The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 11 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 1 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Bill Simmons: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell lied about Ray Rice
“And they did. Though Rice's told them. No, he lied.”
Simmons: ESPN canceled scheduled 2008 Obama interview over political bias concerns
“ESPN squashed it, and they squashed it for reasons that... I didn't fully understand. ESPN was very worried about... Bias, or... Seeming like they were biased one way or the other, with Democrats, Republicans, whatever it was. And they were just like, well, yo…”
ESPN Undersold Grantland's $8M Podcast Ad Inventory For $750k, Says Bill Simmons
“They sold all of our podcasts advertised in the subway for 750,000 dollars a year. When we had, it was easily six, seven, eight million dollars worth of advertising we could have gotten from the pods at that time.”
Simmons: ESPN was much more political and sinister than Spotify
“I think ESPN was way more political and way more sinister. Spotify's not sinister, but it's also a big company that has a lot of opposing objectives”
Simmons: ESPN paid Rick Reilly more despite Simmons being more important
“They'd hired Rick Riley, and it was after they had signed me, and he made way more money than me, and I just couldn't believe it, because I was more important to them than he was.”
Simmons: Grantland broke even and produced nine of ESPN's top ten podcasts
“Grantland broke even, but we should have made more money. We had nine of the top 10 podcasts at ESPN during a time when podcasts were starting to make real money and they didn't know how to monetize it.”
Simmons: ESPN relationship was irreparable after unpaid suspension
“I think that thing that really got me was that I got suspended without pay for the first two weeks, and I already felt like I was underpaid for them, and I was killing it for them, and it was kind of irreparable after that.”
Simmons: Writers only retain audiences by being unpredictable and adding creative hooks
“I just want people to come back to read me, and the only way they're going to keep coming back is if I'm unpredictable. It can't just be like, here are my top 20 trades. It's like, what's the extra hook? What's the extra gimmick?”
Simmons: Yahoo tried to recruit him away from ESPN in 2007
“That I had, my contract was coming up the beginning of oh seven and Yahoo was trying to get me to jump over, which I didn't want to do.”