Simmons Cliff Notes

[Michael_ Gee]

Footnotes in a sports article should earn a writer an editor's foot way, way, up his ass.

 

[playthrough]

Love Simmons' podcasts. Can't read his stories. Just too much.

Same here. He pulls some decent guests and ain't half bad at guessing the NFL lines.

And his schtick is much better in a conversational style, rather than just words on the page. He may be a limited writer, but he's a clever, funny dude, and it comes through much better in the podcasts, despite his made-for-print voice. I think it would be fun to hang out with him and Jack-O if they could stay away from the in-jokes.

But they'd never stay away from the in-jokes. I only skimmed this story, and sure enough found the Jack-O mention. I'm just not on board with the friends and family stuff in every single story. My friends would have told me three years ago, "uh, dude, could you kind of leave us alone?"

 

[Monroe Stahr]

Halfway through the piece, you realize you're on the journalistic equivalent of the Bridge to Nowhere. Never has a writer taken so long to say so little.

 

[buckweaver]

I have to say, the use of gigantic, big-ass art on the web is pretty cool.

I really, really liked the look of that page. That's not really saying much because I'm clueless when it comes to Web design, but the first thing I said when I clicked on that page was "Wow, this looks really sharp."

I really liked the look of that page ... so long as I'm not reading the article. Which I didn't. If I were reading it, I'd have given up after the second batch of footnotes, because it completely breaks up the story (and not in a good way.) Makes it too hard to read.

And I understand his style is to be wordy, which is fine and it's brought him success, but seriously, man: learn to self-edit. You're going to write 10,000 words or whatever ... AND use footnotes? On a topic that you've probably written a million words about in the last five years? Jesus. You can't make judgment calls about what's important enough to include in a 10,000-word epic ... so you have to add MORE, and break them out as footnotes? Holy, holy ****.

(Mind you, this is coming from a guy who just submitted a 10K-word biography with 150 citations/footnotes to an editor last week ... not newspapers, of course. NO one needs to do that for yet another rehash of Manny Being Manny. Damn.)

 

[JoelHammond]

My problems:

The first xxxx words are stories about him partying, working with stars, etc.

He again grinds his ax with the Boston media.

I believe the point was that Boras was the problem. But he didn't get there until 20 minutes in.

I don't get this one.

 

[SockPuppet]

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson's Joker in Batman: "This story needs an enema."

 

[bigbadeagle]

And of course, Mr. Simmons uses his NFL picks column to talk about WEEI talking about his History of the Manny Empire on Thursday.
One thing, Bill - this has already been discussed ad infinitum in the Boston papers, well before you had your Archimedes moment on why Manny pulled a D.B. Cooper.
Could someone give him a tall glass of getthe****overyourself please?

 

[Big Circus]

Just went to read the column, and I haven't gotten any further, but this at the very beginning made me laugh out loud:

NFL NETWORK (-14) over My Enduring Disbelief
I wish I could hop into a time machine, travel back to 1988 and see the look on my own face as 2008 Bill says the words, "Twenty years from now, Morrissey's 'Every Day is Like Sunday' will be used to promote the NFL." What's next -- the WNBA centering its Finals campaign around "Girlfriend in a Coma"? I can't get over this.

 

[bydesign77]

Um, it's Cliff's Notes [/copyeditor]

 

[nmmetsfan]

Simmons podcasts are about the only way I get through the long drives to football games on my beats. Well, that and road head.

I prefer texting. Well, not to road head.

 

[The Granny]

Simmons podcasts are about the only way I get through the long drives to football games on my beats. Well, that and road head.

I prefer texting. Well, not to road head.

Glad you added that caveat.

 

[MacDaddy]

Um, it's Cliff's Notes [/copyeditor]

Actually, it's CliffsNotes.

 

[DanOregon]

It's hard to believe the same website that published the Simmons Manifesto on Thursday, would come back with the very solid piece on the Economic Meltdown's impact on Sports the next day.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Baby Jesus help us ... he's footnoting.

I think more than anything, Simmons wants to be Klosterman.

 

[silentbob]

I'm not a huge Simmons fan, but I think his popularity partially shows why newspapers are failing.

For the most part, readers love this guy. (If you dispute this, please, stop reading right now, because you will in no way agree with what's to follow)

And yet ...


... journalists hate him.

There's a disconnect there.


I think journalists hate Simmons because he represents a new-age form of sports journalism. It's basically long-form blogging. Simmons breaks all the rules of traditional journalism. He uses 'I.' He admits he's a fan. He admits he's biased and he's not afraid to speculate on things he didn't learn through sources.

But intead of learning from his popularity -- "readers really want this? -- most of us choose to bash, standing by our journalistic traditions as the lifeboat takes on more water.

Whatever floats your boat.

Again. I'm not a huge Simmons fan -- I read him about once every two months - but I do find him talented and entertaining. (Calling the Ramirez trade a foreclosure was pretty clever.) Yes, this story went on way too long. And I didn't agree with his interpretation of the opening -- Shouldnt' the Kimmel show have paid for drinks in the first place? -- and his villain wasn't all that enlightening -- Isn't the agent always to blame? -- but he keeps the reader engaged.

If I were in charge (I use that phrase a lot), I'd tell my writers:

*Feel free to take chances.

*Don't be afraid to include yourself in columns. (My biggest pet peeve on this board is when people post "Readers don't care about you!" and "I stopped reading the first time he said "I." Wake up, people. Memoirs are on the bestsellers list. Bill Simmons is among the most popular sports columnists in the country. J.R Moehringer put himself in a profile of Pete Carroll -- and it's in the latest BASW collection.

Maybe not you, but someone doesn't mind reading about the author!

NOTE: Yes, the above can be overdone, so I would reserve the right to reel the abusers in and take away this privilege.

Bottom line: News stories are news stories. There are rules to follow there and those shouldn't be compromised. But everything else? Use journalism rules as a guideline and just tell the best story.

Another example: Wright Thompson's story on George Selvie in the latest ESPN The Magazine. When I saw it, I wasn't real interested because I know Selvie's story. But Wright decided to eat whatever Selvie ate throughout the course of a couple days. An orginal idea? No. But it kept my attention more than your average George Selvie-is-undersized profile.

Writing changes. Embrace it.

P.S. I liked the footnotes.

 

[BYH]

Journalists tend to hate Simmons (I don't, I save my hatred for SJ posters ) because he reinvented the wheel to get his dream job yet all he does is cry about not getting a gig at the Herald.

He won. The rest of us lost. Yet he cries and cries and cries and cries and cries.

-30-

 

[Michael_ Gee]

You know, newspapers are shrinking. Telling people to write more like Simmons is a physical impossibility. No paper would even stand for it on their Web site.
Good writing is good writing. Times have changed since the 1920s, too, but a Heywood Broun story is still worth reading.
I dislike Simmons' writing. It's a matter of personal taste. I have no envy. I got to do stuff in my career I enjoyed that he didn't get to do. I don't envy people richer than me. What's the point of that?

 

[playthrough]

His insecurity is immense. The man blazed his own path in this business, straight to the top of the mountain, yet he can't stop complaining about not becoming a columnist at the Herald and he can't handle criticism from the anonymous online masses (he'll read this thread and he'll be pissed at everyone but silentbob). I get the impression he doesn't smell the roses enough, and that's sad.

 

[BYH]

Bill, if you're reading this, remember: You can't unsee us.

 

[silentbob]

MikeG, if you think I was telling people they need to write as long as Simmons, you missed the point entirely.