The Sports Guy

[Jeremy D. Scott]

So if you follow sports in the US, you likely know who Bill Simmons is. I find the guy rather intriguing. I don't read him nearly as much as I used to, but I tune in now and then. When the Randy Moss trade broke, Simmons "accidentally" was the first to do so on Twitter. A number of people were upset and called him out for the "mistake" (likely they were mostly people in the media who were jealous). Since then, I've read/seen people debate just what Simmons is. Is he just a mega-fan? Is he part of the media? Is he something different for which there really isn't a category?

You may remember me telling the story of being in a journalism class in high school in the mid-late 90s. My friend and I were both on AOL and read Simmons back then (where he first got the moniker: "The Sports Guy") on Digital City Boston. We wrote to him and asked him to speak in our class. He agreed, but a date never got worked out with our teacher. But this time period was the beginning of him taking off on the Internet.

Being from Boston and an avid connoisseur of Boston sports, one might think that he's popular around here. He is - he has his fans up here. But he's also reviled. The Boston media can't stand him. He receives mockery and derision from every side of the media up here (including the two sports radio stations who can't stand each other - they at least agree on not allowing Simmons on air). This may be related to the fact that ESPN isn't all that popular in Boston.

Anyway...for those who know who Simmons is: what's your take?

[Ryan Scott]

He's cornered a market or created a persona - either way he's a sports journalist who doesn't do journalism (despite a master's degree in journalism). He writes from a fan's perspective and almost never uses his media credentials to watch games.

He's sort of found a way to make millions of dollars just being a really obsessive sports fan. He's the #1 original podcast on itunes - when it's usually just him talking on the phone with his friends or guessing the gambling lines for the next week's NFL games.

I like him because he's funny and generally keeps the columns short. Really I'm more addicted than anything - he's not been nearly as funny as he once was (since selling out to ESPN).

I do hope he avoids these forays into TV work and sticks to writing.

[Mike Schutz]

I never miss his columns on espn.com. As you would expect, I find him crude at times (okay, most times), but funny and he always has an interesting take. I consider him to be more than the derogatory moniker "blogger" that the "real" journalists have coined him. He is more like a sports columnist, which has a long and distinguished history.

As I'm sure Jeremy knows, there is a backdoor Nazarene connection to Simmons. The Sports Guy's father just retired as superintendent of the Easton, MA public schools. A Nazarene (Wes Paul, son of the late Dr. Cecil Paul, and my brother-in-law) is principal of the high school in the district.

[Ryan Scott]

In his own words - this has something to do with the undefined role he plays in the media. New today.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/101013&sportCat=nfl

[Steven Martinez]

In his own words - this has something to do with the undefined role he plays in the media. New today.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/101013&sportCat=nfl

He actually posted this yesterday. And to be honest, I knew nothing of this until Simmons brought it up. Perhaps for you guys on the East Coast this was news but there was nothing mentioned about it out here and all I do is listen to Sports Radio throughout the day.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

He actually posted this yesterday. And to be honest, I knew nothing of this until Simmons brought it up. Perhaps for you guys on the East Coast this was news but there was nothing mentioned about it out here and all I do is listen to Sports Radio throughout the day.

I don't think anyone implied that, Stew...no one said it was big news. I just started a thread asking about the incident: doesn't mean I thought you or everyone would be interested. :tongue:

But apparently a few do. :)

What I said was, "If you follow sports in the US, you likely know who Bill Simmons is." Do you mean to say that you've never heard of him until this incident? Knowing how much you pay attention to sports, I'd be very surprised if this was the case.

(Man...I didn't know that East Coast bias was still a touchy issue with you West Coast guys.) :smilies0119:

And Simmons has lived on the West Coast for eight years now. :)

[Steven Martinez]

Jeremy,
What I was trying to express was that the Twitter incident was not big news here. I was wondering if it was big news out there on the East Coast because the one of the teams involved was a big market, East Coast team... the Pats.

