Bill isn't doing back-to-backs this year! His only focus this year is winning guess the lines!
The Bill Simmons Thread
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Yesterday I was looking for a podcast to listen to as I was driving home from the airport. I landed on an episode of the Big Picture with Sean F. and Alex Ross Perry where they selected their Slasher movie Hall of Fame.
Now, I don't like slasher movies, but I really, really enjoy Sean talking about movies. So I listened and had a delightful time.
It got me to thinking about Simmons. I'm not nearly the rabid NBA fan that a lot of people here are, but I'm entertained by Bill and I enjoy listening to him talk about the NBA. So I tuned in to the pod even though I truly don't care about all the esoteric arguments over the T-Wolves and Nuggets.
This also why I wish Bill talked about baseball more. I've yet to find anyone that entertains me with MLB talk the way that Bill does with NBA talk.
Now, I don't like slasher movies, but I really, really enjoy Sean talking about movies. So I listened and had a delightful time.
It got me to thinking about Simmons. I'm not nearly the rabid NBA fan that a lot of people here are, but I'm entertained by Bill and I enjoy listening to him talk about the NBA. So I tuned in to the pod even though I truly don't care about all the esoteric arguments over the T-Wolves and Nuggets.
This also why I wish Bill talked about baseball more. I've yet to find anyone that entertains me with MLB talk the way that Bill does with NBA talk.
I’ve been looking for a baseball equivalent of Bill for years and haven’t found anything.
It’sa shame we didn’t get drugged Bill mixed with drunk House - that had all timer potential.
Ariel used to post on an MMA board I was in way back in the day; I’m not a fan of his work but why do you feel so strongly about him. I must have missed something. He’s one of these first mover advantage reporter guys.
I really enjoyed Bill and JJ talking baseball. It wasn't deep or particularly insightful, but I really enjoyed listening to a couple guys BS about the game. I miss that.
I always have to preface these comments by saying I like the BS pod. But Bill telling Sal he usually leaves Dodgers playoffs games in the 8th inning to avoid 2.5 hours of traffic, and comparing 2.5 hours as driving from Boston to Greenwich, Connecticut, is like something that came out of a Bill chatbot.
LA denizens whining about Dodgers traffic should be passe. You can walk from the Chinatown Metro Station to Dodger Stadium in less than a half-hour. Or drive to Chinatown and park in a lot there. Much faster and cheaper than the stadium lots. But ask an Angeleno why they don't consider it, and you get the whole litany of "I couldn't possibly take the Metro, I never do it", or "It sounds like a lot of hassle", or "yeah, but that's an uphill walk".
Thinking that spending money to park and sitting in traffic for 2.5 hours is preferable to taking a train is classic Car Brain. Fenway being so easy to get to by transit or on foot is one of the things that makes it so great.
He's absolutely right that 100 Grand is the best candy bar. My favorite was Oh Henry but I don't think they make it anymore.
Bill's Zoom AI proxy bit has already been done. But great minds I guess....
View: https://youtu.be/kg2UlYDswSc?si=Fsai3X4xlotEr4Sp
View: https://youtu.be/kg2UlYDswSc?si=Fsai3X4xlotEr4Sp
A 2-hour podcast featuring an NBA power poll and a long segment about candy is exactly what I needed today. Perfect counterprogramming.
I remember when the Expos fans would toss OH's every time Henry Rodriquez homered.
My wife brought home a mix pack of candy for Halloween, and I remembered that Take 5 bars are absolute crack to me. This is definitely my GOAT, there is just no better combination than pretzel, peanut butter and chocolate. I'm sad M&M's are just too physically small to be able to make a pretzel AND peanut butter combined M.
I feel like we live in a time where M&M should be able to figure this out. The peanut butter M&Ms seem much bigger than regular M&Ms (and maybe even traditional peanut ones).
I'm with you on Take 5s though. Unreal combination of sweet and salty savoriness. A dark horse for me is the Milky Way Midnight bar. It's not a bar I always have on hand, but if I get a craving for one, I immediately have to satisfy it. I'm not sure what it is, but the dark chocolate/ vanilla nougat combo is lethal.
Once again, Bill's refusal to engage with The Simpsons ends up making him look like a fool.
Anyone like Whatchamacallit bars? Haven't had one in awhile but I thought they were good. Great jingle!
