Breaking news: I have TJ Simers' official response....

Seems like there is plenty of back gossip here. What more do you want?

 

For starters, I didn't know about -- and have not read -- the column that prompted Simers' rebuttal. I see both Mark Blaudschun and Joe Sullivan's names a lot, which one prompted Simers' ire? Because I never did see or read the column that I suppose began this mess. I spend too much time on the Anything Goes boards and missed it. Sorry.

 

Sounds like he's issuing a statement, but not taking any questions.

 

Here ya go, then.


http://thebiglead.com/?p=910

 

T.J. playing the Can't Remember Card is pretty funny.
When you read his column, he comes across as a guy with an impeccable memory who doesn't forget a thing.

 

Amen, Brother Jones, amen.

 

my final post on this matter: i have no reason to doubt sf express and his experiences with t.j. i agree with pretty much everything he wrote here. and t.j. remains a terrific read.

that said, i know that t.j. wishes he had been a little different back in his jersey days. he's expressed that sentiment to me several times. therefore, i do find his amnesia somewhat amusing, but then again, guys who piss off others usually go on their merry way, often not knowing just how deeply their insensitive actions impact others. for example, you think mcmahon has given his treatment of simers a second thought? but t.j. wears it like a badge of honor.

in closing, anyone who questions t.j.'s merits as a columnist aren't paying attention to the work he does. is he a good family man? i don't doubt it. was he a jerk supreme as a new jersey wunderkind sports editor, someone who may have covered his butt with higher ups? no reason to doubt that, either.

the t.j. of 25 years ago is relevant to the conversation about t.j. 25 years ago. maybe it's no accident he's out of the biz of running a dept. now. he's doing what he does best.

that doesn't change that he was considered a dick by most who worked for him. that doesn't mean he's a dick in his personal life or that he isn't a terrific read now.

my final words on this matter end now -- unless someone else fires me up on the issue, of course. 8) 8) 8)

 

Well, I have something to do with one of those letters.

 

That's absurd. I doubt there's a columnist in the country who is isn't passed on by large numbers of readers. A must-read? Maybe by sports writers who wish they had that kind of freedom, but no columnist appeals to the whole of a newspaper's circulation. Hell, Dave Barry won a Pulitzer, was syndicated all over the place and was nice to coworkers when he didn't have to be, and there are still people on SportsJournalists.com who say he wasn't funny. I doubt even Simers would put himself in Barry's class as a humorist, yet we all must say he's terrific? I have no grudge against the guy and respect his ability overall, but I do not like the column and I think I have pretty good taste.

 

The way Simers writes, he's essentially modeled himself into something of a cartoon character. He inserts himself so liberally into his writing that it's damn impossible to tell where Simers the schtick ends and Simers the human begins. The guy's a human lightning rod. That's his whole act. I guess I'm surprised he cares what anybody thinks of him or what he's done in the past. Perhaps a sign of old age softening the guy.