The Simmons Site

A very important point. Many writers, perhaps subconsciously, write to a level at which they believe they will be edited.

 

Seriously though, and I know how much he's loved around here, but for Chris Jones to begin a column with "Without looking it up, I can tell you the night the Toronto Blue Jays won their first World Series ..." and then getting the date wrong is the ultimate in hubris.

 

Aplogies from me for getting in the way of all the snark, but this is probably my favorite thing Grantland's done so far, and it seems this is only the beginning of it: The Long Autumn of Roger Federer

http://espn.go.com/espn/grantland/story/_/id/6681059/still-life

It's simple and beautiful. The kind of thing that make me want to be a writer once.

And no, I have not had a drink with Brian Phillips, nor was I even familiar with his work until Run of Play came about.

 

The footnotes are SO FUCKING ANNOYING!

 

You can skip them, you know. They're (often) not essential to the reading.

 

Exactly. So why use them? But in the course of reading, their presence disrupts the flow greatly. Even though I know I don't NEED to read them, I WANT to read them. I want to know. In that story, there are so many, that I'm bouncing back and forth and the story loses its rhythm. They made me quit reading altogether. Just an unnecessary distraction.

 

I think sometimes, when they're funny, they're worthwhile. I think having them on the side in all that white space is a huge, huge improvement over where they were when Simmons first tried to use them, and they would be at the bottom of a 5,000 word story. (Manny Ramirez is the one I remember.) I think having them directly sideways works much better. No scrolling up, scrolling down.

 

My mind tends to wander at all times, so in trying to focus on reading, those little red numbers might as well be a really obnoxious gnome on my shoulder screaming, "Hey, hey, over here! Hey, hey, hey!"

 

The NBA Draft piece was OK, and so short I was actually disappointed it wasn't longer. Read like an ESPN Magazine piece, though.

 

http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/2011/06/this-week-in-f%e2%80%94k-you-footnotes.html

 

Is that what they're up to at KSK these days?1


1 Unfunny. In fact, the opposite of funny.

 

I take Ritalin prior to reading Grantland. It allows me to stay keenly focused.