Can Bill Simmons and top sports hosts please stop the monologues? [Video]

This week, the first hour of The Bill Simmons Podcast opened with a straight hour of solo NBA talk. No guest, no debate, no rules. Just Simmons.

The segment was decent enough. A useful recap of the first two weeks of the NBA season for anyone who was locked into the World Series or NFL season.

It was also the exact opposite of what a podcast is supposed to be.

Last year, Simmons told Bloomberg “You can’t just be famous and have a podcast.” In 2022, he told Vox he was cutting back on big interviews because the best guests were already hosts themselves — instead favoring reactions to big sports moments with smart friends.

Recently on his own show, Simmons seems to have ignored both perspectives and started going solo more often.

From his “six pack” of sports news reactions to the NBA tiers or a eulogy for a sports legend, the beginning of The Bill Simmons Podcastis now often a famous …