Simmons: You are awesome. Amazingly awesome. Do you agree that you are incredibly, undeniably awesome?Okay, there's a bit more than that, some stuff on the media, and on Damon going to the Yanks, but it's not really that insightful.
Schilling: No. I am more than awesome. I am super-awesome.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Simmons/Schilling
Okay, so I'm normally a huge fan of Bill Simmons, but his extended interview with Curt Schilling has to be one of the most worthless Red Sox pieces I've read in a while. It's really, really long, so to save you some time, here's the condensed version:
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FACT: Curt Schilling was born on November 14, 1966, the one year anniversary of the US sending troops into Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteAnd that one comment contained about 1000x more information than the actual interview. Well done.
ReplyDeleteWow. I do not dislike Schilling as much as Earl does, but this one is a beuty.
ReplyDeletemy commentary as I eat lunch:
"Realizing that in pretty much the same way I felt in 1993 watching Joe Carter's home run, or in 2001 watching Gonzo's floater into shallow left center, I had just been a part of, and witness to, one of the single greatest moments in the history of the game."
Are you serious? don't we always hear about time for reflecting comes later? But Curt knew in that moment.
"You can throw every Sox team from 1919 on against that club, but at the end of the day, none of them could have beaten us." Perhaps. But then again maybe head to head the 99 win 1978 non expansion team could have. Silly to compare. I might do a "what if sports" test.
"Shaughnessy says the same thing, often" - actually pretty funny.
Worst Simmons moment: "Yeah, I thought the Sox were slightly disingenuous with the Damon thing." Slightly disingenuous - is that like a "little bit pregnant?" and we have heard the Sox called a lot of things concerning L'affair Damon, but even Johnny would say they were fair and that they just did not value him as much as NY.
And to say the Sox were shocked he left - well, I think the media and fans may have been, but the Sox were not "shocked and dismayed." Maybe the press conf was odd, but not to the extent simmons portrays it.
Actually a couple of schillings points are valid and not normally heard from athletes - espcially the loyalty one.
And then, boom, right there, the pure and utter crap about someone telling him they named their child after him. Yikes.
Oh my god, now I'm going to puke. God apparently wanted Curt to be, well, made in his image. And A-Rod to suck. Who knew?
And the pendulum swings... We all know CHB sucks. but to hear schilling say it publicly is freaking beautiful.
Crap, crap and more crap. We are back to the Lord blessing him. In capital letters nonetheless.
So an up and down lunch. I blame that one more on Simmons than Schilling.
Did we ever find out who the teammate with the quote was?
ReplyDeleteWe never learned the teammate's identity, but the Herald printed an anonymous quote from a teammate: "When he comes into the game, people cheer him like he's the Pope? You think they'd let Pedro get away with this? Why does he get a free pass?"
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I agree that the crappiness of the interview is mostly Simmons's fault, not Schilling's. As a commenter over at Soxaholix said, "Simmons came across like Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney on SNL ('Remember when you screamed that you guys were the best ever and you had that champagne and all? That was cool')." Pretty much.
Yes, I did like Schilling insulting CHB. And the thing about athlete's feeling loyalty is right. But it is not "beyond hypocritical" for wanting to get rid of (say) Embree but being pissed off at Damon. Damon said he'd never go to the Yankees. Then he changed his mind. The issue is not loyalty, it's honesty.
And you can tell Schilling listens to a lot of right-wing talk radio because he uses all their rhetorical tricks. Like:
"The irony or tragedy (not sure which) of this whole thing was the litany of people spewing extensively on how much integrity and character it took for Theo to walk away, to keep his principles and ethics and walk away from his dream job when it all happened. Then, 10 weeks later, some of those same people vilify him for coming back and demand an explanation beyond what's out there."
The correct follow-up question is "Which people were those?" He's so obviously setting up a straw man, making imaginary enemies to make himself feel better. Really, why is it so hard for media-types like Simmons to call celebs out on ridiculous statements like this? (Though I guess follow-up questions are tough when your tongue is super-glued to the ass of the person you're interviewing.)
Okay, I'm done ranting.
