The Bill Simmons Thread

Kliq

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Project X is a found footage movie that came out in 2011 about a crazy high school house party. I was a junior in high school when it came out and it was definitely a cult hit at school because we were the perfect age for it. I hadn't seen it since it came out, but watching the trailer now it does feel like a pretty accurate representation of what we thought was "cool" in 2011.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BEIhA8CcY0
 

Cesar Crespo

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I always thought dynasty implied some roster turnover. I can see the Warriors not being one because the core has remained the same. Pats were a dynasty - besides Brady, the entire roster and key players turned over. I’m ok with dynasty being an exclusive term.
Late to the party but I always thought a dynasty implied keeping the main core together. I remember there once being a debate if the Pats were a dynasty after number 4, but people decided it was because it included the same coach and QB. If the Sox were to win a WS this year and next, there would be dynasty talk. Hell, there might be if they won the WS in 2022. Anyway, I thought the main selling point of a dynasty was having the same core together for awhile. I guess it depends on how long the stretch is though.

You have the 49ers dynasty that stretches out 15 years and includes a bit of roster TO. But during that dynasty, the Cowboys dynasty existed that only lasted 4 seasons and had little TO outside of the head coach. The Patriots dynasty kind of resembles both.

Then you have the SF Giants who won 3 WS in 5 years and they don't count. Maybe its a SF thing, though the 49ers era did get a lot of love. They get less now, largely because there isn't a real argument for Montana over Brady anymore.

FWIW, I already considered the GSW a dynasty. 3 titles in 4 years. The 4th one just solidifies it.
 

johnmd20

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Project X is a found footage movie that came out in 2011 about a crazy high school house party. I was a junior in high school when it came out and it was definitely a cult hit at school because we were the perfect age for it. I hadn't seen it since it came out, but watching the trailer now it does feel like a pretty accurate representation of what we thought was "cool" in 2011.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BEIhA8CcY0
2012.

Project X is definitely a cult flick because it is crazy and very funny. I do remember seeing this one in the theater with 3 friends and we had a blast.
 

Spelunker

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Project X is a found footage movie that came out in 2011 about a crazy high school house party. I was a junior in high school when it came out and it was definitely a cult hit at school because we were the perfect age for it. I hadn't seen it since it came out, but watching the trailer now it does feel like a pretty accurate representation of what we thought was "cool" in 2011.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BEIhA8CcY0
And- likely why it was selected now- stars Miles Teller.
 

Auger34

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Pretty funny that a lot of movies suggested here (and other places) get shot down because they aren’t in Simmons “wheelhouse”…so of course he now does a Rewatchables on Project X
 

Ralphwiggum

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Going to producer Craig for his opinion on a movie that came out before he was born has been a running gag for a while. Promoting him to the main lineup and doing some more recent movies is clearly an intentional move to try to grab a younger demo for the pod. Plus sooner or later they are going to run out of rewatchable movies from the 80s and 90s. I had never heard of this movie and was kind of surprised they were doing the forgettable Broderick - monkey movie from the 80s, but hey, whatever they need to do to keep my favorite pod going is fine by me.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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This seemed to be "one for David Jacoby". BS and him were talking about the regular references Jacoby would make to this movie while at Grantland. The real jaw drop was when Jacoby said he HADN'T seen Superbad, which it sounded like got a lot of nods from this movie. Jacoby is not that young, how in the world do you love this movie but never see Superbad?!

Edit: I guess Superbad ONLY came out 5 years prior to this movie, so not dated quite as much as I thought.
 

johnmd20

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Going to producer Craig for his opinion on a movie that came out before he was born has been a running gag for a while. Promoting him to the main lineup and doing some more recent movies is clearly an intentional move to try to grab a younger demo for the pod. Plus sooner or later they are going to run out of rewatchable movies from the 80s and 90s. I had never heard of this movie and was kind of surprised they were doing the forgettable Broderick - monkey movie from the 80s, but hey, whatever they need to do to keep my favorite pod going is fine by me.
Craig is also really witty and absolutely hilarious, if you listen to the Ringer Fantasy Football show. He's been a little more reserved on the Rewatchables, probably because he's a little intimidated. But he's a talent on the mic, quick witted and extremely funny. This isn't as much a "young demo" move as it is, "Get this hilarious, witty dude over here."
 

