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Bill Simmons Blames Cancel Culture For Boring Masters Call

Brandon Contes

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“Matsuyama is Japan’s first Masters champion!” was the call from Jim Nantz as Hideki Matsuyama made his final putt to win the 2021 Masters. It was fine, but predictable and left Bill Simmons wanting more.

As first noted by Stephen Douglas of The Big Lead, during Simmons’ Masters wrap-up podcast, he told The Ringer’s Kevin Clark how disappointed he was in the bland call from Nantz. Simmons believed Nantz was scared to go outside the box in celebrating Matsuyama’s victory amid the racial divide seen throughout the country, citing cancel culture as the reason.

“We were hoping for one of his classic pre-baked one-liners when Matsuyama won The Masters. I think he was scared off. He felt nervous to me the last twenty minutes.” Simmons said before pointing to cancel culture as the culprit. “I don’t think Nantz wanted to go near anything. He kept kind of throwing it to Faldo and then when Matsuyama hit the first of all, he missed the par putt, he had the little two-footer coming back, he made it. He wins. And Nantz basically said, Hideki Matsuyama, the first Japanese golfer to win The Masters. I’ve never heard him put less thought, energy, creativity, anything into one of his calls and it was a scared Jim Nantz, let’s be honest.”

Expectedly, Clark asked Simmons if he had an idea of what Nantz should have said as Matsuyama secured the green jacket. 

“So I had it. I had the savvy one,” Simmons answered. “Heat of the Moment, which was a song that won like five Grammys by a band called Asia in the 80’s. I think Nantz could have gone stealth and done, It was the heat of the moment, Hideki Matsui is our Masters champion. Something like that and then it just would have been really underground. Nobody really would have gotten it. But he just played it chalk. You know what? You just signed a new contract Jim Nantz. We don’t want a scared Jim Nantz. Come up with some sort of line. Anything? Disappointing.”

That’s not a typo, Simmons said former Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui instead of Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama. So while Simmons was offering his better idea for Nantz after saying the CBS broadcaster was scared of being canceled, he made an egregious mistake that would have negatively headlined media outlets everywhere.

But assuming Nantz would have avoided that colossal blunder, Simmons is correct, no one would have gotten his Heat of the Moment reference. I certainly wouldn’t have. So was his idea even a better, more creative and momentous call for Nantz? A song reference that no one really understood the connection to. That’s some deep thinking from Simmons.

It wouldn’t have been the first song reference for Nantz, having previously quoted Bette Midler’s The Rose after Justin Rose won his first ever PGA Tour event in 2010. But Nantz wasn’t cryptic with that song reference, reciting a full verse. If Nantz left the audience wanting more on Sunday, I don’t think Simmons Heat of the Moment idea would have been a solve. 

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Eric Bischoff Ends ‘Strictly Business’ Podcast; Launches New YouTube Show

Bischoff and Conrad Thompson will continue to produce Bischoff’s main podcast, 83 Weeks, however, an additional show which Bischoff was doing with Jon Alba, Strictly Business, will come to an end.

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Graphic for Wise Choices with Eric Bischoff

Eric Bischoff, the former Turner Broadcasting executive who famously beat WWE in ratings with WCW for 83 consecutive weeks has ended one show and launched another. Bischoff and Conrad Thompson will continue to produce Bischoff’s main podcast, 83 Weeks, however, an additional show which Bischoff was doing with Jon Alba, Strictly Business, will come to an end.

“Unfortunately, this week’s episode of Strictly Business with Eric Bischoff will be the last edition of the podcast,” said Alba in a post on his X account. “Eric’s schedule is loaded these days, and for good reasons, he’ll [be] putting his efforts into other endeavors.”

One of those endeavors will be a new YouTube show, Wise Choices, which Bischoff has already debuted. Bischoff said he and Alba’s schedules were getting tougher to align and that his new show will be a solo project he can produce based on his own schedule.

“Trying to align my busy schedule with Jon’s busy schedule and then if we wanted to have a guest on, we had to coordinate with that person’s schedule,” Bischoff said. “It was just getting too difficult and now, for the first time, I will do a solo project and be on my own.”

Bischoff’s first solo YouTube show focused on his reply to AEW owner Tony Khan who posted on his X account in reply to Alba’s post on Strictly Business coming to an end, “Sunsetting this fraud of a business podcast before the next AEW media deal is a wise choice.”

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‘Saving Sakic’ to Premiere in U.S. April 17 on ESPN+

The documentary follows the high-stakes saga that ensued when Colorado Avalanche Chairman/CEO Charlie Lyons was blindsided by an attempt to sign away the captain of his team, Joe Sakic.

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Graphic for Saving Sakic

Prime Video and NHL Productions revealed the trailer for the upcoming original hockey documentary ‘Saving Sakic’ premiering on April 16 for Prime members in Canada and April 17 for ESPN+ subscribers in the U.S. 

The documentary follows the high-stakes saga that ensued when Colorado Avalanche Chairman/CEO Charlie Lyons was blindsided by an attempt to sign away the captain of his team, Joe Sakic. With only seven days to raise $15 million to save his star, Charlie finds a lifeline from an unexpected place – Hollywood.

Joe Sakic garnered a slew of accolades over his 20-season NHL career, first for the Quebec Nordiques, who selected him in the first round of the 1987 NHL Draft, and later for the Colorado Avalanche after the Nordiques relocated to Denver. In Colorado, he captured two Stanley Cups, won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, and the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs. As part of NHL’s Centennial celebration in 2017, Sakic was voted one of the 100 Greatest Players in League history.

‘Saving Sakic’  is directed by Jay Nelson with executive producers Steve Mayer, Ross Bernard, and Craig Axelrod for NHL Productions and Gary Cohen for Triple Threat TV. Saving Sakic joins sports content on Prime Video, including original documentaries Chosen One: Alexandre Daigle, Giannis: The Marvelous Journey, KelceAll or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, and Sportsnet on Prime Video Channels.

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Saquon Barkley to WFAN’s Tiki Barber: “Don’t Feed Into the B.S.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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Logo for the New Heights podcast and a photo of Saquon Barkley

Former New York Giants and current Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley made an appearance this week on New Heights, the podcast hosted by Travis and Jason Kelce. In addition to several football related topics, Barkley spoke about his war of words with WFAN host and former Giants running back Tiki Barber.

After Barkley signed with the Eagles on a three-year, $37.5 million deal, Barber said that Barkley was “dead to us,” referring to New York Giants fans. Barber has said those comments were more about what the fans were thinking and were “tongue-in-cheek.” Barkley came back at Barber on social media and said he was a “hater” since he came to New York.

In explaining what made him upset about Barber’s response, Barkley said he didn’t think it was right to be attacked by a former player.

“I love seeing NFL guys, I love seeing OGs, I love seeing you guys, you have a platform, this is a place where you know ball, you can talk, you can educate fans,” Barkley said. “Maybe use that time to show, ‘Maybe this is why Saquon is going to Philly’ … the business side of it, use that to show, I’m not saying you got to have loyalty to me because I don’t care for that, to be honest, but you are an ex-NFL player, an ex-NFL athlete, don’t feed into the B.S., let fans do that, they’re supposed to do that, they’re emotional.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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