Guapos Toenails said:Is this reference to Simmons' hissy fit when he left here?
ifmanis5 said:His column has become what ESPN has been for years- the NFL and NBA network- and it's not even original content anymore, just sporadic updates of his old pre-existing formats. He has a great life, and I don't begrudge him for it at all, but his trajectory as a writer looks like downhill ski slope.
PC Drunken Friar said:The guy is living his god damn fantasy right now...and it wasn't handed to him! He is a bball guy thru and thru, always has been. And now he's ESPNs go to basketball guy? While being the brainchild for 30 for 30 and Granttand? He may go down as the most successful modern day sports writer.
He's got my props and I don't care of he is only doing the columns that are easy or that he likes. He deserves it
drleather2001 said:Ok, ok, I'll do it:
You guys are just jealous. "Not a writer"! So says the guy who spends his time posting on an Internet chat room because he never left the cellar long enough to become more than a pissed off has been.
The Atlanta Thrashers struggled mightily and eventually had to move because they could never get over General Sherman burning their city to the ground.
When I heard that last night I wondered how Bill could think/say something so patently ridiculous and why Jalen or Jacoby agreed with it so quickly.URI said:
At least those appearances give Zach Lowe exposure to a wider audience. That dude knows his stuff about hoops.The Social Chair said:The Zach Lowe podcasts don't make Simmons look good at all.
Number45forever said:Yeah, that was cringe worthy in the podcast when I heard that. I'm not sure how they didn't find a way to edit that out, it's just a monumentally stupid thing to say.
ifmanis5 said:When I heard that last night I wondered how Bill could think/say something so patently ridiculous and why Jalen or Jacoby agreed with it so quickly.
Jacoby sure, but Jalen is no chump.Shelterdog said:You never had an idiot boss with sycophants?
Why speculate, that's precisely what he, Jalen and Jacoby were saying people in the city told them -- that since the MLK assassination was the biggest event in the city's history it cast a pall over the population. It's just Simmins then had to take that idea and idiotically apply it to the Grizzly fans.LeftyTG said:wonder if Simmons latched onto that idea as he formed his ill conceived thoughts on Memphis and the MLK assassination. Pure speculation of course.
That may be the best description of Simmons I've ever heard/Dalton Jones said:Simmons has become a brilliant impressario with a great ability to nurture talent and get very talented people to work for him. 30 for 30 and Grantland are major achievements. But he is incredibly shallow intellectually and listening to his podcasts is often quite painful. And I listen to every one of them. Why? Because he gets great guests, just as he gets great film makers and writers to work for his two babies. So they are worth it. But he sounds and reasons like an adolescent.
At the point where I frequently threw remote controls over bad calls, it
all read like beautiful sheets of music. When the desire to become a
sportswriter took over, Simmons’ work lost much of its appeal...
When his mailbags are read, I frequently wonder how people read them consistently.
Dummy Hoy said:I'm sorry for wasting your time. Next time I recommend a piece to you I'll do so with the skill of the writer being the key feature, rather than the point he is trying to make.
bankshot1 said:I think the deeper theme is the one that gets touched on here all the time, the morphing of Simmons from BostonSportsguy, the underground blogger that "we" read way back when, to a still edgy Page 2 Bill reaching a broader audience, to ABC William, who hangs with Magic in prime time
He was always like that, though. 'Brainfart' instead of 'I was wrong' goes way back. Plus he was always thin-skinned going back to leaving this place in a huff.drleather2001 said:Yes, but combined with a lack of self awareness that causes him to still regard himself as all of the above at all times, and to never hold himself to any kind of accountability when he drops the ball.
That is to say: he has so much "on his plate" that letting some stuff, such as his previous personae as "Voice of The Regular Fan" and/or "Pop Culture and Sports B.S. Artist", go wouldn't be shameful at all. In fact, it would be admirable and practical, given the fact that he's super-successful and forty years old at this point. Taking new stuff on isn't a problem, it's that he also clings to the old stuff that seems increasingly anachronistic and forced.
