You're just, like, creating a narrative man, one that befits your preconceived notions. There's a bunch of strawmen there, too. It is impossible to believe you're just thinking for yourself and stating an honest opinion.
Seriously, though, Simmons has lost his fastball and he's become what he literally made his career on mocking. An out of touch guy who just spouts nonsense and the same 10 platitudes without putting any work or thought into anything he's creating. He's definitely Top 3 all time in bad podcasts hosts for the last 20 years. Well, maybe top 5. We should do an MVP pod about it.
The second Bill stopped writing was the second he started calcifying and now he's set in stone. He regressed fast. He was great as recently as 2020. And good in 2021. Then collapse.
He doesn't even have celebrities on his podcast anymore because that requires prep, paying attention to what the guest is saying instead of just waiting to talk, and an actual attention span. Instead he has on boot lickers like Steven Ruiz and Ben Solak. No work involved, just let Ben tell him how cool he is.
But it happens. He definitely used to put in the work and his writing in the 00s were some of the best in the history of the internet. I read every word and every column release was an event for me. But that was 20 years ago. He caught a very nice break with the Spotify buyout and now he's just coasting.