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Worthwhile Will Leitch essay on Bill Simmons

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Double Down, Nov 10, 2009.

  1. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Dooley, with all due respect, you're miles off base here.

    Maybe I have a slightly different perspective working outside of print, but I think the only sportswriters as famous as Simmons now are maybe Kornheiser and Wilbon thanks to PTI. Throw in Albom for reasons that have nothing to do with sports. Feinstein might be up there. Maybe Reilly, but probably not.

    And yes, people do talk like Simmons. And don't kid yourself into think his success is really just a bunch of blog links, because those bloggers are swimming in his wake, and didn't exist when he started.
     
  2. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    You know what my dream was, Jared? To write like Gary Smith. Or Jeff MacGregor. Or Peter Richmond. Or Charlie Pierce. Or a handful of other long-form guys who are smarter and cooler and sharper intellectually than Simmons on his best day. And in a different era, I might have gotten a chance to do that. Maybe not. I'm not sure I'm quite good enough, certainly not close to the level of those titans, but that was what I wanted. And that's the route I tried to take. (And maybe I'm still trying to take; who knows.) But there is a part of me that understands I'm going to be on the wrong side of history, still wanting that, at least the way it once was. Simmons wanted that too, once, but understood the way that things were changing better than most. Better than me.

    Look at the places still hiring these days. ESPN. Yahoo. AOL. Gawker. FoxSports. Some of this is, obviously, about advertisting and an outdated business model with an antiquated delivery system. Most of it, in fact. But a lot of it is about a shift in tone in our culture. For dooley to say "Bill Simmons isn't that popular, except with a bunch of fellow dickheads" is to deny reality, especially when he's not that popular with the dickheads, who rip him mericlessly, and when you consider the fact that people are lining up around the block across the country to buy a 700 page book he wrote about the third most popular sport in the country. It doesn't mean it will last. It doesn't mean it's fair. But it's the truth. Millions and millions of people are reading what he's writing. All my friends outside the industry? He's the one guy they know and don't want to miss. It's not just conjecture either. Talk to someone inside ESPN and hear what kinds of hits his columns get. Millions. I think I've written this here before, but I got into a huge fight with a lot of my college friends awhile ago when one of them said "You know who are the best sports writers today? Bill Simmons and Will Leitch." Everyone but me agreed.

    The culture changed, man. We can lament the declining standards until we're blue in the face, but the truth is, there was a middle ground between Dan Shaughnessy and Drew Magary that newspapers could have figured out a way to occupy, or at least offer in addition to what they were doing (back when times were fat) in an effort to attract younger readers. That was Simmons, as soon as he figured out he couldn't write columns rating the female tennis players at Wimbledon based on who had the best cans. Newspaers felt like the readers would simply be forced to come to them. Because that's how it had always been. Until it wasn't.

    Let me put it another way: I love classic novels. I love long fiction. I don't blink at 600 page books that are difficult to read. In fact, I get excited forking over money I don't have for them. But you know what? I realize I'm in the minority. People like memoirs. And thrillers. They don't always have time to be challenged or stimilated. They want to be entertained. (Besides, television is better now that it's ever been at any point in its existence. Who has time to read when LOST is on?) And on some level, that breaks my heart. But I also, after seeing the misery the newspaper industry has gone through the last five years, am beginning to understand it.
     
  3. jaredk

    jaredk Member

    DD
    Without ESPN, Bill Simmons is an empty suit. Let him take that blather anywhere else, see how rich and famous he gets. As a student of sportswriting, I've forced myself to read him. It's like listening to talk radio without the sound on, or watching the guy across the table mouth words you can't hear over Jon Gruden's screaming. There's no there there.

    By the way, none of those people hiring are making any money at sports reporting. Good that they're hiring, three cheers for that. But the money is still in print advertising, 10 times as much as online, even in a failing industry. And I'd bet you ESPN.com is a break-even proposition at best, supported by the entire complex of television channels.

    The culture has not changed. Human nature has not changed. There has always been an enormous appetite for nonsense, just as there has been a smaller appetite for news. It's just that now there are thousands of outlets for nonsense because it can be produced at no cost.

    Don't give up being sharp, cool, and smart. It's a somewhat higher calling than being a "bitter, yet humorous, sports fandork blogger" (to quote Ptor). More important, it makes the mortgage payment.
     
  4. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Bill Simmons is a good writer whose writing I hate. He is not cool, not hip, not any of things he wishes he was. But he is a good writer. If he stopped thinking Bill Simmons was the most interesting topic on earth, he could be a historically accomplished sportswriter. But he never will.
     
  5. spud

    spud Member

    There are some important distinctions that need to be made here. The niche market the Internet provides allows for more daring repartee where these things are concerned because you must seek it out to find it. It's more fluid. Newspapers arrive on your doorstep (and many aged doorsteps) as a lump sum. I think a good many columnists do a fine job of representing and reflecting culture back through their words, but you've got to parse them when your audience hasn't been weened down to your own personal devoted followers over 10 years of glorified blogging. Plus, I'm not all that convinced that Simmons' model is "the way of the future" or whatever some such term is being thrown around.
     
  6. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I think about it everyday. I wish the big idea would just hit me.
     
  7. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    Everyone can talk as much crap about Simmons as they want, and maybe there is some truth to the notion that his schtick is getting old. But for a decent sized window, Simmons' stuff was clever and not typical of current sportswriting. It was funny, and it was more comedy than AP style but it worked.
     
  8. Brian Cook

    Brian Cook Member

    That's dumb. When the Red Sox won the World Series he wrote *the* definitive piece on it. Everyone read it, Sox fan or no, and he wrote it in his way, about his dad, and his life. It wasn't in the Globe, but it was better than anything that could ever have been published in the Globe. That fulfilled every professional ambition he'd ever had. The rest is noise.
     
  9. What makes him not "historically accomplished" now?
     
  10. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    Agree with BYH. No matter what Simmons says, he will never let go of his anger for newspapers. Because of that, some newspaper people are so blinded by hatred of what he represents they refuse to acknowledge his influence.

    I completely understand where Simmons comes from. In an early interview for a TV job, I was told I wasn't good-looking enough to be on-camera. It hurt. But, I was determined to be a good enough reporter that someone would be forced to give me a chance. I've never forgotten; that's still motivation.

    Is some of his stuff immature? Maybe. And, I admit I can't get through all of it. But, you know what he has? Passion; love for what he's doing. He believes in himself and what he does, and it comes across in his work. I think that's to be admired, because I'm the same way. Everything he's accomplished -- and he's accomplished a lot -- comes from his desire to be a success against the odds.

    The guy has almost 1,000,000 twitter followers. His book is already a huge success. Good for him. He's earned it. He's worked as hard to be a success as any of us.
     
  11. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    IJAG's jaw just fell through the floor and she doesn't know why
     
  12. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    Well said, DD. And it's not totally related, but when reading and thinking about the plight of newspapers and magazines, it's always good to read some of the best words from one of the best who was here:

     
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