I can't blame him too much for juggling and managing his growing portfolio of Disney duties, and dropping a ball or two along the way. I generally think his positives way outweigh the negatives. Maybe we blame him for not being 25 any more, and maybe he stills wants to have that 25 edge again.drleather2001 said:Yes, but combined with a lack of self awareness that causes him to still regard himself as all of the above at all times, and to never hold himself to any kind of accountability when he drops the ball.
That is to say: he has so much "on his plate" that letting some stuff, such as his previous personae as "Voice of The Regular Fan" and/or "Pop Culture and Sports B.S. Artist", go wouldn't be shameful at all. In fact, it would be admirable and practical, given the fact that he's super-successful and forty years old at this point. Taking new stuff on isn't a problem, it's that he also clings to the old stuff that seems increasingly anachronistic and forced.
bankshot1 said:I think the deeper theme is the one that gets touched on here all the time, the morphing of Simmons from BostonSportsguy, the underground blogger that "we" read way back when, to a still edgy Page 2 Bill reaching a broader audience, to ABC William, who hangs with Magic in prime time
Bill's TV work doesn't add up to much because the nature of the format is to make a few short points and on to the next thing. Plus pre and post game shows are pretty useless to me. I'd rather have a column, especially a 2003-ish vintage effort. Even this one from 2010 is solid: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100602&sportCat=nbanattysez said:If his call is that he'd rather leave the writing to the folks he's hired at Grantland if he doesn't have time to do it well, it's hard to fault him for that.
If you truly love the NBA and are given the chance to talk hoops on national TV with Magic and Jalen Rose a few nights a week, having to take some time off from writing is a small price to pay.
ifmanis5 said:Bill's TV work doesn't add up to much because the nature of the format is to make a few short points and on to the next thing. Plus pre and post game shows are pretty useless to me. I'd rather have a column, especially a 2003-ish vintage effort. Even this one from 2010 is solid: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100602&sportCat=nba
nattysez said:Simmons is not JoePos. JoePos is incredibly talented and LOVES writing. Simmons is a clever writer, and sometimes a very good one, but I don't think he LOVES writing -- I think he looks at writing as hard work.
Here is an exercise: Spend a week counting all the original ideas you
have. Then try to write each one down, in all its nuance, in 800 words.
Perhaps you'd be very successful at this. Now try to do it for four
weeks. Then two months, then six, then a year, then five years. Add on
to that all other ambitions you might have -- teaching, blogging,
writing long-form articles, speaking, writing books. etc. How do you
think you'd fare? I won't go so far as to say I'd fail. But I strongly
suspect that the some of the same people who were convinced this would
be a perfect marriage, would -- inside of a year -- be tweeting,
"Remember when that dude could actually write? Oh that's right, he never
could write. #lulz"
The Social Chair said:Writing IS hard work.
The Social Chair said:Writing IS hard work. Writing a weekly column would be hard to do on Simmons schedule rigth now. Ta-Nehsi Coates had a nice piece on the difficulties of column writing.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/writing-a-column-for-the-new-york-times-is-harder-than-it-looks/272968/
nattysez said:Yes, that was a poor choice of words on my part. The better way to say it is that a guy like JoePos views writing as enjoyable work, whereas I think if Simmons can find other platforms to convey his ideas, he's OK not writing.
Shelterdog said:Most serious writers don't even view writing as enjoyable--rewarding maybe, but not fun while you're doing it.
The Allented Mr Ripley said:I think you'd have to enjoy it. Given the output you have to produce, you'd have to be a masochist otherwise.
He also said 'write drunk, edit sober.' And then he shot himself in the head with a shotgun.Shelterdog said:In my experience they are obsessive and perhaps a bit masochistic. As Pappa Hemmingway said “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Of course everyone's different and there are certainly writers out there who dig every moment of it.
Didn't Simmons say and agree with all of that (Coates and Social Chair) in his back and forth with Gladwell?The Social Chair said:Writing IS hard work. Writing a weekly column would be hard to do on Simmons schedule rigth now. Ta-Nehsi Coates had a nice piece on the difficulties of column writing.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/writing-a-column-for-the-new-york-times-is-harder-than-it-looks/272968/
So, new media isn't all that, even for a guy who thrived in new media?nattysez said:The only way he should choose writing over TV is he LOVES writing -- and that's plainly not the case.