The Sorry 7: Fallen sports TV stars looking for a comeback in 2017

The high point for Bill Simmons' canceled HBO show, "Any Given Wednesday," may have been the promo which promised a hard-hitting show that Simmons never delivered. Some of The Sports Guy's A-List guest interviews with Mark Cuban, Kevin Durant and Nas were top-notch. But Simmons was awkward and uncomfortable on the air.

MORE: Magic Johnson's ESPN return another blow to Simmons' ego

Simmons and his producers tried to remake the show on the fly, wildly veering between news commentary and sketch comedy. Unlike HBO's John Oliver or Bill Maher, Simmons is not a performer. HBO gave "Any Given Wednesday" the boot after only 17 episodes. The good news is that Simmons' web site, The Ringer, is off to a solid start, even if it's not grabbing as many readers as anticipated.

As for Simmons' HBO deal, Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes said he's "working on other things which we think will be better and fairly noticeable." Translation: Look for Simmons to launch a new documentary series similar to his critically acclaimed "30 for 30" at ESPN. We'll leave you with the only thing that really went viral from "Any Given Wednesday" — Ben Affleck's unhinged ranted on Tom Brady and Deflategate, which drew over 2 million views.

Curt Schilling's implosion at ESPN made him the Hindenburg of 2016. The debris is still coming down, with Schilling claiming a left-leaning ESPN fired him because of his conservative political views. The outspoken baseball analyst had repeatedly drawn the ire of ESPN brass, declaring that Hillary Clinton "should be buried under a jail" and comparing Muslims to Nazis.

MORE: Why Schilling belongs in the Hall of Fame despite 'character' concerns

ESPN finally axed Schilling in April after his controversial Facebook post about North Carolina's transgender bathroom law. Schilling's dismissal became a cause celebre during the U.S. presidential election campaign, with Republicans Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin claiming it showed a politically correct ESPN was biased against conservatives.

In October, Schilling launched an online radio show for the conservative Breitbart News Network called "Whatever it Takes." Neither Fox Sports nor TBS, which televises MLB games, is interested in Schilling, sources said. It's questionable whether he'll work for an MLB TV network partner again.

Few companies operated with the bravado of Denton's Gawker Media, parent of Deadspin. Denton's blogs broke big stories that made the mainstream media look foolish, such as Deadspin's scoop about Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's imaginary girlfriend. But inside Gawker there was always concern that the $140 million sex tape lawsuit by former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan would bankrupt the company.

MORE: Biggest sex scandals in sports history

That nightmare became a reality in 2016. After Gawker lost the closely watched legal case to Hogan, Denton filed for personal bankruptcy. Univision ended up buying the bankrupt Gawker at auction for $135 million.

While Univision is hiring most of Gawker's existing employees, Denton is not among them. He said in a farewell letter to colleagues he was getting out of the news/gossip business. Denton held out hope the original Gawker blog might rise again from the ashes once the "smoke clears." Don't hold your breath.

Greg Norman said he was "totally broadsided" when Fox Sports dumped him as its lead golf analyst in January 2016 after only year. But "The Great White Shark" should have smelled the blood in the water around him.

Fox was critically panned for its coverage of the 2015 U.S. Open, its first since winning TV rights from the USGA. Norman took the brunt of the blame. There was no way Fox was going to blame Joe Buck, Norman's on-air partner. Buck serves as the network's No. 1 NFL and MLB analyst.

MORE: Could Fox Sports try to scoop up Rex Ryan?

I agree Norman wasn't great at Chambers Bay. He swallowed the mic as Dustin Johnson choked away the tournament to Jordan Spieth on No. 18. After his own collapse at the 1996 Masters, Norman would have been the ideal analyst to explain Johnson's sinking feeling to viewers. But one and done is a pretty quick trigger. Fox should have given Norman another chance.

"Today" show host Billy Bush appeared to have single-handedly broken the biggest story of the Rio Olympics when he reported U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte was robbed at gunpoint by bandits brandishing police badges. But Bush, and Lochte's, story quickly sprung as many leaks as those green pools in Rio.

MORE: Strangest scandals the sports world has ever seen

The dopey Lochte publicly apologized for lying. Bush's image went from intrepid reporter to pretty-faced anchor-bot who should leave news reporting to real journalists. Rio was just for openers.

Bush was later caught on tape snickering like Salacious Crumb over Donald Trump's lewd "grab 'em by the p—y" comments about women. Bush said he was "embarrassed and ashamed" over the 2005 tape. NBC fired him anyway. What's next for the scion of the Bush political dynasty? Similar to Schilling, Bush might end up at Breitbart covering Hollywood, according to Page Six of the New York Post.

You'd think after the Saints' 2011 "Bountygate" scandal, NFL TV analysts would NOT advise teams to put bounties on opposing players. But that's what Brian Baldinger appeared to do with Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott during a radio interview with 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia. 

"This is the guy that that we’ve got to hurt. This is the guy that we’ve got to take out of the game," Baldinger said. "There’s got to be 10 guys that want to hurt him every single play. In fact, we may even put a little bounty on Ezekiel Elliott." 

NFL PLAYOFFS: From wild card to Super Bowl, SN's full postseason predictions

The usual Twitter furor ensued — especially from angry Cowboys fans. Baldinger hastily explained he was speaking "in character" as an imaginary NFL coach. But his bosses didn't buy it at the NFL Network, which is owned by the $13 billion league. He was suspended six months without pay in November. It's unclear if Baldinger will return next season.

The biggest sports TV question heading into 2017 is: What happens to Berman at ESPN? Back in May, The Big Lead reported ESPN won't renew his contract, which expires after the 2016-17 season. Later reports said ESPN was pushing Boomer into some kind of "emeritus" role, with him giving up his longtime anchor posts on "Sunday NFL Countdown" and the NFL Draft.

At 61, Berman is, in fact, three years younger than Bob Costas of NBC Sports. I could see Berman trying to move to another network or a tech company like Amazon that's breaking into NFL coverage. Berman's agent denied to Richard Sandomir of The New York Times that Berman was retiring. The agent speculated someone "with an agenda" was trying to grease the skids for Berman, who has been with ESPN since 1979.

MORE: ESPN's Adam Schefter fires back at colleague Trent Dilfer

Berman's longtime "NFL Primetime" partner Tom Jackson has already retired. If Berman willingly steps down or is forced out, look for his roles to be filled by either Trey Wingo or Suzky Kolber. Either way, I hope ESPN treats Berman's farewell tour with dignity. Love him or hate him, he's on ESPN's Mount Rushmore. Give the man his due.