First off: Was there any doubt the Knicks would disappoint us and lose to the Nets last night? I was a click away from predicting it here yesterday, but superstition stopped me. Why even bother getting into a game recap. Mediocre teams are never consistent and always find ways to disappoint.

Anyway, I’ve just about finished Bill Simmons’ ‘Book of Basketball.’ I’m kind of at a loss about what to say about the book or say about him.

I’ll start by saying I’ve never really related to most of his writing (though I think his podcasts are outstanding). It wasn’t that his writing is long-winded, but that his articles just seem to ramble and ramble to the point of him becoming the guy who’s trying to prove how witty and encyclopedic he is.  A little exhausting and obnoxious and, frankly, boring.  He always seems just a tad too impressed with himself and his analogies. I tend to enjoy a little self-deprication from people who throw around a lot of opinions.  But, most damning for me about BS is that he seems to try a little too hard to put the ‘guy’ in Sports Guy.

But, reading Simmons on basketball has always been an entirely different experience for me.  It’s his one subject that I love diving into.  There is a depth to his passion, knowledge and giddiness about basketball that I truly can relate to. I don’t always agree with him, but I almost always feel like he gets it or at least has a substantial perspective. And, most importantly, he can find the humor and ridiculousness in sports.  There’s a lot to laugh at when you’re not taking it so seriously.  Reading Simmons on the NBA Draft or the playoffs is as good as it gets.  Writing from the fan perspective, he can take all sorts of enjoyable liberties that a columnist never could. Columnist have to write a lot of fluff, float a lot of rumors, bury a lot of real stories, make sure they don’t burn their bridges… As an essayist, Simmons can ‘just write’ and call it like he sees it. How many other basketball writers actually pull this off while being insightful, humorous and enjoyable?

If you think I’m overthinking Simmons, you should check out this running conversation about the Book of Basketball over at New York Magazine.  Some of it definitely comes off as unintentionally comical and misdirected over-intellectualizing of a writer who really doesn’t warrant much, if any, intellectualizing.  But, who am I kidding – I love over-intellectualizing stuff!!  If you’ve read the book, enjoyed the book, but it left you feeling a big ‘hmm…’, then the NYmag conversation has some salient writing on the subject.  Jonathan Letham might sum it up best:

If there’s a “Secret” to book writing, too, then which player is Simmons? A Vince Carter, who has the tools but doesn’t care? I don’t think so. A Patrick Ewing, laboring indignantly above his natural level? Nah. I think he’s—yes!—Allen Iverson, blessed with a crazy oversupply of Secret-defying capacities utterly irresistible to put into action and, for many, irresistible to behold—until the day comes when they suddenly rankle. No wonder Simmons burns his thesis to make room for Iverson—that was what Iverson would do if he were writing a book. It would make a highlight film, and then someone would point out that the team lost the game that the highlight came from.

Nicely done.

Tags: Bill Simmons