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Simmons nails one: Good column on Elgin Baylor

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Piotr Rasputin, Oct 8, 2008.

  1. Hammer Pants

    Hammer Pants Active Member

    Simmons knows a shit-ton about the NBA, and he explains it very well.

    That's where this compliment train runs off the track, but I give credit where it's due.
     
  2. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Jesus Christ, Heroes even ripped that off to name Sylar!
     
  3. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Good thing he wasn't wearing a Timex.
     
  4. MacDaddy

    MacDaddy Active Member

    Or a Casio.
     
  5. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Good column, Bill.
     
  6. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    Nice of Simmons to tell us exactly how the NBA was BEFORE HE WAS FUCKING BORN!

    Since I am 20 years older than this fucking hack, I actually saw Elgin play in his prime. Yes, Simmons gets it right that he is one of the most unappreciated great players/pioneers in NBA history, that Elgin changed the game (he was Dr. J. long before Dr. J).

    My problem is Simmons is merely writing about what he read, not what he saw or knows or experienced.

    What the fuck does Simmons know about Minneapolis or the NBA or what black players endured in 1958 when he was born in 1969?
     
  7. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Thank you so much Spnited. Simmons piece is nice but he has no idea of how great Elgin Baylor was. And although he failed as a GM in some aspects he was also a success. You've got to look at the total package he was dealing with and Clippers ownership has been awful.
    Baylor will be remembered as a great basketball talent who if he were playing now, would dominate the game. His front office skills weren't the greatest but he was working with a handicap.
     
  8. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    That was the one part that almost stopped me from reading, the "come back with me to 1958" line. No, Bill, you have never been to 1958 in the first place. Credit those who saw and raved and wrote about him and filmed him, even with a "People who saw Baylor play will tell you ..." construction. And I got bored with the big sections about lunch dates, the cafeteria and so on. Still determined to make himself an equal part of the story, read like to me.

    It was a good read overall, but not perfect.
     
  9. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Guess I should stop writing this biography article I'm researching at the moment, since the player I'm writing about retired in 1981, a year before I was born. ::)




    (Yeah, I understand what you mean, spnited. But I really, really hate that line of thought. What's someone my age supposed to do?)
     
  10. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Buck, history is just that HIS STORY. If Simmons didn't try to be cute and did a little more research, it would've been an outstanding piece instead of a good piece.
     
  11. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    I understand. Simmons has many flaws, and that's one of them. Rip on him for lack of research/reporting? Fine by me.

    Just calling out spnited's point, which he's made before, of ripping on people who write about things that happened before they were born. The point is flawed, too.
     
  12. PopeDirkBenedict

    PopeDirkBenedict Active Member

    1. What factual errors did Simmons make in this column?

    2. Why would "Being There" have prevented those errors?

    Until you can answer both of these questions, your point is not just flawed (buck's word), but is inane and unworthy of someone who claims to be a journalist (my words).
     
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