Bomani Jones

[IsThatBrothaMouzone?]

Think Bo's issue is one of being a "tweener." He's not quite full on hot-take guy like Skip but doesn't seem like in-depth analytics guy either. Networks have all the ex-athletes they need for that angle.

Maybe he needs to go the Bryant Gumbel/Real Sports route??

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

Do you know anyone who's worked at the Ringer for Bill Simmons? Do they have good things to say? And did they get stock options or equity cashed out when it got acquired by Spotify?

I work for the Ringer.

Bill is great.

They gave me stock options when they offered me a job.

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

I think of any of the shows he had were runaway successes they would not have been canceled despite production conflicts or any of the other shyt we aren't privy to. Also, I'm not saying to recreate his radio show but that was a format that seemed to suit him.



I think there's a lot of absolving him of any responsibility for any of his failures (Warner/Discovery cost cutting, he's too smart for the general populous, etc). Can anyone name anyone else that has had as many shots as he did?

I thought High Noon was a good show. His, whether it was a bit or not, constant big brothering of Pablo was bizarre. This was his attempt at some kind of sports version of the daily show and it was a flop.

Also, I'm not convinced anyone is dying to give him a slot on MSNBC. Let's say they want to replace Don Lemon with another black dude. What has Bo done that is going to allow him to jump the line in front of Marc Lamont Hill?

Curious to know what's next for him.

It’s funny you mentioned Marc Lamoist, I mean Lamont, Hill because at the end of the day I feel he and Bomani have the same issue.

Both didn’t/haven’t realized that their core audience is/should be black men. However, they spent so much time trying to prove they’re not the typical black man (smarter than thou attitude, extreme embrace of feminism, etc) that we just don’t support either one en masse.

Bomani has an annoying disposition and just generally stinks on TV. MLH couldn’t get out of his own way when he was on major networks, and never built up the kind of black male support needed to become an independent powerhouse. His time as a rising star seems to have passed, but he’s a true academic he can go teach.

Bomani gets a lot of chances to fail upward because his version of rocking the boat doesn’t really offend white folks, and with the need for content being as great as it is some fledgling company will reach out to him. He may end up in sports media purgatory like Michael Smith.

 

[KFBF]

It’s funny you mentioned Marc Lamoist, I mean Lamont, Hill because at the end of the day I feel he and Bomani have the same issue.

Both didn’t/haven’t realized that their core audience is/should be black men. However, they spent so much time trying to prove they’re not the typical black man (smarter than thou attitude, extreme embrace of feminism, etc) that we just don’t support either one en masse.

Bomani has an annoying disposition and just generally stinks on TV. MLH couldn’t get out of his own way when he was on major networks, and never built up the kind of black male support needed to become an independent powerhouse. His time as a rising star seems to have passed, but he’s a true academic he can go teach.

Bomani gets a lot of chances to fail upward because his version of rocking the boat doesn’t really offend white folks, and with the need for content being as great as it is some fledgling company will reach out to him. He may end up in sports media purgatory like Michael Smith.

I think this presupposes that MLH and Bo wanted their audiences to be primarily black men. Theres a ceiling on that as well. I think MLH does a lot more outright pandering to black women than Bomani does imo.

But I do agree with your assessment that he upsets white people in an acceptable way; he's the black sports guy that people who read Slate and watch MSNBC love.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Think Bo's issue is one of being a "tweener." He's not quite full on hot-take guy like Skip but doesn't seem like in-depth analytics guy either. Networks have all the ex-athletes they need for that angle.

Maybe he needs to go the Bryant Gumbel/Real Sports route??

I mentioned this before probably in this thread. The non former athletes that resonate were all former journalists, beat writers, etc that were all relaying info to the fans from an insider perspective. SAS, Skip, Lebatard, for example all have that background.

I think Bill Simmons is the only one unique in this way but I see Bill’s name linked to rumors and reports all the time now.

You gotta have some clout for the fans to gravitate too. That’s why Bo and Pablo fail

 

[PHamm]

Nope. i'm not sure of any of the particulars with spotify/the ringer merger. majority of my experience has been in tv/film


Yall gotta understand there are so many factors at play when a show gets cancelled or someone gets fired. It's not always necessarily performance related. Contracts, management changes, conflict amongst production staff, etc etc. It's like an iceberg, we only know what we see on the screen or read publicly, but below it is so much other shyt. Like he said on The Evening Jones, he found out they weren't being renewed 2 months ago. I don't know anything about Bo's case in particular, but I try to analyze it through that lens based on my knowledge and experience.

I think he's perfect to host a nuanced culture show on an ABC, CNN, type network but like I said sports is his niche. With his background and worldview there aren't many people in the sports world who can do what he does. I view Charlamagne in a similar light, music and entertainment BS is his niche, but he's talented enough to be on a "smarter" platform

=====
I think the podcast does good numbers and is easier to produce 3x/week, so going back to doing a radio show would be a weird move imo.

I disagree with recreating Morning Jones or any of his other shows. Everything is different, the people have changed, Bo's profile has changed and how we consume sports have changed. I think The Right Time is a perfect blend of elements of his earlier shows and what we want to hear about currently. I never miss an episode

The thing that sucks for Bomani is that we are in an era where nuance is obsolete in today's media. He's almost too intelligent for ESPN CNN. We are in the dumb down era

 

[DropTopDoc]

I mentioned this before probably in this thread. The non former athletes that resonate were all former journalists, beat writers, etc that were all relaying info to the fans from an insider perspective. SAS, Skip, Lebatard, for example all have that background.