Agreed, I love peanut butter M&Ms; I love pretzel M&Ms; I feel like they could figure this out. Almond M&Ms are even bigger than peanut M&Ms. Git er dun Theo.
I remember liking them in the 90’s, but also thinking they were pricier and smaller than the crowded field.
If you're talking about Sherdog, my favorite night of MMA was the kick from Anthony Pettis against Benson Henderson. That forum was great that night.
I was on Sherdog in the late 90s too but Helwani interacted more on the underground where I was one of the OGs (cringe lol). That was started by some Mass guy (Kirik). Rogan used to hang with those guys. Dana White even posted there a lot and his nickname was BLAF (built like a fighter). That was what posters came up with to make fun of him because people always asked if he was a fighter and we mockingly would say no no no he’s built like a fighter. Those MMA boards were in front of culture by 20-25 years.
I clean out my kid's Payday reserves. I might be able to subsist for days, if not weeks, at a time on Paydays. The chocolate ones are great, but I think I prefer the OG.
There are two candy bars that I think are really top-tier when they are fresh: the closely-related Snickers and Baby Ruth.
Chocolate: Snickers has a clear edge comparing the chocolate coatings -- you can feel real milk chocolate when biting into a Snickers, while Baby Ruth is closer to hard chocolate syrup.
Peanuts: The peanuts on a Baby Ruth taste much more like peanuts out of the shell. Snickers peanuts mostly melt into the rest of the bar.
Nougat: Here's Baby Ruth's crowning glory. When you get a fresh one, Baby Ruth nougat is fantastic. Buttery and cararmelly and just on the right side of not-too-cloyingly sweet. Snickers nougat is a little peanut-flavored to help make up for the low profile of Snickers peanuts, and is just a supporting cast member.
One other thing about Baby Ruth -- the fun-size version is a totally different, and inferior, configuration to the full-size version. Different nougat, less distinct peanuts.
I love Snickers, but a fresh full-size Baby Ruth is the greatest.
Chocolate: Snickers has a clear edge comparing the chocolate coatings -- you can feel real milk chocolate when biting into a Snickers, while Baby Ruth is closer to hard chocolate syrup.
Peanuts: The peanuts on a Baby Ruth taste much more like peanuts out of the shell. Snickers peanuts mostly melt into the rest of the bar.
Nougat: Here's Baby Ruth's crowning glory. When you get a fresh one, Baby Ruth nougat is fantastic. Buttery and cararmelly and just on the right side of not-too-cloyingly sweet. Snickers nougat is a little peanut-flavored to help make up for the low profile of Snickers peanuts, and is just a supporting cast member.
One other thing about Baby Ruth -- the fun-size version is a totally different, and inferior, configuration to the full-size version. Different nougat, less distinct peanuts.
I love Snickers, but a fresh full-size Baby Ruth is the greatest.
Yes they are fantastic.
My current favorites are Reese’s (always the GOAT) and Take 5’s (@Pablo's TB Lover is 100% right)
I do not remember eating them but the jingle I hadn’t thought about until you mentioned it and I agree, it was great.
chewy, chocolatey …
They were super good but I have a recollection of them starting off big but maybe getting smaller through their run?
Had a friend whose dad was in the Army and his parents shopped at the BX: they had Whatchamacallit bars somehow before they started showing up in the local NH stores (mid 80s I think)…yum.
For the record, 100 Grand is my all time fav. Not quite a candy bar but also props to Turtles.
Funny, it was at the BXs in Texas that I would see them regularly. Once I got back to New England, it went back to being a rare sighting (like Mello Yellow soda).
Does Bill really think that since the Cowboys are bad there won't be any more TV segments about them? Get Up practically devoted their entire show to them and at one point flashed the topic bar 'Should Deion Sanders coach the Cowboys?' ESPN is addicted to Cowboys content and will never ever stop.
The Cowboys being bad will result in MORE coverage, not less. Now it's juicy content.
The Cowboys have been the most popular team in the NFL for decades. No exaggeration. Every bit of survey research I've seen going back to 1995 supports that -- and I know it goes back longer, I just don't have first-hand access to that data.
Of course ESPN, and every other media platform, is going to cover the bejeebus out of the Cowboys. There are literally more people that will consume it than for any other team.