Or when you slam a writer for something he did 15 years ago and then half of your slam turns out to be not true.
ReplyDeleteLike remember that time Kevin Kennedy wrote a book and I fact checked his details on a game against the Cubs. That was awesome. I am awesome. Actually, I am beyond awesome. I am so blessed that god decided to make me an excellent blogger.
Yes, you are truly an awesome blogger. Tell me, does it make you upset and angry when some people say you're not the most amazing blogger in the world? Is it hypocritical that some people like the Red Sox but don't read this blog?
ReplyDeleteIts beyond hyprocritical that someone who empiraclly calls themself a fan of the team known as the Boston Red Sox would not commit themselves to reading this blog. As to your first point, those people that say I am not the best blogger, really have no idea of what I am trying to do hear. For instance, they don't know that right now it is only 6:15 in the morning. On a Saturday. And I'm here, committed to the cause. People don't see that level of sacrifice and effort that goes into the work.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely nothing I can add to this discussion. But I like it anyways. Have a great weekend, guys.
ReplyDeleteX--You might want to make sure you're using the correct spelling of hear/here/hair. Grammatical incorrectness often turns people off. Question: would it be hypocritical for a person to read this blog yet not be a Sox fan?? If they were, say a Yankees fan? (Don't worry, I'm a Boston girl all the way, I'm just curious.) One more question: Would it be hypocritical for a person to claim to be a Sox fan who knows a lot about sabermetrics yet did not know what SoSH is??
ReplyDeleteLaura, those are all very excellent questions. As we all know, I am truly blessed with blogging skills that are exceeded by very few individuals. The level of commitment and dedication that is required is, at times, exhausting. For instance, blogger.com does not allow comments to be edited. And there is no spell check tool. I have been known to type my comments in MS Word and then PASTE them into the webpage. Many bloggers won't go this extra distance. This is why I was especially was disappointed to see that "hear" make it into my post when I meant to type here. It maybe has been the lowest feeling I have had in days. But I do feel that my post was special and therefore I will not be discouraged.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the question of non-Red Sox fans and whether they would be welcome here, I would respond by asking you a question. "Why wouldn't I want to have as inclusive an audience as possible? I think everyone realizes that this is the premier blog site for all things Red Sox and to exclude someone from having the ability to come here (not hear) and be a part of something very special, something that has never happened before in the history of, well, the world. That would just be wrong.
X, being the superior blogger that you are, I am surprised that you didn't really answer my question. It's probably my fault, of course, because how could you ever interpret any clearly stated question wrong?? My question was not if non-Sox fans are welcome here, but rather, is it hypocritical for fans of one team to read a blog about another team? For instance, if I randomly started reading Yankees blogs, would I be a hypocrite? Or would I only be a hypocrite if I chastised Yankees fans for reading Sox blogs and then randomly read Yankees blogs?
ReplyDeleteLaura - I am perplexed that you would question the almighty blogger Curt Sch, I mean X.
ReplyDeleteI realize that because what I am trying to do here is so very special that so few people would actually be able to understand all the subtle nuances, but it does not stop me from trying. I just wish that everyone could experience days like the day I experienced just yesterday in realizing that my message was being spread to less fortunate yet very deserving and worthy souls.
That being said Laura, I am perplexed by the duplicity of your questions. Perhaps what was lost in the translation of my answer from almighty-speak to regular English, was Hell no it is not hypocritical to read this blog. Often times the team we cheer for - we have no bearing over this decision. Geography, family ties, or severe randomness. And in overcoming one's natural biases yet still choosing to read and respect the most intelligent forum in the entire Internet - no that is not hypocritical.
And even on occassion, I read the blogs of other teams - you have to know what the enemy is up to.
Admittedly I did not answer your questions about the SOSH.
Where do your allegiances lie, Laura?
