Bill Simmons
Encyclopedia
William J. "Bill" Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is a sports columnist
, author
, and podcaster. He currently writes columns and hosts podcasts for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com
. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine
and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Nicknamed The Sports Guy, formerly The Boston Sports Guy, Simmons gained the attention of ESPN with his web site, BostonSportsGuy.com which earned him a job offer in 2001.
Since joining ESPN
in 2001, in addition to writing for ESPN.com
, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com
titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the television series E:60
, and serves as an executive producer
of ESPN's documentary project, 30 for 30
. He also has written two best-selling books and worked as a writer
for Jimmy Kimmel Live!. On June 8, 2011, Simmons launched Grantland.com, an online magazine for which he serves as Editor-in-chief. At this point he began publishing his Sports Guy columns and B.S. Report podcasts on Grantland, which are then linked to from ESPN.com.
Simmons is known for his style of writing which is characterized by mixing sports knowledge and analysis, pop culture
references, his non-sports-related personal life, and for being written from the viewpoint of a passionate sports fan. Simmons also has created numerous internet memes, most notably the Ewing Theory(though he claims he did not come up with the idea) and the Manning Face.
In 2007, he was named the 12th-most influential person in online sports by the Sports Business Journal, the highest position on the list for a non-executive.
and Brookline
, Massachusetts
before moving to Stamford
, Connecticut
to live with his mother after his parents divorced at the age of 13. Growing up, Simmons wanted to be a columnist for one of the two major newspapers in Boston
. He attended The Greenwich Country Day School
and then attended Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut
for high school. In 1988, he completed a postgraduate year at Choate Rosemary Hall
, a prep school
located in Wallingford, Connecticut
. As a child Simmons read the David Halberstam
book The Breaks of the Game
, one of his main influences, and credited it as the single most formative development in his sportswriting career stating:
While attending the College of the Holy Cross
Simmons wrote a column for the school paper, The Crusader, called "Ramblings" and later served as the paper's Sports editor. He also re-started the school’s parody newspaper and started a 12-14 page, underground, handwritten, magazine about the people in his freshman hall called "The Velvet Edge." He graduated in 1992 with a B.A.
in Political Science. Subsequently, while living in Brookline, Massachusetts
, he studied at Boston University
where he received his master's degree in print journalism two years later.
. The September after grad school, Simmons started working at the Boston Herald
as a high school sports reporter, mainly "answering phones... organizing food runs, [and] working on the Sunday football scores section." Three years later he got a job as a freelancer for Boston Phoenix but was broke within three months and started bartending. In 1997, unable to get a newspaper job, Simmons "badgered" Digital City Boston of AOL
into giving him a column, and he started the web site BostonSportsGuy.com while working as a bartender and waiter at night. He decided to call his column "Sports Guy" since the site had a "Movie Guy."
Originally the column was only available on AOL, and Simmons forwarded the column to his friends. He began receiving e-mails from people asking if they could be put on his mailing list. For the first 18 months, Simmons would send it to about 100 people, until it became available on the web in November 1998. The website quickly built up a by many friends from high school and college were e-mailing it to each other. Simmons thought about quitting and going into real estate
in the winter of 2000 since there was little money in sportswriting
. He is considered to be one of the first stars of the Internet generation of sports writers because he embraced the Internet when not many writers were. In 2001, his website averaged 10,000 readers and 45,000 hits per day.
's Page 2, which helped both himself and Page 2 gain widespread popularity. In the first sixteen months which Simmons wrote for Page 2 the viewership doubled. In late 2004 ESPN launched an online cartoon based on his columns which Simmons later called a "debacle" which he had decided to quit. Simmons writes a column per month for his page titled "Sports Guy's World."
As a lead columnist, Simmons is one of the country's most widely read sports writers and is considered a pioneer of sportswriting
on the Internet
. His readership has steadily grown since he started at ESPN.com
in 2001. In 2005, according to ESPN, Simmons' column averaged 500,000 unique visitors a month. According to comScore
, Simmons' column had averaged 1.4 million pageviews and 460,000 unique visitors a month over the previous six months in November 2009.
In 2007, Simmons conceived the idea for 30 for 30
, a series of documentaries
chronicling 30 stories from the "ESPN era." Each of the documentaries detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that transformed the sports landscape since the sports network was founded in 1979. He wanted feature filmmakers to recount the sports stories, people, and events from the past three decades in which they took a personal interest or involvement, however great or small, and felt that said stories had not been fully explored. Simmons and his team took special interest to "stories that resonated at the time but were eventually forgotten for whatever reason." The series premiered on October 6, 2009 with "King's Ransom" directed by Peter Berg
. Simmons serves as executive producer
on the project.
