Time For Another Idiotic, Semi-Racist, Take from Bill Simmons

Since I am in a crummy mood this week I do want to thank RD for telling me to check out Twitter the other night. He told me this after the Big 10 canceled their fall sports, and said to search for Bill Simmons. Oh boy.

It is no secret that I am not a fan of Simmons. I was, but then I grew up, realized he is a mediocre, front running writer and now I have come to realize that he is too, albeit not on the surface to some, a racist. This isn't a new development either. Noam Scheiber of New York Times wrote a great piece awhile back detailing not only his racism at ESPN, Grantland and now The Ringer, but he also pointed out his sexism and his want to be famous and how that makes him treat others as if they are beneath him. I know he read this, and the replies, even though he claims he never does because since that piece, all of the sudden, The Ringer podcasting network had shows that featured writers that are not white that are on staff. It was way, way too heavy handed the way he did this too. I listen, or used to listen, to a good amount of the shows on The Ringer, and all of the sudden guys like Tyler Tines and Van Lathan and Larry Wilmore just started "randomly" popping up as guests, or with their own shows. It was a bit much.

Yet, as he is want to do, Simmons was talking on his pod, again I don't listen anymore, and I guess he had made a statement with another white guy that works there, Ryen Rusillo, comparing Luka Doncic's assists to James Harden's. RD told me this, and I didn't think it would be much. I was reeling, upset about college football, just kind of mopey. But I went on Twitter, just to see what the hubbub was all about, and man oh man was this a very, very underhanded racist comment made by Simmons. He said, "Luka's assists are like Bird's- they're not cheap assists... like the James Harden type of assists".

Let that sink in for a minute. He is saying that a white point guard, who he is comparing to another white player, has better assists than a black man that has revolutionized the way offense is played in the NBA. Also, how is any assist cheap I ask? They all do the same thing. They all lead to a bucket. It doesn't have to be fancy or whipped around the perimeter or anything. An assist is an assist is an assist. Harden, Doncic, LeBron, KD, Russ, all of their assists are the same, at least to me. It's not like these guys are hunting assists. I am not a Harden guy too. He is a great, great offensive player, I just find his brand of basketball boring. But his assists are just as important or special as anyone else's in the league. His lobs are also very useful because he gets teams to collapse on him, leaving the dunker wide open. He is such a threat from the outside, that when he up fakes from three, he usually has two or more guys open, leaving them with wide open looks. If anything, Harden's assists are the opposite of cheap. He is getting guys the cleanest looks they will ever find in the NBA. And Doncic is a great player too, but he is not on Harden's level yet. Doncic is a fine young player, one of the better players in the league, but guys like Bill Simmons, and the majority of the staff at The Ringer are so horny for a white savior in the NBA.

Simmons has made the Ringer in his racist image. The majority of his hires are writers who have, at one time, worked for him already or for the Celtics. That's why they all loved the Gordon Hayward signing when it happened, loved the Brad Stevens hire, but bristle when Marcus Smart calls someone out, or when Jaylen Brown goes on TV and talks eloquently about systemic racism. People like Simmons don't want to see that because he grew up watching a player whose nickname was "The Hick from French Lick". And Larry Bird was great, one of the best. I'm not calling him out, I'm calling out Boston fans that opine for the days when he was the star of the team. For Simmons to say this, and to take the side of Doncic, to call Harden's assists "cheap", it is lazy and hackey and he is trying so hard to be cool. Simmons is no better than anyone that works at Barstool Sports, a horrendously awful website, he just has the ESPN recognition to his name. I have to assume there has always been an underlying racism within Simmons, and now that he is older, it is starting to rear its head. He is trying to be a hip guy, but he comes off as a wannabe and a dork. He makes these grand declarations, and then tries to backtrack immediately.

Simmons is a phony, a hack, the type of guy that reminisces of his high school days, and now, a blatant racist. Since I read this quote and did some more research, I have unsubscribed from anything and everything involving his company. I don't want anything to do with him, or the myriad of white men he tends to hire time and time again. I'm not sure my unsubscribing will do much, but hey, if half the people who read this do the same, maybe we can make Bill Simmons admit he is a racist, misogynistic dickhead one day, and he will get his comeuppance. Here's hoping.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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