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New York, 10:50 PM
Mon Nov 30
13 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Juancho Juancho
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Holy Shit, my favorite sports (perhaps non-fiction?) writer has appeared on Deadspin. I am through the looking glass.

    And yes, this man has read his W.C. Heinz, Buzz. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Juancho was starred Juancho was unstarred
    Image of Bosoxfan3 Bosoxfan3
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Somewhere in these words is a real critique, and somewhere in that critique is a very real point and a very valid criticism of Simmons. That would be worth the digging... only I think Pierce is more intent on showing off his own writing than leveling any new criticism at Simmons. All this crap is is rehashing many of the critiques of Simmons and phrasing them more eloquently than most people should.
    Am I a Simmons apologist? To some extent. But maybe, just maybe, Pierce- who hails from Massachusetts and- judging by his book on Brady- is aiming for at least part of the same market as Simmons- wishes he were the Sports Guy. Not just some pseudo-famous journalist who is such a douchenozzle he feels compelled to use his middle initial all the time. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Bosoxfan3 was starred Bosoxfan3 was unstarred
    Image of Old Ocho Old Ocho
    11/12/09

    @Bosoxfan3: Dude, do some research about Charlie Pierce, as he is also known. Then eat crow and shut up forever. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Old Ocho was starred Old Ocho was unstarred
    Image of Bosoxfan3 Bosoxfan3
    11/12/09

    @Old Ocho: Glad to know you read the part of the comment where I had something substantive to say. Keep on keeping on. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Bosoxfan3 was starred Bosoxfan3 was unstarred
    Image of ThePriceofEggsinMalta ThePriceofEggsinMalta
    11/12/09

    @Bosoxfan3: Yeah, but see, you kind of didn't have anything substantive to say. You painted a talented man of letters as a jealous hack based on your extensive knowledge of his birthplace, the title of his most recent book, and his use of large words in attacking a writer with whom you are familiar.

    The sad thing is, if you like the kind of writing Simmons produces in his best moments--and the kind of acerbic wit this site pumps out in spades--but you'd like just a bit more thought given to the content, there's a very real chance you would absolutely love Charlie Pierce.

    /This comment, in concert with the rest of my unfunny resume, may very well eventually get me banned. But fuck it, somebody on the internet was wrong! #billsimmons
     Reply
    Will Leitch promoted this comment ThePriceofEggsinMalta was starred ThePriceofEggsinMalta was unstarred
    Image of Will Leitch Will Leitch
    11/12/09

    @ThePriceofEggsinMalta: I have to say, argue about this review and its points all you want, but I'm with you: Anyone who doesn't realize how terrific of a writer Charlie Pierce is doing it wrong.

    (Note: It occurs to me I'm becoming known as the guy who likes everybody. That's OK!)
     Reply
    Edited by Will Leitch at 11/12/09 9:49 PM Will Leitch was starred Will Leitch was unstarred
    Image of Bosoxfan3 Bosoxfan3
    11/12/09

    @ThePriceofEggsinMalta: To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting my comment to be taken particularly seriously and I wasn't writing it as such- I don't pretend to know a whole lot about Pierce, and I'm certainly not familiar with his work. To boil down the substance for you, I think Pierce mostly (very) eloquently rehashed a lot of old complaints about Simmons. I like Simmons' writing, but I'm aware of how some/most people outside of Boston perceive it. I made a mostly throwaway comment about Pierce and got called out for it... that's fine. That's my fault. But I don't think Pierce said much that was particularly novel about Simmons and his writing. Its not the true outsider's perspective it used to be, but I guess you could say he's a victim of his own success- what makes a successful blogger/early internet sensation can be corrupted by being a part of an institution like ESPN. That's all. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Bosoxfan3 was starred Bosoxfan3 was unstarred
    Image of Juancho Juancho
    11/13/09

    @Will Leitch: the Deadspin Jimmy Fallon? Will, we hardly knew ye! #billsimmons
     Reply
    Juancho was starred Juancho was unstarred
    Image of UkraineNotWeak UkraineNotWeak
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    " He did very little that was new. But he did it on the Internet. He created a gig for himself and sold it well. That should be good enough."

    In otherwords, Simmons is Harry Crane. #billsimmons
     Reply
    UkraineNotWeak was starred UkraineNotWeak was unstarred
    Image of StallworthsHoodDent StallworthsHoodDent
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    You obviously were not listening to Explosions in the Sky while reading the book. #billsimmons
     Reply
    lukeoneil47 promoted this comment Drew Magary approved this comment StallworthsHoodDent was starred StallworthsHoodDent was unstarred
    Image of lukeoneil47 lukeoneil47
    11/12/09

    @StallworthsHoodDent: You could be reading a news story about your family's grizzly murder and watching the six oclock news run a piece on the accidental release of your personal masturbation video while that band was on and you would still come out feeling inspired. #billsimmons
     Reply
    lukeoneil47 was starred lukeoneil47 was unstarred
    Image of Steve U Steve U
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Yup, these are my detractors. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Steve U was starred Steve U was unstarred
    Image of juliusseizure juliusseizure
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Simmons is infatuated with himself but as someone who thinks his work is nothing special, I doubt he gives a shit what I or anyone on this forum thinks. The bestseller lists have spoken, he has mass appeal; live with it.
    As for anyone writing for deadspin telling Gladwell to shutup, thanks for the laugh. Go look at some pictures of WAGs while Gladwell tries to change the way people think. #billsimmons
     Reply
    lukeoneil47 promoted this comment juliusseizure was starred juliusseizure was unstarred
    Image of lukeoneil47 lukeoneil47
    11/12/09

    @juliusseizure: While your point isn't wrong, I wouldn't exactly lump Pierce in with this distinguished gang of lovable scamps, appearance here notwithstanding. Not exactly a lightweight. Bulk of the series dude. #billsimmons
     Reply
    lukeoneil47 was starred lukeoneil47 was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    I am surprised that Pierce didn't relate the rise of the Sports Guy to the coincident administration of another Connecticut preppie with delusional pretensions to sympathy with the darker nation, George W. Bush. Missed a slow one over the middle there, Charles.

