Bill Simmons, trending.

[PCLoadLetter]

Bill Simmons is a douchebag and this latest stuff with him and the Ringer really exposes his shortcomings.

That said, the whole "failed newspaper writer" meme that some of you love to bring up is so utterly bizarre and so singularly tied to this place.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

Looking at Simmons' twitter feed. It's mostly links to stuff written by the few minorities he's hired or an announcement of brining on Bakari Sellers or links to some of his podcasts with minority hosts.

Bill Simmons did what nearly every white guy does when presented with that sort of authority -- surrounded himself with guys that look and think like him. But he is what he has always been.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Bill Simmons is a douchebag and this latest stuff with him and the Ringer really exposes his shortcomings.

That said, the whole "failed newspaper writer" meme that some of you love to bring up is so utterly bizarre and so singularly tied to this place.

I don't think it's loving to note he was a failed newspaper writer as it is marveling, as Michael Gee said, that it still sticks in his craw. He has quite possibly made more money by himself than every single poster who has ever posted here combined. He has reinvented the wheel at least twice. He is on the very short list of the most transcendent figures in sportswriting over the last, what, half-century? More? And yet he's still a miserable prick completely lacking in self-awareness. I doubt very much there'd be so many mentions of his failed newspaper career if he was more outwardly appreciative of his success and less of a prick.

 

[stix]

I guess I don't dislike Simmons as much as some of you on here, though I probably liked him way more when he just admitted what he was and did his thing instead of trying to be Grantland Rice.

His biggest mistake here, IMO, is doing a podcast on racial matters and brining on Ryen Rusillo as his guest. That's pretty ignorant. Hasn't Simmons interviewed Obama before? He couldn't think of just one black leader, the ones we need to be hearing from, to talk about this?

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Simmons made “stuffy old dudes wanted me to pay my dues so I said phuck that” part of his mythology. If run of the mill journalists **** on him for that its because he shot first

 

[sgreenwell]

I guess I don't dislike Simmons as much as some of you on here, though I probably liked him way more when he just admitted what he was and did his thing instead of trying to be Grantland Rice.

His biggest mistake here, IMO, is doing a podcast on racial matters and brining on Ryen Rusillo as his guest. That's pretty ignorant. Hasn't Simmons interviewed Obama before? He couldn't think of just one black leader, the ones we need to be hearing from, to talk about this?

Yeah, it wasn't great. For his Monday pods, they're recorded Sunday nights - Cousin Sal during the football season, Rusillo the rest of the year for NBA / general sports talk. With no live sports, they've been touching more on non-sports stuff, but neither one is who I'd expect a nuanced political conversation from, and it wasn't.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

A board favorite weighs in:

Drew Magary: Bill Simmons has had this coming for a long time now

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Very charming to see Magary talk about concise writing.

 

[poindexter]

I forgot that Mariotti was also trending.

It's '00s Week on Woke Twitter.

Did Mariotti beat his girlfriend again?

 

[GBNF]

My biggest issue with The Ringer (and, first, Grantland) is the holier-than-thou approach to both hiring and staff retention. I can't believe how dismissive some of their mastheads have been about employment and freelance inquiries. There used to be a modicum of respect in this business, but that's gone by the wayside with both of those sites (and with The Athletic). It's very discouraging, and it's made me actively root against them.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

A board favorite weighs in:

Drew Magary: Bill Simmons has had this coming for a long time now

That one is leaving the park and still going up.

Simmons made “stuffy old dudes wanted me to pay my dues so I said phuck that” part of his mythology. If run of the mill journalists **** on him for that its because he shot first

Still a sticking point with me. Desperately wanted to be a sports journalist. Thought he could reinvent the journalistic wheel. Acted arrogantly, like the a kid who thinks because one outlet published one of his pieces, he was entitled to a prime writing spot at a metro.

In hindsight, can you picture the level of nightmare he would have been to a desk, especially given how arrogant he has come across to anyone who dared offered a legitimate correction?

Never learned. Made a bunch of money ... and, apparently, thinks that because he did, he can continue to wave his middle finger(s) at us.

Go back to Boston. Never show your face in public again. We would all be better off.

 

[poindexter]

Go back to Boston. Never show your face in public again. We would all be better off.

All these assholes end up in LA. Simmons. Russilo. Mariotti.

 

[playthrough]

In hindsight, can you picture the level of nightmare he would have been to a desk, especially given how arrogant he has come across to anyone who dared offered a legitimate correction?

Magary's story answered this:

One editor who used to work with Simmons at ESPN said they once sent him notes on an article and his only reply was, "stet all changes." He never found any criticism of him constructive.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

What was his kid's podcast about?

 

[Azrael]

What was his kid's podcast about?

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Magary's story answered this:

One editor who used to work with Simmons at ESPN said they once sent him notes on an article and his only reply was, "stet all changes." He never found any criticism of him constructive.

Not the first place I've read his complete distaste for editors or anyone who dare challenge him, at the risk of a crane kick during a karate tournament.

The funny part? Actually had someone once argue that Simmons actually wanted to be edited.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Dear God! That ought to be on loop in Hades.

 

[exmediahack]

What I care about.

Is the Bill Simmons Podcast any good?

Yes. It's still an automatic download. Whether I'll listen to it or not depends on the subject and the guests. Cousin Sal, sure. House, yes. Chris Ryan... yeah, okay. Rusillo, most definitely as they have incredible chemistry. I don't read anything on The Ringer outside of the NFL season. Only care about the podcasts.

Simmons revolutionized the industry. He was the only reason people read Page 2. Formed Grantland, was on NBA Countdown for a couple of years and then left to go out on his own. Forms the Ringer and then sells it for more money than some Central American nations' GDP.

Sure, he failed on HBO -- hosting TV isn't his medium. His first podcasts were awful but he got better and camped out early in the medium that is now the present and the future of sports content consumption. Every day when it's not raining, snowing or cold, I walk or run 90+ minutes. All podcasts when I walk and music when I run.

I really don't give a damn who Simmons hires. Is the product good? To me, it still is many more times than not.

The real lack of diversity at The Ringer is that everyone writes or sounds with the same perspective. Snarky, everyone hates Trump and the white guys give courtesy laughs and try to feign interest in whatever a female on one of the podcasts has to say.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

My biggest issue with The Ringer (and, first, Grantland) is the holier-than-thou approach to both hiring and staff retention. I can't believe how dismissive some of their mastheads have been about employment and freelance inquiries. There used to be a modicum of respect in this business, but that's gone by the wayside with both of those sites (and with The Athletic). It's very discouraging, and it's made me actively root against them.

Perfectly said. Every successful place in every industry is going to harbor some resentment from outsiders who believe they were good enough to be hired at The Plain-Dealer, I mean, there. But The Athletic's ever-mysterious caste system (if you're cool enough for Alex & Adam, then you work there, if you're not, then you don't), coupled with the disdain for freelancers--some of whom they used to get off the ground in many markets and then discarded--is infuriating. I don't root against them, it's not fair to the rank-and-filers who will be just as screwed as the rest of us if the site implodes, but the institutional arrogance is disheartening.

As for Simmons, you'd think a guy who constantly cried about how he wasn't allowed to even prove he could sit at the cool kids' table would be more open-minded to giving a wider variety of people a chance. But these are the actions of someone who was born on third base and bitched about how far he had to run to touch home.

 

[Songbird]

Made a bunch of money

A bunch of ****ing money and still not happy.