Worthwhile Will Leitch essay on Bill Simmons

I gotta say, I mostly agree with this. I like Simmons (mostly) but his style is a bit much to stomach for 700 pages. Add to that the numerous mistakes and the book doesn't quite meet expectations.

Still, at the very least, it's the quickest 700 page read I've ever experienced. Took me a couple of weeks just by reading before I went to bed every night.

 

Bingo.

In regard to Ryan, I hope he releases a "Best of" book of columns/stories one day. I hear he's a fantastic hoops writer and I'd like to read some of his earlier stuff.

 

Not sure this deserves its own thread, but wanted to pass it along so figured I'd do so here: Charles P. Pierce has a problem with Simmons' knowledge of history.

In a nutshell, (in a chat) Simmons says Tiger's comeback from his cheating scandal is a bigger story than Ali returning to boxing after refusing to serve in Vietnam.

http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/pierce/2010/02/history_for_dummies.html

 

Good for Pierce. Simmons makes some stupid observations but this one becomes the leader in the clubhouse.

When Ali came back Simmons was 1 year old. It's fine if he comments but he better do the research first and get some context.

Simmons Pre 1980 sense of history is why is "historical " basketball book is flawed. He makes these sweeping observations that just are not correct.

Ali comeback in 1970 and Jerry Quarry transcended sports. It paved the way for his fight against Joe Frazier in 1971 which was even bigger story.

 

If it happened before 1983, it didn't happen in Bill's consciousness. All of us are afflicted with the bias of the perspective of our own time on earth to some degree. People who are REAL historians account for it when they write.

 

"REAL" is the operative word.

 

Once again, the recurrent theme: I was rushed, there was pressure, I didn't even stop to pee.

Bill--There is no crime in peeing, thinking, or occasionally taking the time to make sure you got it right.

Journalism, or whatever you want to call it, isn't speed chess.

 

What's worse here is that he now took the time and still screwed it up. Tiger with more pressure on him than Ali- sure Bill.

 

The fact that Simmons glosses over this in one fucking sentence is remarkable. To review, Ali's former friend Malcom X was murdered for publicly rebuking The Nation and Elijah Muhammad, so Ali knew what these people were capable of. And during his boxing exile, Ali told Cosell he needed to make money when he came back to the ring, because he was basically broke, and it was humiliating. So Elijah Muhammad decides to exile him for his disrespect. And for the year he was "exiled" from Islam, a lot of people were constantly worried that The Champ might be murdered or harmed, which is why he had to walk such a tightrope of what he said, trying to find ways to scrape together a living while still trying to be a "good Muslim" in the eyes of Herbert and Elijah. He wasn't welcomed back until well after the Quarry fight.

How again is Tiger Woods comeback even comparable? Are Buddhists out there mulling violence against Tiger? Is he going to have to speak at high schools and colleges and make an appearance as the mystery guest on What's My Line? just to pay the bills? Are people in government actively conspiring against letting him compete?

Bill's understanding of the situation seems as though it was gleaned by watching Will Smith play him in Michael Mann's biopic and little else.

 

Are you still looking at Bill as an "important figure in this era of media"?

 

He was rushed. Could happen to anyone.

 

Puddle-deep thinking on Simmons part, as is often the case with him.

Simmons has yet to show an example of Tiger facing the visceral, seething hatred Ali faced - from just about every direction - during his career.