Ralphwiggum

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Craig is also really witty and absolutely hilarious, if you listen to the Ringer Fantasy Football show. He's been a little more reserved on the Rewatchables, probably because he's a little intimidated. But he's a talent on the mic, quick witted and extremely funny. This isn't as much a "young demo" move as it is, "Get this hilarious, witty dude over here."
Totally agree, I have enjoyed the ones I have listened to when he's been more prominently featured.
 

Auger34

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This latest Simmons/Russillo podcast is pretty interesting. Simmons continues to remain completely clueless on any issue related to Durant (and has a pretty big misunderstanding of how the NBA works now).

His whole monologue about how Durant is going to stay in Brooklyn and how Sean Marks deserves a ton of blame was completely embarrassing. Russillo clearly thought he was out of his fucking mind
 

JCizzle

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I’m about halfway through the podcast, but definitely felt that this is one of the instances where a written product is superior. If nothing else, being able to reference the list while they’re debating rather than waiting to hear who’s within the next few spots. I love this type of Simmons content though, what kind of lunatic spends hours and hours of time creating something like this? Maybe Lowe.
 

Kliq

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I’m about halfway through the podcast, but definitely felt that this is one of the instances where a written product is superior. If nothing else, being able to reference the list while they’re debating rather than waiting to hear who’s within the next few spots. I love this type of Simmons content though, what kind of lunatic spends hours and hours of time creating something like this? Maybe Lowe.
Yeah, people can debate his rankings and if he is biased towards or against certain players and all that, but there is no denying that he is very sincere about this kind of project and he thinks a lot about it; it's not a typical click-bait listicle.
 
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Bunt4aTriple

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I'm guessing he's confusing Law with Keri. Understandable in 2017, now not so much. https://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/bill-simmons-called-jonah-keri-think-hes-joking-never-know.html

I almost linked to the Deadspin article but the tweets are missing. Man, do I take not a little bit of pleasure when the sanctimonious crew at Deadspin gets caught doing something like white knighting for a despicable wife beater.

Now, is that fair? Of course not, but that never stopped the og Deadspin crew.
 
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TheGazelle

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I was about 65% sure I was Roethlisbergering myself with that response, so happy to hear I was probably right.
 

gammoseditor

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Did he get Jalen Green on his podcast by promising to completely overrate him on this list? 31 over Lamelo Ball, Kris Middleton, Lebron, and others.
 

luckiestman

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True, but I don’t think they’ve ever done a “still in theaters” episode before.
They did something that was very new. Don’t think this is the first time. I don’t love it but it will do numbers and then I will enjoy the “one for us” they do at a later date.

edit: I think they did A Star is Born not long after it came out but Maverick seems like the fastest turn around.
 

allstonite

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They did Get Out and A Star is Born very early as well. I think during one of them they said they would do 1 of these a year if it’s something this huge in the culture
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Doing it before it is released on home video/streaming is kinda lame. I'm not going to listen to the episode now without having seen the movie. Probably by the time I do get around to seeing the movie and wanting to listen to the episode, it'll be archived behind the Spotify paywall. Oh well, I guess.
 

canderson

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Doing it before it is released on home video/streaming is kinda lame. I'm not going to listen to the episode now without having seen the movie. Probably by the time I do get around to seeing the movie and wanting to listen to the episode, it'll be archived behind the Spotify paywall. Oh well, I guess.
I strongly recommend going to see this in a theater. You will miss a TON out of the experience at home.
 

sezwho

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Yeah, people can debate his rankings and if he is biased towards or against certain players and all that, but there is no denying that he is very sincere about this kind of project and he thinks a lot about it; it's not a typical click-bait listicle.
Fact. I get the sense that he would still make this list (and others like it) just for himself and his buddies even if you took all the platforms away.
 

