Deadspin
With the NBA Playoffs tipping off this Friday, we couldn't think of a better time to finally take a look at Bill Simmons in this here media approval thing. And not just because of that NBA book that he's supposedly working on. (Though it's not on Amazon yet.)
Simmons is a guy who seems to get it from both ends sometimes. The Web people who he — unwittingly, perhaps — opened the door for go after him, and the supposed "mainstream" folk seem unlikely to ever accept him as one of their own. This might be one of those examples of when both sides are mad at you, you're probably doing something right. Or maybe not.
But yeah: We're pretty curious how this vote goes.
So: Do you like the Bill Simmons? Do you not like the Bill Simmons? Let us know.
Comments
Here we go
Begrudgingly approve. But fuck Boston.
it's been building to this hasn't it?
disapprove
Less basketball please, Bill. You're the Boston SPORTS guy, not basketball guy.
Release The Hounds!
No opinion since I don't bother to read his column.
@SlickBomb: He drives me crazy, but he knows his shit.
no.
Everybody DUCK!
Bill Simmons, circa 1999: approve Bill Simmons, current day: disapprove One can only take so many gawddamn NBA columns.
An unexpected start to the voting...
I like his mailbag columns, but don't give two shits about the NBA or the Patriots. Approve.
I'm sorry but I've chosen Whitlock.
sotsg.com
Fuck Simmons.
Regardless about how clichéd he sometimes can be and how much of a Boston homer he can be I still find myself reading all his articles and enjoying most of them.
Approve.
rating bill simmons is kind of like that time in karate kid where...
aw fuck it.
BDD will disapprove 1,403 times before the dust clears. Then he'll tell on Simmons.
Pre-2004 Bill Simmons: Heartily Approve.
Post-2004 Bill Simmons: Cannot. Fucking. Stand.
BOSTON BOSTON BOSTON BOSTON BOSTON BOSTON BOSTON BOST... wait, what?
Yep, these are my voters...
Column's no longer nearly as good as they used to be, especially because I don't care about Boston or basketball. But he deserves a special spot in history for being, arguably, the first widely-read sports blogger. How about an honorary approval?
I guess J-Bug, House and Bish are stuffing the ballots.
Disapprove of post-Jimmy BSG
He has a tendency to get high on his own supply sometimes, but I'm not going to disapprove. I very likely wouldn't be reading Deadspin if I didn't read Simmons first.
I will not argue about this.
I read them all. Sometimes I don't know why, but his articles are also sometimes the most genuine sportswriting to come out of the WWL. At least he pushes their boundaries.
Ehh, he's still better than 3/4 of the shit out there.
Approve.
My rationale:
(1) Was really good for a while (2002 - 04).
(2) Can still write some really good columns, but is perhaps being stretched a bit thin with other endeavors.
(3) Sort of an internet pioneer which gives him a lot of capital to burn with retread jokes.
I think I wore out the disapprove button. Boston Simmons would have been approved (depending on how he handled things.) Hollywood Simmons can suck Sarah Silverman's cock.
Disapprove, for allowing California to make him soft.
I'm just thankful the Pats didn't win the Super Bowl and we weren't subjected to the column from Tom Brady's hotel room after the game.
I've always read his work though.
Knowledge of sports: Approve
Knowledge of pop culture: Approve
Pressing need to always, always, always intertwine the two: Disapprove
Used to write about sports: Approve
Now just writes about Boston: Disapprove
Correlations: Disapprove
Theories: Disapprove
Levels of Losing: Disapprove
Friends' names: DISAPPROVE
Wife: Disapprove
Wrote for a late-night talk show: Approve
It was Jimmy Kimmel: Disapprove
Overall: Meh. Abstaining
disapprove of simmons, but who put up that picture of andy bernard?
75% approval. I will now light myself on fire. The lesson, as always: Yup, these are my Deadspin commenters.
Approve if, and only if, they bring back the Cartoon!
This post reminds me of the time my buddies Hench and J-Bug were taking a poll over at Jimmy's place asking how people would have dealt with the warden in Shawshank Redemption. Most of us, including my dad who we called during the poll, said we couldn't pull of an act like Andy Dufresne, we'd have to try to be more like Daniel LaRusso. Then House made the House Face and there was great Ewing Theory potential.
@The Fan's Attic:
Can still write some really good columns, but is perhaps being stretched a bit thin with other endeavors.
Agreed. And that's not even counting the eventual "Sports Guy Cartoon" animated feature.
He should move to Gulf Coast of Florida and become the Jorts Guy.
Approve.
1. Hates college football.
2. Hates NL baseball.
3. In 2006, claimed that Lance Berkman was the only player in a Astros-Brewers game that could start for the Red Sox. This was in a year where our SS (Bill Hall) out-homered his (Alex Gonzalez) 35-9.
Disapprove.
Approve if just for the first time I discovered him and thought he was funny.
I will ignore the past few years.
Disapprove. Still think he's funny sometimes, but the transition from "normal, frustrated sports fan" to "elitist, celebrity-wanting prick" was absolutely stunning.
What if he had never arrived on the scene? The sports world would be much worse, no?
Approve.
Approve. I'm stunned at how the voting is starting out, by the way.
It's not that I hate Bill Simmons, it's more that I hate Boston sports with a relentless passion. Because Simmons writes about Boston sports with a relentless passion I must disapprove.
He put Arianna Huffington in the Diane Lane All Stars. Disapprove.
Well, I cant name anyone else whose columns I read without fail.
That being said, fuck Boston.
He's ok. Gets too into himself sometimes but he's ok.
Disapprove of Simmons and his motion-capture suit
The Stevie Wonder question: Is it better to burn out or fade away?
Approve. I'm one of the few (apparenlty) who like the NBA and so I dig those columns. But he should stick to the shit he knows and ease off on the schtick-o-meter once in a while.
Sent an email after the Revolution Day (Feb 1, 2007) to Will, where he said "Fuck you, and fuck your commenters."
Disapprove.
@Gourmet Spud: Rumor is it will sync perfectly to Louis XIV's "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept".
Also, he helps me kill time at work.
@amorphous: Oh, I and New York abstain, courteously.
@Gourmet Spud: 100% affirmed.
Love the NBA, so I've always liked the basketball columns, which is the one sport he seems to really know his stuff on.
Hate the excessive Boston homerism; it's like he's trying too hard. He can be forgiven because his crap work is still pretty good. Approve.
@Sh!tShow: As am I, I thought BDD would have just crashed the internet voting disapprove.