Interestingly, much of it coincided with ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between Simmmons’ New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints – the seemingly perfect venue for both sides.

If the suspension was really two weeks, as has been reported elsewhere, that would mean it began November 16. Since that time, Simmons has only tweeted about his book tour, and that ceased completely on November 21. But early yesterday morning, @Sportsguy33 was back.

It began with an old-school WWE YouTube clip (see below), that acknowledged the suspension, and ESPN’s lifting of it. Following that, a joke he’s probably been waiting to throw out there for a few days:

After Mrs. Tiger broke Tiger’s SUV window to “save him,” did she perform CPR by strangling him with his ’97 Masters jacket?

But the majority of the tweets took place during ESPN’s broadcast of the NFL game. There was a joking jab at ESPN’s announcers…

Vegas over/under for times “What a GREAT throw!” will be gushingly yelped by Jaws/Gruden tonight: 28 1/2. I banged the over.

…and a shot at Sirius:

Every Sirius primetime ad is like watching a buddy who just got crushed in blackjack inexplicably start doubling his bets.

In the end, a defeated Simmons summed up the dismantling of his Pats by Drew Brees and the Saints:

Drew Brees was Pacquaio + the Pats D was Miguel Cotto. That was a shellacking. I am shellshocked. Congrats to the good people of N’awlins.

ESPN has long maintained it wants to embrace social media, but in ways that are beneficial to the network as a whole. There have been hints of that since the policy was leaked back in August. In this very glaring instance, ESPN capitalized on both the game on their network and the new media pull of one of their biggest stars, simultaneously. It’s a recipe for success.

Now as long as The Sports Guy doesn’t start blasting WEEI again…

This is how Simmons returned:

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The timing of the suspension is what makes it awkward. Simmons, fresh off a wildly successful book tour that has affirmed his expanding popularity, seems to be too big of a star to be told what to do on his own Twitter. In a network full of recognizable personalities, Simmons has developed himself into a brand, and may no longer need the platform that ESPN provides.

In fact, it may be hurting him. The ability to connect with fans is important to a columnist who writes from the viewpoint of one, and even when Simmons is back to tweeting, those same fans will wonder if he’ll be saying everything he wants to. His status as an ESPN employee, once an asset in attaining a wide audience, is now impeding his access to it.

With his contract expiring in 2010, Simmons may seek to make a clean break from the network. He’s dropped hints in the past about trying new endeavors, saying he, “wouldn’t want to be that guy [sitting on a barstool, saying how hot Anna Kournikova is] when he’s 42.” Simmons is now 40, and with his popularity at an all-time high, has expressed interest in starting his own site:

“Part of me can’t shake the temptation of being the underdog again — like, launching my own sports site, hiring some talented writers and designers and trying to compete with the big guns.”

One of those “big guns” would be ESPN.

The question for Bill Simmons in 2010 will be whether or not the platform ESPN provides, like giving him the chance to executive produce its “30 for 30″ series, is enough to outweigh their occasional meddling. But looking at his current level of popularity, it may not be much of a question at all.