I think Bill Simmons is the only one unique in this way but I see Bill’s name linked to rumors and reports all the time now.

You gotta have some clout for the fans to gravitate too. That’s why Bo and Pablo fail

Bo can do prime time, the issue, he just needs to bring the right time to tv, he never seemed relaxed or in his zone on hbo, i think he tried to be more, and he didn’t have to be, bring up topics, expound, bring a guest, y’all both riff on shyt, do street interviews, show some skits see ya next week

 

[Trojan 24]

The thing that sucks for Bomani is that we are in an era where nuance is obsolete in today's media. He's almost too intelligent for ESPN CNN. We are in the dumb down era

Bomani isn't too intelligent for anything, intelligence includes being able to tailor your message to an audience



Plus he's only a sports casual

 

[gho3st]

It’s funny you mentioned Marc Lamoist, I mean Lamont, Hill because at the end of the day I feel he and Bomani have the same issue.

Both didn’t/haven’t realized that their core audience is/should be black men. However, they spent so much time trying to prove they’re not the typical black man (smarter than thou attitude, extreme embrace of feminism, etc) that we just don’t support either one en masse.

Bomani has an annoying disposition and just generally stinks on TV. MLH couldn’t get out of his own way when he was on major networks, and never built up the kind of black male support needed to become an independent powerhouse. His time as a rising star seems to have passed, but he’s a true academic he can go teach.

Bomani gets a lot of chances to fail upward because his version of rocking the boat doesn’t really offend white folks, and with the need for content being as great as it is some fledgling company will reach out to him. He may end up in sports media purgatory like Michael Smith.

Jemelle Hill landed on her feet really well, while M Smith is where he is...after she sinked the ship

Bomani should go to politics but he sucks in TV so he should only do audio politics

 

[lib123]

I work for the Ringer.

Bill is great.

They gave me stock options when they offered me a job.

That's dope. Did Bill fund the Ringer entirely by himself or did he get investors?

 

[<<TheStandard>>]

That's dope. Did Bill fund the Ringer entirely by himself or did he get investors?

I just joined the Ringer last year. I've posted my stuff around here.

I think HBO had a piece of it......but yeah I think things are a lot different after the Spotify sale.

 

[WTFisWallace?]

With Bomani, he is not really smart when it comes to talking about the actual game, he is smart with conversations around it, etc.

I think think this is pretty on point, his actual sports takes are meh-terrible, but anything surrounding sports…or how he’ll bridge it off the cuff to race, politics, obscure history, music industry, is when he’s brilliant.


Conceptually Game Theory was good, but execution wise, mainly from the stiffness of the show and scripted Bomani made it almost a chore to go out of your way to watch. Basically support watching at a certain point.


Hope Bo’s next show is in a Jon Stewart The Problem / Bill Maher type format, specifically the extended conversation parts…but in a two man (two main hosts) setting, where Bo doesn’t have to be the facilitator, but is still the main draw of the show. There are folk that hate watch/listen/watch Bo. Then there are folk that fukk with the fact that Bo was one of the first ‘arrogant/confident smarter than you’ black dudes on sports television (lol at Skip). And then those that just like the nuance he can provide to certain convos.

Seeing him in convo with others that have more strongly differing opinions would be new (to my knowledge at least), so that would be interesting to see…and the other component of the show should allow him to riff with his on the spot mini monologues.





Outside of all that, he’ll be straight. He already got something good-great with The Right Time…if he incorporated even more non-sports shyt into it, it would be way more of a draw (basically combine The Evening Jones into it)….but I’m assuming ESPN doesn’t wanna play with that type shyt.


(random: if AOC either wasn’t so ‘left’ on certain things OR way more left, feel like her and Bo would make an interesting conversational duo )

 

[Rekkapryde]

Bo can do prime time, the issue, he just needs to bring the right time to tv, he never seemed relaxed or in his zone on hbo, i think he tried to be more, and he didn’t have to be, bring up topics, expound, bring a guest, y’all both riff on shyt, do street interviews, show some skits see ya next week

This

 

[DropTopDoc]

I think think this is pretty on point, his actual sports takes are meh-terrible, but anything surrounding sports…or how he’ll bridge it off the cuff to race, politics, obscure history, music industry, is when he’s brilliant.


Conceptually Game Theory was good, but execution wise, mainly from the stiffness of the show and scripted Bomani made it almost a chore to go out of your way to watch. Basically support watching at a certain point.


Hope Bo’s next show is in a Jon Stewart The Problem / Bill Maher type format, specifically the extended conversation parts…but in a two man (two main hosts) setting, where Bo doesn’t have to be the facilitator, but is still the main draw of the show. There are folk that hate watch/listen/watch Bo. Then there are folk that fukk with the fact that Bo was one of the first ‘arrogant/confident smarter than you’ black dudes on sports television (lol at Skip). And then those that just like the nuance he can provide to certain convos.

Seeing him in convo with others that have more strongly differing opinions would be new (to my knowledge at least), so that would be interesting to see…and the other component of the show should allow him to riff with his on the spot mini monologues.





Outside of all that, he’ll be straight. He already got something good-great with The Right Time…if he incorporated even more non-sports shyt into it, it would be way more of a draw (basically combine The Evening Jones into it)….but I’m assuming ESPN doesn’t wanna play with that type shyt.


(random: if AOC either wasn’t so ‘left’ on certain things OR way more left, feel like her and Bo would make an interesting conversational duo )

I think his sport takes are good, he will actually bring stats to support his view

 

[Street Knowledge]

People are still pushing the whole hes too intelligent that’s why people don’t watch his show nonsense