Bill Simmons

Heard a lot of talk about one Bill Simmons on ESPN from my friends, but never got a chance to hit him up. Now that I have, gotta say, he's one of the best writers I've ever read, and I thoroughly enjoyed what he had to offer. Basically, in terms of blogging, he's my hero. If I'm a modern philosopher, he's Confucius. If I'm a regular politician, he's Barack Obama. If I'm Bodie Broadus, he's Avon Barksdale. You know what I mean. His rhythm is fluid, his references hilarious, his analysis right-on, his knowledge of what readers want pristine.

Consider one of Simmons's recommendations for adjusting fantasy football: Make a menage a trois matchup once every few weeks where 3 teams have to battle each other, and only the highest-scoring team wins. Classic idea, surprised it hasn't been implemented yet. Like a triple-threat match in wrestling, or a Hungry Hippos game with 2 of your friends: You can't just worry about one opponent, you gotta make sure neither guy leapfrogs you.

The Use of "SportsDad" and "SportsGal" as fill-in writers/ references to make Sports Guy (Bill Simmons) more familiar and likeable? Genius. I wish I had a "Mrs. Fantasy Sports Guru" or a Fantasy Sports Dad that cared about sports whatsoever.

You ever go to a baseball game in mid-September when the home team's already out of it? Well I did today, to a Rockies-Dodgers game, and I gotta say, it's not very fun. Dodgers were flat, the crowd was flat (as flat as a Los Angeles baseball crowd can be I guess), the announcers were flat, the Dodgers started the Italian meatball server John Ely, everything was going against a fun day if you were a Dodgers fan. 12-2 Rockies. The game did more to make me a Rockies supporter than anything, as they showed a nice, young nucleus that could be a force in the West for a long time. Troy Tulowitzki hit 2 homers to make it 300 home runs in the last month, Melvin Mora hit a grand slam, and Jhoulys Chacin justified my faith in him this fantasy season with a dominating pitching performance. Meanwhile, Matt Kemp is putting the finishing touches on a horrendous season; he's now batting under .250 with just 22 HR's, and he seems to get caught stealing more than he succeeds, ever a good ratio.


Bill Simmons has an article about which month is better, April or October. October has playoff baseball, the start of basketball at the end of the month, 4 full college and pro football weeks, and Halloween parties. I'd tend to agree.

But if you ask me what makes October the best sports month, it's still gotta be the baseball playoffs. You don't have to have watched the regular season to like playoff baseball, even. Last year I got my first taste of playoff baseball with Angels-Red Sox, and I gotta say, it's a different atmosphere. People are into every pitch, the dynamic changes all the time, terrible towels, rally monkeys, 3-run homers, seats filled with fans, I mean even in a notoriously humbug sports city like L.A., people CARED about the playoffs.

A similar intensity exists for football and basketball playoffs, but they have inherent disadvantages. Football playoffs: Only occur on Saturdays and Sundays each week. For all the excitement building up to the game, you only get to burst out and fulfill yourself on 2 days of the week. Baseball is a week-long event, making the matchup basically a part of your life. You wake up Monday morning, there's a game to worry about Monday night. You wake up Tuesday with another game, break on Wednesday for travel day, then it starts again on Thursday. A constant process, making it part of your life. I'll never forget the 2003 League Championship Series, when it was the Cubs-Marlins in the NL and the Yankees-Red Sox in the AL. Both series went seven, both series had lots of emotion, lots of mystique, lots of drama. Loved it. Probably the best 1.5 weeks of my life, never have I been so enthralled in a matchup my whole life. Hopefully this October that feeling will be replicated. Can't wait.

Fantasize on,

Robert Yan