On May 8, 2007, Simmons began a podcast
for ESPN.com
called Eye of the Sportsguy. On June 14, 2007 the podcast was changed to The B.S. Report with a new theme song written by Ronald Jenkees
. Simmons creates three or four hourlong podcasts a week, generally carrying one theme throughout, talking to everyone from sports and media notables to his friends. The B.S. Report is regularly the most downloaded podcast on ESPN.com
averaging 2 million downloads a month. In 2009, The B.S. Report was downloaded more than 25.4 million times. Simmons guests includes athletes and writers such as Chuck Klosterman
as well as personal friends Jacko (Yankees fan John O'Connell), Cousin Sal (Sal Iacono) and Joe House.
Simmons began writing a weekly, 800 word column for ESPN The Magazine
in 2002 but convinced ESPN after three years to give him 1,200 words. In the July 27, 2009 issue of ESPN The Magazine
, Simmons officially announced his retirement from his magazine column. He continues to write for the ESPN.com
Page 2 website.
In October 2007, it was announced the Simmons joined the television series E:60
as a special contributor. In May 2010, it was reported that Simmons and ESPN came to an agreement on a new contract, although no official announcement has been made on the terms.
He has occasionally appeared on Pardon the Interruption
as a guest host, and was a panellist on the 2010 PTI
's Free Agency Summit episode.
Since 2009, Bill has also been a moderator and panelist at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
,, though it was reportedly not Simmons' choice for the name. Sports blog Deadspin
had previously reported in 2010 that Simmons was working on a "top secret editorial project."
Grantland.com features articles and podcasts from Simmons, Jonathan Abramshttp://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/05/28/bill-simmons-poaches-ny-times-writer-for-grantland-com/, Malcolm Gladwell
, Chuck Klosterman
, Dave Eggers
, Eric Raskin, Michael Weinreb, Bill Barnwell and Chris Ryan
, among others .
had been trying to get Simmons to write for his new late-night talk show
, Jimmy Kimmel Live! which was to premiere after the Super Bowl
. Simmons refused for most of the summer because he did not want to cut back on his columns and move to the West Coast away from his family and Boston teams. Kimmel kept on "badgering" him and by mid-September Kimmel had him "on the ropes." It was crucial for Simmons that he could write for the show and on ESPN.com and in ESPN The Magazine, which was possible because of the Disney connection with ESPN and ABC
. He has also stated that he joined the show because he was burned out from his column, felt he needed a change, and always wanted to write for a talk show.
Simmons left Boston and moved to California
on November 16, 2002 and began working in April 2003 as a comedy writer for the show. Simmons called it "the best move I ever made" and said it was one of the best experiences of his life. He left the show in the spring of 2004 after a year and a half of writing for the show. He also wanted to focus full time on his column, since his writing was starting to slip and he did not have enough time to work on columns or even think about them. Simmons remained in California.
, Now I Can Die in Peace
. The book is a collection of his columns, with minor changes and lengthy footnotes, leading up to the 2004 World Series
victory by the Boston Red Sox. The book spent five weeks on The New York Times extended best-seller list.
In July 2008, Simmons announced that he would be taking 10 weeks off from writing columns for ESPN.com
's Page 2 to concentrate on finishing his second book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy
, which was released on October 27, 2009. The book tries to find out who really are the best players and teams of all time and the answers to some of the greatest "What ifs?" in NBA history. It debuted at the top of The New York Times Best Seller List
for non-fiction
books.
while claiming they did not care which team won, in the name of journalistic objectivity. Since Simmons was writing on the web he figured that "in order to get people to read it, it had to be different from what people got in newspapers and magazines." He believes his job is not to get into the heads of the players, but into the heads of his readers. One way he gets his readers to come back is to update frequently and to be provocative, so he can get a discussion going among and with his readers. Simmons has stated that he "...will never write a traditional sports column."
With his column, Simmons aims to speak for, reconnect sportswriting
with, and reproduce the experience for the average fan. Simmons' writing in his columns is characterized by mixing sports knowledge, erudite analysis, clever prose, comedy, references to pop culture
including movies and television shows, his non-sports-related personal life, his many fantasy sports teams, video games, and references to adult video. His columns often mention trips to Las Vegas
or other gambling
venues with his friends, including blackjack and sports gambling.
One of his most popular recurring columns is the "Mailbag" where he answers readers' e-mails. He almost always ends these columns with a strange e-mail, followed by the statement "Yup, these are my readers." He also occasionally engages in lengthy chat sessions with readers on ESPN.com
. His wife occasionally writes mini-articles within Simmons' own Page 2 articles as "The Sports Gal," on subjects such as The Hills
and her lack of understanding of a golf handicap.
about creative freedom and censorship. In May 2008, Simmons was embroiled in a feud with management at ESPN.com
. When asked by the editors of Deadspin
why he had not written a new column in over 2 weeks, he said that he was writing less because he loved writing his column and believed that he and ESPN had come to an agreement "on creative lines, media criticism rules, the promotion of the column and everything else on ESPN.com
" but within a few months all of those things changed.