I love Simmons, I read everything he writes. Of course being a West Coast guy it is difficult to read him at times because he is clearly bias against the LA teams but that is what makes it fun. I just thought this whole issue was a none story and it seems ESPN and Simmons are trying to make it a story. ESPN has been bitter for some time due to the fact that they have not had someone like Jay Glazer who is constantly breaking stories on FOX. It appears that Adam Schefter is trying to become that news breaker they desire. Of course Simmons would be perfect for the role because he is in the same boat as Glazer in that he is a non-traditional sports figure who is capable of interacting with sports personalities on a different level.

As far as perception, sports media is different out here then it is back East, which is why I made my comment. LA has one major paper and its sports media is non-traditional. The three biggest names in sports media out here Jim Rome, Bill Plaschke and J.A. Adande. All three of them work with ESPN on some level. The reason for this is because their styles fit the non-traditional avenues of sports media. We just do not have the old salty dogs like Bob Ryan out here. Why? Because sports here is just another media outlet amongst hundreds. We have enough geographical space and diversity where the truth is we just carry on regardless if the Lakers win or lose. Bill writes about this all the time and calls LA fans not true fans. Of course, the truth is, he just does not understand LA culture. Most people from outside of LA do not get it. The LA sports scene is not built around a tortured past, in fact our teams are quite successful but not so successful where we define failure as not winning a championship.

[Ryan Scott]

The Simmons thing was big on Twitter - and all those other media types who use Twitter a lot. I heard about it when it happened, but it wasn't a huge deal, mostly because no one reported on the tweet on traditional media until there was a story to break and by then the story was bigger than his mistake.

I sort of think Glazer has the corner on the breaking news market mostly because he doesn't work for ESPN.

[Benjamin Burch]

Jeremy,
What I was trying to express was that the Twitter incident was not big news here. I was wondering if it was big news out there on the East Coast because the one of the teams involved was a big market, East Coast team... the Pats.

I love Simmons, I read everything he writes. Of course being a West Coast guy it is difficult to read him at times because he is clearly bias against the LA teams but that is what makes it fun. I just thought this whole issue was a none story and it seems ESPN and Simmons are trying to make it a story. ESPN has been bitter for some time due to the fact that they have not had someone like Jay Glazer who is constantly breaking stories on FOX. It appears that Adam Schefter is trying to become that news breaker they desire. Of course Simmons would be perfect for the role because he is in the same boat as Glazer in that he is a non-traditional sports figure who is capable of interacting with sports personalities on a different level.

As far as perception, sports media is different out here then it is back East, which is why I made my comment. LA has one major paper and its sports media is non-traditional. The three biggest names in sports media out here Jim Rome, Bill Plaschke and J.A. Adande. All three of them work with ESPN on some level. The reason for this is because their styles fit the non-traditional avenues of sports media. We just do not have the old salty dogs like Bob Ryan out here. Why? Because sports here is just another media outlet amongst hundreds. We have enough geographical space and diversity where the truth is we just carry on regardless if the Lakers win or lose. Bill writes about this all the time and calls LA fans not true fans. Of course, the truth is, he just does not understand LA culture. Most people from outside of LA do not get it. The LA sports scene is not built around a tortured past, in fact our teams are quite successful but not so successful where we define failure as not winning a championship.

Except for the Lakers....

[Steven Martinez]

Except for the Lakers....

It is a little bit different. Sure the Lakers themselves only hang banners for winning championships, but the Lakers are in no way a tortured franchise. For example when the Lakers lost three years ago in the Finals they did not blow up the team or start to acquire a bunch of free agents. They did not panic. Instead they worked harder as a team and improved. When Ariza left they did not panic but signed Ron Ron who made important plays to seal another championship. As far as the fans are concerned, sure there is disappointment when they do not win, but it is nowhere near the same media attention as when Boston, Philly or New York does not win.

[Ryan Scott]

It is a little bit different. Sure the Lakers themselves only hang banners for winning championships, but the Lakers are in no way a tortured franchise. For example when the Lakers lost three years ago in the Finals they did not blow up the team or start to acquire a bunch of free agents. They did not panic. Instead they worked harder as a team and improved. When Ariza left they did not panic but signed Ron Ron who made important plays to seal another championship. As far as the fans are concerned, sure there is disappointment when they do not win, but it is nowhere near the same media attention as when Boston, Philly or New York does not win.

I think that's only really true of the Yankees. I've never really seen any other fan base that really is disappointed with anything less than a championship.