1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

T.J. Simers rips colleague, kind of

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Versatile, Jul 13, 2011.

  1. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    and the eds at the l.a. times don't discourage him from 'ripping' their own (within reason)... it does nothing but enhance both his images -- as a straight-shooting, no-nonsense columnist AND as an a--hole. ;D :eek: :D 8)
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Early in my career, I was covering a team that was without question the lowest non-preps beat at my paper. It was a championship game and the big-time nationally-known columnist showed up.

    His lede - "I was sitting next to someone named Mizzougrad96, who I've never seen before, but apparently he works for the same paper that I do."

    He claims to be 22, but he looks like he's 16, and when I called to check in at the paper, I was stunned to find out he is a full-time employee. I guess we'll hire just about anybody these days..."


    The point of his column was that what this little team was doing was worthy of our attention even though it was well off the radar in a big city with several professional and major college teams.

    He made this point by making fun of me. When I filed my gamer, the copy chief told me that the columnist ragged on me in his column. That annoyed me because I spent the entire game answering his questions about a team he (understandably) knew nothing about.

    When i saw the column the next morning (this was pre-Internet) I laughed and had no problem with any of it. Nobody would have given a shit if I was pissed, but I legitimately wasn't. A few of the older writers called me and told me their version of that story happening to them. They all said, "Oh, he knew who you were..." I wasn't so sure, even though I had sat next to him at professional and college games before and he had once addressed me by name when asking me for my media guide at a hockey game a couple months before.

    I seriously doubt the Dodgers beat writer cared at all about being mentioned in TJ's column.
     
  3. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    No whoop for me.

    You either like T.J. because he's an asshole or despite him being an asshole.

    You can't be surprised that he comes off as an asshole.
     
  4. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    I dunno Frank. I think it's fairly clear at this point that T.J. is a good friend of mine, and I tread lightly into discussions of his work and his assholeness. And I know he was perceived (perhaps rightfully so) as a bad guy in Jersey, and I know he has pissed off a million people along the way. But I don't know that you can ever question his work ethic. This is one column where he didn't go to the locker room, but he's in there more than 95 percent of other big-time columnists, and I don't know that either "lazy" or "mailing it in" is fair for a single column. He saw Baxter's grade, thought C was too high, and wrote about it. Except for the approach problem some have, I don't see what's wrong with that as a topic.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    OK, who is the most universally despised sportswriter by their peers?

    Simers?
    Mariotti?
    Lupica?
    Albom?
    Whitlock?

    I think it would be Albom in a runaway, but I think Simers would be second.

    I always liked dealing with Mariotti and Whitlock when I was still in the business, but I understand why many don't like them.

    I've only encountered Lupica a handful of times and as much bad stuff as you hear about him, everybody seems to line up to kiss his ass at certain events.
     
  6. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    interesting question and list. i'd offer that T.J. is the one who either doesn't belong on it or should certainly be a distant fourth/fifth, but then, i've never worked with him nor competed directly with him.

    i've covered many super bowls and nfl meetings with t.j., though, and found him to be fine company. and i know at least one person who competed with him as a (team) beat guy and they ALWAYS got along. in his role as a columnist, when you say 'peers' you mean everyone else in the biz or the other folks at his paper?

    certainly an interesting question.
     
  7. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    I mean this as the highest compliment: In a business with a lot of people (not only in print/online, but also broadcast) who try to make it about themselves -- Simers is one of the very few who can actually pull it off. I'm a big fan.

    When it comes to ripping a colleague, it's hard to know the situation from outside. It's not unusual for a few of us on the HNIC website to rip on each other in our respective BLOGS!, but we just laugh it off. If I was Simers' target in that piece, I'd laugh there, too.
     
  8. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I gave him his due about his work ethic in general, but I do not think he put even minimal effort into this one.
     
  9. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Doesn't anyone think Simers might have written this while more or less sitting next to Baxter? Or prefaced it by saying to Baxter, who he might be friends with, I'm going to rip you for not ripping the Dodgers?
     
  10. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    no doubt about this being a possibility.
     
  11. Mozilla

    Mozilla Guest

     
  12. Mozilla

    Mozilla Guest

    This is what makes the best columnists.
    The best beat reporters, then elevated to the columnist perspective.
    And it's great when the columnist then gets to spew for a living, about whatever and whomever honks him off. That's what we want from our columnists, along with the positive columns, too.

    But I think you cross the line when you use a good bully pulpit to rip someone else's work in your own newsroom. It sends a bad message. It says: "This newspaper is fucked up except for me."

    Maybe that's true. Maybe it's not. But Kevin Baxter is a good guy and doesn't deserve this shit.

    It's great that we have a T.J. Simers out there. I like a good column that rips people when they deserve it, and he does it especially well. And I don't like the team grades, either, but you also can't just use your column to shout "That guy I work with is a stupid fucktard."

    What I'd really like to see is a Simers-Lupica war. Three years, no holds barred.
    They like to wet-fart at people other than themselves.
    I think America would love to see them wet-fart at each other for three years or more.

    PTTHHHHHFFFFPPP!!!
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page