I read this whole thing. I love how he rates The Answer.
― Mordy, Monday, 23 November 2009 01:57 (fourteen years ago) link
i read this over thanksgiving break. i don't know anything about basketball so i can't dispute his knowledge there. he's an entertaining writer and occasionally very funny (his section on great basketball players who made shitty announcers/commentators made me LOL). this may be an obvious thing to say about a 700-pg book but he needs better editing, it got really repetitive by the end (making the same points and jokes over and over) and was just too long in general. also a lot of his pop culture references are so dumb and/or wrong. i enjoyed the book though.
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:08 (fourteen years ago) link
^^kinda sums up how i feel about his writing, in general. i am not a sports guy (lol) and rarely ever know who he's talking about or why it ought to be funny, but sometimes a lot of his jokes work without that, which i think is a credit. or i'm just easy, and the kind of person who laughs if someone gets the delivery and misses the punchline
― crazy farting throwback jersey (gbx), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:12 (fourteen years ago) link
oddly his pop culture analogy that made me the most mad was comparing the development of basketball to the development of comedy, saying if you listen to woody allen and bob newhart routines they won't make you LOL because comedy wasn't as advanced as in the '80s. i was like "nah brah" but then again i am weird and old-fashioned about comedy i guess, i love old woody allen and newhart stuff :/
― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:15 (fourteen years ago) link
if there is def one thing bill simmons is consistently wrong about, it's other people's comedy. in that, i think a lot of the comedic pop cultural stuff he mentions off-hand in his columns is sort of milquetoast or outright bad, though he himself can make a good joke
then again, i couldn't possibly think of a specific example of this, so i might be making it up.
― crazy farting throwback jersey (gbx), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:24 (fourteen years ago) link
i just picture him laughing his ass off at some current standup while i look disgusted
he probably rates dane cook as G.O.A.T.
― 囧 (dyao), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:41 (fourteen years ago) link
nah I wouldn't go that far. i'd put my money on will ferrell. def agree with gbx on this tho.
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:46 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i think even he knows that dane cook blows. or even just that everyone THINKS he blows (ie - some of his readers). but i am sure that he will at some point in his career right some will ferrell GOAT hagiography
― crazy farting throwback jersey (gbx), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:52 (fourteen years ago) link
assuming he hasn't already
i think he creates cognitive dissonance within some people, such as in the writer of the "u mad" article linked to above. "this dude makes me laugh, i wouldn't mind hanging out with him and shooting the shit...but wait, he's all about bro'ing down with his crew--all of whom go by nicknames--in Vegas. I need to go overboard criticizing his negative aspects so I can totally dismiss dude."
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Monday, 30 November 2009 15:58 (fourteen years ago) link
If I were one of his buddies, I would DEMAND that he refer to me by a nickname. He makes way too many references to activities that, while I certainly don't condemn him for engaging in, employers would probably have a problem with.
I have to say that his statistical arguments mesh pretty well with his "You have to get it to get it" over-arching theme. If anything, this book serves as a compendium of references for other places to go look for basketball knowledge. It also has motivated me to pay more attention to sporting events for those special moments. I may not be as encyclopedic as he is with what games I've seen and who played in them, but I want to get to the point where I can have more specific and detailed recall of key plays. An anecdote that goes "Yeah, remember when that one guy did that thing with Barkley? The no-look pass from...shit, was it the right or left side of the lane..." does little to spark more conversation/reminiscing.
― Ultraviolet Thunder (B.L.A.M.), Monday, 30 November 2009 21:24 (fourteen years ago) link
the membership of this book club is kinda http://nymag.com/arts/books/bookclub/book-of-basketball
― ice cr?m, Friday, 11 December 2009 05:40 (fourteen years ago) link
http://i46.tinypic.com/28lywxj.jpg
ha yes i felt exactly this was abt fortress of solitude
― ice cr?m, Friday, 11 December 2009 06:14 (fourteen years ago) link
lethem's response is baffling and over-written. is there a joke i'm not getting?
― being being kiss-ass fake nice (gbx), Friday, 11 December 2009 16:35 (fourteen years ago) link
love how everyones all i read this 700 page book in 30 hours and i feel kinda icky now, yes hello welcome to the sports guy
― ice cr?m, Friday, 11 December 2009 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link
The NY Mag thing made me feel bad that I have been reading Simmons all decade and basically don't even pay attention to the sexist stuff anymore. Although I do not know if a chauvinist (or feminist) perspective would really influence one's thoughts on the NBA at all.
Between this book (esp. the epilogue) and whichever blog collected the finest Bill Walton goofy hyperboles a few months back, though, Walton is now like my favorite dude ever. Like, just kicking it with Big Red in his tepee watching a terrible NBA game and asking him questions about John Wooden would basically make my entire life complete.
― C-L, Friday, 11 December 2009 16:59 (fourteen years ago) link
one time saw him on tv riding bikes w/jerry X)
― ice cr?m, Friday, 11 December 2009 17:01 (fourteen years ago) link
his bike was LOL HUEG
saw him on haight st asking darius miles if he knew who jimi hendrix was
― ice cr?m, Friday, 11 December 2009 17:02 (fourteen years ago) link
he did not
A+++++ So jealous
― C-L, Friday, 11 December 2009 17:06 (fourteen years ago) link
lol it was on tv
― ice cr?m, Friday, 11 December 2009 17:10 (fourteen years ago) link
I am stupid
― C-L, Friday, 11 December 2009 17:15 (fourteen years ago) link
it was still pretty good tho
― ice cr?m, Friday, 11 December 2009 17:23 (fourteen years ago) link
SIMMONS
It reminds me of the time those three guys came up to you in a restaurant in Chicago and told you that they were reading "The Tipping Point" in their book club and were big fans.
