After his dramatic exit from ESPN last year, Bill Simmons’ new show certainly got off to an explosive start Wednesday night — mostly thanks to guest Ben Affleck‘s bad language.
The Boston-bred actor joined the Boston Sports Guy on the premiere episode of HBO’s “Any Given Wednesday” to talk about — what else? — Boston sports. More specifically, the Deflategate scandal that has haunted the New England Patriots since January 2015.
“Deflategate is the ultimate bulls–t, f–king outrage of sports ever … it’s so f–king stupid,” Affleck raged.
Comparing Tom Brady‘s four-game suspension going into next season to a baseball player being benched for 40 days after being busted for steroids, Affleck said: “If the NFL really knew how to test for steroids, there’d be no f–king NFL.
“I would never give an organization as leak-prone as the NFL my cellphone so you can look through my emails and listen to my voicemail,” he added, referring to Brady telling the Wells’s investigation that he had destroyed his phone.
“Maybe it’s funny, lovely sex messages from his wife. Maybe it’s just friendly messages from his wife?,” the “Batman v Superman” actor added.
“I talk to f–king football players, pro football players. Across the board they think it’s bulls–t,” Affleck continued. “This is a conspiracy of people working inside the NFL, who all come from organizations that Tom Brady whipped their ass over the last 10 or 15 years.”
After slamming NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — giving Simmons the opportunity to then bash his “old employer” — Affleck ripped into opposing teams and rival quarterbacks such as Eli Manning.
“We’re running our greatest player ever through … this, this mill of humiliation and shame, which is totally unwarranted for the sake of our own bruised egos and our embarrassment and to paper over our mismanagement,” he said.
Affleck’s constant flood of profanities even appeared to leave Simmons speechless at times, a feat that is harder to do than winning the Super Bowl.
Watch the NSFW video above.
“Any Given Wednesday” airs Wednesdays on HBO at 10 p.m.
15 Biggest Sports Scandals of 2015: From Deflategate to Domestic Violence (Photos)
Gilbert Arenas' Sexist Instagram Rant
Former basketball star Arenas invoked the wrath of the WNBA when he demanded sexier female players and suggested they dress like strippers instead of "cast members from #orangeisthenewblack."
The Sacramento Kings guard was punished by the league after he launched into a homophobic rant against veteran referee Bill Kennedy, who recently announced he is gay.
Not only did Rousey get her ass kicked and her championship taken by Holly Holm, she then got blasted for focusing too much on her TV and movie roles, and not enough on fighting.
Sportscaster Simmons' beef with ESPN went public last year when he called out network bosses over coverage of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. The feud reached a boiling point in May and the parties parted ways -- but Simmons, who has since signed with HBO, has continued to criticize his former network, especially since its closure of Grantland in October.
Eighteen months after Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy attacked his ex-girlfriend in a violent assault, police photos of her graphic injuries sent fans into a frenzy, prompting many to demand discipline from the team and the NFL.
Fans feared it was the end for former NBA star Odom when he was found unconscious in a brothel last October. He pulled out of a coma, but his road to recovery has been rocky as the former Laker still struggles to walk.
Colin Cowherd Should Cancel His Dominican Vacation
“I’ve never bought into that ‘baseball is just too complex,'” Cowherd said on his ESPN radio show in July. “A third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic has not been known, in my lifetime, as having world-class academic abilities."
The former MLB star-turned-broadcast analyst was suspended by ESPN for posting racist tweets comparing Muslims to Nazis. “It’s said only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How’d that go?” he wrote.
Most injuries happen on the field, but New York Jets QB Geno Smith got his jaw broken in the locker room by his own teammate following an altercation over money, $600 no less.
Getty Images
NASCAR Lowers the Confederate Flag
Auto racing is a sport of the South, where many people still consider the Confederate flag to be an appropriate symbol of their culture. When the controversy over the banner hit peak publicity this year, NASCAR made the tough business decision to ban it from official events.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter finally stepped down after becoming the main figure in an enormous soccer bribery scandal -- but it took a hell of a lot of media backlash to dethrone the futbol king.
A Penn State student tweeted the sports anchor a link to an article about the school’s fundraising efforts to fight pediatric cancer, which included the school rallying cry “We Are…”
Olbermann responded “…pitiful,” which angry tweeters took as a criticism of the school’s philanthropy efforts. As for why he called the charitable cause “pitiful,” the anchor said it was a simple rushed mistake, while saying social media is used as an alternative to “Wild West saloon brawling.”
Warren Sapp was arrested for soliciting a prostitute in 2015, hence his sad mugshot to the left. That frown was most definitely not turned upside-down when the former NFL great was canned by the NFL network.
Yes, Deflategate was 2015 -- even though it feels like years ago by this point. Brady allegedly instructed the New England Patriots' equipment manager to deflate his footballs, allowing for ease of passing and catching. He was initially suspended for four games, but that later was overruled by a federal judge.
During the big College Football Playoff bowl games on New Year’s Day, sportscaster Rome wrote on Twitter: “Is there anyone not in a marching band who thinks those dorks running around with their instruments are cool?” Apparently, there were lots of people who felt “those dorks” were cool, and that Rome’s comment was not.