As you may or may not know, there’s an ongoing low-intensity feud going on between ESPN’s “Sports Guy” Bill Simmons and the Sklar brothers. The Sklars host Cheap Seats, ESPN Classic’s ratings-poor show, in which the two comedians give dated sports programming the MST3K treatment.
Apparently most people feel the need to pick sides in this one–the Sklar brothers are a surprisingly polarizing pair–but I’ve got to say that I enjoy them both. Cheap Seats is a goofy premise that, at its best, is a solid half hour of amusement. And, of course, Bill Simmons’s 6000-word rambling sports/pop-culture rants have forced every mediocre sports writer in the country to memorize the Billboard Top-40 and throw ill-advised Laguna Beach references into his columns. So anyway, my point is just this: I don’t understand where this thing started. I mean, it’s sort of cool that Simmons has the okay to badmouth ESPN’s programming (although as far as I can tell he doesn’t, and this is a huge and bizarre exception)–but why would he go out of his way to do so for a show that it’s safe to say isn’t exactly taking the late night cable world by storm? It’s very strange.
And I’ve got to say that the latest round in the back-and-forth is surprising:
This shot comes from the most recent episode of Cheap Seats (highlighted by a Ryan Seacrest-hosted “Radical Adventure Challenge” or something). I’m not sure what the point is here. Shouldn’t that say something like “Attention ESPN Staff: This Guy Throws Like a Girl”? I mean, don’t lend Bill Simmons tapes? That’s not exactly a Winston Churchill level witticism. You guys are professional comedians.
So yeah. The Sklars fight back, kinda. The ball’s in your court now, Sports Guy.
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