    Also, the "f" thing was for the lower-case "s." #billsimmons
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of ClingingMars ClingingMars
    11/13/09

    @Rasselas: +1 #billsimmons
     Reply
    Rasselas promoted this comment ClingingMars was starred ClingingMars was unstarred
    Image of SponsoredbyV8 SponsoredbyV8
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Bill's leaving the Walton manse, apparently on a golden cloud

    In his defense, it's damn near impossible to spend five minutes in that house without accidentally dropping acid. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Greek McPapadopoulos promoted this comment SponsoredbyV8 was starred SponsoredbyV8 was unstarred
    Image of oklahomeless oklahomeless
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    "I Am the Cosmos" is a song by forgotten musical genius/loon Chris Bell. It's also the title of the compilation of his recordings that was released long after his death.

    You can look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls:

    [www.allmusic.com]

    I highly recommend it.
     Reply
    Greek McPapadopoulos promoted this comment Edited by oklahomeless at 11/12/09 6:43 PM oklahomeless was starred oklahomeless was unstarred
    Image of DirkToberFest DirkToberFest
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    I'm not a Simmons fan, so I won't even bother to hopelessly defend him (after all, your 3 main points are pretty accurate). However, even though it's 700 pages, the book has a legitimate progression where one thought leads to the next. He doesn't tell the Isiah story because it's entertaining; he uses it as a springboard to detail why some players pass his smell test and others don't. I haven't finished yet, so I can't say that I'll enjoy the ending, but it's at least entertaining. Unless you hated Simmons as much as Drew Magary hates Brad Childress, you wouldn't have read all 700 pages. #billsimmons
     Reply
    DirkToberFest was starred DirkToberFest was unstarred
    Image of Gravy Gravy
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Also, lose most of the footnotes. You're not the cosmos, and you're not David Foster Wallace, either.

    Having just finished Infinite Jest last week, and having read Simmons since the Boston Sports Guy days, Simmons is certainly is no DFW. But, no one is asking him to be. If he were so talented, it would be a catastrophic waste for him to be doing shtick on ESPN. (At least DFW left us with Infinite Jest and his Kenyon College graduation speech, along with other gems. Hard to believe given his level of psychic pain.)

    At the time of DFW's suicide, Simmons spent a column discussing his admiration for DFW. It's clear (to me, at least) Simmons' use of footnotes is an homage to DFW and not an attempt to be DFW.

    So, in the end that was a bit of a cheap shot, Mr. Pierce. Simmons' use of footnotes may not succeed as a literary device, but in the context of the time he was writing the book, I think it was heartfelt. I believe he was just trying to create a device that would keep people discussing DFW a bit longer, so his death would be less of a loss for us all. #billsimmons
     Reply
    lukeoneil47 promoted this comment Gravy was starred Gravy was unstarred
    Image of lukeoneil47 lukeoneil47
    11/12/09

    @Gravy: I like DFW too, but Simmons' most obsessive fans have nothing on his. That's "like jumping from Single-A to the majors," to use a great analogy I read somewhere. #billsimmons
     Reply
    lukeoneil47 was starred lukeoneil47 was unstarred
    Image of AzureTexan AzureTexan
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Charles P. Pierce. Isn't he the irreverent but haughty hybrid — some would say M*A*S*Hup — of Hawkeye Pierce and Charles Emerson Winchester III? If so, I'll bet he uses big words that smell like Army-grade moonshine and chronic foot rot. #billsimmons
     Reply
    AzureTexan was starred AzureTexan was unstarred
    Image of The Sports Hernia The Sports Hernia
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Also, lose most of the footnotes.

    Indeed sir. His obsession with footnotes is a fucking nightmare. #billsimmons
     Reply
    The Sports Hernia was starred The Sports Hernia was unstarred
    Image of Kid Canada Kid Canada
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Hint: People have been ladling out that kind of hooey in reference to baseball literally for centuries

    Somewhere, Joe Morgan tries to figure out how to make that dang "add to cart" button work. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Edited by Kid Canada at 11/12/09 6:16 PM Kid Canada was starred Kid Canada was unstarred
    Image of ClintonPortishead ClintonPortishead
    11/12/09

    In reply to You Are Not The Cosmos: A Review Of Bill Simmons' Book Of Basketball
    Charles P. Pierce's takedown of the Sports Guy is an epic piece of literary criticism. Read it today!

    "A Simmons hasn't been this pilloried since Gene's 2022 divorce" says Darren Daulton of the TimeSpace Tribune.

    Charles P. Pierce's criticism of the Sports Guy, read it today!
     Reply
    Edited by ClintonPortishead at 11/12/09 6:07 PM ClintonPortishead was starred ClintonPortishead was unstarred
    Image of Juancho Juancho
    11/12/09

    @ClintonPortishead: Terry Gross has some issue with the time/date, but agrees with the concept. #billsimmons
     Reply
    Juancho was starred Juancho was unstarred
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