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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Jacksonville, NC

    Duke mentioned briefly On PTI

    Duke was mentioned on PTI just a bit ago and during the rundown Wilbon asked Bill Simmons who was in for Tony K. When asked if he had a problem with Duke being preseason No. 1 Simmons said yes, but didn't elaborate. I'm curious does anyone know the source of his dislike of Duke?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    San Francisco
    Quote Originally Posted by mkline09 View Post
    Duke was mentioned on PTI just a bit ago and during the rundown Wilbon asked Bill Simmons who was in for Tony K. When asked if he had a problem with Duke being preseason No. 1 Simmons said yes, but didn't elaborate. I'm curious does anyone know the source of his dislike of Duke?
    Here is a relatively recent column from The Chronicle discussing Bill Simmons's Duke hate.

    http://sports.chronicleblogs.com/201...e-hate-nicely/

  3. #3
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    Jacksonville, NC

    Thanks for the link

    Quote Originally Posted by gam7 View Post
    Here is a relatively recent column from The Chronicle discussing Bill Simmons's Duke hate.

    http://sports.chronicleblogs.com/201...e-hate-nicely/
    Don't want to bring the Duke hate debate back this early. Was just curious. I think I remember seeing that article earlier but had forgotten about it. My thoughts then as they are now "What an idiot" Hate them fine but at least give a reason.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by mkline09 View Post
    Don't want to bring the Duke hate debate back this early.
    Like it ever goes away!

  5. #5
    I love the fact that Duke winning makes people all over america sick. I get a kick out of it!

    Nobody likes a winner

  6. #6
    Simmons is fantastic, worth a read every week. Like a lot of people I know, he's not a Duke fan. Likewise, I'm not a Yankees fan. Or a Manchester United fan.

    You can't blame sports fans for not rooting for your team, especially when your team is generally the overdog.

    Duke is our thing. It's not everybody's.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Mcluhan View Post
    Simmons is fantastic, worth a read every week. Like a lot of people I know, he's not a Duke fan. Likewise, I'm not a Yankees fan. Or a Manchester United fan.

    You can't blame sports fans for not rooting for your team, especially when your team is generally the overdog.

    Duke is our thing. It's not everybody's.

    Well put! Except that I'm a Yankees fan

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Mcluhan View Post
    Simmons is fantastic, worth a read every week.
    Why? He's been telling the same jokes for over a decade. Do we really need *another* reference to Melrose Place?

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Duvall View Post
    Why? He's been telling the same jokes for over a decade. Do we really need *another* reference to Melrose Place?
    Amen. His stunted-man-child shtick wore thin a long time ago. There are only so many times you can read the same column about a bunch of depressing 40-somethings pretending to be 21 for a weekend in Vegas.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Mcluhan View Post
    You can't blame sports fans for not rooting for your team, especially when your team is generally the overdog.

    Duke is our thing. It's not everybody's.
    If he just didn't like Duke because of our success, fine, I can understand that. But read the quotes in the article above. He's a bitter, mean-spirited individual who flings personal insults at our coach and players, with no real grounds for them. There's nothing respectable about that.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Mcluhan View Post
    Simmons is fantastic, worth a read every week.
    I don't think he was ever fantastic, but he was probably worth a read several years ago. Now, not so much.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Mcluhan View Post
    Simmons is fantastic, worth a read every week. Like a lot of people I know, he's not a Duke fan. Likewise, I'm not a Yankees fan. Or a Manchester United fan.

    You can't blame sports fans for not rooting for your team, especially when your team is generally the overdog.

    Duke is our thing. It's not everybody's.

    Part of the problem is people taking him seriously. He's not a serious writer, he never really claims to be one. He is entertaining and funny. The fact that he doesn't like Duke, oh well. Don't take him so seriously. I agree with the poster above. His NBA columns are classic. On the same episode of PTI for example, I LOVED his quote "Les Miles is sort of like Andy Reid after four drinks".

  13. #13
    When he's talking about absolutely anything other than Duke, I can tolerate him and have found him very funny. But his irrational utter hate for Duke is too much to bear and keeps me from really saying that I like the man.

  14. #14
    He's weak now. As an example, he made some dumb comment on a chat about how Tiger Woods' comeback would be the hardest of any athlete in memory, something like that. When everyone called him on it, citing the obstacles Muhammad Ali faced, he proceeded to write a billion-word column that was pathetic at best, asinine at worst, arguing an indefensible point because he absolutely could not be wrong.