A month before the feud erupted, Simmons was scheduled to interview then-senator Barack Obama
for a podcast. Obama was still running against then-senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Nomination at the time. ESPN nixed the interview, saying that they would only allow its reporters and columnists to interview a presidential candidate once the nomination had been finalized. Deadspin believed this was an example of ESPN pulling rank, and speculated that ESPN was thinking that they should wait for Stuart Scott
to talk Carolina hoops with Obama after the convention instead of on a podcast. According to a campaign source, a television interview with Scott was canceled by higher-ups as well. Scott eventually did interview Obama right before the convention
began.
On October 31, 2008, ESPN refused to post Simmons' NFL Week Nine Picks, instead just putting up his predicted lines. In response to many reader emails, Simmons posted to his blog explaining what happened (which has since been removed from his personal blog).
In November 2008, according to Deadspin
, Simmons had quit the B.S. Report due to the content being edited out of them. The controversy revolved around the entry of pornography
actor
Christian into a ESPN
fantasy basketball
league. Simmons was upset that his explanation of ESPN
's refusal to allow him into the league was edited out of a B.S. Report podcast
. On November 25, 2008, Simmons returned to recording his B.S. Report podcast
with a disclaimer
, which says "The BS Report is a free flowing conversation that occasionally touches on mature subjects."
In late 2009, Simmons was punished by ESPN for writing tweets critical of Boston sports radio station WEEI
's The Big Show
. He was suspended for two weeks from Twitter
with an exception for tweets about his book tour.
coach and general manager Isiah Thomas
. This led to Thomas threatening Simmons on Stephen A. Smith
's radio show in early 2006, saying that there would be "trouble" if they ever met in the street. Upon a meeting in Las Vegas
, they both decided they were entertainers at heart.
feuded over the presidency of Red Sox Nation
. The Red Sox asked Simmons to run for the ceremonial position and he accepted. In a candidate's memo, Simmons remarked that he was a better choice than Remy because he is not a smoker. Remy criticized Simmons for about five minutes during the July 16, 2007 NESN broadcast of a Red Sox – Royals game. Simmons later removed himself from consideration and Remy was named president.
has a glossary of Simmons conventions, with links to articles in which they were used.
of the New York Knicks
. In 1998–99, the Knicks made the NBA Finals
after Ewing sustained an Achilles' tendon injury. The Ewing Theory claims that when a longtime superstar who has never won a championship leaves the team via injury, trade, or free agency, and the media writes the team off, the team will play better.
Given the time since the name Ewing Theory was coined and the Giants
' Super Bowl XLII
victory, a number of readers suggested the name be updated to the "Tiki Theory" named after former player Tiki Barber
and Simmons agreed.
The Manning Face is a facial expression
displaying a mix of frustration and disgust. It is most often displayed by NFL quarterback
s Peyton Manning
and his younger brother, Eli
. It was coined by a reader in 2001 and was later defined by Malcolm Gladwell
as "the look of someone who has just faced up to a sobering fact: I am in complete control of this offense. I prepare for games like no other quarterback in the NFL. I am in the best shape of my life. I have done everything I can to succeed—and I'm losing. Ohmigod. I'm not that good."
The Manning Face references receded from Simmons' columns during the 2006–09 stretch when each brother won a Super Bowl and Peyton won two MVP awards, but Simmons noted it returned during the Colts' Super Bowl XLIV
loss to the New Orleans Saints, after Tracy Porter
intercepted Peyton's pass and returned it 74 yards for the title-clinching TD. He later said it wasn't clear whether the Manning Face was returning for good or made a cameo appearance.
' loss in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series
as the highest level of losing.
. The Tyson Zone is the status an athlete or celebrity reaches when his or her behavior becomes so outrageous that one would believe any story or anecdote about the person, no matter how shocking or bizarre. The term may also be used in adjective form as the word "Tysonic."
Crichton), mentioned only as "The Sports Gal" in his columns. They have two children together, daughter Zoe Simmons (born May 2, 2005) and son, Benjamin Oakley Simmons (born October 30, 2007; called "The CEO" by Simmons and his wife). His father, William Simmons (born 1948), is also referred to as "The Sports Dad."
Simmons is a devoted fan of Boston's teams including Boston Red Sox
, New England Patriots
, and Boston Celtics
. He was a longtime fan of the Boston Bruins
and the NHL, but claims that their poor management led to his completely losing interest in them until the 2008 playoffs
. He is also a Los Angeles Clippers
season ticket holder and most recently, due to the NBA lockout, the Los Angeles Kings
. He also claims to be a fan of the English Premier League soccer team Tottenham Hotspur, and he has had playful debates on soccer with ESPN colleague David Hirshey
, a soccer columnist and a die-hard fan of Tottenham's fierce rivals Arsenal F.C.
