In his section about Russell Wilson:
QuoteDid you know he transferred from North Carolina State to Wisconsin after his junior year, only none of the NC State fans held it against him — if anything, they kept rooting for him??? Did you know Wisconsin fans gush about Wilson the same way they once gushed about Dwyane Wade?
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8347893/the-new-quarterbacks-league
what an idiot..I like Bill Simmons too but this is a big mistake in my book.
Everyone! To your pitchforks!
Maybe we should give Simmons the benefit of the doubt and say he was just talking about sports fans from the state of Wisconsin?
Nahhhh ... what a tool!
I went with a torch, you guys can bring the pitchforks
Quote from: MU82 on September 07, 2012, 02:17:31 PM
Maybe we should give Simmons the benefit of the doubt and say he was just talking about sports fans from the state of Wisconsin?
Nahhhh ... what a tool!
Hmm, I didn't think about it that way until you brought it up, but I agree with your ultimate conclusion.
Looks like it got edited now...
"Did you know fans in Wisconsin gush about Wilson the same way they once gushed about Dwyane Wade?"
Simmons must be an avid reader of 'scoop
Quote from: MU82 on September 07, 2012, 02:17:31 PM
Maybe we should give Simmons the benefit of the doubt and say he was just talking about sports fans from the state of Wisconsin?
Nahhhh ... what a tool!
MU82 - I also took it as a general reference to state of Wisconsin fans, rather than UW fans.
As far as being a tool - he probably knows as much about the NBA as anyone around (TBOB is as good as any book on the NBA; a Bill James-esque epic) - but when he wanders into other areas, you may be right.
Quote from: brandx on September 07, 2012, 03:36:31 PM
MU82 - I also took it as a general reference to state of Wisconsin fans, rather than UW fans.
As far as being a tool - he probably knows as much about the NBA as anyone around (TBOB is as good as any book on the NBA; a Bill James-esque epic) - but when he wanders into other areas, you may be right.
I like Simmons, I used to read him avidly but I get annoyed when he constantly brings up Boston in his articles so I don't read as much. However, I think you are vastly overstating how good TBOB of basketball is. It's an interesting read (with a decent Celtics bias coming out in certain spots), but it should not be mentioned in the same breadth as the Bill James books--those revolutionized how statistics were used in baseball. I also noted numerous factual errors in TBOB as well as some error (aside from the Wisconsin things) in some of his and other's Grantland columns. Perhaps they need to hire better factcheckers/editors/whoever is in charge of catching that stuff.
Quote from: jmayer1 on September 07, 2012, 05:04:45 PM
I like Simmons, I used to read him avidly but I get annoyed when he constantly brings up Boston in his articles so I don't read as much. However, I think you are vastly overstating how good TBOB of basketball is. It's an interesting read (with a decent Celtics bias coming out in certain spots), but it should not be mentioned in the same breadth as the Bill James books--those revolutionized how statistics were used in baseball. I also noted numerous factual errors in TBOB as well as some error (aside from the Wisconsin things) in some of his and other's Grantland columns. Perhaps they need to hire better factcheckers/editors/whoever is in charge of catching that stuff.
jmayer - actually I agree with both points - kind of. The Celtics bias was probably the only thing that bothered me while reading his book.
Secondly, I should have been more specific. I was referring to the style more that the analytical content. I have James' Abstracts back to 1982 and occasionally go back to browse. And I'm still amazed at some of the innovative concepts 30 years later.
I think Bill Simmons is Richard Simmons.
Quote from: slack00 on September 07, 2012, 03:29:06 PM
Looks like it got edited now...
"Did you know fans in Wisconsin gush about Wilson the same way they once gushed about Dwyane Wade?"
Another successful scoop letter writing campaign. At this rate we may hit double digits before the year is out!
If Bill Simmons lit himself on fire tomorrow I'd party like it's 1999 and the Real World was still somewhat relevant
Weird mention of Wade.
I hope he was referring to the STATE of Wisconsin rather than the university. But from the context of that paragraph, it's really hard to tell what was his intention.
Just a bad analogy and an example of an uninformed columnist trying to get too cute. There was probably very little overlap of fans that cheered for Wade and Wilson when they were each in college.
Quote from: brandx on September 07, 2012, 03:36:31 PM
MU82 - I also took it as a general reference to state of Wisconsin fans, rather than UW fans.
As far as being a tool - he probably knows as much about the NBA as anyone around (TBOB is as good as any book on the NBA; a Bill James-esque epic) - but when he wanders into other areas, you may be right.
Agree his NBA book is phenomonal!!
Simmons used to be funny but now he's no better than Rick Reilly - and that's not a compliment.
1. Simmons is always a bit lazy on details, but he does crack me up - same for Reilly.
2. There is absolutely zero chance he intended to say that Wade went to UW.
3. By week 10 Matt Flynn will be starting for the Seahawks.
Quote from: KenoshaWarrior on September 08, 2012, 10:09:57 AM
Agree his NBA book is phenomonal!!
Much of it is brilliant...like his section on the drafting of Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. Much of it is crappy filler. That is how I generally feel about his writing. When he is on, he is really, really good. When he is bad, I get through about a paragraph and move on.
Quote from: The Sultan of South Wayne on September 12, 2012, 08:24:33 AM
Much of it is brilliant...like his section on the drafting of Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. Much of it is crappy filler. That is how I generally feel about his writing. When he is on, he is really, really good. When he is bad, I get through about a paragraph and move on.
To borrow from the Sports Guy himself, there are times when he's really on his game and other times where he seems to think, "I'm the Sports Guy. I'm ESPN.com's top draw. I can write whatever I want and my fans will read it."
Much like Chris Berman, Reilly was considered innovative at one point in his career but his schtick has never evolved and now he's become a punchline...a very rich punchline.
Quote from: slingkong on September 12, 2012, 07:51:56 AM
Simmons used to be funny but now he's no better than Rick Reilly - and that's not a compliment.
I think he's rapidly approaching has-been status, if not already there.
Also, after all of Simmons' inexplicable fawning praise of the guy--Wilson's line, against the VAUNTED JUGGERNAUT that is the Arizona Cardinals defense:
18-34, 153 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 62.5 rating
http://www.youtube.com/v/tpcTkV1tKDs&fs=1&source=uds
1) Bill Simmons' "Book of Basketball" was a No. 1 best seller. He is also behind ESPN Films and Grantland. If that's a "has been" I want some of that.
2) Simmons is a Holy Cross grad. I guarantee you he remembers the 2003 tourney and Wade and Diener taking down HC. HC gave us a good run.
Quote from: brandx on September 07, 2012, 05:52:16 PM
jmayer - actually I agree with both points - kind of. The Celtics bias was probably the only thing that bothered me while reading his book.
Secondly, I should have been more specific. I was referring to the style more that the analytical content. I have James' Abstracts back to 1982 and occasionally go back to browse. And I'm still amazed at some of the innovative concepts 30 years later.
Big fan of both. I stumbled across Bill James' stuff when I was working in the stacks of the Bridgeport Public Library 30+ years ago. People don't realize that in addition to being a brilliant analyst, he is a talented and interesting writer.
As for Simmons, he is at his best when he writes as a fan of losing/frustrating teams. Once the Boston teams all got good, he lost his best material. It's not funny reading about a fan of consistently successful teams. He's tried to adopt the Clippers to get that mojo back, but you can tell his heart's not in it.