    Then there's this opus about how baseball stinks now since the Red Sox aren't good enough to make the playoffs.

    The sad part is that he really does have a good understanding of the NBA. But branch him out past that, and it's a crapshoot. The thing is, he doesn't recognize that, viewing himself as a sort of sports pope, while his shtick has grown increasingly tired. As sick as he claims to be about hearing about Duke, the rest of the world is just as sick of the Red Sox, the Patriots, his father, the aforementioned Vegas trips, 90210, etc.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by mkline09 View Post
    Duke was mentioned on PTI just a bit ago and during the rundown Wilbon asked Bill Simmons who was in for Tony K. When asked if he had a problem with Duke being preseason No. 1 Simmons said yes, but didn't elaborate. I'm curious does anyone know the source of his dislike of Duke?
    Just ignore him. Simmons is to sports writing what Malcolm Gladwell is to statistical analysis: a disgrace to his craft buoyed by inexplicable mainstream popularity.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    Jacksonville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by SuperTurkey View Post
    Just ignore him. Simmons is to sports writing what Malcolm Gladwell is to statistical analysis: a disgrace to his craft buoyed by inexplicable mainstream popularity.
    Nice. Will do.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Currently going between DC and Greensboro, NC
    There's no reason to care what Simmons thinks about Duke. By his own admission, the only time he cares about college ball is March. Beyond that, he's all about the NBA. His draft night blog is sometimes a very entertaining read though (partially because they NBA is far too easy to make fun of).

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    Quote Originally Posted by mkline09 View Post
    I'm curious does anyone know the source of his dislike of Duke?
    Contrarianism and mass readability.

    Bill Simmons is, first and foremost, a Bostonian. His point of view centers around a have (Celtics) and a former have-not (Red Sox). So he understands that it's in his best interest to either hate the established winner (Yankees) as the bitter underdog, or support them as a long-term fan. There's no in-between.

    He doesn't write much about the college game, but he knows it's not marketable to have no opinion on Duke basketball. He has readers/fans who are more interested in the college game than he does, so it's good to throw them a bone every once in a while. And, if he has no personal stake in this, it's easier to hate Duke by default and begrudgingly respect Coach K's Team USA job than to love Duke by default and have his mailbag filled with college-oriented hate mail that he would consider off-topic.

    Where in sports is the perennial power also universally loved? Even Lance Armstrong has enemies.

    It disappoints me that this tangential anti-Duke behavior might truly bother anyone on this board. Rise above it.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Jacksonville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    Contrarianism and mass readability.

    Bill Simmons is, first and foremost, a Bostonian. His point of view centers around a have (Celtics) and a former have-not (Red Sox). So he understands that it's in his best interest to either hate the established winner (Yankees) as the bitter underdog, or support them as a long-term fan. There's no in-between.

    He doesn't write much about the college game, but he knows it's not marketable to have no opinion on Duke basketball. He has readers/fans who are more interested in the college game than he does, so it's good to throw them a bone every once in a while. And, if he has no personal stake in this, it's easier to hate Duke by default and begrudgingly respect Coach K's Team USA job than to love Duke by default and have his mailbag filled with college-oriented hate mail that he would consider off-topic.

    Where in sports is the perennial power also universally loved? Even Lance Armstrong has enemies.

    It disappoints me that this tangential anti-Duke behavior might truly bother anyone on this board. Rise above it.
    It doesn't really bother me. I was simply curious if he had a reason or not. I don't care either way. I certainly for one have no interest reigniting the Duke Hate Thread here.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    Contrarianism and mass readability.

    Bill Simmons is, first and foremost, a Bostonian. His point of view centers around a have (Celtics) and a former have-not (Red Sox). So he understands that it's in his best interest to either hate the established winner (Yankees) as the bitter underdog, or support them as a long-term fan. There's no in-between.

    He doesn't write much about the college game, but he knows it's not marketable to have no opinion on Duke basketball. He has readers/fans who are more interested in the college game than he does, so it's good to throw them a bone every once in a while. And, if he has no personal stake in this, it's easier to hate Duke by default and begrudgingly respect Coach K's Team USA job than to love Duke by default and have his mailbag filled with college-oriented hate mail that he would consider off-topic.

    Where in sports is the perennial power also universally loved? Even Lance Armstrong has enemies.

    It disappoints me that this tangential anti-Duke behavior might truly bother anyone on this board. Rise above it.
    Agreed, but that's a pretty long explanation by someone named 'Brevity.' We're calmer than you are, dude.

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