Sports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and podcaster. He currently writes columns and hosts podcasts for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998....
and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Nicknamed The Sports Guy, formerly The Boston Sports Guy, Simmons gained the attention of ESPN with his web site, BostonSportsGuy.com which earned him a job offer in 2001.
Since joining ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
in 2001, in addition to writing for ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the television series E:60
E:60
E:60 is a weekly investigative journalism newsmagazine show. It premiered on ESPN on October 16, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. ET, 4:00 p.m. PT. The show is one hour long....
, and serves as an executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
of ESPN's documentary project, 30 for 30
30 for 30
30 for 30 is the umbrella title for a series of documentaries airing on ESPN and its sister networks. The series, which premiered in October 2009 and concluded in December 2010, chronicles 30 stories from the "ESPN era," each of which detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that...
. He also has written two best-selling books and worked as a writer
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
for Jimmy Kimmel Live!. On June 8, 2011, Simmons launched Grantland.com, an online magazine for which he serves as Editor-in-chief. At this point he began publishing his Sports Guy columns and B.S. Report podcasts on Grantland, which are then linked to from ESPN.com.
Simmons is known for his style of writing which is characterized by mixing sports knowledge and analysis, pop culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
references, his non-sports-related personal life, and for being written from the viewpoint of a passionate sports fan. Simmons also has created numerous internet memes, most notably the Ewing Theory(though he claims he did not come up with the idea) and the Manning Face.
In 2007, he was named the 12th-most influential person in online sports by the Sports Business Journal, the highest position on the list for a non-executive.
Early life
William J. Simmons III was born on September 25, 1969, to William Simmons and Jan Corbo. His father, was a school administrator, and his stepmother, Molly Clark, is a doctor. Simmons was an only child and grew up in MarlboroMarlborough, Massachusetts
Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 38,499 at the 2010 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high technology industry in the late 20th century after the construction of the...
and Brookline
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
before moving to Stamford
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
to live with his mother after his parents divorced at the age of 13. Growing up, Simmons wanted to be a columnist for one of the two major newspapers in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. He attended The Greenwich Country Day School
Greenwich Country Day School
The Greenwich Country Day School is a co-educational, independent day school in Greenwich, Connecticut, founded in 1926. As of 2005, it has some 840 students from nursery to the 9th grade level....
and then attended Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
for high school. In 1988, he completed a postgraduate year at Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall
Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut...
, a prep school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
located in Wallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford, Connecticut
Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 43,026 at the 2000 census.- History :Wallingford was established on October 10, 1667, when the Connecticut General Assembly authorized the "making of a village on the east river" to 38 planters and freemen...
. As a child Simmons read the David Halberstam
David Halberstam
David Halberstam was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and historian, known for his early work on the Vietnam War, his work on politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, and his later sports journalism.-Early life and education:Halberstam...
book The Breaks of the Game
The Breaks of the Game
The Breaks of the Game is a 1981 sports book written by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Halberstam about the Portland Trail Blazers' 1979–1980 season. The Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team which plays in the National Basketball Association...
, one of his main influences, and credited it as the single most formative development in his sportswriting career stating:
While attending the College of the Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
Simmons wrote a column for the school paper, The Crusader, called "Ramblings" and later served as the paper's Sports editor. He also re-started the school’s parody newspaper and started a 12-14 page, underground, handwritten, magazine about the people in his freshman hall called "The Velvet Edge." He graduated in 1992 with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Political Science. Subsequently, while living in Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
, he studied at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
where he received his master's degree in print journalism two years later.
Early career
For eight years following grad school, Simmons lived in Charlestown working various jobs before eventually landing a job at ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. The September after grad school, Simmons started working at the Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
as a high school sports reporter, mainly "answering phones... organizing food runs, [and] working on the Sunday football scores section." Three years later he got a job as a freelancer for Boston Phoenix but was broke within three months and started bartending. In 1997, unable to get a newspaper job, Simmons "badgered" Digital City Boston of AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
into giving him a column, and he started the web site BostonSportsGuy.com while working as a bartender and waiter at night. He decided to call his column "Sports Guy" since the site had a "Movie Guy."
Originally the column was only available on AOL, and Simmons forwarded the column to his friends. He began receiving e-mails from people asking if they could be put on his mailing list. For the first 18 months, Simmons would send it to about 100 people, until it became available on the web in November 1998. The website quickly built up a by many friends from high school and college were e-mailing it to each other. Simmons thought about quitting and going into real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
in the winter of 2000 since there was little money in sportswriting
Sports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...
