Sports Media Discussion (RIP ESPN) - Page 18 - Sporting Events and Fantasy Sports

I think the Klosterman essay is even worse, the guy claims he went into exile party because Klosterman types get attention (and exile in Russia of all places, that's certainly a culture to emulate). Seems just a bit melodramatic, don't you think?

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05-12-2011 , 11:57 AM

#427

Classic

formerly ClassicBob

Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,962

Triumph,

I agree with you, but at the same time, it seems (without a ton of clicking around) that the blog is a bit of a media watchdog. As such, it's sort of their bit to know these things, even if it sucks.

Here's something for you to click on:
http://fakecriterions.tumblr.com/pos...est-1926-email

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05-12-2011 , 11:58 AM

#428

Bad Beat Bill

veteran

Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 3,204

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triumph36

takedowns like that are sad because it's clear that the writer himself is incredibly well-steeped in something he doesn't like. why would anyone pay this much attention to bill simmons? the joy of a culture where a guy like simmons thrives is that there's something for everyone.

(for the record, i don't like simmons and only read him when something lol happens in boston sports, but i have a post ITT so i tend to click on it when it gets bumped)

I kinda noticed the same thing, but for all that it's really well done and pretty damn funny too. I don't think it's necessarily hypocritical to be well-steeped in something you don't really like. I read his columns because I enjoy his general writing style and think that sometimes he's clever or whatever, plus on ESPN it's hard to really find any good long-form content like that, but I don't really like him and I'm glad people are taking him to task, dont know what that makes me though.

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05-12-2011 , 12:02 PM

#429

Matt Williams

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Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 6,112

What was the point of that article? Seems like a bitter jaded writer that is jealous of the attention/money Simmons has.

He says the soft launch is horrible and you never put out the worst material.
He accuses Simmons of doing that and then makes an exception. OK...so it's not the worst then?

If only the writing could save it. The purpose of a soft launch is to tease the coming content with isolated releases that enable editors and designers to work out little kinks. You don't share your greatest stuff, but you don't share your worst. Inexplicably, Grantland went with the latter. (This doesn't include Baker's article, which, again, could have been published in any other sports magazine or website on the planet.)

I learned a long time ago that if you want to be taken seriously by editors or publishers that just about the worst thing you can do is criticize another man's writing. Especially when that person is already successful.

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05-12-2011 , 12:24 PM

#430

Triumph36

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad Beat Bill

i'm not saying it is hypocritical. i'm saying it's just unfortunate and sad, like the 2p2 politics forum. if bill simmons were a newspaper writer and there was 1 newspaper in town, and this happened pre-internet, then i could see being really upset.

his criticisms are all valid, which to me makes them even worse.

classic: eh, fine. i think criticizing sports writing for being middlebrow is like criticizing TV shows for being predictable.

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05-12-2011 , 12:44 PM

#431

Pudge714

Modding All Day

Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 39,104

Quote:

. This is the thing someone got paid to write, the comic conceit that says something like:
• Airline food sucks.
• Taco Bell makes you poop.
• Beer ads have boobs.
• "Those clowns in Washington did it again. Ah ha ha, what a bunch of clowns."

He really undercuts his whole criticism of Simmons by quoting a classic Simpsons joke

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05-12-2011 , 12:48 PM

#432

Pudge714

Modding All Day

Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 39,104

He also loses a ton of cred when he pimps his own article and talks about how great it is.

Ultimately while his criticisms of Simmons et. al are valid he is basically doing the same thing as them except he thinks he is smarter because he is a level above them by criticizing the media instead of culture.

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05-12-2011 , 02:56 PM

#433

nath

the second coming of the second coming

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 68,675

Also pretty weird that he says they lead with "the worst" writing they have to offer and then of the two pieces says one is really good.

An entertaining read, but I agree that it's not exactly revelatory and that anyone with this kind of time and capacity for writing and in-depth knowledge could train their guns on better targets.

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05-12-2011 , 03:20 PM

#434

Fyte On

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Well, before we turn 180 degrees and defend Simmons, let's see how bitchy his retorts and complaints about this are.

Didn't he completely cut a guy out of the second edition of his bball book bc of some far less hurtful things the guy said? He's super petty on twitter too.

One of my biggest beefs with Simmons is that with his ascension has come a complete loss of self deprecation and ability to laugh at himself. His best work was when Boston sports sucked.

Last edited by Fyte On; 05-12-2011 at 03:23 PM. Reason: edited to sound less critical lol

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05-12-2011 , 03:33 PM

#435

ClarkNasty

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Bill Simmons def needs to be loved.

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05-12-2011 , 04:11 PM

#436

Detective McNulty

old hand

Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 1,937

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fyte On

This is a great point. The fact that he takes himself so seriously is what makes him easy to dislike. Also, the fact that he takes things written about him so personally. On Twitter, I tweeted him one time ripping one of his columns and he blocked me. He probably gets up to 1,000 tweets a day. The fact he took the time to read them all and block me is hilarious.

