Arena Roger Goodell Sucks! The Bill Simmons Thread

Honest question, is anyone at the Ringer insightful or funny anymore? I got frustrated reading their 2-minute articles years ago and fully gave up after Bill's hilarious "Can Isaiah Thomas topple Goliath?!" piece.

Narrator: He couldn't.

 

The last straw for me was during the World Series last year; being the first Dodger/Red Sox matchup since the 1910’s, I’d hope Simmons would write an article or two, in particular a mailbag (which was my favorite thing he did).








Nothing. Not everything has to be a podcast.


I realize this doesn’t directly relate to your point, but **** it.

 

They have some tremendous contributors, and a lot of meh milquetoast. KOC is solid for NBA coverage, and they actually provide WNBA coverage. Plus, Shea Serrano is a god.

 

I'm basically counting down the minutes until Movies (And Other Things) comes out. I like Brian Phillips, too.

I hate their website design.

 

More like Bill Simmons-adjacent, but Slate has an article (more of an oral history) of Deadspin's collapse from venture-capitalist morons...

https://slate.com/business/2019/11/deadspin-roundtable-barry-petchesky-megan-greenwell-tom-ley.html

 

I can't believe--well, I can believe--that he's doing the long-promised "Book" of Basketball-update as a podcast. Ugh.

Also, Jason Concepcion is insufferable. I flat-out won't even listen to any pod he's on entirely because of his machine-gun laugh (which he breaks out at things that aren't even remotely actually funny.)

 

i like him too.

 

Yes. The Ringer still produces great content

 

That is absolutely amazing...

 

Guess Bill is cashing out, and can basically do podcasting in his spare time whilst retired. Not a bad life...

 

Isn't that what he's been doing lately?

 

Spotify really getting aggressive in the Podcast acquisition market. I'm still not really a podcast person. I listen to two, and most of the time, I don't listen to them at all. I've never listened to a single Ringer Podcast.

Still, the model is interesting. And remains to be seen if Spotify is looking to win on their own in that market by creating and housing exclusive content. Or if they are trying to position themselves for an acquisition by a larger media company who needs the Podcast piece already figured out.

 

Honestly, don't know where to post this, but it needs to be shared. One of the most powerful, and perhaps the most difficult to get through, reads I've ever had on the Ringer: Jonathan Tjarks on cancer diagnosis, fatherhood, faith, people, and so much more.

I couldn't read this one in just one setting. I got through a chunk. Had to pause, recollect myself, stop crying, and then go back and read some more. Damn, the humanity in this piece.

 

The most relatable part for me was his description how “you’d like to go where everyone knows your name”; it’s why I will always love this place, treasure the people I’ve got to know, met outside of here so far, etc. I don’t want ever want kids (no way I could handle such a responsibility), so having people I normally wouldn’t have ever known have knowledge, get a sense of my interests, etc, means everything to me.

 

That was one of Goodell's early years IIRC.

 

Oh god, it's so beautiful