. He is considered to be one of the first stars of the Internet generation of sports writers because he embraced the Internet when not many writers were. In 2001, his website averaged 10,000 readers and 45,000 hits per day.
Career at ESPN
Simmons gained notoriety as "The Boston Sports Guy" which earned him a job offer from ESPN in 2001 to write three guest columns. His first column was "Is Clemens the Antichrist?" which became one of the most e-mailed articles on the site that year. Becoming one of the most popular columnists on the site, Simmons was given his own section of ESPN.comESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
's Page 2, which helped both himself and Page 2 gain widespread popularity. In the first sixteen months which Simmons wrote for Page 2 the viewership doubled. In late 2004 ESPN launched an online cartoon based on his columns which Simmons later called a "debacle" which he had decided to quit. Simmons writes a column per month for his page titled "Sports Guy's World."
As a lead columnist, Simmons is one of the country's most widely read sports writers and is considered a pioneer of sportswriting
Sports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...
on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. His readership has steadily grown since he started at ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
in 2001. In 2005, according to ESPN, Simmons' column averaged 500,000 unique visitors a month. According to comScore
ComScore
comScore is a Internet marketing research company providing marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses. comScore tracks all internet data on its surveyed computers in order to study online behavior....
, Simmons' column had averaged 1.4 million pageviews and 460,000 unique visitors a month over the previous six months in November 2009.
In 2007, Simmons conceived the idea for 30 for 30
30 for 30
30 for 30 is the umbrella title for a series of documentaries airing on ESPN and its sister networks. The series, which premiered in October 2009 and concluded in December 2010, chronicles 30 stories from the "ESPN era," each of which detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that...
, a series of documentaries
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
chronicling 30 stories from the "ESPN era." Each of the documentaries detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that transformed the sports landscape since the sports network was founded in 1979. He wanted feature filmmakers to recount the sports stories, people, and events from the past three decades in which they took a personal interest or involvement, however great or small, and felt that said stories had not been fully explored. Simmons and his team took special interest to "stories that resonated at the time but were eventually forgotten for whatever reason." The series premiered on October 6, 2009 with "King's Ransom" directed by Peter Berg
Peter Berg
Peter Berg is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock and Battleship. He also developed the television series Friday Night Lights, which was adapted from the film he directed. As an actor...
. Simmons serves as executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
on the project.
On May 8, 2007, Simmons began a podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
for ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
called Eye of the Sportsguy. On June 14, 2007 the podcast was changed to The B.S. Report with a new theme song written by Ronald Jenkees
Ronald Jenkees
Ronald Jenkees is an American composer and musician, best known for his YouTube keyboard performances, coverage on G4 TV's Attack of the Show!, and an appearance in Paste Magazine. His YouTube videos have been viewed over 50,000,000 times...
. Simmons creates three or four hourlong podcasts a week, generally carrying one theme throughout, talking to everyone from sports and media notables to his friends. The B.S. Report is regularly the most downloaded podcast on ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
averaging 2 million downloads a month. In 2009, The B.S. Report was downloaded more than 25.4 million times. Simmons guests includes athletes and writers such as Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman
Charles John "Chuck" Klosterman is an American author and essayist who has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, and The Washington Post, and has written books focusing on American popular culture....
as well as personal friends Jacko (Yankees fan John O'Connell), Cousin Sal (Sal Iacono) and Joe House.
Simmons began writing a weekly, 800 word column for ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998....
in 2002 but convinced ESPN after three years to give him 1,200 words. In the July 27, 2009 issue of ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine
ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998....
, Simmons officially announced his retirement from his magazine column. He continues to write for the ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
Page 2 website.
In October 2007, it was announced the Simmons joined the television series E:60
E:60
E:60 is a weekly investigative journalism newsmagazine show. It premiered on ESPN on October 16, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. ET, 4:00 p.m. PT. The show is one hour long....
as a special contributor. In May 2010, it was reported that Simmons and ESPN came to an agreement on a new contract, although no official announcement has been made on the terms.
He has occasionally appeared on Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories...
as a guest host, and was a panellist on the 2010 PTI
Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories...
's Free Agency Summit episode.
Since 2009, Bill has also been a moderator and panelist at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference
The ' goal is to provide a forum to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the sports industry. Founded in 2006, the conference is co-chaired by Daryl Morey and Jessica Gelman who oversee MIT Sloan students The ' goal is to provide a forum to discuss the increasing role of analytics in the...
Grantland.com
Simmons also serves as the editor-in-chief of Grantland.com, a website owned by ESPN covering sports and pop culture that launched on June 8, 2011. The website's name is a reference to deceased sportswriter Grantland RiceGrantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
,, though it was reportedly not Simmons' choice for the name. Sports blog Deadspin
Deadspin
Deadspin is a sports website owned by Gawker Media and was launched in September 2005. As of February 2010, the site had attracted over 462 million unique visitors and about 573 million page views....
had previously reported in 2010 that Simmons was working on a "top secret editorial project."
