Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson

Celebrity News

What Bill Simmons will be doing at HBO

People have been buzzing about what’s next for Bill Simmons now that he’s ensconced at HBO, after 14 years at ESPN. I can reveal one of the first projects the well-regarded sportswriter and on-air commentator is bringing to the premium cable channel — a documentary about Andre the Giant.

Among the squad of talents who followed Simmons out the door from ESPN is Jonathan Hock, whose documentary subjects have included the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hockey team, college basketball coach Jim Valvano, and Cuban-born Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant.

Hock’s first doc for HBO is said to be on pro wrestler Andre the Giant, the French farm boy who grew up to be 7-foot-4 and 500 pounds.

Andre, who could drink more than 100 beers in a row, was pro wrestling’s biggest international attraction and helped the “sport” become a big business.

Simmons came to ESPN in 2001, and founded the Grantland Web site. But he left after calling NFL commissioner Roger Goodell “a liar” in May over Deflategate. ESPN has lucrative deals with the NFL.

Now Grantland, which lost most of its writers, has been shut down, and Simmons and his friends are at HBO.

“ESPN is contracting, and concentrating on live sports and highlights,” one insider told me. “HBO is going to have the serious, hard-hitting sports documentaries.”