Of course ESPN, and every other media platform, is going to cover the bejeebus out of the Cowboys. There are literally more people that will consume it than for any other team.
The thing about the Cowboys is it kind of feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy in terms of media coverage. If the media over-covers the Cowboys consistently for decades, of course they seem more newsworthy to the average fan.
A lot of people hate the Cowboys, I presume because they were extremely good during the development years for two separate generations of fans. That makes the Cowboy's so newsworthy, presumably, because people will want to hear about them if they win, and even more people want to hear about them if they lose.
But I don't remember the Cowboys ever being particularly good--and I have gray hair. They haven't been truly relevant in my entire memory, yet they are still treated as such because of this self-fulfilling prophecy that the Cowboys must be covered at all times. The apparent fascination with Jerry Jones, who never says or does anything remotely interesting, is another odd one.
And obviously it stems from the data, as 8slim says, that backs up the interest in the Cowboys, but that is just an example of media being boiled down to exclusively covering the handful of most popular things, 100% of the time.
A lot of people hate the Cowboys, I presume because they were extremely good during the development years for two separate generations of fans. That makes the Cowboy's so newsworthy, presumably, because people will want to hear about them if they win, and even more people want to hear about them if they lose.
But I don't remember the Cowboys ever being particularly good--and I have gray hair. They haven't been truly relevant in my entire memory, yet they are still treated as such because of this self-fulfilling prophecy that the Cowboys must be covered at all times. The apparent fascination with Jerry Jones, who never says or does anything remotely interesting, is another odd one.
And obviously it stems from the data, as 8slim says, that backs up the interest in the Cowboys, but that is just an example of media being boiled down to exclusively covering the handful of most popular things, 100% of the time.
Absolutely, it's been a the number one sports media commandment for at least 30 years with Cowboys coverage.
Also, imagine being the Bucks owner and you have to sell your fans on a Giannis for Ben fucking Simmons plus picks trade? There would be a full scale riot within minutes.
Also, imagine being the Bucks owner and you have to sell your fans on a Giannis for Ben fucking Simmons plus picks trade? There would be a full scale riot within minutes.
I've come around to the belief that our ability to process massive amounts of data in a short amount of time -- the advanced analytics revolution as it were -- has led to every endeavor becoming a quest for maximum efficiency. No better examples than that than the Three True Outcomes approach to baseball, and the NBA becoming a three point shooting contest.
No surprise sports media is in the same boat. Those that program TV and digital have become addicted to their analytics wizards. Most of the art has been sucked out in the name of "science".
As long as they do it before the Packers' season ends, they should be OK.
I am a certified Cowboys hater, but this is a little extreme. In the past ten years, not including this season, they've won their division five times and have won 12 games or more five times. That said, they haven't been to the NFC Championship since 1995, which is truly wild.
I'd call that relevant from a week to week perspective, but nothing at all once the season is over. If you don't make the final four, there's little reason for anyone other than fans of the team to remember what you did. From a historical standpoint, I think it's perfectly fair to say that the Cowboys have been irrelevant for nearly 30 years. 4th longest active conference finals drought, only behind Miami (31 years), Washington (32 years) and Cleveland (34 years). Nice company.
…Just make the whole plane out of the black box!!
You’re spot on, and it seems like all “analytics” can currently do is show us how to be average instead of exceptional. ESPN can show Cowboys, Yankees, and Lakers all day to frack the last bit of interest from the most normy of consumers, but the same thought process could never produce the interesting personalities and programming that made ESPN so popular in the first place.
I'd say this was a passion project for Bill and I'll bet he loved overseeing it.
View: https://youtu.be/a55pyQsI3GQ?si=LSZEcQNdRhH7PqrZ
View: https://youtu.be/a55pyQsI3GQ?si=LSZEcQNdRhH7PqrZ
Oh, I'm ALL IN on watching that.
Coincidentally, I just got tix to see the Yacht Lobsters on 12/13.
For some reason, the Tyson-Paul fight has me re-visiting a couple old Simmons columns:
ESPN.com: Page 2 : Say 'goodbye' to our little friend
ESPN.com: Page 2 : Meeting Iron Mike
The guy could write. I miss insightful Bill.
ESPN.com: Page 2 : Say 'goodbye' to our little friend
ESPN.com: Page 2 : Meeting Iron Mike
The guy could write. I miss insightful Bill.