Grantland.com features articles and podcasts from Simmons, Jonathan Abramshttp://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/05/28/bill-simmons-poaches-ny-times-writer-for-grantland-com/, Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
, Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman
Charles John "Chuck" Klosterman is an American author and essayist who has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, and The Washington Post, and has written books focusing on American popular culture....
, Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He is known for the best-selling memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and for his more recent work as a screenwriter. He is also the co-founder of the literacy project 826 Valencia.-Life:Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts,...
, Eric Raskin, Michael Weinreb, Bill Barnwell and Chris Ryan
Chris Ryan
Sergeant ‘Chris Ryan’ MM is the pseudonym of a former British Special Forces operative and soldier turned novelist...
, among others .
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
In the summer of 2002, Jimmy KimmelJimmy Kimmel
James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel is an American television host and comedian. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money...
had been trying to get Simmons to write for his new late-night talk show
Late-night talk show
In American television, the late-night talk show is a specific kind of comedy-oriented talk and variety show that airs late at night. Characteristics of the genre include topical monologues in which the host makes fun of the day's news, comedy sketches, celebrity interviews, and musical performances...
, Jimmy Kimmel Live! which was to premiere after the Super Bowl
Super Bowl XXXVII
Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game played on January 26, 2003 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 2002 regular season...
. Simmons refused for most of the summer because he did not want to cut back on his columns and move to the West Coast away from his family and Boston teams. Kimmel kept on "badgering" him and by mid-September Kimmel had him "on the ropes." It was crucial for Simmons that he could write for the show and on ESPN.com and in ESPN The Magazine, which was possible because of the Disney connection with ESPN and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. He has also stated that he joined the show because he was burned out from his column, felt he needed a change, and always wanted to write for a talk show.
Simmons left Boston and moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on November 16, 2002 and began working in April 2003 as a comedy writer for the show. Simmons called it "the best move I ever made" and said it was one of the best experiences of his life. He left the show in the spring of 2004 after a year and a half of writing for the show. He also wanted to focus full time on his column, since his writing was starting to slip and he did not have enough time to work on columns or even think about them. Simmons remained in California.
Books
On October 1, 2005, Simmons released his first New York Times best-selling bookBook
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
, Now I Can Die in Peace
Now I Can Die in Peace
Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation, With a Little Help From Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox is a 2006 sports anthology of original columns written by ESPN sports writer Bill Simmons...
. The book is a collection of his columns, with minor changes and lengthy footnotes, leading up to the 2004 World Series
2004 World Series
The 2004 World Series was the Major League Baseball championship series for the 2004 season. It was the 100th World Series and featured the American League champions, the Boston Red Sox, against the National League champions, the St. Louis Cardinals...
victory by the Boston Red Sox. The book spent five weeks on The New York Times extended best-seller list.
In July 2008, Simmons announced that he would be taking 10 weeks off from writing columns for ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
's Page 2 to concentrate on finishing his second book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy is the second book by ESPN columnist Bill Simmons.-Background:Simmons has written under the name “The Sports Guy” for 12 years, 9 of them with ESPN, and currently receives 1.4 million page views per month...
, which was released on October 27, 2009. The book tries to find out who really are the best players and teams of all time and the answers to some of the greatest "What ifs?" in NBA history. It debuted at the top of The New York Times Best Seller List
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
for non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
books.
Style
When Simmons' first started his website, he wrote what he thought friends would enjoy reading because he never understood how people could be sportswritersSports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...
while claiming they did not care which team won, in the name of journalistic objectivity. Since Simmons was writing on the web he figured that "in order to get people to read it, it had to be different from what people got in newspapers and magazines." He believes his job is not to get into the heads of the players, but into the heads of his readers. One way he gets his readers to come back is to update frequently and to be provocative, so he can get a discussion going among and with his readers. Simmons has stated that he "...will never write a traditional sports column."
With his column, Simmons aims to speak for, reconnect sportswriting
Sports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...
with, and reproduce the experience for the average fan. Simmons' writing in his columns is characterized by mixing sports knowledge, erudite analysis, clever prose, comedy, references to pop culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
including movies and television shows, his non-sports-related personal life, his many fantasy sports teams, video games, and references to adult video. His columns often mention trips to Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
or other gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
venues with his friends, including blackjack and sports gambling.
One of his most popular recurring columns is the "Mailbag" where he answers readers' e-mails. He almost always ends these columns with a strange e-mail, followed by the statement "Yup, these are my readers." He also occasionally engages in lengthy chat sessions with readers on ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
. His wife occasionally writes mini-articles within Simmons' own Page 2 articles as "The Sports Gal," on subjects such as The Hills
The Hills
The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...
and her lack of understanding of a golf handicap.
