Bill Simmons loves Wisconsin!

Discussion in 'Milwaukee' started by kebzach, Aug 25, 2006.

  1. illwauk

    illwauk Member

    Mar 27, 2007
    Milwaukee
    What a condescending jackass. I'm supposed to be proud that Simmons see's Milwaukee as a "random city" that's "like being in a time machine 15 years ago" where it's "still okay to smoke in bars." Funny, you'd think that with how intellectually superior Simmons sees himself in comparison to us "ignorant" Wisconsinites that he could've figured out that the fact that Milwaukee being home to a major beer company (with an EXTREME pull on local politics) might have something to do with that.

    People like Simmons are EXACTLY why cities like Milwaukee, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, etc (industrial cities that are re-inventing themselves) can't get taken seriously. They ignore all the things that have changed about these places in the past 20 years just so they can act as if no one does anything but eat bad food, drink beer and get fat (like there aren't people like that in every f***ing city).

    Oh well, if Simmons is so boxed in by his stereotypes of Wisconsin and the Midwest that he can't see Milwaukee for what it is, that's his loss. He's definetly not the first person from a city that wishes it was New York to slam Milwaukee.
     
  2. sprintjeløy1926

    sprintjeløy1926 New Member

    Sep 22, 2004
    Madwaukee
    Me dost think something something.

    The day these stereotypes become untrue ... is the day I start drinking Heineken when there's a perfectly good case of Leinie's O returnables at my feet.
     
  3. illwauk

    illwauk Member

    Mar 27, 2007
    Milwaukee
    I get the feeling that your (and Simmons') idea of "Milwaukee" is largely based on places like St. Francis, Cudahy, Wauwatosa, etc.

    The actual city encompasses a wide spectrum of lifestyles ranging from gung-ho union workers to counter culturists to so-called "lakefront liberals" and everything in-between (such as bikers with gay-pride flags on their hogs). Ironically, most of the people who do fit the so-called "Milwaukee stereotype" moved out to the forementioned communities years ago.

    Besides, to try and apply any one characteristic to well over 500,000 people is just plain ridiculous. And in Simmons' case, a glaring example of bad journalism.
     
  4. sprintjeløy1926

    sprintjeløy1926 New Member

    Sep 22, 2004
    Madwaukee
    If you could recommend a nice hostel, you'll save me $20 for that "Let's Go Milwaukee" guide I was planning to buy for my next trip. Appreciate it.

    Anyway, the guy was writing (last year, I might ad) a first-person account of a sports trip to Milwaukee. It's not a freakin Michener novel, for Christ's sake. Come clean, are you from the visitors bureau?
     
  5. conquerant

    conquerant New Member

    Sep 22, 2000
    Boston
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah, in all my years living on the East Side, I can't think of anyone I knew who liked beer and brats :rolleyes:
     
  6. kebzach

    kebzach Member

    Dec 30, 2000
    Greenfield, WI
    Yes, clearly Bill Simmons writes fiction.
     
  7. illwauk

    illwauk Member

    Mar 27, 2007
    Milwaukee
    And where exactly did you see me say that NO ONE in Milwaukee liked beer & brats?

    If anything, I acknowledged that there's people like that in EVERY city (though the food changes according to the region). Therefore, for Simmons to only acknowledge that small segment of a large city only shows his own stupidity. Like nothing but beer, brats and motorcycles exist in Milwaukee.
     
  8. illwauk

    illwauk Member

    Mar 27, 2007
    Milwaukee
    No, I'm not from the visitors bureau nor can I recommend a hotel (but if you're offering, I will take that $20). I'm just someone from Milwaukee who spends some time on the east coast and gets extremely frustrated at the stupid s**t people ask when I tell them where I'm from (no thanks to people like Bill Simmons). I swear, Garry Marshall did more damage to Milwaukee's image than even Jeffrey Dahmer...
     
  9. conquerant

    conquerant New Member

    Sep 22, 2000
    Boston
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, my point was that beer brats and motorcycles exist for a much larger portion of Milwaukee than you seem to think; not just people who moved out to the suburbs like you claim, but also on the East Side where even the "lakefront liberals" have a lot of the Milwaukee stereotype in them.

