Simmons first-ever read

The dad stuff was touching to me too ....back in 2002 when I first read it.

I don't know how many times I've seen him recycle the tale of the father/son bond formed from Dad's Celts season tx (1st could only afford one seat for both, later sacrificed for a second, all the shared magic moments...bla bla bla).

Understandably, the Celts winning the title was a great reason to crank that theme out again, but it's hardly original stuff, some of those paragraphs are near cut and paste from earlier work.

 

Enough already with the dads, please, Bill Simmons, Rick Reilly and Wright Thompson!

Or is that the WWL's next channel, ESPN Dad?

Freakin' Freud would have made a fortune working during the time of this dad-obsessive sportswriting. Get over it! Everybody had a dad. The Pope had a dad, John Wayne Gacy had a dad and everyone in between had a dad. We get it!

Can't wait until writing about Moms gets trendy.

 

Beats sports columns about one's kid.

I'd rather read about golf.

 

I like his essays! I do.

The tennis one wasn't great, but I think he's a good writer of paragraphs (even though he should cull a few of them from every column), a good argument-maker (despite the often tenuous nature of his arguments), and an interesting observer of the people in the world of sports (though he frequently jumps to conclusions too quickly). Perhaps less than he used to when he was young and hungry, but he makes me think and makes me smile. He's become, in the last 2-3 years, palpably more arrogant than he used to be; he's certainly not the "regular guy" of old, and I'm certainly not enthralled by him the way I was in, I don't know, 2002. But...he's good.

 

I like him but can certainly see why some wouldn't. But I always find it strange when folks around here criticize him holding him to the same standards as reporters. That's not who he is or what he does. Thought I will say he doesn't help his cause for holding a grudge against the print industry; the very industry he should be thankful he never broke through in because if he did he'd never have landed with such a sweet gig.

 

This is the same argument a talk radio guy uses when they get caught saying something that's just factually wrong, or slanderous. "I'm not a journalist..." Of course, these same individuals spend the other 99 percent of their time talking about what a big deal they are.

 

I was talking more about the frequent criticism that he doesn't go and report and he doesn't have to face the people he writes about. That's kind of his thing though -- he's the everyman writing from the couch.

 

Agreed.

That said, he's also a columnist for a major media outlet. And the best columnists are -- and, I would argue, should be -- generally also very good reporters. Simmons is a very bad reporter, and sometimes it shows. I think his writing would improve if he had a little more discipline and a little better journalism background.

But I'll give him credit for finding a niche and taking advantage of it. He should appreciate his good fortune, instead of constantly blasting a medium that he's admittedly not well-suited for. But that's another story ...

 

If Bill were to read the criticism he's getting here, I'm sure he'd laugh all the way to the bank.

 

I like his pop-culture stuff, but there are many shows that he does not touch. I cannot remember him ever writing about 30 Rock or The Office, and those shows should be in his wheelhouse. Has he forgotten about Lost? Instead, he writes about The Hills and other crap that is geared to 20-somethings.

Is it just me, or is he shying away from the 30-somethings (his bread and butter) and catering to a younger crowd? I mean, you do not want to be the oldest person at a bar or a party, ever, and I think this is where he is drifting.

Two other notes...

- His taste in music is spot on with mine, and I love when he reccomends new bands. IMHO, this is the best thing he does.

- I stop reading when I see "Boston" for the third time.

 

And has, for years.

Still doesn't stop this board from calling bullshit on the brat, when it's appropriate.

 

No, he wouldn't. Captain Thinskin would just give another interview in which he'd claim to never read this site, then bash newspapers again for not giving him his shot. That's the sad thing about Simmons. You'd think the millions of readers and six-figure salary would be enough for him. But it's not. He still craves respect from journalists, and many journalists now see him for the cliched hack he's become. Hard to respect someone who gets paid that much money to churn out the same five columns over and over. I used to read every one of his columns. Now, I feel like I've read them already after the first graf. I think whomever said he needs to go somewhere else to evolve is right. He can't -- to steal one of his lines that he stole from SNL -- explore the studio space at ESPN.