Feud with ESPN
Simmons has at times had a tense and public battle with ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
about creative freedom and censorship. In May 2008, Simmons was embroiled in a feud with management at ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
. When asked by the editors of Deadspin
Deadspin
Deadspin is a sports website owned by Gawker Media and was launched in September 2005. As of February 2010, the site had attracted over 462 million unique visitors and about 573 million page views....
why he had not written a new column in over 2 weeks, he said that he was writing less because he loved writing his column and believed that he and ESPN had come to an agreement "on creative lines, media criticism rules, the promotion of the column and everything else on ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
" but within a few months all of those things changed.
A month before the feud erupted, Simmons was scheduled to interview then-senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
for a podcast. Obama was still running against then-senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Nomination at the time. ESPN nixed the interview, saying that they would only allow its reporters and columnists to interview a presidential candidate once the nomination had been finalized. Deadspin believed this was an example of ESPN pulling rank, and speculated that ESPN was thinking that they should wait for Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott is a sportscaster and anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter.-Early life and career:Scott attended Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to college at the University of North Carolina. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity...
to talk Carolina hoops with Obama after the convention instead of on a podcast. According to a campaign source, a television interview with Scott was canceled by higher-ups as well. Scott eventually did interview Obama right before the convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
began.
On October 31, 2008, ESPN refused to post Simmons' NFL Week Nine Picks, instead just putting up his predicted lines. In response to many reader emails, Simmons posted to his blog explaining what happened (which has since been removed from his personal blog).
In November 2008, according to Deadspin
Deadspin
Deadspin is a sports website owned by Gawker Media and was launched in September 2005. As of February 2010, the site had attracted over 462 million unique visitors and about 573 million page views....
, Simmons had quit the B.S. Report due to the content being edited out of them. The controversy revolved around the entry of pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Christian into a ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
fantasy basketball
Fantasy basketball
Fantasy basketball was inspired by fantasy baseball. Originally played by keeping track of stats by hand, it was popularized during the 1990s after the advent of the Internet. Those who play this game are sometimes referred to as General Managers , who draft actual NBA players and compute their...
league. Simmons was upset that his explanation of ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's refusal to allow him into the league was edited out of a B.S. Report podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
. On November 25, 2008, Simmons returned to recording his B.S. Report podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
with a disclaimer
Disclaimer
A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship...
, which says "The BS Report is a free flowing conversation that occasionally touches on mature subjects."
In late 2009, Simmons was punished by ESPN for writing tweets critical of Boston sports radio station WEEI
WEEI
WEEI is a sports radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that broadcasts on 850 kHz from a transmitter in Needham, Massachusetts, and is owned by Entercom Communications. The station is one of the top-rated sports talk radio stations in the nation. Studios are located in Brighton, Massachusetts...
's The Big Show
The Big Show (sports radio show)
The Big Show is a sports talk radio program on Boston's WEEI 850 AM. Started in August 1995, the show is hosted by former Boston Celtics play-by-play announcer Glenn Ordway and former Boston Globe columnist Michael Holley...
. He was suspended for two weeks from Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
with an exception for tweets about his book tour.
Isiah Thomas
A frequent column target for Simmons in the past has been former New York KnicksNew York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
coach and general manager Isiah Thomas
Isiah Thomas
Isiah Lord Thomas III , nicknamed "Zeke",is the men's basketball coach for the FIU Golden Panthers, and a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association from 1981 until 1994. He led the "Bad Boys" to the NBA...
. This led to Thomas threatening Simmons on Stephen A. Smith
Stephen A. Smith
-Early years:Smith was raised in the Hollis neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. He lived with his parents and four older sisters.He attended Winston-Salem State University, a historically black university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
's radio show in early 2006, saying that there would be "trouble" if they ever met in the street. Upon a meeting in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, they both decided they were entertainers at heart.
Red Sox Nation presidency
Simmons and Red Sox announcer Jerry RemyJerry Remy
Gerald Peter "Rem Dawg" Remy is a Major League Baseball broadcaster and former Major League Baseball second baseman. Remy grew up in Somerset, Massachusetts.-Playing career:...
feuded over the presidency of Red Sox Nation
Red Sox Nation
Red Sox Nation refers to the fans of the Boston Red Sox. The phrase "Red Sox Nation" was first coined by Boston Globe feature writer Nathan Cobb in an October 20, 1986, article about split allegiances among fans in Connecticut during the 1986 World Series between the Red Sox and the New York...
