I liked Simmons way back when was The Sports Guy at ESPN. But Le Batard, much as I hate to say it, is right that ESPN makes those guys famous. Almost all of them crater after they move on. Craig Kiborn, Keith Olberman, Colin Cowherd, Skip Bayless…the list goes on. Dan Patrick is probably the exception, but he’s not as popular as he was at the mothership.
I don’t get HBO, I didn’t see Simmons’ show. But honestly I probably would not have watched anyway.