bill simmons IS bill simmons IN the book of BASKETBALL

ugggh that executive decision anecdote

loooool is simmons really against the idea of playing fantasy sports with a female

also lol at bill simmons employing "some of my best friends are black" argument

Sometimes I like just hanging out with my guy friends. My wife likes hanging out with her friends.

it was too bad, feel like I could have been tricked into reading this book, no longer

he really should carve out the pyramid and sell an aggressively edited 100 pg novella size version of it every other year after the finals- like how sedaris sells those same three stories as holidays on ice every effing xmas-- would read and would cut out nearly all the unnecessary "cool story bro" trash

should build a pyramid, blog from inside

"i also found his life advice to tiger woods pretty dbaggy though i don't recall the specifics at the moment."

I mostly recall his insane bit comparing Woods comeback to Ali's comeback.

his understanding of gender and women and possibly life rises to the level of a bud light ad

replicate? bud light?

HERE WE GO!

sportsguy33 Bill Simmons
Come on, UConn women! One half to go! #espnforcedmetotypethistheyareholdingaguntomyheadrightnowhelppleasesendhelp
1 minute ago

he has a daughter, right?

good luck 2 her

is that your comedy hash tag or did he really write that - if the latter that's pretty O_o

no he really wrote that

man, are there any non-shitty sportswriters at all? like who write intersting and are not douche bags?

i like brian philips but i'm guessing you mean someone from the MSM

joe posnanski

i'll take any1 at this point

roger angell is still alive

bob ryan seems like a decent guy from what I've heard of him on PTI, never read his stuff tho

In May 2003, Ryan appeared on Sports Final, a local sports talk show airing on WBZ-TV. At that time, Ryan said that Joumana Kidd, then-wife of then-New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd needed someone to "smack" her for taking her son T.J., then 4 years old, to NBA play-off night games where they could be taunted.[22] He accused Joumana of being an exhibitionist and using the child as a prop to get television time.

was gonna say, old ass writer gonna have some baggage

O_o thought he was a dece liberal new england dude

well he is but he said something dumb on tv, whatcha gonna do

i will h8 him 4 eternity, dont know bout u

I dunno, I see the UConn thing as more along the lines of a story that ESPN has overhyped beyond its own importance (i.e. his previous "I wish ESPN.com users could block any beaten into the ground stories. I'd block "Sterger," "concussions," "lockout" + "cell phone dongs.", or "FYI: NOBODY cares how Minny's roof collapse affects Favre's streak. We care about fantasy/gambling/playoffs + if game will be shown on TV.").

I have been reading Simmons for so long that his schticky stuff rolls right off me now, though, so maybe I don't even notice the more "women be shoppin'/bad at sports" stuff anymore. The only time I really got annoyed was after the 2007 Patriots-Colts game when he wrote some insane diatribe about how the officiating was so clearly biased and that the world was out to get the Patriots. I guess I like him when he is calling out non-story stories, and dislike him when he is making his own non-story stories.

guarantee w/zero doubt that if it was a men's team and the hype was high, simmons would either be breaking down whatever team it was with references to the nicolas colasanto seasons of 'cheers' or saying nothing negative at all.

Oh no doubt, but I honestly think if a modern men's team was about to win 89 straight, it would really be a MUCH bigger achievement. Women's basketball is super top-heavy (right now #11 Kentucky is beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 85-21, and #7 West Virginia already beat UNC-Charlotte 71-39), and three straight undefeated seasons while presumably multiple players would be bailing to the NBA every year would be a coaching miracle. UConn's streak really is just having much better players than almost everyone they play.

yeah but it's fucking 89 games

its like saying, well wilt scoring 100 pts and averaging like 20 re wasnt as big a deal because competition back then was shit but then you have to think...fuck thats 100 goddamn points, how is there even time for that

yeah for real, and let's not pretend simmons' inevitable clowning of this achievement comes from his rather shall we say interesting views on women.

comes from anything other than

ok yeah but game to game the streak is a complete bore. 2 of those games have been decided by < 10 points. 2!!!!

^^^not a simmons defense, but the espn coverage is ridic

It's probably gonna be like 100-150 or something by the end of it. Except for the 1 point win over Baylor they've beaten everybody by like 20 at least. (They also apparently beat Simmons's alma mater by 80!). I know nothing about WCBB, but aside from a few games away at ranked opponents (Stanford and West Virginia and some other Big East schools) they're probably clear until the tournament.

I think if Women's basketball had more exciting games he could gamble on, he'd shut up, also.

The solution is clearly to have Gus Johnson announce more Women's College Basketball games.

there are probably plenty of exciting wnba and wcbb games, he's just...well, the evidence speaks for itself imo.

women's basketball is great to watch, it's a lot more 'fundamental' and there's a lot less showboating. teams get by on teamwork

when did you turn 60?

I'll watch a quality women's bball game over the fuckin bobcats vs. the nets any day

ok sure, you are saying "i would rather watch a good game than a bad game"

which is why i have no interest in watching uconn blow out yet another hapless opponent

yeah but also saying that just cause it's women's bball doesn't mean it's by default a bad game

no of course it doesn't--but uconn demonstrates that the competitive imbalance in women's bball is pretty wacky imo

i mean full disclosure i think most men's college ball is pretty bad too; everyone just struggles so much to score

yeah but I dunno good hoops isn't just about scoring

I think the overall lesson we can all take away from this is never pay attention to sports journalism

womens basketball is horrible and in no way more fundamentally sound than mens, they really just dont play v well in comparison, clowning them a lil is reasonable, simmons vendetta is kinda strange tho

xp you can't possibly think that everyone in college is just playing fabulous team defense

nah but they bring way more hustle to the defense on every play than the pros

bleh

I was gonna try to make a point about the generally superior athleticism of NBA basketball, but I am watching Dallas-Orlando and Hedo Turkoglu fell down awkwardly trying to dunk like five minutes ago. Dude ruins everything.