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05-12-2011 , 04:16 PM

#437

ClarkNasty

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Detective McNulty

lol I've read like 12 columns of his ever, but stuff like this just make me think he's a petulant little bitch who has gone through life feeling like a loser due to his prepubescent girl voice and who knows what other personal issues. I mean, blocking rando tweeters, the re-editing the paperback version of his book due to someone mentioned in the hardcover version giving him a bad review, the need to suck up to Zeke Thomas - dude is straight up pathetic.

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05-12-2011 , 04:24 PM

#438

nath

the second coming of the second coming

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 68,675

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fyte On

Didn't he completely cut a guy out of the second edition of his bball book bc of some far less hurtful things the guy said? He's super petty on twitter too.

LOL yeah, the article links to the story behind that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Detective McNulty

lol. Pretty sad.

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Originally Posted by ClarkNasty

Being from Boston?

Didn't the city of Boston win, like, six championships between January 2002 and June 2008? I imagine part of him feels super-entitled about those, like his team's successes and his success are all part of the same "we deserve to win after being pooped on for so long" package.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClarkNasty

the need to suck up to Zeke Thomas

Yeah, this one is great. After all the time he spends ripping on him, now his columns include all this "Maybe Isiah had the right idea trading for Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph after all!" nonsense.

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05-12-2011 , 04:49 PM

#439

qwertyu121

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That article is disturbing yet hilarious. I guess it's good that there are people so dedicated to hating someone. Makes for interesting articles.

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05-12-2011 , 06:29 PM

#440

cobrakai111

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 3,947

I was way too busy/lazy to ever do it, but I always thought an ebook on a topic like this would do pretty well since he's such a polarizing figure in sports. Some sample categories I thought of:

pop culture references (ie: dated pop culture references)
debunking the ewing theory
manifestos, rules and corollaries (and how they change to fit his opinions week to week)
Mailbags and chat logs = Reader ass kissing?
Friends!
Faces!
NBA Expert...? False
gambling/vegas references

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05-12-2011 , 06:57 PM

#441

nath

the second coming of the second coming

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 68,675

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobrakai111

pop culture references (ie: dated pop culture references)
...
manifestos, rules and corollaries (and how they change to fit his opinions week to week)

"The 18 rules of everything that always hold true about this sport, that I just came up with watching last night's game, filtered through my 37 favorite Gymkata quotes"

Last edited by nath; 05-12-2011 at 07:07 PM. Reason: grammar

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05-12-2011 , 06:58 PM

#442

Loretta8

knows her Big Ten

Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 21,899

i stopped reading Simmons years ago, tilts me to no end that the asinine ewing theory has somehow taken hold.

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05-12-2011 , 09:43 PM

#443

Chilltown

SuperMegaElitePoster

Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 40,121

Bill is incredibly flip floppy on his latest podcast. More so than usual.

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05-12-2011 , 10:52 PM

#444

Bill Murphy

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I enjoy Simmons' stuff for the most part and with all the usual qualifications, but there is no doubt he's grown increasingly thin-skinned & flip-floppy. The obv parallel IMO is with Tarantino.

I think today's podcast was about his 4th change on who's coming out of the Western Conf.

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05-12-2011 , 11:20 PM

#445

Matt Williams

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Simmons does the stuff he does because it's what sells.

Has anyone read Joe Posnanski's book The Machine? It's about the Big Red Machine of the 70's. In the book, Posnanski uses BA/HR/RBI's as his metrics. He doesn't really use those metrics in his every day writing. But he does it in his book. It's because he knows he'll sell more copies because of people that grew up watching that team.

It's all about what sells. Simmons doesn't give a crap about annoying the 5% that hate his stuff. He cares about the 95% that love it.

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05-13-2011 , 12:28 AM

#446

BobboFitos

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Detective McNulty

lol wow.

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05-13-2011 , 01:21 AM

#447

vixticator

clutch

Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 117,339

blocking people who say something bad about you on twitter when you're as 'big' as he is, that's pretty bizarre. next thing you'll tell me he personally writes angry letters to the editor anytime he gets slammed by the press ala the donald.

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05-13-2011 , 01:54 AM

#448

gehrig

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simmons probably gets like 180 messages a day from mouthbreathers calling him a ****** for sucking tom brady's ****. blocking people is prob pretty much required for him to use twitter

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05-13-2011 , 02:34 AM

#449

The Rat

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 5,620

I didn't understand half of the words in that blog entry.

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05-13-2011 , 02:48 AM

#450

ZBTHorton

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Quote:

Originally Posted by vixticator

I don't think you are looking at it right right way.

I'd guess he has tons of people that just constantly send him bull**** through twitter. He probably blocks all of them, because if he didn't he couldn't look at his mentions at all. There's no easy quick way for him to decipher whether you are a one time guy criticizing him or someone who sends him 10 things a day about how much he sucks.

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