Bill Simmons

[Shibby13]

Share your thoughts

[TerpSoccerFan]

Share your thoughts

I kinda already did... elsewhere.

[Shibby13]

I agree with you for the most part, but I know a few people who use his article as the basis of all their sports arguments, which is frustrating because there is no way Simmons is the definitive voice of sports.

[antifan]

I kinda already did... elsewhere.
Me too, i've said my piece, and i'll leave it at that.

[PsychedelicCeltic]

Simmons is pretty good on the NBA. If someone quoted Simmons on the NBA, I wouldn't be bothered by that, because he definitely knows what he's talking about.

Simmons is a goombah on everything else. His wife beat him on NFL picks last year, and his whining about Dave Roberts was beyond stupid.

He's good entertainment value, but he's not knowledgable about anything other than the NBA.

[TerpSoccerFan]

His wife beat him on NFL picks last year

That was hilarious. Then again, he hardly did any worse than the vegas lines, which you'd expect those guys to be the absolute best considering the billions at stake over a season. He benefits from the NBA because his innate point - that NBA teams are terrible run - is true. Thus, by comparisson, he's always at least on par.

I think at this point it is almost complete randomness picking the NFL schedule. There are some betting pools I know of, etc... And it used to be they were often won by the knowledgable guys, etc. Nowadays more than half of them are won by women who just play it like a lottery and pick teams based on uniform colors or partiality to mascots.

[Shibby13]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=nbamockdraft/070627

One of the better reads I've had in a while on ESPN

[Schu419]

I'm sure others have echoed this sentiment:

He's fun, and pretty amusing at times, but his writing style becomes pretty predictable, and the level of devotion and respect he garners from readers - close to thinking he is the Be All End All of sports knowledge and opinions - makes him very hate-able.

[Bluto11]

fun to read, don't really take anything he says seriously. he seems to hate Chicago and the midwest on top of everything. plus every one of his columns mentions the Pats, Celtics, or Red Sox. we get it Bill you are a fan of those teams, but when you are writing a column on something you don't always have to mention your teams

[TerpSoccerFan]

fun to read, don't really take anything he says seriously. he seems to hate Chicago and the midwest on top of everything. plus every one of his columns mentions the Pats, Celtics, or Red Sox. we get it Bill you are a fan of those teams, but when you are writing a column on something you don't always have to mention your teams


Well, he started out as a local Boston blogger/writer... And ESPN.com hired him to basically do the same thing, and he's never really gone national in content save for new stuff coming from his move to Los Angeles.

[Bluto11]

Well, he started out as a local Boston blogger/writer... And ESPN.com hired him to basically do the same thing, and he's never really gone national in content save for new stuff coming from his move to Los Angeles.
yeah, i figured that was the reason. he just has to realize that his readership is now the whole country, not just New England!

[TerpSoccerFan]

yeah, i figured that was the reason. he just has to realize that his readership is now the whole country, not just New England!

Honestly, I don't think he cares. Has he ever really tried to win people over that wouldn't otherwise like him? Anytime someone criticizes his style, his obsessions with teams or reality TV, he basically just tells them to shut up and stop reading if they don't want to.

His changes seemed to have been organic, dictated by his interests. For example, his obsession with Durrant led to full out college basketball coverage where he wrote about Acie Law being God, etc. He branched out from his locality. His football coverage is pats specific, but he generally puts in a bit about everyone in his weekly picks, etc. He gives pretty much wall-to-wall NBA coverage.

Baseball he only covers the Yanks, Sox, and former Sox. Then again, what else is there to cover? There is only Yanks-Sox to any Yanks or Sox fan (myself included.)

[Bluto11]

Honestly, I don't think he cares. Has he ever really tried to win people over that wouldn't otherwise like him? Anytime someone criticizes his style, his obsessions with teams or reality TV, he basically just tells them to shut up and stop reading if they don't want to.

His changes seemed to have been organic, dictated by his interests. For example, his obsession with Durrant led to full out college basketball coverage where he wrote about Acie Law being God, etc. He branched out from his locality. His football coverage is pats specific, but he generally puts in a bit about everyone in his weekly picks, etc. He gives pretty much wall-to-wall NBA coverage.

Baseball he only covers the Yanks, Sox, and former Sox. Then again, what else is there to cover? There is only Yanks-Sox to any Yanks or Sox fan (myself included.)
i'm not saying he has to do it to "win people over" but if i just wanted to read about stuff in New England then I would seek that out. if i'm reading something on espn.com I expect the writers to branch out and cover topics.

Simmons has branched out a bit(his college bballl stuff was good). but that being said, i think he has a tendency to put in stuff about his teams in any column, like mention Tom Brady when talking about Durant, etc. his "wall to wall" NBA coverage is pretty much on the Clippers and Celtics! :P i don't really care for the NBA, so I usually don't read that stuff.

[TerpSoccerFan]

i don't really care for the NBA, so I usually don't read that stuff.

You weren't made for Simmons then...

[Schu419]

His soccer coverage, btw, was almost insulting. "What a great sport to watch early in the morning while you're doing other things", or something along those lines. He's clearly never really supported a team

[Bluto11]

You weren't made for Simmons then...
but i have no problem with reading stuff about the Red Sox, Pats, or Celtics if that is what the article is really about! it's his "new england tangents" that I hate. for the record, my mom's from Massachusetts, so I have a passing interest in those teams.

[TerpSoccerFan]

but i have no problem with reading stuff about the Red Sox, Pats, or Celtics if that is what the article is really about! it's his "new england tangents" that I hate. for the record, my mom's from Massachusetts, so I have a passing interest in those teams.

I've never before, but I am moving to Massachusetts in August... I guess Simmons will become more even more relevant to me then... Other than the fact that I hate every team from New England.

[Bluto11]

I've never before, but I am moving to Massachusetts in August... I guess Simmons will become more even more relevant to me then... Other than the fact that I hate every team from New England.
hahaha, i'm sure you'll find lots of Yankee fans in Massachusetts

[TerpSoccerFan]

hahaha, i'm sure you'll find lots of Yankee fans in Massachusetts

Actually when I visited, the Yankees were the second most popular team I saw. They were outnumbed 5-1 maybe... But every resteraunt or bar or such I went to had a handful of Yankees hat-wearing folks, etc. I also saw a ton of couples, or groups of friends, etc. where one would have a Yankees hate/shirt then another a Sox hat, etc. Western Mass is almost as close to New York City as it is to Boston.

[Shibby13]

Yankees Suck