Bill Simmons went off on Roger Goodell during his weekly podcast on Monday, labeling the NFL commissioner a liar and calling for him to step down. He then dared ESPN to reprimand him for his remarks.
Like many others, Simmons believes Goodell either saw the video of Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancee Janay Palmer or knew exactly what was on the tape.
“I just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it,” Simmons said, as transcribed by Tony Manfred of Business Insider. “Goodell, if he didn’t know what was on that tape, he’s a liar. I’m just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail.
“For all these people to pretend they didn’t know is such f—ing bulls—. It really is, it’s such f—ing bulls—. And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted. I really was.”
Simmons then accused Goodell of being a hypocrite because he suspended Sean Payton for a full year over Bountygate despite Payton claiming he had no idea players were being paid to target opponents.
“The best point that a lot of people have made about this is this is exactly why he fined and suspended Sean Payton for a season [for Bountygate],” Simmons said. “Sean Payton was like, ‘I didn’t know.’ [Goodell] was like, ‘Well ignorance [is not an excuse],’ and suspended him for a year. This is the same exact situation and it’s worse, because he knew and he’s a liar.”
That’s when Simmons challenged ESPN to criticize him for his comments, warning the network that he would go public if someone tried to scold him.
“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell,” he said. “Because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner’s a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast. … Please, call me and say I’m in trouble. I dare you.”
Simmons is no stranger to being reprimanded by his employer. He was suspended from Twitter last year for criticizing “First Take” and was also suspended in 2009 for making derogatory remarks about an ESPN radio affiliate.
I doubt anything like that will happen this time. Simmons is not the first person who works for ESPN to criticize Goodell and his handling of the Rice situation, and he won’t be the last.
