The Simmons Site

My thought is that if you were going to write a long form piece on an iconic park, you'd best come w something original. That Wrigley piece has been written 400x before. And perhaps my status as a Wrigley regular alters my perspective. But it registered as royally cliche.

 

I think you may indeed be a little closer to the subject than most.

 

Idle thought: Do you think sports fans who visit the site will be WTF about the culture stuff, while culture vultures will be less inclined to visit "that sports site"?

 

I kind of think that the rise of Simmons himself is proof that there is enough mingling between that group for something to succeed. Heck, look at this board - There are plenty of people who contribute to the pop culture threads and the journalism stuff.

 

People give him far too much credit. He didn't invent the polio vaccine. He got lucky during the dot.com revolution, like thousands and thousands of other people.

 

Do you give him any credit for the 30 for 30 series?

 

There is a difference in using pop culture in sports stories and featuring 10,000 word video game reviews and such.

 

Yes and no. Right time and place, but also the right guy at the right time and place.

He and others succeeded, but a lot more people failed.

And, he's had a lot more staying power than Pets.com.

 

I had never read Eggers until I started reading that Grantland piece. Could not have been a worse topic for an introduction. I can't read that many words on the cult of Cubbiedom. Sorry, Dave.

I did laugh at this line:

Even when the stadium isn't full, the rooftops are. This says a lot about baseball in Wrigleyville.

 

You just summed up being a Cubs fan in one sentence. Take that, Eggers!

 

Not usually a fan of Simmons but have to admit, I thought his piece on Curt Schilling was fantastic. He makes a very convincing case that Schill should be admitted to The Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

He writes about the only things he knows. And he appears to know very little. There's no greatness in that.

I saw it last weekend when I went home (as I am now living abroad) and was unimpressed. It was the 2004 Red Sox special, naturally, featuring Bill and one of his dweebish friends reminiscing at a bar. Because that's how an historic thing ought to be presented -- through the prism of Bill Simmons and his fanhood.