Why Hasn't Bill Simmons Interviewed Obama Yet?

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Why Hasn’t Bill Simmons Interviewed Obama Yet?

Filed on October 23rd, 2008 in Sports Media ⋅ ⋅

I don’t mean to jump all over ESPN this week, but I couldn’t ignore Rick Reilly’s “I play fantasy football with Barack Obama” column. Is it even possible for Reilly to write columns without name dropping, just so we know that he hangs with famous people. He’s like reading the Arsenio Hall Show.

But one thing I noticed as Ricky and Barry selected their fantasy football team was that Reilly is not Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy.

Let me recap the Obama on ESPN story for you:

Back in April, Simmons arranged to have Democratic candidate Barack Obama appear on his ESPN podcast. Obama agreed to do it, and before the interview could be conducted, ESPN pulled the plug on it. ESPN’s official reasoning was that when the campaigns are settled and there are just two major candidates, then ESPN will do two interviews. The Simmons cancellation led some to speculate that the interview would be conducted with Obama when it was more convenient to arrange Stu Scott to talk about Carolina hoops.

Sure enough, Scott landed the interview, and sure enough, it was after a game of one-on-one in North Carolina. Real hard-hitting stuff. Michael Jordan and Walter Payton for Vice-President. Extremely soft interview, but to be expected. This was in August.

Fast forward to the middle of September, when white guy Bob Ley sits down with John McCain at a NASCAR event. They talk boxing (McCain is absolutely right about boxing, and if he loses the election, should become commissioner of boxing), UFC, college sports betting, and drug testing. Soft, but not as kiss-ass as Obama and Stu-pod.

Now, just this week, Rick Reilly publishes his latest column about drafting his fantasy team with Obama. If you are doing just one interview with each candidate, then that’s all you do. If you are allowing the candidates to agree to interviews individually, then let them.

Obama agreed to the Sports Guy podcast. It hasn’t happened.

It is becoming more and more clear that ESPN is trying to phase Simmons out, and the higher-ups at ESPN wanted no part of him scoring an Obama interview (especially for a measly podcast).

To be fair, both the McCain and Obama interviews were soft. But Obama’s was far more kiss-ass and fluff. McCain was at least asked legitimate political questions with regards to sports. Obama was asked what athlete would have been his VP. Obama’s interview was right out of the Chris Farley Show. “Remember that time…when you ran for President…and you were the first black guy to win the nomination?…That was cool…”

If ESPN wants to be fair (they do claim to be the Worldwide Leader), they should allow Simmons to do his podcast now with Obama, or if Obama wins the election, get Simmons access to him then. In the meantime, it seems they owe Senator McCain another fluff piece.

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