About Speaker Bill Simmons…
“The Sports Guy” Bill Simmons is a columnist, author and podcaster whose prolific writings, rants and insights have become the voice for a generation of American sports fans.
Simmons is the Editor-in-Chief of Grantland.com, the sports and pop culture web site he created, which includes a mix of original columns, long-form features and blog posts by an accomplished and diverse lineup of the Internet’s leading writers and editors. Grantland.com, which launched in June 2011, is also home to every Simmons column and podcast published on ESPN.com.
A pioneer of sports writing on the Internet, Simmons is the most popular writer on ESPN.com, where his columns, podcasts and other content have been featured on the site’s Page 2: The Sports Guy’s World. With a signature style that reflects sports and pop-culture from the view of a deeply-engaged sports fan, Simmons’ informative and entertaining columns are read by millions each month, and his podcast, The B.S. Report, is the No. 1 sports podcast on iTunes, with more than 42 million downloads last year. He is also highly popular on Twitter, with more than 1.3 million followers.
Simmons is the author of the New York Times No. 1 best-selling book “The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy,” and “Now I Can Die In Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox.”
Simmons also consults on original programs and projects for ESPN. He is a special contributor to ESPN’s newsmagazine “E:60,” and he is an executive producer of ESPN’s critically acclaimed documentary series “30 for 30.”
Simmons began writing for ESPN.com in 2001, and for seven years starting in 2002 he was the lead columnist for “ESPN The Magazine.” Simmons also served as a writer for the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show on ABC from 2002 to 2004.
Before joining ESPN.com, Simmons hosted his own Web site, BostonSportsGuy.com, which began as a page on AOL’s Digital City Boston in 1997. He has also written for the “Boston Herald” and “Boston Phoenix.”
Simmons received a Masters Degree in Journalism from Boston University and a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross. He lives in Los Angeles.