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Rinard's Rundown
By Jordan Rinard
Last Wednesday night, Grantland.com creator and ESPN personality Bill Simmons was suspended for three weeks by ESPN for saying on his podcast that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is a "liar" in regard to Goodell's claims that he did not know about what was on the second Ray Rice tape. Simmons also said that to suggest otherwise is "such f****** bulls***." The suspension is important because other personalities at the network have done far worse than what Simmons did and have gone relatively unpunished by the folks at Bristol (and vice versa).
For starters, there were multiple alleged incidents where Mike Tirico sexually harassed ESPN employees. He was suspended for three months and continues to work for the network on "Monday Night Football."
Keith Olbermann was suspended for two weeks for referring to Bristol, Connecticut (the home of ESPN) as a "Godforsaken place" on "The Daily Show." He left for MSNBC before coming back to ESPN last year.
Stephen A. Smith was suspended for a week for discussing on "First Take" how women are responsible for preventing their own beatings: "In Ray Rice's case, he probably deserves more than a two-game suspension which we both acknowledged. But at the same time, we also have to make sure that we learn as much as we can about elements of provocation."
Sean Salisbury was suspended for a week for showing a picture of his genitals to female colleagues at ESPN.
Michael Irvin was suspended for a week for being arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and failing to tell the network about it.
Bob Griese was suspended for a week for saying NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya was missing from the leaderboard in 2009 because he was "out having a taco."
Brian Kinchen was suspended a week for making a gay joke during a college football game. He talked about how wide receivers need to "caress" and be "tender" with the ball before saying "That's kind of gay."
Bucky Waters was suspended from calling college basketball play-by-play in 2008 after saying "[UConn guard Jerome Dyson] just stole everything- fillings, hubcaps, the works," and "I bet there weren't any hubcaps left in the parking lot," on-air after Dyson had nine steals in a game.
Rob Parker was suspended for 30 days for referring to Robert Griffin III as a "cornball brother" on "First Take," suggesting that Griffin is not "down with the cause" because of his political leanings and saying that he is not really a part of the African-American community. He is no longer with ESPN as his contract was not renewed.
Colin Cowherd was not suspended for talking on his radio show about how John Wall's father is the reason that he is not a "franchise player." "Let me tell you something: I'm a big believer, when it comes to quarterbacks and point guards. Who's your dad? Who's your dad? Because I like confrontational players, I don't like passive aggressive. Strong families equal strong leaders. Talent? Overrated. Leadership? Underrated." Screw this company.