    And as far as you having to defend yourself to East Coasties, maybe you're just hanging out with jackasses. I've lived on the East Coast for 3 1/2 years now, and I never get crap from people for being from Milwaukee; the only comments I get are from people who have been there and tell me how it's a really fun town. Which is pretty much what Bill Simmons was saying.

    And finally, so what? Milwaukee is a fun, friendly, unpretentious place where you can gleefully indulge in brats and wash them down with PBR completly un-ironically. And if the rest of the country doesn't think we're hip or cool enough, I've never known a real Milwaukeean that really gave a flip.

    I love it in Boston, but, man, sometimes I really miss my hometown... :)
     
  10. Pygmalion

    Pygmalion New Member

    Jul 23, 2001
    Bay View, WI
    "I get the feeling that your (and Simmons') idea of "Milwaukee" is largely based on places like St. Francis, Cudahy, Wauwatosa, etc."


    You do see what you did up there.

    I mean if you're going to pick a local locale to throw under the bus we all know no place deserves it more than Whitefish Bay. I mean those people...
     
  11. sprintjeløy1926

    sprintjeløy1926 New Member

    Sep 22, 2004
    Madwaukee
    Your Wednesday dose of [french accent]culture[/french accent]: Brew Crew secret weapon

    It should be noted that this was sent to me by some of my flatlander friends.
     
  12. illwauk

    illwauk Member

    Mar 27, 2007
    Milwaukee
    It's not that people are trying to be funny. People have some seriously f***ed up notions of Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

    And it's not about being seen as "hip" or "cool" either (one of the coolest things about Milwaukee is that it doesn't care about being "cool," but I digress). I grew up on the north side and to be real... it does piss me off that so much of what is thought of as "Milwaukee culture" is synonymized with what the Polish-Catholics on the South Side do/did. Like Blacks and Latina/o's don't exist in this city (especially when the latter is one of the main reasons why Milwaukee is a viable candidate for an MLS team). But I'm pretty sure that Simmons... like most sports reporters who come to Milwaukee... is too much of a pussbag to actually want to venture into those communities. So it doesn't surprise me that his article relies heavily on stereotypes... it helps him avoid having to actually experience the city.

    Anyway, Terry Porter wrote an article a few years ago that explains what I mean much more thoroughly than I seem to be able to.
     
  13. illwauk

    illwauk Member

    Mar 27, 2007
    Milwaukee
  14. conquerant

    conquerant New Member

    Sep 22, 2000
    Boston
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, certainly a serious Travel & Lifestyle article is going to have a different tenor than Bill Simmons writing about a sports road trip...

    But yeah, that was a pretty cool article. Although when naming the festivals he forgot Asian Moon, and I wish he would've made it to the MPM because it is one of my absolute favorites things to see in Milwaukee (during a period when I was unemployed I used to go there on occasion on Mondays when I could get in free just to have something to do :) ) But he did hit a lot of the great things about Milwaukee the rest of the country doesn't know about.
     
  15. TFC4LIFE

    TFC4LIFE New Member

    May 12, 2007
    Milwaukee
    Listen. There's no way to have terms that are all-inclusive. However, we are pattern recognition machines. Hence, the reasoning behind stereotyping.

    Anyways, one way to check out what the MAJORITY of a city is like is to see what the MAJORITY of people are doing. If you think of the two major events that Milwaukee people do.. It's Brewers Games and Summerfest.. Both are heavy on Beer, Brats, and Harley's. That's just the way it is.. Sure, there might be a a good museum or two and a zoo or an art gallery... but the minority does not define a city..

    My East/West Coast friends don't bother me about being from Milwaukee.. Everyone while I was in college was interested that we kept winning best party state and other awards ALONG with best place to live (Madison,WI)..

    Party on..
     
  16. jasontoon

    jasontoon Member

    Jan 9, 2002
    Seattle, WA
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Why should anybody give half a rat's ass what an idiot like Bill Simmons thinks? He's nothing, a flat line on the brainmeter, a human fart. Ten seconds spent reading a Bill Simmons column is about 9.5 seconds too many.
     

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