Comments on: The Most Important Writer You Might Not Know Anything About

By: James

James — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:58:23 +0000

Good to know we agree on something

I have said (and blogged) that Up is the best movie I have seen this year, and I have seen plenty. Thing is, it works as a kid’s movie just fine, but is also a great date movie for married folks.

By: Jordan Green

Jordan Green — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:48:44 +0000

Well, to Drew’s defense, I have a feeling he really did enjoy it…his writing character is sort of curmudgeonly.

I just saw “Up” the other day and was absolutely blown away. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie that good, animation or no, in almost a decade. Maybe “No Country” or “There Will Be Blood”. Just a spectacular story.

By: JamesW

JamesW — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:42:18 +0000

Jordan, although that deadspin thing was fun to read, it was wrong. Up was greatness, and a large reason was the very thing he railed against: the entire marriage, through infertility and death, without a word of dialog. What this guy sees as manipulative button-pushing, I see as genius story-telling.

By: JamesW

JamesW — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:20:17 +0000

I guess since I got bored the first 20 minutes and didn’t actually finish watching Spinal Tap, I can’t say it’s good or bad or overrated. I’ll concede that. I’m thinking I must have been sleepy that time I tried to watch it. So i may give it another chance someday. But as far as the part I did watch, i don’t understand the hype.

By: Jordan Green

Jordan Green — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:45:21 +0000

Nice catch, Josh. Though I’m probably the only person on earth who uses the words “Christian webmagazine”.

My question for Drew actually had to do with using the waiver wire as a weapon on fantasy football, but I have considered asking him if we could edit some of his pieces for Burnside…his piece on Pixar gave me the idea. I think Drew, like the Sports Guy, is outstanding at tapping into collective conscience. When he’s not writing about poop, that is. Actually, even then…

http://deadspin.com/5313572/dear-pixar-stop-making-me-cry-like-a-bitch

By: Jordan Green

Jordan Green — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:41:51 +0000

Oh, james…

1) There is no way “Spinal Tap” is underrated unless someone calls it the greatest comedy of all-time.

2) I actually love the podcasts, purely dependent on who the guest is. If it’s Jack-O or one of his buddies, I pass. If it’s Klosterman, or Bill Hader, or Patton Oswalt, it’s on.

By: josh

josh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:18:04 +0000

totally agree with all of this, and while simmons’ stuff can get a little old after a while, i’d been waiting for something like that leitch defense because, even if he deserves the criticism sometimes, the entire sports blogosphere pretty much owes its existence to simmons. plus leitch is just a good writer.

and jordan, i think i’ve gotta agree with drew in his latest mailbag. syndicating his columns here would probably be a bad idea.

By: Jason Pollack

Jason Pollack — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:51:06 +0000

I’m actually listening to the Sports Guy’s podcast at this very moment. I have a love/hate relationship with Simmons. I love what he has done for sports writing. The fact that people feel free to write about sports as fans, instead of Serious, Unbiased Journalists who enjoy the games like I enjoy lectures on systematic theology.

However, his schtick is getting old. He doesn’t know basketball (or baseball) nearly as well as he thinks he does, simply because one person can’t be an expert on so many different sports. This causes him to make significant factual errors and wildly inaccurate predictions. Then next season (or game) he is still predicting and acting like anyone who disagrees with him is an idiot.

I haven’t read The Book of Basketball yet, but I will when I return to the US. Not so much for his insights regarding my favorite sport as for the entertainment value that he does consistently provide.

By: JamesW

JamesW — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:52:27 +0000

Since his football team’s genius coach blew the game last night, I look forward to the way Simmons will dissect it.

Aside: I tried listening to Simmons’ podcasts, and he needs to stick to writing.

By: JamesW

JamesW — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:48:47 +0000

I love reading Simmons. His Boston-centric content drives me nuts sometimes, but he’s a very entertaining read. I won’t be buying the book, because I’m not a basketball fan, but I have read the excerpts on the ESPN.com site, and those snippets were gold, too.

Do you remember the column last year where he described the death of his dog? Very well done.

PS:
Deadspin is wrong: Spinal Tap is way overrated.