Depending on your perspective, you may know Bill Simmons as the expert voice of the fan or the annoying Bostonian that weave in weird pop culture references and general smugness into his writing. But now, we’ll know Simmons as a television broadcaster, so to speak.
Bill Simmons Will Be Broadcasting Heat-Warriors Game Tonight
Via USA Today, Simmons will sit in with Dan Shulman and Mark Jackson during ESPN's broadcast of a game between the Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors on Friday night at 10:30. Simmons has filled in on Pardon the Interruption and done other TV stuff, but this is the first time he will be broadcasting a live game on the network's flagship station. Considering the game involves the Miami Heat, there will be plenty of people watching to see if Simmons can actually announce as well as he makes fun of announcers.
ESPN has tried this experiment before with Tony Kornheiser on Monday Night Fooball, but somehow, this feels different. Simmons may portray himself as an everyman, but he still actually loves sports. He won’t try to channel Howard Cosell as much as he’ll try too hard to channel that random dude in a sports bar. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, but it’s certainly worth a shot.
Below the jump, some random predictions on what will come out of Simmons’ mouth tonight.
Number of times Simmons makes a reference to anything related to Boston: 22
Number of times Simmons compares LeBron James to Larry Bird: 5
Number of times Simmons compares a player on the court to a character in either “Karate Kid” or “Teen Wolf:” 7
Number of times Simmons uses the word "alpha dog" to describe LeBron or Dwyane Wade: 10
Number of times Simmons is cut off by Dan Shulman in the middle of a soliloquy: 12
Number of times Simmons tries to make fun of Mark Jackson: 15
Number of times Simmons says “no one denies this:” I’m not even touching this one
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