bill simmons IS bill simmons IN the book of BASKETBALL

well he's far from the only one to compare scoot to russ and rose. but that's kinda the point

This election is going to be the most unpleasant of our lifetimes. It’s impossible to think what could possibly make it wor— pic.twitter.com/diSuJLK4zh

— Isaac Chotiner (@IChotiner) August 15, 2023

jesus

this one was funny

https://x.com/billsimmons/status/1691930025648369827?s=46&t=delhXlmZBYazm252j4iaFA

prob what happened more or less

yeah it seems fairly obvious (and predictable!) how it went down

yeah it's all reasonable my only note is that if philly *did* promise a wink wink deal a lot of these things could be seen as harden's camp (awkwardly ) keeping the pressure on to make that happen. i don't think it's like one or the other.

the one no-doubt thing is that he assumed he had a houston backtop option as leverage until he didn't.

I have a physical revulsion to this word and can’t wrap my head around how or why anyone would use it 5 million times in an article let alone write “let us not pretend the word doesn’t rule.” Wtf. I’m sure Bill personally had nothing to do with this Ringer abomination but not sure where else to put this. Is there a thread about the mainstreaming of 4chan incel culture or some shit?

The Official Taxonomy of Cinematic Cucks

Cuck cinema is having a mainstream moment. Song and her husband, Justin Kuritzkes, have independently written (and in Song’s case, directed) two films centered almost exclusively on the act of cucking. That’s the aforementioned Past Lives, in which Greta Lee cucks John Magaro until they hug it out, and the upcoming Challengers, in which Zendaya appears to cuck Josh O’Connor and/or Mike Faist. (Side note: After being set for a September 15 release date, Challengers has now been postponed to 2024, no doubt for fear of an excess of Hollywood cucking.)

Sure, “cuck” has had a long and winding journey to its current moment in the cinematic spotlight, from Geoffrey Chaucer’s use of “cuckold” to cuck’s place as the insult du jour of myriad far-right trolls. But let us not pretend that the word “cuck” itself, with its monosyllabic brevity and hard consonant punch, doesn’t rule. Let us also not pretend that during the last several years, it has not become (for better or worse) something far more universal, its definition stretching from “insult for a man whose wife is cheating on him” to a sort of catchall for any spineless or subservient specimen.

thats some very bad writing wow

i get why this is the case w/ CEO bill and all, but there's something funny that happens not infrequently on his podcast where he will have one of his employees on and will be like "so have you paid attention to [team] at all this year?" and the guy will reply "yeah you know i actually went down to training camp last month for 5 days for an article on the ringer, and"

you get the sense he may not be the world's greatest boss

idk his main people have worked for him for years, i think you can make a lot of criticisms more accurate than that.

yeah say what you want about him, and god knows one day something terrible might come out, but all indications point to him being a pretty good boss I think!

im ready to release some terrible info about him

hes a podcaster

iirc there was something where some lesser ringer staffers had their podcasts taken away and he told them they just didnt have the capacity to produce everything and he gave his teenage daughter a podcast at the same time

Yet somehow Verrier remains.

i now make active effort to avoid content from the ringer dot com

their stuff is so bad, pure slop

they employ kevin oconnor

yeah we all agree koc sucks, but they have some other writers who are good

they all have the residual stink of bill simmons tho

feel like every time i encounter something by them its notably unserious but at the same time not entertaining

i leave neither edified nor amused

both teams end up neither edified or amused, who says no?

lol

depends what you mean by "good boss" because I think there's a Peter Principle thing going on with him, he's a good writer (or at least one that can command a large audience) and I think he knows what sports bros want to see but I don't know how good he is at actually running things

iirc most of the Grantland writers said he was a good dude to work for

I think he knows what sports bros want to see but I don't know how good he is at actually running things

― frogbs, Saturday, December 2, 2023 12:18 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

pretty common scenario of someone with vision whos not necessarily expert at the day to day stuff, usually when you see a someone like that build a successful business someone else is just doing the operations things

lol didn't mean much by it, just seems like he'd be an annoying personality type. the one thing that I've noticed is that whenever any writers leave the ringer he never acknowledges their departure or existence

i'm sure there are worse bosses out there

he is annoying tbf

my post wasn't to allege that bill is a bad boss, just that it's funny when he has his writers on his podcast and reveals that he doesn't know what they're publishing, even though that is a fairly standard dynamic at a place w/ as many editorial layers as the ringer. it's just that most places like the ringer don't have a hugely popular podcast where its founder speaks frequently w/ his writers

that being said i know enough ppl that have worked for him to say definitively that whether he is a bad boss or a good boss depends on who you are talking to. there is a core group of people who have been w/ him for ages, there are also people who have found working for him untenable and have parted on bad terms. this is prob a fairly common dynamic among bosses.

