Of the third I'll say only that Simmons is egregiously wrong about former commissioner Larry O'Brien, who helped establish labor peace and instituted a salary cap that very likely rescued the league from the brink of financial apocalypse, and who today would probably be credited with launching the modern NBA had Congress thought to pass the cable-TV act on his watch, rather than on David Stern's. If it's not the breezy misogyny, then it's the trash-culture allusions, and if it's neither of those, then it's the nagging sense that he got his history off the back of a cereal box. Remember, he spent half a career alongside Eric Snow, who is living proof that basketball is best played by men who do not have ball-peen hammers for hands.) But it's true that Simmons's indulgences-like Iverson's, I suppose-do eventually rankle. (For a long time, he had little choice but to monopolize the ball. I do think we're underselling Iverson here with the suggestion that he appealed primarily to the shallower enthusiasms of basketball fans. It's an interesting comparison, Jonathan. Simmons as Iverson? Now there's a thought. Tommy Craggs "Placing the NBA in the heart of a certain kind of white-bread Americana." 12/15/09 at 10:15 Sam Anderson: Good-bye to the soul-searching, the Vonnegut references, the Iverson jokes. Ben Mathis-Lilley: We can’t knock Simmons as an overcompensating tourist in hip-hop culture. Tommy Craggs: Placing the NBA in the heart of a certain kind of white-bread Americana. Jonathan Lethem: Let me try a small stunt here. Sherman Alexie: The Last Great White American Player Syndrome? Bethlehem Shoals: I'm reluctantly raising an issue that could swallow up this discussion whole. Sam Anderson: I think Bill Simmons is a very good writer. Ben Mathis-Lilley: Some thoughts on the book's horrible sexism. Tommy Craggs: The Secret: A hopelessly banal point about chemistry and sacrifice. Jonathan Lethem: I felt starved for something booklike in this book-resembling object. Bethlehem Shoals: Simmons mistakes going too far, and wallowing in excess, for taking risks. Sherman Alexie: The genius of Simmons: He is an obsessive-compulsive basketball populist. Sam Anderson: The inconsistency drives me crazy. Sam Anderson: The wisdom, the blasphemy, the stripper anecdotes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |