SORRY ABOUT THE TYPO The Sports Guy is what that should have read

from deadspin

OK, what in the name of Ho Chi Minh is Bill Simmons talking about here? Muhammad Ali and 'Nam? Tiger keeping his pecker out of the killing fields of Spearmint Rhino? What?

This is from yesterday's chat. Scroll down to question from "Eddie (Forth Worth)." Fort Worth Eddie wants to know if Tiger Woods is "ever going to be the same golfer." Glad you asked, Eddie:

To me, that's a much bigger question than "Where is LeBron going?" Tiger's comeback is going to be the most fascinating running sports story of my lifetime. I really believe that. We only get a handful of truly transcendent athletes per lifetime, he's one of them, and yet, none of them have ever been tested this way.

Followed by:

The only thing that comes close: When Ali returned from 4 years of boxing exile for refusing to serve in Vietnam.

For this, Simmons is rightly taken to task by an anonymous interrogator:

Really Bill? Ali coming back to win the title after being banned from the sport for religious convictions that prevented him from serving in a war that continues to effect the course of American history today, "comes close" to Tiger missing 5 months for a cavalcade of bimbos and a staged sex rehab?

Simmons responds:

Here's the big difference though: Everyone was rooting for Ali. He never came even 10% close to facing the scrutiny, vitriol and 24/7 news cycle microscope that Tiger will face.

Yes, it's true, with the exception of the media, the federal government, and even the Hon. Elijah Muhammad himself, everyone rooted for Ali.

"Peter (Sacramento)":

Yes, I'm certain that in the early 1970s, a black man who refused to be called by his "slave name" was far better received by white America than Tiger is received in America today. Certain.

Simmons:

You don't know your Ali history. it's true that White America was against him in the mid-60's, but that shifted as America turned against Vietnam. By the time of the Ali-Frazier fight, Frazier was the "old guard" rep and Ali was the "new guard" rep. He had everyone under 35 rooting for him.

Even if this weren't coloring-book history — and it is (among other things, the year Ali refused induction, 1967, was more or less the year America began to turn against Vietnam) — it'd be a silly sentiment merely on the grounds of the preposterous comparison. Look, I know we all like to think we're living Important History as it is being written, and I know that this is the Sports Guy's world, where watching Battle of the Network Stars on YouTube counts as a sense of the past. But a few years from now, people will look back on Tiger's sex life as an amusing footnote to a very successful golf career; maybe, with any luck, they'll think of it as the moment everyone stopped paying attention to sportswriters who feigned shock at an athlete's wayward humping. But that's it. Tiger's wayward humping is not Important History. It takes a singular set of blinkers for someone not to see any analogical daylight between Ali's comeback and Tiger's, which involves little more than coming back from the champagne room. And it takes a staggering lack of sense for someone to write that Ali "never came even 10% close to facing the scrutiny" that Tiger will — as if it were Ali's good fortune to be scrutinized only by the boys running COINTELPRO and never by Skip Bayless.

Chat with Bill Simmons [ESPN]


I realize that this was a chat and it is hard to sound learned or know what you are talking about on the fly (which is why speaking is much harder than writing). If Simmons really thinks this way, he is way off on this one. Tiger's situation isnt even in the same galaxy with what Ali went through in the later 60's.

yeah bad comparison. but when you're as empty creatively as simmons has been the last few years, what else can you expect?

Zack, Simmons is still funny to me and a lot of other people. You seem to have everythingusedtobebetter-itus. Family guy is good too. I guess im just a little taken back by your thoughts on these two things. I mean is it that you ethink your more creative or talented than Simmons or Macfarlane? I dont think its a bad thing if that is how you feel, just wondering.

everybody gets to rip on people but me. it's not fair.

i've said before i'm not comparing myself to simmons as if i'm better.

i don't rip on "family guy" because i think i am funnier or whatever. i just think the show is weak and stupid.

my creative endeavors are not mutually exclusive to the critiquing of others in the same field.

Im sorry I didnt see where you said that about Simmons. You can rip whatever and whoever you want. But I guess its a double edged sword for you. Being that youre an entertainer or in your spare time or however you treat it, people probably take what you say about these things more serious than other posters. I mean I like your movie reviews and a lot of stuff about tv. I guess the family guy / simmons things I question more because im a fan of both. Simmons is wrong here but I see where he started. Superstar athlete that was mostly loved that did something that could possibly change a lot of peoples perception. Later, RPB

Good stuff guys...

_________________

I thought this thread was going to be about how Simmons thinks LeBron (+Bosh, no less) is a 5:2 shot to play with the Bulls next year.

_________________
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. -Susan B. Anthony

Simmons is right. The media is far different now. The 24 coverage of sports is different now. The constant attention is different now.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

i enjoy pushing buttons sometimes, too...

kthxbai.

Rick

I hope that was a troll. Ali was

prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to 5 years in federal prison (he was allowed a bond as his case was appealed), banned from boxing for 3 years, broke, getting it from both ends (from the white establishment and his Nation of Islam buddies), lost his boxing titles, had the continuing threat of being shot (assasination of people was quite the rage back then)...


Tiger

got to go to sex therapy, has multiple hundreds of millions of dollars, and will return and make a living that almost all of us could never imagine.

like I said, not even in the same galaxy. The new media is all about content in the 24 hour news cycle, I agree that Tiger is gonna have cameras around him 24-7, he would have that whether or not he go caught. In retrospect, I ask myself what was harder

winning the masters, or staying married and juggling 12 broads on the side?

that is a real question

later
sabu

Zach isn't the only one who feels that way. A ton of people seem to be turned off by Simmons as he gained popularity. I've ready his stuff regularly since he first got to ESPN and I havent noticed a dramatic difference in him. I still think he's the best sports writer nationally.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'm not saying that in his personal life that Tiger is dealing with anything like Ali. He clearly isn't. Tiger's personal issue is simply that he was very bad in his marriage.

However, Ali didn't have TMZ reporting every move he made, deadspin publishing the comments by any person that has ever met Ali ever, and a sport that is on national television every week in front of crowds that are supposed to be silent. Ali simply went and boxed and then largely disappeared from public life until his next fight(besides his legal issues). Tiger cannot get away from this.

That's why this is accurate: "We only get a handful of truly transcendent athletes per lifetime, he's one of them, and yet, none of them have ever been tested this way." Ali was tested in different ways but he didn't have to live with the modern day media. That is Tigers test.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Agreed 100%

Simmons isn't saying the personal and political situations are similar, but he's more more or less commenting on the amount of scrutiny and pressure that Ali went and Tiger will soon go through.

_________________
Team Cutler.

Right section this time....Simmons response

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100303

_________________

So he had all this time and space to write this column and this is the shit he gives us? Fuck Bill Simmons.