GLADWELL
How could I forget?
Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes.
Greatest moment of my life.
― max, Saturday, 19 December 2009 11:51 (fourteen years ago) link
lol
Tiger's comeback tougher than Ali's
Note to ESPN’s Bill Simmons: Tiger Woods is not Muhammad Ali
― ╬╬╬╬╬ (am0n), Thursday, 4 March 2010 00:39 (fourteen years ago) link
lol @
There was a famous story about two of the Dream Team IIers--definitely Shaq and someone else, I can't remember the second guy--pulling the players together before a key Olympic game and Dumars thinking, "Great, they're finally going to take this seriously." Then the two guys started singing a rap song they had written for the game.
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 13:26 (fourteen years ago) link
That Bill Simmons Woods/Ali column is unbelievably moronic even for Bill Simmons.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 8 June 2010 16:29 (fourteen years ago) link
lol tweeting about freddie gibbs today
called him the savior of gangsta rap
i should send him some gucci
― righteous lecoq (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 19:30 (fourteen years ago) link
i got pretty grossed out by some of the joeks by the end of this book frankly. a sprinkling of the frattier stuff goes a long way, the occasional vegas column is fine but it kind of wore me down
the footnote about the all-dong team was just massively hilarious tho
― enjoy your day (agent hibachi), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 20:15 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah the strip club/boob size analogies are pretty awful
― symsymsym, Wednesday, 4 August 2010 05:16 (fourteen years ago) link
How has Simmons not become the Godfather of bros icing bros?
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 4 August 2010 14:03 (fourteen years ago) link
too old
― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 4 August 2010 14:06 (fourteen years ago) link
Thus the Godfather. Like Neil Young and grunge.
I really enjoyed the book despite the length and Simmons' crutches that prop up huge sections of it. Though the end made me realize I want "Bill & Bill" as the followup. Walton's insights made Simmons a better writer; it freed him from his persona.
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 4 August 2010 14:13 (fourteen years ago) link
this is a really bad paragraph
Digging deeper: 2012 will be the first time since 1992 that we had this many mega-stars in their primes or near-primes -- LeBron, Wade, Howard, Durant, Paul, Williams, Carmelo Anthony -- all of whom will also be battling for NBA titles in 2011 and 2012 (throw Kobe in there as well). Can they shut off that competitive switch and come together on short notice? What if Durant fully supplants LeBron and Kobe as America's basketball darling by that time? What if Miami just battled Oklahoma City in a NBA Finals bloodbath? In 1992, the pecking order was pretty established: Jordan and Pippen were the champs/alpha dogs, Bird and Magic were the washed-up leaders, Barkley was the unstoppable wild card, and everyone else fell into place behind them. There will be no established pecking order in 2012. If anything, there might be multiple stars who believe in a pecking order that's different from what the other stars believe. Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry interesting. Hold this thought for 22 months.
― banaka socka flame (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:48 (fourteen years ago) link
jordan, did you transcribe that
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:50 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah considering the calling card of this generation of talent is that they all get along and they're all unselfish i don't think this is really anything worth thinking about for the next 22 mos.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:51 (fourteen years ago) link
is bill simmons to the nba what pitchfork reviews reviews is to pitchfork
― max, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:51 (fourteen years ago) link
nah that doesn't really work as an analogy tho i'm not sure why right now
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:52 (fourteen years ago) link
bill is still soooo stuck in this idea of "alpha dogs" & all that crap and you would think that after this summer he would've dropped that idea, but yet here it is again -- i think all of these guys have proven that they like each other a lot and want to win when they play each other -- i mean dwayne wade came off the bench in the last olympics ffs, i don't think any of those dudes are gonna be back stabbing each other in 2012 -- i think this has been demonstrated at various, various times in the past 2-3 years -- bill has spent a lot of time lamenting this fact, but he still can't get it through his head
― banaka socka flame (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:53 (fourteen years ago) link
― ice cr?m, Monday, September 13, 2010 8:50 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark
no he posted a column today
gonna think abt all this for the next 22 months, brb
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:54 (fourteen years ago) link
enjoy nepal
― banaka socka flame (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:56 (fourteen years ago) link
this is good tho
One of the frustrating things about this tournament: Iguodala has been a revelation as a fourth banana/swing defender/energy guy/uber-athlete, which really should have been his NBA destiny -- mega-glue guy on a great team, like a much more devastating version of Trevor Ariza on the 2008-09 Lakers -- only we don't have nearly enough quality players to fill 30 NBA teams, so instead he's forced to carry a lottery team, take terrible shots, play with inferior teammates and do everything that the Basketball Gods never meant for him to do. He's like Roger Sterling in "Mad Men" -- you don't want him carrying the show, but in short doses, harnessed correctly, he can be a weapon. I had given up on Iguodala as a meaningful basketball player; now I think he'll be reincarnated on a contender within the next two seasons. He's one trade away.
― banaka socka flame (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:57 (fourteen years ago) link
― banaka socka flame (J0rdan S.), Monday, September 13, 2010 9:56 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
loll
― ice cr?m, Tuesday, 14 September 2010 01:58 (fourteen years ago) link
bill simmons isn't really pitchfork reviews reviews he's just pitchfork
― subtle like the g in 'goole' (dayo), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:00 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't know who's taking the crunch-time shots on the 2010-11 Miami Heat
this discussion makes me want to steal a car and drive it into a lake
― banaka socka flame (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link
looool
― subtle like the g in 'goole' (dayo), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link
in miami heats, there is no crunch time, only time 4 crunching opponents with superior basketball talent
― oneohtosh point never (m bison), Tuesday, 14 September 2010 02:06 (fourteen years ago) link