simers bumps into manny ramirez at the racetrack

When you're as good as Simers usually is and your space is as prominent as his, it's far more difficult to get away with a bad column. His bar is set pretty high.

 

Simers is weird to me in that I like the way he writes. It's breezy and easy and I love to read stuff like that. I find it funny. I can't think of anything I've read of his that I've disliked.

And yet, he's never been a must-read, or even an "I wonder what he wrote today" read for me. He's there, and I click on a link if someone posts it here, but he's very much woodwork to me. And I don't know why that is.

 

These are the money lines.

Sure, T.J. takes a little getting used to -- that goes for either reporters or sources -- if you haven't had any exposure to or experience with him. You do have to "get" him and his style to a certain extent.

But most reporters and editors who have ever worked with or been around him at all, and anybody who has ever had the opportunity to watch and listen to him work (and I don't mean just when he's haranguing some poor, overmatched sports figure in a locker room or press conference) usually come to respect and even like the man a lot. And many, like SF_Express, will swear by him.

This column-lite (even for him) notwithstanding, he's a great, fearless reporter, phenomenal on the phones, both in questioning, and listening to, his sources and subjects.

Despite the impression he may give off with his writing (you know, because he makes a column like this one seem so easy to pull off, when it's not), he's also got an incredible work ethic.

You can actually see it, too, because he's known to spend more time in the office than most columnists of his stature.

 

You can do all the great things he has done without being an asshole.
And don't give me the "it's a long season" excuse. The season was exactly one game old when he wrote that crappy column.

 

I get T.J. I get his schtick. I enjoy T.J.'s company...
The column made me smirk.

 

My only frustration with TJ is when he takes over a group interview session for "The TJ Simers Show," essentially preventing anyone else from getting their work done.

Otherwise, he's a decent enough guy.

 

I figured out in the middle of the column that there was going to be a "twist" at the end - - but I couldn't figure out what it was until the end.

I think the column was highly entertaining and well written - - as are most of TJ Simers' columns.

I never met the man; I only know him through his writing. And I enjoy his writing...

 

Am I correct in understanding that TJ did not really see Manny at the track?

 

I loved where he said Hernandez would expense gambling losses.

 

I get this criticism. Totally. He's the same way when he has the subject alone. Those who watched him work find it hard to understand why he's so effective. But, he has access to the likes of Joe Torre and Pete Carroll and Phil Jackson that few -- if any -- enjoy. It's because people -- of some intellect -- like the joust. If you spent two, three, four decades hearing the "how do you feel" questions, you would too.