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Omar Little
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Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 90307
Location: Formerly Known As 24
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 Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Lowest Merion wrote: | I agree with ocho, JB (to an extent), VLF, AP, CL, and Vish.
Perhaps it's simply because I've been reading his stuff for over a decade, but I like him quite a bit. I certainly don't care about what he says during pregame and halftime. That isn't all that important to me. To judge his knowledge of the game primarily (apparently - correct me if I'm wrong) based on that is in my opinion pretty silly.
24. Have you read his book? I don't care about the homer factor. That book is pretty damn good, and no Bleacher Report troll could've written that. Admittedly, it's kinda a sprawling mess at times, but it's a quality read.
Yeah, as others have stated, his dated and redundant pop culture references are tiresome. I could most certainly do without those, as well as all references to his friends and the Trade Machine.
He's not the smartest guy around, but he's smart enough, as Yin pointed out, to grab Zach Lowe (Lowe and Ziller are my favorites), Andrew Sharp, Rembert Brown, Jonathan Abrams, Klosterman, and apparently sucked up his pride enough to bury the hatchet and nab Charlie Pierce to write now and again for Grantland. (I may be forgetting a few others I enjoy reading).
As to the suspension itself, I'm pretty sure he does not care. He wrote a scathing column suggesting that Goodell step down/get the axe a week or so before the podcast.
Apples and oranges, I know, but Ray Rice got two weeks (initially). Simmons got three. |
Fair enough. I read some of his book. Not my cup of tea I guess. And not sure how the fact that when he sits and talks basketball with people who know basketball he sounds like what he is, a shallow rube with entertainment/promotional skills but shocking lack of basic ability to discuss the game itself, is somehow unimportant with regard to his knowledge.
Agree he brought in good knowledge to his site (the guys you listed are all superior to the boss), so he is smart enough to know that he's not that smart, and is better at the promotin and hey look at me stuff, leaving the heavy lifting to those with the muscle to do so.
Fwiw, I'm with him on goodell.
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“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel |
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Lowest Merion
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Joined: 22 Jun 2010
Posts: 10720
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| Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 12:54 am Post subject: |
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| 24 wrote: | | And not sure how the fact that when he sits and talks basketball with people who know basketball he sounds like what he is, a shallow rube with entertainment/promotional skills but shocking lack of basic ability to discuss the game itself, is somehow unimportant with regard to his knowledge. |
Simmons simply wasn't wired to do television. Though implying that Wilbon knows anything about basketball besides stating he knows Jordan over and over and over again is a stretch at best imo. And I don't think Jalen is any more knowledgeable than Simmons. Could be wrong. So, who does that leave us with? Collins? He's knowledgeable. He also knows Michael Jordan. I think he may have mentioned that once or twice.
Bad analogy time. My brother would likely test out as a genius per every common metric, but if you were to speak to him for a minute, you wouldn't trust him get your Starbucks order correct even if all you wanted was a tall, dark roast black. And, no. I am in no way suggesting Simmons is a genius or anything close to it.
| 24 wrote: | | he is smart enough to know that he's not that smart |
Agree. I think this point gets ignored too often when Simmons is discussed, for whatever it's worth, which is pretty much precisely nothing. |
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ExPatLkrFan
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Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 3987
Location: Mukdahan, Thailand
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| Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 12:53 am Post subject: |
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If you take away his pop references, his friends and family, including his dog, and his homerism you aren't left with much.
As for his"smart hires" @Grantland, I don't believe for a minute he put that whole stable together on his own. ABC/ESPN/The Big Rat owns and controls that site. Just look and see if he does anything on it for the next 3 weeks. He may have some title as editor but I am guessing he didn't hire and he doesn't pay any checks. He's just a drone like all the rest.