why do the untenable people find it untenable

i don't think you have to know anyone behind the scenes to say that bill can be petty and vindictive. he deals w/ conflict in a way that can feel righteous when his opponent is ESPN and disney -- it's far more problematic when he is managing employees. i know that when the ringer union was forming, some people who were very active & vocal in the union drive felt that he was doing stuff like no longer tweeting out links to their stories from his personal account etc. boss fighting union is not exactly a breaking news story but there were some ppl there who felt like he was taking it to a more personal level

there's also just stuff like, the ringer having very few black people on staff, bill being confronted about this by his staff, and then his response being to hire ppl like raja bell and cc sabathia to host podcasts. like...

Above all, the four former employees said, it was difficult for black staff members to win more responsibility and visibility at the company — especially since late 2017, when company leaders appeared to make podcasting a priority. At that point, they said, top editors started claiming shows for themselves.

The outlet’s popular R3w4tch4bl3s podcast, in which staff members revisit old movies, led by Mr. Simmons, allowed for a variety of guests when it started. By the spring of 2018, the ensemble approach faded as the show came to rely more on Mr. Simmons along with S34n F3nn3ss3y and Chr1s Ry4n, both founding editors who are white.

“The Rewatchables was pitched as, ‘Let’s get the rest of you participating in podcasts,’” Mr. Collins said. “It very quickly became Sean, Bill and Chris.”

Mr. Simmons said by email that the company needed to spotlight its best podcasters. “It’s a business,” he said. “This isn’t Open Mic Night.”

responding to concerns by your (at the time) handful of black employees that there wasn't enough room for advancement by saying, to the new york times, that you aren't hosting an open mic night is a style of management that, um, isn't going to work for everyone. again this is the kinda thing that works when you're the david, not the goliath. but i think he always sees himself as the former despite having been the latter for quite some time.

good post thank you

Bill Simmons attempting to sing No Flex Zone. This is peak podcasting pic.twitter.com/ISZP4ztxze

— Jamal McMurray (@JamalMcMurrayy) April 29, 2024

oh my god lol

haha

lmaooooo

💪💪 @BillSimmons @ringer pic.twitter.com/PgYMgB4JQB

— J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets) April 30, 2024

should be noted that this performance of "No Flex Zone" came while he was listing the three worst commercials of the NBA playoffs, none of which were "what a pro wants"

Bill's list:
1. Wingstop / "No Flex Zone"
2. "BK have it your way ... you rule!"
3. Caitlyn Clark StateFarm ad

no Chet/SGA is an all-time zag

bk have it your way is a top tier jingle. it has run its course tho

"no flex zone" is so familiar to me (and i loved it so much when it first came out) that the ad doesn't even register to me as annoying

"what a pro wants" is so much worse, man. like why would chet and sga know or like that song which came out before chet was born and nobody has listened to or mentioned in decades?

the no flex zone ad is easily the best of the ads they play constantly during basketball classic song and i like vibe of the family the kids seem like they know something funny, the worst are those emotionally manipulative ads from lilly the company that was gouging life saving insulin

i like the what a pro wants ad its nice theyre signing together but then the end is bad when shai is all a lil flat, feel like sort of thing where theres a line thats in the shape of a punchline but isnt actually a joke its just someone saying something is everywhere in ads now some sort of new pernicious ad man strat, like the one where melo tells eli you not slick or the one where grant hill does all the talking then ant says oh i know

i agree i don’t really understand the hate for it. it’s dumb but it’s not exactly like our best minds are in advertising these days. mostly i find it kinda cute, they seem to be having fun. i do agree w/ ppl who point out that they’re too young to really have nostalgia for an early xtina single tho

the singing is cute and they seem like good guys, harmless ad imo

they look extremely uncomfortable! if you’re going to do something like that you gotta actually let yourself get into it. F minus

for me, it’s more “oh god why are they being forced to do this?”

it's definitely awful, but i feel the opposite of lagoon - the singing is cringe, the song choice is weird, the whole premise seems detached from any sort of reality, and the only redeeming quality of the commercial is SGA going "lil bit flat, we'll get better" as if there *is* some backstory that we're unaware of, like these two dudes are on a journey toward trying to sing well together for some reason. it's like that's the only part of it that has even a hint of intrigue?

it's also the only line of the whole thing that's delivered in a natural way, not stiffly acted.

the crypto ad about pizza is good too bad they cant make cyber money that good