero clout in the sports media world. Deitsch published a list of the “The 10 Most Powerful People in Sports Media” and there’s not a singe woman made the cut. There are even 10 additional honorable mentions, but still it’s all dudes, all the time.

Bill Simmons got the top spot, no argument there. But how can Deitsch ignore people like the insanely talented Jemele Hill? Or Shelley Smith? And surely Christine Brennan should’ve at least cracked the top 15.

Deitsch is much more connected than us and maybe he just couldn’t see leaving any of the 20 men off his list, but to us, this is a little ridiculous. It also appears to be indicative of sports media’s culture, which still (It’s 2013! We checked!) downplays and discounts the contributions of women.

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New Addition | Wrong Place | It’s Happening

TVNewser: Peter Boyer is joining Fox News. We hear Roger Ailes is pleased, but that guy is always jolly.

PRNewser: If you want to know if Senator Gillibrand has read 50 Shades of Grey you probably shouldn’t be allowed to moderate debates.

FishbowlLA: Bill Simmons is joining the NBA Countdown team. Start preparing your complaints now.

Grantland Adds Zach Lowe and Steven Hyden

Grantland, the sports/culture site led by Bill Simmons, continues to attract premium talent. In its latest hiring spree, the site tapped Zach Lowe from Sports Illustrated and Steven Hyden, a contributor to Pitchfork, Salon, AV Club and more.

Simmons announced both of the hires via Twitter.

Sean Fennessey Leaves GQ for Grantland

Sean Fennessey is leaving GQ for a position with Grantland, the site founded by Bill Simmons. Fennessey tweeted earlier, “This is my last week at GQ. The people here are brilliant, and I’ll miss them. Especially the industrious and gifted web staff.”

Fennessey added that he will be joining Grantland next month and moving to Los Angeles.

Barack Obama Knew About Jeremy Lin Before You Did

Here is how powerful Bill Simmons and ESPN is: He did a podcast with President Barack Obama. Allow us to be giddy school children for a moment and say, “How cool is that???” Okay, now that we’ve settled down, here are a few of our favorite quotes from Obama:

On Jeremy Lin:

I knew about Jeremy before you did, or everybody else did, because Arne Duncan, my Secretary of Education, was captain of the Harvard team. And so way back when, Arne and I were playing and he said, I’m telling you, we’ve got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard. And then one of my best friends, his son is a freshman at Harvard, and so when he went for a recruiting trip he saw Lin in action. So I’ve been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while.

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Grantland’s Makeover is a Success

Grantland, the sports/pop culture site from Bill Simmons, has a new look. Gone is the white background, replaced by a yellowish silly putty color (trust us, we consulted the official FishbowlNY silly putty for verification). The banner of a guy swinging a bat has also disappeared; only the site’s title remains. The content is also more streamlined than before.

So what do we think of Grantland 2.0? We like the change. It’s much easier to navigate and find what you’re looking for. Before we’d be scanning down the middle for articles, only to be distracted by the links and articles running along both sides.

We’ve been a fan of Grantland since it launched, and now — with the content more organized — the updated look has us giving the site a standing ovation. Well, sort of. We definitely imagined doing that, and then just typed it. Which is pretty much the same thing.

Mary Kaye Schilling Leaves New York for GQ

Mary Kaye Schilling is leaving New York magazine to become a Senior Articles Editor, replacing the spot vacated by Dan Fierman, who left GQ for Grantland, the new site backed by Bill Simmons. According to WWD, Schilling said that she was ready for a change:

Doing a weekly section for three years and having to produce anywhere from 13 to 16 pages a week plus doing features and working on packages, it’s pretty relentless. Also, there wasn’t really any place to move as an editor, to do, say, just a feature well because there are really good editors now who have been there for a long time and don’t have any intention of leaving.

Since she’s headed to GQ, WWD asked her about that now infamous cover story by Edith Zimmerman. You know, that one we kind of hated. Turns out, Schilling agrees with us:

Knowing where Edith is in her career, I thought it was quite amazing. But I thought it was too much Edith and not enough Chris.

Bill Simmons’ Grantland Launches

Here at FishbowlNY we’ve been eagerly anticipating the launch of Grantland, the sports/pop culture website from Bill Simmons. A little before noon it launched, and it’s got some good stuff so far. There’s a welcome by Simmons, a baseball piece by Esquire writer Chris Jones, and a fantastic article about a forgotten – yet somehow legendary – basketball game by Chuck Klosterman.

And that’s it. Just three articles. Okay technically there’s four, but we’re not counting the post about a reality TV fantasy draft because the entire concept is stupid, writing an article about it is even worse.

For all the hype behind Grantland’s launch you’d think there would be more content, but as Simmons tells Media Alley, he’s focusing on quality over quantity:

I mean, obviously we want people to read. But the thing is I don’t want one person to check ten times a day; I’d rather have 10 people check once. I think the problem with where the Internet is going is that because everybody’s so trapped with getting page views that they’re gearing stuff toward multiple, multiple, multiple posts per day.

That’s a great approach, but it’s also one that only someone like Simmons can afford to have.

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Details Emerge on Bill Simmons’ Website

Love him or hate him, Bill Simmons is a name writers know. And now that he is launching his own website – called Grantland – he’s going to be even more prevalent than ever before. Before going further, if you’re a hater, we suggest you stop reading now. The all-star lineup of writers he has assembled is only going to make you hate him even more.

According to ESPN, Grantland – named after Grantland Rice, a legend in the sports journalism world – will not only house all of Simmons’ columns and podcasts, but also a slew of columns, blogs and long-form features from contributors.

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