Simmons was one of those that screamed the loudest during the Sterling scandal but he was a season ticket holder for years and supported the Donald with cash yearly. If he is supposed to be so plugged in to the NBA he should have known about Sterling's past and if he was such an outstanding person he should have disassociated himself from the Clips. So the ever so smart Simmons is either a hypocrite of the highest order or doesn't know nearly as much about basketball as he pretends. I imagine the correct answer is both. |
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Basketball Fan
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Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Posts: 24772
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/industry-scuttlebutt-bill-simmons-wants-183748653.html
| Quote: | Industry Scuttlebutt: Bill Simmons Wants Out Of ESPN, And The Offers Are Already Coming In
A couple of weeks ago, star ESPN columnist/talking head/"shadow president"/podcaster Bill Simmons called the commissioner of the NFL a liar and challenged his ESPN bosses to punish him for it.
They did.
Simmons is currently serving a three-week suspension without pay.
He's apparently pretty upset about it, and now people wonder whether he's going to stay at ESPN for the long term.
We've spoken to a few e xecutives at several old and new media companies about the situation.
Here is the scuttlebutt:
Simmons' contract is up next year.
He's not cheap. ESPN is currently paying something like $3 million per year.
In response to a story that said Simmons and ESPN both wanted to renew, Simmons' best friend tweeted: "I've known Bill since we were 18 years old. That is the funniest thing anyone has ever written about him."
A CEO at a digital media company with lots of sites catered toward men says that when news broke of Simmons' suspension, people from CBS and FOX called him to ask if he would be competing with their bids for him.
In some quarters, there's skepticism that Simmons is worth so much money. ESPN executives apparently gripe that Simmons' pet project brands on the web — Grantland and FiveThirtyEight — aren't doing very well.
One digital media CEO said Grantland writers were completely shielded from traffic data and that there was little pressure on them to attract new readers.
There's gossip that the blogging platform Medium, the company run by former Twitter CEO Ev Williams, approached Simmons about joining it in a role similar to the one carved out for former Wired and Newsweek writer Steven Levy. Medium sources do not deny this rumor. (Neither will they confirm it!)
The people who run Turner/Bleacher Report assume that Simmons will end up staying at ESPN. "Nowhere else for him to go," says a source close to the thinking over there.
Vox Media, which runs SB Nation, might be a natural fit for Simmons. Vox CEO Jim Bankoff has a habit of poaching stars and building sites around them (Josh Topolsky/The Verge and Ezra Klein/Vox).
"All I've heard is that he wants to go it alone," says one digital media executive.
" I heard he might just want to go independent but get investment, promotion, sales, tech platform from a partner," says another. If that's true, the Medium rumor makes a lot of sense.
Yahoo media boss Kathy Savitt should be calling Simmons' agent right now. Even if it's through a joint venture, he'd be a better fit for them than Katie Couric.
Tim Armstrong should also email Simmons — if only because AOL is where the "Sports Guy" got his start and because he still uses an @aol.com email address. |
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City_Dawg
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Joined: 14 Jul 2006
Posts: 46884
Location: Coming soon and striking at your borders.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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Would BS have the amount of clout he has now without the backing of The Big Rat?
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*sighs*
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ExPatLkrFan
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Joined: 29 Jul 2004
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Location: Mukdahan, Thailand
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| I can't wait to see Simmons win the Latrell Sprewell award for contract negotiations. . |
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lakersken80
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Joined: 12 Aug 2009
Posts: 38831
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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| I can see Bill Simmons crawling back to ESPN in a couple of years....unfortuntately, they are the only sports cable network that pulls in the big money and ratings, NBCSN, FS1 and CBS Sports Network are small time in comparison. |
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DaMuleRules
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Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 52665
Location: Making a safety stop at 15 feet.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| ExPatLkrFan wrote: | | I can't wait to see Simmons win the Latrell Sprewell award for contract negotiations. . |
Simmons may be a crappy writer who lacks any substance, but he's not Sprewell stupid. |
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ExPatLkrFan
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Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 3987
Location: Mukdahan, Thailand
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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| DaMuleRules wrote: | | ExPatLkrFan wrote: | | I can't wait to see Simmons win the Latrell Sprewell award for contract negotiations. . |
Simmons may be a crappy writer who lacks any substance, but he's not Sprewell stupid. |
We can hope can't we? |
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