allstonite

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Finally got around to the actual pod and thought it was pretty great although I always prefer 3 people (producer Craig did have some good input). Bill still has very weird hang ups about women in a lot of the movies they cover. No real plot spoilers but I’ll use it just in case since it still is in theaters. But GO SEE THE MOVIE IN THEATERS

Now I think him recasting Phoenix with Sydney Sweeney truly was played for laughs, his issues with Phoenix were so strange. Her whole point was that she was one of the best in the world at her job and just another member of the team…who happened to be a woman. She didn’t need any romantic past with Hangman or need to be sexualized in any way. She was just there doing her job just like Fanboy and Bob. Would I have minded if she had a bigger role? No I thought she played it great but I would have taken more about Hangman’s story or even some of everyone’s favorite Jags fan Jason Mendoza. But the movie also worked almost perfectly and never dragged so I really cant complain. Bill is still stuck in the 80s-90s with his views on women in movies.

My guy Chris Ryan still knocked this out of the park of course. His Wayne Jenkins impression is still a treat and him saying “your call sign should be same game parlay” killed me.
 

ElUno20

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The Podfather is back from his vacation. Fresh out the gates with a 50 minutes of durant talk in August.
 

johnmd20

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Bill Simmons talking fantasy football. Yeesh. So many absurd and non-sensical comments. Bill's trying to be Skip Bayless and it's all milquetoast claptrap.

He's now out of his depth even on things that are shallow. It is not hard to know about FF. And Bill's like, "Matthew, I have a BOMB to drop. Instead of one QB, how about TWO QBs?" Berry's like, "Eh, not much of a bomb there Bill." My league has been using two QBs since 2002. I am in 4 leagues and only 1 is a one QB league and that is because I joined last year and it's a work league. And it sucks. You don't need to draft a QB.

And the whole booger eater thing is just inane. I do an auction league and snake draft leagues. They are obviously different, but snake drafting is no easier than auction. In some ways, auction is actually easier. Billy Bayless!
 

nattysez

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Bill Simmons talking fantasy football. Yeesh. So many absurd and non-sensical comments. Bill's trying to be Skip Bayless and it's all milquetoast claptrap.

He's now out of his depth even on things that are shallow. It is not hard to know about FF. And Bill's like, "Matthew, I have a BOMB to drop. Instead of one QB, how about TWO QBs?" Berry's like, "Eh, not much of a bomb there Bill." My league has been using two QBs since 2002. I am in 4 leagues and only 1 is a one QB league and that is because I joined last year and it's a work league. And it sucks. You don't need to draft a QB.

And the whole booger eater thing is just inane. I do an auction league and snake draft leagues. They are obviously different, but snake drafting is no easier than auction. In some ways, auction is actually easier. Billy Bayless!
His position that he hated and never believed in the "Curse of the Bambino" narrative but that the Sox became "just another rich team" after 2004 was a little hard to parse. I guess he meant that he felt that never being able to win the WS made the Sox "special," but that feels to me as much of a "narrative" as the CotB.

I know it's been said many times on this site that the ownership group may not be as committed to the Sox as they once were, but it was interesting to hear someone "in the know" posit that the Fenway Sports Group has bigger fish to fry than worrying about the on-field performance of the Sox. Also interesting that they are working to get an NBA team in Vegas.
 

johnmd20

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His position that he hated and never believed in the "Curse of the Bambino" narrative but that the Sox became "just another rich team" after 2004 was a little hard to parse. I guess he meant that he felt that never being able to win the WS made the Sox "special," but that feels to me as much of a "narrative" as the CotB.

I know it's been said many times on this site that the ownership group may not be as committed to the Sox as they once were, but it was interesting to hear someone "in the know" posit that the Fenway Sports Group has bigger fish to fry than worrying about the on-field performance of the Sox. Also interesting that they are working to get an NBA team in Vegas.
His strawman about, "I guess I can't complain about the Red Sox or sumptin'?" was so weird. Nobody says you can't complain about the team. Complain all you want.
 

