I still like Drew. All the people copying his shtick are completely intolerable, though.

Amusingly I was just reading a completely awful list of "the wost xxx people in sports" that did stupid **** like include Lane Kiffin and list Tiki Barber ahead of say, Ray Rice and it turned out that Drew wrote it.

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/spor...?currentPage=2

He's a fantastic writer, I loved The Postmortal and his early KSK work. I just cannot stand his "I'm going to hate on stuff" type stuff. It's always so dumb, and so clearly the work of a guy so much smarter than what he's saying. I know it's mostly just jokes, but I just don't like it. I just have a pretty limited tolerance for the #hottake as parody (I'm super over PFT Commenter, it's hilarious, but at some point it's just the same ignorant noise he's actually parodying and do we really need 2 years of the same joke?)

Just read that column again, and wow, sitting here a little bit emotional. I'm sure it's because I have a getting-older dog and young kids, but he just nailed it.

I'm almost off the Simmons train now, but it was a fun ride going back a long time.

oldmanyellsatcloud.jpg

****ing clouds have it coming man. NO SUBSTANCE TO THEM AT ALL.

He definitely does know how to write from the heart and use real human emotion. He wrote another nice piece about his father http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=4343991 which was really weird to read because he spent years making his Dad seem like a cartoonish, senile old man and not a rockstar advocate for students and the school system

Dids is right about Hall and Cook. They're both phenomenal. And each has a very funny discernible personality to his writing.

The Haters Guide to anything is great, that schtick still works for me.

They bleeped out the skins part of Redskins in the Cousin Sal podcast. Very high concept.

Barnwell is pretty bad. His podcast with Mays is really tough to listen to. Mays is great, gives his opinion, and Barnwell just shoots down every team and player because he seems like a miserable fat dude.

So is Barnwell smart or not? In latest podcast mays took the dolphins on the road and it was a pik'em.

Barnwell "so you give the bills no chance at home?"

That is how dumb people argue. He never said anything close to that nor did he imply it.

Meh, I think that's just his way of asking why. Not for nothing, "I think Miami is better" isn't a very good answer when that's implicit in the line.

Not particularly, but I'm optimistic -- it's statistically improbable for the overall non-smartness of his tenure thus far to carry over into the next couple of years.

It's been posted before ITT but Barnwell is insufferable on the podcast. Mays is very likable.

+juan

Barnwell reminds me of a male Joan Cusack.

So, John Cusack?

lol

Denver's had enough of Phil Simms

Barnwell really might be approaching insufferable territory with Mays, and I like Mays. Is there something insightful I'm missing from not reading his work?

lol Peter King!

i was thinking about that on the weekend, how all the major networks are broadcast partners, pretty brilliant sinister thinking really to get everyone onside like that

Been going on for awhile.
Remember all that steroid investigative reporting espn did back in the day?
Oh yeah, that was the SF newspaper. Nevermind.

How is King's MMQB website doing? I have to say I was a pretty regular reader of the MMQB column on SI.com, but I haven't gone to MMQB in over a year I don't think. Didn't like the format much, and turns out I don't really miss the column.

The only good thing about King is his relationships and some of the player/coach quotes he gets are actually half-interesting sometimes. But ya otherwise he's pretty much your standard donk writer.

There are some good non-Peter King columnists on it.