The reality is, though, that the things that Simmons ideated and deployed at ESPN succeeded because they were different than everything else the market had to offer. It’s no coincidence that his signature column over the years has been a reader mailbag. Unlike most of his contemporaries, fan interaction isn’t just some marketing strategy for Simmons; it is inexorably part of his product.

My friend Andrew Knoblauch and I talked about this a lot for an episode of the One More Thing podcast, that will be out in about a week or so.

This offers a good roadmap to a post-ESPN Bill Simmons. Of note - don't try to be John Oliver.