15 years ago I was a huge Bill Simmons fan. I used to read all his shit along with Hunter Thompson on ESPN's Page 2. It was cutting edge back then. Page 2 was basically the birth of sports blogs and Simmons had the humor and writing acumen to carry it. So out of respect even though I no longer follow or read Simmons and the million "fucking" commercials I saw about "Any Given Wednesday" on the HBO App I decided to watch it last night. Sir Charles Barkley was on first and it bombed surprisingly. I love Barkley but the interview was just flat and boring talking about whether or not Lebron is a top 3 or top 10 NBA player all-time. Who gives a shit? I certainly did not. But what saved Simmons and you could see the twinkle in his eye as it was happening was a shit-faced, bloated Ben Affleck going off on the NFL about DeflateGate. Every other word was "fuck" so you know Affleck hit the bottle real good right before going on air. It was entertaining and personally I loved the passion Affleck showed trying to defend his Golden Boy in Tom Brady vs the totalitarian fascist in Roger Goodell. For this alone I will give "Any Given Wednesday" another viewing or two. But if HBO could cancel Vinyl after one season I don't see how Simmon's show will make it past year one. Simmons got a three-year deal with HBO for $20 million so maybe they try to ride the tide but I can't see a lot of viewers tuning in to hear what Simmons thinks about the NBA. I don't think many HBO viewers give a shit including myself. If Simmons sticks with the Jimmy Kimmel routine and gets all of his celebrity guests a little sauced up before interviews then it might have a chance of thriving on HBO. In other words not likely.
