Will Leitch over at Deadspin apparently shot an email to ESPN columnist Bill Simmons wanting to know why he hadn't been writing all that much recently. Simmons' answer suggests that he's a little frustrated with the Worldwide Leader at the moment.

"I still love writing my column and only re-signed last year because I really did believe that we had hashed out all the behind the scenes [expletive] and come to some sort of agreement on creative lines, media criticism rules, the promotion of the column and everything else on ESPN.com," Simmons told Leitch. "Within a few months, all of those things changed and certain promises were not kept. It's as simple as that."

Simmons, for the uninitiated, writes the "Sports Guy" column on ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2001 and has grown with the Web site, quickly becoming one of its more popular personalities. Last year, he signed a new contract that extended his deal to include appearances on ESPN television shows and original programming.

It's surprising that Simmons would be so frank and open about his feelings toward ESPN, but I don't find the feelings themselves too surprising, based on things he told me in an interview last year. It was in April, and he had just signed a new contract to write for the Web site and do some other things for the network, but it was a tough negotiation. Simmons admitted to me that the folks at ESPN weren't too happy with some of his writings, particularly those that were critical of broadcasters for both ESPN and other networks.

On April 11 of last year, I wrote a story that examined many of the once-independent bloggers and writers that ESPN had hired. I talked to Henry Abbott of TrueHoop, Matthew Berry of The Talented Mr. Roto, plus a few others, including Simmons. The link to the story online is dead, but here's a relevant excerpt:

"ESPN does have its drawbacks. The company has been turned down by some writers who felt a move to ESPN would amount to 'selling out,' and others have rejected ESPN's advances out of fear the company would stifle their creativity.

"Bill Simmons, who writes the popular 'Sports Guy' column on ESPN.com, said he has constantly battled with the company over creative freedom since being hired in 2001. Previously, he wrote independently online as the 'Boston Sports Guy,' where he gained a loyal following by riffing on the sports teams and figures from his hometown.

"Simmons agreed to write for a more national audience and to tone down some of his content - particularly the criticism of television networks and announcers - to appease ESPN, but it wasn't easy.

"For the first five years it was a real creative battle, and it was really frustrating for me at times,' Simmons said. 'About a year ago I was hitting a wall, to a degree. They just needed to realize that it was 2007 and the rules were different. The important thing was that they worked it out.' "

Perhaps there may still be some things to work out ...