I already told you this, X, but I'm a Sox fan, a Pats fan, a Celts fan, and a BC fan. I am from RI, so obviously it was not hard for me to choose my allegiances, but I actually wasn't forced into them. For whatever reason, most of my friends are alleged Yankee fans, although I refuse to aknowledge that fact because they are clueless about sports. They are supporters, not fans, in my eyes. The reason that I asked that question is because I know some Yankees fans personally and otherwise that often talk about how obsessed we as Sox fans are with the Yankees, yet are always following what is happening with the Sox. A lot of them will admit to watching Sox games and reading Sox blogs. I don't read Yanks blogs, although I will occasionally watch a Yanks game if the Sox aren't playing. I've been known to obsessively check scores, but I was checking Orioles scores early in the season last year. I follow the Yanks because I like to know what our division rival is doing. But it strikes me often that some Yankees fans that I encounter are as obsessed with the Sox as they claim Sox fans are with the Yanks. That is most definately hypocritical, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteOkay, I will drop my current Schilling speak and more directly address your point. Of course whenever we start addressing an issue like this I feel a little uncomfortable because it is attempting to describe a many, many people as all acting the same. But of course that won’t stop me from doing it.
ReplyDeleteMy story is probably a bit similar to yours. I was raised in CT until I was 12. And thankfully I chose to be Sox fan. I wish could say my reasons were something very altruistic, but it boiled down to one thing – I had two older cousins that our family was close with and one of the was a Yankee fan, the other a Sox fan (we lived near Hartford so it was natural to have 50/50 splits.) Well my cousin who was the Yankee fan was (naturally) a real jackass and used to pick on me a lot. So I became a Sox fan. When I was 12 we moved to Boston – double thank god.
And in 1989 when I graduated from college, I moved to NY for 3 years. Perfect timing because NY sucked. And most of the people I worked with were Mets fans and took every chance they could to rub my face in 1986.
One other item of note – I am a very, very avid baseball fan. Obviously the Sox are number one, but I can (and often do) watch any game – TB vs. KC. Absolutely.
But these are all background info that may provide some basis for my opinions.
Your observation on the difference between fans and supporters is definitely worth noting. I think there are three types of Yankee fans among our contemporaries:
True fans – from NY. Always been Yankee fans. Lived through the tough times. Note – this is the absolute rarest type of Yankee fan. And unless you go to NY, you generally do not meet this people.
Supporters – these are generally New Yorkers that like the Yanks now that they are good. They were die hard Mets fans in 80s – loved Strawberry, Gooden, etc. Now they have conveniently forgotten their roots blah, blah, blah
Bandwagon jumpers – generally from NY, but will throw around a lot of we, us when talking about their team. See also Lakers fans, Raiders fans (although not lately) and Dallas Cowboys.
Now here is where we get to the root of the issue. They are all insecure. They are goliath. Supposed to win. They feel they deserve to win. And for a long time they had our number. But they are just as obsessed with Boston as certain elements of the Boston fan base are obsessed with NY. I mean just today the headline in the Post for Sherman’s article (and his byline) had to mention the Sox. And he is one of the tamer NY press members. All winter, Murray Chass has been tearing into the Sox (before a strange article last week that he praised them).
And any NY that says they are not obsessed with the Sox, just ask them (or think back) to the way they responded to us in 2004. Now if they really didn’t care, they would just say “congratulations, you finally got us. Good series.” But the most memorable one I got was my former boss with a cocky – “Enjoy it because it will never happen again.” It really is just insecurity. The same people that will say they don’t care when we beat them, but then are so quick to attempt to rub our face in it when, say, Johnny Damon goes to NY for the absolute top dollar. My response to the boss was “I am enjoying. Maybe it will never happen again, but then again you told me two weeks ago that the Sox had no chance.”
Do I watch scoreboards – absolutely. But just like you, I was watching Balt through June. I occasionally read NY blogs – often for humor purposes. I read the NY papers, but I also read the LA times, Baltimore Sun and the Cleveland Plain Dealer (don’t ask me why those three – I just do.) Can I name the Yankee 25 roster – almost entirely. But I can do the same for the Seattle Mariners. I agree it is hypocritical for Yankee fans to say it is just Sox fans that are obsessed with their rivals. And there is a certain element of Sox fans that are as obsessed. But then again these are often the same people that call WEEI.