. The Red Sox asked Simmons to run for the ceremonial position and he accepted. In a candidate's memo, Simmons remarked that he was a better choice than Remy because he is not a smoker. Remy criticized Simmons for about five minutes during the July 16, 2007 NESN broadcast of a Red Sox – Royals game. Simmons later removed himself from consideration and Remy was named president.
Memes
Simmons responds to issues in the sports world in a unique way, usually putting a different spin on events, ideas and theories contributing to memes. He uses such terms so frequently that ESPN.comESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
has a glossary of Simmons conventions, with links to articles in which they were used.
Ewing Theory
One of Simmons's most used internet memes has been the Ewing Theory, which was conceived by Dave Cirilli and named after Patrick EwingPatrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...
of the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
. In 1998–99, the Knicks made the NBA Finals
1999 NBA Finals
The 1999 NBA Finals was the championship round of the shortened 1998–99 NBA season or the 1999 season. The San Antonio Spurs of the Western Conference took on the New York Knicks of the Eastern Conference for the title, with the Spurs holding home court advantage...
after Ewing sustained an Achilles' tendon injury. The Ewing Theory claims that when a longtime superstar who has never won a championship leaves the team via injury, trade, or free agency, and the media writes the team off, the team will play better.
Given the time since the name Ewing Theory was coined and the Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
' Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
victory, a number of readers suggested the name be updated to the "Tiki Theory" named after former player Tiki Barber
Tiki Barber
Atiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia....
and Simmons agreed.
Manning Face
Facial expression
A facial expression one or more motions or positions of the muscles in the skin. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among humans, but also occur...
displaying a mix of frustration and disgust. It is most often displayed by NFL quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
s Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League . Manning holds the record for most NFL MVP awards with four. He was drafted by the Colts as the first overall pick in 1998 after a standout college football career with the...
and his younger brother, Eli
Eli Manning
Eli Nelson Manning is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning...
. It was coined by a reader in 2001 and was later defined by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
as "the look of someone who has just faced up to a sobering fact: I am in complete control of this offense. I prepare for games like no other quarterback in the NFL. I am in the best shape of my life. I have done everything I can to succeed—and I'm losing. Ohmigod. I'm not that good."
The Manning Face references receded from Simmons' columns during the 2006–09 stretch when each brother won a Super Bowl and Peyton won two MVP awards, but Simmons noted it returned during the Colts' Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
loss to the New Orleans Saints, after Tracy Porter
Tracy Porter
Tracy O'Neil Porter is an American football cornerback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Saints in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Indiana....
intercepted Peyton's pass and returned it 74 yards for the title-clinching TD. He later said it wasn't clear whether the Manning Face was returning for good or made a cameo appearance.
Levels of Losing
Another recurring Simmons topic is the 20 Levels of Losing (originally the 13 Levels of Losing), where he defines, describes and ranks the most painful ways for a sports team to lose, such as the "Stomach Punch", or the "Guillotine". Simmons defined the Boston Red SoxBoston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
' loss in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series
1986 World Series
The 1986 World Series pitted the New York Mets against the Boston Red Sox. It was cited in the legend of the "Curse of the Bambino" to explain the error by Bill Buckner in Game 6 that allowed the Mets to extend the series to a seventh game...
as the highest level of losing.
Tyson Zone
Simmons also created the Tyson Zone, named for boxer Mike TysonMike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
. The Tyson Zone is the status an athlete or celebrity reaches when his or her behavior becomes so outrageous that one would believe any story or anecdote about the person, no matter how shocking or bizarre. The term may also be used in adjective form as the word "Tysonic."
Personal life
Simmons is married to Kari Simmons (néeNEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Crichton), mentioned only as "The Sports Gal" in his columns. They have two children together, daughter Zoe Simmons (born May 2, 2005) and son, Benjamin Oakley Simmons (born October 30, 2007; called "The CEO" by Simmons and his wife). His father, William Simmons (born 1948), is also referred to as "The Sports Dad."
Simmons is a devoted fan of Boston's teams including Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
, New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
, and Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
. He was a longtime fan of the Boston Bruins
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...
and the NHL, but claims that their poor management led to his completely losing interest in them until the 2008 playoffs
2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs of the National Hockey League began on April 9, 2008, after the 2007–08 regular season. The sixteen teams that qualified, eight from each conference, played best-of-7 series for conference quarterfinals, semifinals and championships, and then the conference champions...
. He is also a Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
season ticket holder and most recently, due to the NBA lockout, the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
. He also claims to be a fan of the English Premier League soccer team Tottenham Hotspur, and he has had playful debates on soccer with ESPN colleague David Hirshey
David Hirshey
David Hirshey is a book editor and sportswriter. He has been an editor at The New Yorker and Esquire where from 1985 to 1997, he was in charge of the magazine's Dubious Achievement Awards...
, a soccer columnist and a die-hard fan of Tottenham's fierce rivals Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...