More Simmons idiocy

[Chef]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons



Does he really think that he is the supreme being of all things basketball?

 

[wickedwritah]

So what's the idiocy? That O.J. Mayo will suck in the NBA?

 

[Chef]

It was just shocking to me that the one guy that stood out to him happens to be going to UCLA.

 

[wickedwritah]

OK ...

 

[Hammer Pants]

I actually liked this one. Several good points. The O.J. Mayo era at USC is going to bother a lot of people. I fear he is going to take my hatred of that selfish brand of basketball to another level. And it is NOT a race issue (at least for me).

Simmons doesn't know as much as he thinks he does, but he knows more about basketball than most of us.

 

[Oz]

Don't see that much to pick apart in that column, but that's just me.

 

[Huggy]

I have no interest in the NBA but I thought this was interesting:

Winning and losing doesn't matter nearly as much as how you did and how you looked. We're seeing the effects in the NBA right now; it's been one of the worst regular seasons in recent memory, mainly because the vast majority of players don't seem like they give a crap. For instance, the Celtics had the youngest team in the league this season. During their 18-game losing streak, nobody ever got kicked out of a game, knocked someone into a basket support, threw a frustrated punch ... hell, even the coach didn't get kicked out of a game. There was a passive, pathetic, indifferent response to everything that was happening. Not a single person stepped up. As somebody who travels with the team told me, "If you were with these guys every night and saw how little these losses affected them, you'd never want to follow sports again ... the losses just bounce right off these guys."

Why? Because they've been playing 100-plus games every year since they were 14 years old. Because the final score never really mattered for most of those games. Because they were taught at an early age that it's all about how YOU looked, not how your team looked.

To be fair, some guys break out of that mind-set or never get corrupted in the first place. At the same time, it's definitely a mind-set. And it's depressing.

Anyone else feel this way? Hockey players play loads of games and become obsessed with points and **** like ice time and plus/minus at a young age and I'm sure football and baseball are no different.

Thoughts?

 

[Leo Mazzone]

The youth hockey clip in the links section was hilarious.

 

[slappy4428]

All these posts and none from Starman... am disappointed

 

[GimpyScribe]

At least he had an opinion. I may not always agree with him, but at least I know he's passionate about the sport he's writing about.
And, I'm with Leo ... love the links.

 

[Boobie Miles]

I have no interest in the NBA but I thought this was interesting:

Winning and losing doesn't matter nearly as much as how you did and how you looked. We're seeing the effects in the NBA right now; it's been one of the worst regular seasons in recent memory, mainly because the vast majority of players don't seem like they give a crap. For instance, the Celtics had the youngest team in the league this season. During their 18-game losing streak, nobody ever got kicked out of a game, knocked someone into a basket support, threw a frustrated punch ... hell, even the coach didn't get kicked out of a game. There was a passive, pathetic, indifferent response to everything that was happening. Not a single person stepped up. As somebody who travels with the team told me, "If you were with these guys every night and saw how little these losses affected them, you'd never want to follow sports again ... the losses just bounce right off these guys."

Why? Because they've been playing 100-plus games every year since they were 14 years old. Because the final score never really mattered for most of those games. Because they were taught at an early age that it's all about how YOU looked, not how your team looked.

To be fair, some guys break out of that mind-set or never get corrupted in the first place. At the same time, it's definitely a mind-set. And it's depressing.

Anyone else feel this way? Hockey players play loads of games and become obsessed with points and **** like ice time and plus/minus at a young age and I'm sure football and baseball are no different.

Thoughts?

I think this is the biggest thing that the average fan has no grasp of whatsoever, and if they did there would be far less fanboy-loserness in the world. It's definitely prevalent in basketball, but really in every sport to some extent. Not all of these guys really care that much. They don't care about winning, they don't care about the team, and they don't care about the fans. I'm not judging that one way or the other, but it's reality, and so many fans have no idea that's how it is.

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

Simmons may be an insufferable Masshole douchebag, but he knows -- and more importantly, cares about -- hoops. Compared to the rest of the crap he turns out, his basketball stuff is at least readable.