Okay, that was a lot of typing. I think I did better when I used Curt Schilling speak.
X, try getting tickets to a Sox game now. I know you are out on the west coast. There are tons of bandwagoners...I have one in my office. She went to the playoffs and WS (through connections). She now wears all the Sox garb, etc...
ReplyDeleteHowever, an office mate and I were discussing Jim Rice not getting in to the HOF...She said, "Who's Jim Rice???"
Ok, just one person, but there are many...many...many...people around here like that. I am consistently amazed at the people going to see the Sox...and their answer to "How'd you get tickets?" is usually "Through a friend who's had them for years!"
People that, as soon as the Sox are out of it, stop watching baseball...Is that what it is all about?
To me, be a fan of the game first, then love your team. And you know I love the Sox...BUT I LOVE BASEBALL...
There are lots of real baseball fans that are Yankees fans, too...Mets fans...Dodgers fans...etc...
There are also a ton of bandwagoners...in every sport, that only care when the local team in winning. They don't love the game, only the excitement of being a part of a winning season...
I'll say this...now that the Bruins have brought themselves back in to the playoff picture, there are people wearing Bruins shirts, etc...Where were they the rest of the season?
And I can't tell you how many Pats fans aren't watching the Super Bowl...
Ridiculous.
That's not hypocrisy. It is (looking to the thesaurus...ah forget it) a load of crap...
I think, X, that you and I would agree on a lot of this...You read other blogs, newspapers, etc...because you can't get enough baseball news...
Wow, that rant felt good...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely there are tons of jumpers on the Sox bandwagon. And in fact living out here make some of it even more apparent.
ReplyDeleteI often get questioned about why I'm a Sox fan - people think I jumped on the band wagon.
Um, no. I'm from Boston. I lived through 1975, 1978, 1986. The last place Butch Hobson team and perhaps the worst season of a major leaguer ever - Luis Rivera at SS.
And even with all the jumpers, there still is not the arrogance of the Yankee fans.
I,m very lucky. I'm only 15, so I didn't live through all the stuff. My first true Red Sox experiance was 2003, which is unfortunate, but that's okay. I guess you could kind of classify me as a bandwagon jumper, but I am from New England (RI, if I haven't said it already), and I was never a sports fan until I started watching the sports. The past few years have been a revelation for me. Sports are fantastic. I will be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday, and I'm rooting for the Seahawks. Hasselbeck is a BC alum. What's a girl to do? And anyway, I'm not much of a Steelers fan, although it sure felt good to see them beat the Colts. Honestly, I'm not really sure why I'm a BC fan. I'm not even Catholic. This one just kind of happened. I'm not really sure how. Although the hoops team is fantastic. I didn't live through the glory days of the Celtics. I still watch them anyway, though. It's agony, but I do. The only time I watch hockey is when me and my Dad go to a P-Bruins game each winter, a tradition we've had since I was in kindergarten. I don't claim to be a hockey fan. Heck, I don't even claim to understand the game. A lot of people don't get why I'm so into sports. I'm not a jock. If any statement about me is true, it's that one. I never used to like sports at all, except for figure skating, which I still try to watch faithfully between all the other sports. I love the numbers part of sports. I love the pure emotion. I'll even admit to loving watching Tom Brady run around in really tight pants (hey, remember that I'm a 15 year old girl please). I guess that if you've never experienced it, it doesn't mean a thing to you, but I'm very glad that it means a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteEchoing Grieve, wow, that felt good.
Laura, best of luck and be very, very thankful that you did not have to suffer that long before a breakthrough like 2004.
ReplyDeleteThanks for humoring me on my Curt Schilling speak. After all I am world's greatest blogger.
Man... I missed out on so much fun! X you put the "log" in Blog.
ReplyDeleteThere I go again, making references to poop.
X, you've probably already seen this (courtesy of Deadspin), but you seem to have some competition for the title of world's greatest blogger from, erm...Carson Palmer.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.carsonpalmer.typepad.com/
(Just be gald that I don't keep a Sox blog...I can ramble with the best of them, but I prefer to just comment on what everyone else has to say =)