Poor Bill Simmons

Good Lord I feel bad for Bill Simmons. After reading this "We wish we were Jay Marriotti" entry from Kissing Suzy Kolber we really feel for the guy. He's getting blasted just because he was born in New England. All the guy did was grow up in Boston/New England, root for those Boston teams, cheer for them, give his heart and soul for those teams. Now, everyone wants to rip him because he's a Boston fan.

Since he's a pretty good writer, Simmons got a break and then got lucky when ESPN.com picked him up.

Six years after ESPN picks him up, three Boston teams are really, really good. And this pisses everyone off, and everyone takes it out on him because he roots for those teams. Either we have completely forgotten what the point of the Sports Guy was, to write from the prespective of a fan, or we're just really jealous (and petty) that we aren't from Boston right now.

Is it Bill's fault that the entire Red Sox Nation bullshit thing is out of control? Is it his fault that millions of rich white kids who grew up in subdivisions and never went to baseball games thus never having a team became Red Sox fans in college because it was 'cool' - just like doing E and Eminem once was? Is it Simmons' fault that Tom Brady and probably that entire line backing corps probably injects HGH and that the Pats head coach may be the most unlikable American that doesn't live on Mass Ave in Northwest DC? Is it Bill's fault that the Celtics got KG because the Bulls were to fucking scared too trade away Gordon AND Deng?

Was Simmons' column today outrageous? Yes. But he’s a Boston fan, he’s suppose to feel that way. He is suppose to feel that the refs are screwing over his team. As fans, we all feel this way. Just like I thought the Bears were getting hosed by the refs in the Eagles game and the fact that it came down to a 97 yard drive was and still is ridiculous in my mind (The Bears should have won by 17 points if the refs were even half way decent in that game). And how Josh Paul did drop that third strike in Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS. This may be viewed as an outrageous claim. I am fully aware of that - but I still think the Bears got screwed and that AJ was totally doing the right thing.

But let’s not forget, if you watched the Pats/Colts game the refs were brutal. Those two pass interference calls on the Pats early in the game were totally made up. And that Faulk play was a mugging. Does that make up for the 2002 Super Bowl when the refs let the Pats get away with mugging the Rams? No. But it was a poorly refereed game.

If it was John Clayton or Gary Smith or Sal Paolantonio writing what Simmons’ wrote then I’d have a problem. But he’s just a Boston fan. And if he was from Chicago, I'd enjoy the guy even more than I do now (assuming that he wasn't a Cubs fan).

And if he was from Philly they'd love him… wait forget that, they’d boo the shit out of him and then cry about how they should have the best sport writers* of all time but bad luck took him away.

And remember, it's a free Internets column. Not reading it is always an option. I stopped reading it half way though.


* not sportswriter/jorunalist