ESPN's Bill Simmons is expected to return to Twitter Friday after he was suspended from the social media site "for a few days after he called the Skip Bayless-Richard Sherman ‘First Take’ meltdown last week awful and embarrassing,” according to John Koblin of DEADSPIN. An ESPN source said that the tweets “violated ESPN's social media guidelines.” Simmons reportedly was “told to lie low for a few days,” and he “hasn't tweeted” since Monday. There were “two tweets that got him into trouble.” One from March 8 read, "Nobody won. Everyone lost. Including ESPN." Koblin wrote those are “big words, and the tweets felt like a flashpoint for a show that's used to withering criticism, but not from ESPN's own -- and certainly not from Simmons, one of the most powerful guys at the network.” Though Simmons has “stayed off Twitter, he has certainly been keeping up with Facebook, posting about Wes Welker, a story he wrote, a blog post written about him, and a video of his dog.” Simmons reportedly was “expected to make a trip out to New York this week for a sort of Grantland East brainstorming session, but he backed out over the weekend.” He also “didn't appear” on “NBA Countdown” on Wednesday night, though that was “apparently previously scheduled” (DEADSPIN.com, 3/14). Simmons last Friday wrote on Twitter, "It's amazing to me that people get so worked up about First Take. Who cares? Just don't watch it. There are like 800 TV channels. I am not defending this segment ... I thought it was awful and embarrassing to everyone involved. Seriously. But what bothers me about the reaction to that segment is people saying Richard Sherman 'won.' Nobody won. Everyone lost. Including ESPN" (THE DAILY). YAHOO SPORTS’ Jay Busbee cited a source as saying that the “suspension was because of content, not target.” It had “nothing to do with ‘First Take’ per se” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/14).
