Simmons defends McGwire, rips Ann Killion

Simmons builds an entire thesis around bashing Killion? Please. That's why he'll never be considered more than a hobbyist in this business.

 

are fuckin' kidding me?

 

are is.

 

I think the "Bonds woulda been a Hall of Famer anyway, so he gets in but McGwire doesn't" argument is such bullshit. We have no way of knowing when he started taking stuff verses when McGwire started taking stuff. The whole "but he didn't look big until 1999" argument is assine unless you can point out exactly when it was Floyd Landis started looking huge enough to win the Tour de France.

Put 'em both in, shrug your shoulders, admit they gamed the system, violating the spirit if not the letter of the rule, and now say we're going to fix the system, not waste time trying to right past wrongs so we can look our innocent children in the eye (Oh the humanity! Oh the maudlin bullshit moralizing!).

At least McGwire managed to show some freaking shame.

 

No justice faced by the rich and famous.

 

"What laws for the rich?"
-- Jack McCoy

 

I understand people in this business aren't allowed to like Simmons and I think his game has slipped and some of his shtick is getting worn, but that stuff that he does to get a chuckle and whatnot doesn't ruin his columns. It's what sets them apart from every other windbag in every paper across the country who takes himself too seriously and thinks that his opinion on the steroids issue really matters. You may not think these attempts at humor are funny, but clearly some people do -- you can't deny the guy has found an audience.

I think the biggest problem is that everyone here compares Simmons to print journalists, whereas he's pretty much the antithesis to them. Although I'll admit he does invite it by constantly ripping other journalists. He should just shut up, stop whining about never getting his break in the business because if he did he wouldn't have the gig he has now.

 

That's the thing, Boobie. Given the chip on his shoulder, I can't help but think that a big part of why he wrote this in the first place was so he could take shots at print journalists.

 

Not to mention I doubt that anyone in a position to vote or not vote for McGwire actually voted for Ty Cobb to be in the Hall of Fame. If Buster Olney wants to look at the character clause and exclude McGwire for it, it's kind of bullshit for anyone to say, "Well, you guys voted for Ty Cobb!"

 

Eh, hemm. .. I believe you forgot spnited.

 

In what way is Simmons NOT in print?
The differences between him and every other mail-it-in sports columnist in America are a) where he writes, and b) his paycheck.

 

He's an internet columnist that writes about pretty much whatever he wants. You don't see many "traditional" sports print columnists in major papers writing about the OC and the Real World. He writes as much or as little as he wants, almost never does an interview, doesn't "cover" a team or even the sports in a city (obviously he writes a lot about Boston, but not in the way a newspaper columnist would).