SidelineCameras

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I didn't listen to the podcast today but I will say that pre-2004, the Boston Sports Guy was very consistent about the "just another team" point. Back then, he clearly didn't mean as a dig, it was aspirational. He/we just wanted to be able talk about team the way other teams did, watching as fans or doing baseball analysis. Those of us old enough to follow the Sox closely in the 90s will remember that every goddamn thing eventually came back to The Curse, especially in the national media. Bad July trade? The Curse. Racist owners, bad stadium, can't sign Bernie Williams, Mo Vaughn gets in a car accident, Mike Greenwell gets eaten by an alligator, The Curse The Curse The Curse. Simmons point was simply, can we just talk about baseball when discussing our baseball team?

Again, I didn't hear the tone today. I am only chiming in because as I recall (20 years ago, cough), he made the point often.
 

nattysez

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I didn't listen to the podcast today but I will say that pre-2004, the Boston Sports Guy was very consistent about the "just another team" point. Back then, he clearly didn't mean as a dig, it was aspirational. He/we just wanted to be able talk about team the way other teams did, watching as fans or doing baseball analysis. Those of us old enough to follow the Sox closely in the 90s will remember that every goddamn thing eventually came back to The Curse, especially in the national media. Bad July trade? The Curse. Racist owners, bad stadium, can't sign Bernie Williams, Mo Vaughn gets in a car accident, Mike Greenwell gets eaten by an alligator, The Curse The Curse The Curse. Simmons point was simply, can we just talk about baseball when discussing our baseball team?

Again, I didn't hear the tone today. I am only chiming in because as I recall (20 years ago, cough), he made the point often.
You nailed it. He said essentially everything you did, but in a stream-of-consciousness way that didn't connect all the dots. He was trying to say that past Sox mismanagement was blamed on "the Curse of the Bambino," and he's wondering if we've entered a new era of Sox mismanagement that'll be written off as "the curse of Mookie." If he'd made the point as cogently as you did, it wouldn't have struck me as strange.
 

scottyno

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Simmons, the guy who has been referencing reverse jinxes and hot hands in gambling for decades didn't believe in the curse of the bambino? Yeah I totally buy that one.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Simmons, the guy who has been referencing reverse jinxes and hot hands in gambling for decades didn't believe in the curse of the bambino? Yeah I totally buy that one.
He didn’t. In fact he was one of the first writers around Boston to call it absolute bullshit. He used to write about it all the time.
 

johnmd20

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He didn’t. In fact he was one of the first writers around Boston to call it absolute bullshit. He used to write about it all the time.
It's like Simmons 101. He hated CHB and constantly mocked his view that the Red Sox were cursed, as opposed to incompetent.

You could even say his hated of the "curse" jump started his career. He was absolutely the anti CHB. Was.
 

Marciano490

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It's like Simmons 101. He hated CHB and constantly mocked his view that the Red Sox were cursed, as opposed to incompetent.

You could even say his hated of the "curse" jump started his career. He was absolutely the anti CHB. Was.
Well, he does still have straight black hair. Or is baldness the opposite of red curls?
 

Auger34

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It's like Simmons 101. He hated CHB and constantly mocked his view that the Red Sox were cursed, as opposed to incompetent.

You could even say his hated of the "curse" jump started his career. He was absolutely the anti CHB. Was.
Bill talking about why he’s interested in tiktok is a really good encapsulation of how he’s changed.
Basically he loves it because you have to make a crazy take and hook in the viewer within the first 20 seconds. It’s something that I imagine the Skip Bayless’s/Stephen A Smiths and Colin Cowherds of the world think
 

ifmanis5

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Bill: I'm off teases this year, they're for dumb people.
Bill 10 minutes later: Ready to bet 3 different teases he likes or that Sal talked him into.