I've been down on the #content he's produced for a few years, but the sports movie HOF pods were entertaining.
Not sure what that pic was about, but yesterday a bunch of Bama fans got pissed at him for saying something about Saban being a quitter and taking the easy way out in college instead of competing against the best. I didn't listen, but saw the quotes several places online. He said he was joking, but the response suggested Bama fans disagreed.
I listened to the podcast and thought it was an attempt by Simmons to be funny, it was not funny. It sounded like something you would hear on First Take. He also probably did it as some weird Belichick-Saban fan rivalry thing that doesn't really exist.
I listened to it this morning and didn't think he was joking. I mean he was obviously being hyperbolic but I think he definitely thinks college is inferior to the NFL and that Saban took the easy way out.
Yeah, well said. I don't think he was joking either but I feel like he thought he was being funny and it was just dumb. Not only have his sports takes/knowledge gotten progressively worse over time but I think his jokes have as well. I thought his macho man Tommy Savage bit was cringeworthy. His writing/podcasts actually used to make me laugh, not the case anymore.
He doesn't know anything about college football so when he talks about it he sounds like a moron. "All Saban does is coach the best players in the country so of course he wins all the time" might be one of the dumbest takes I've ever heard. How is that any different than coaching a team who drafts extremely well or signs the best free agents? He acts like Bama was reeling in 5* kids left and right before Saban showed up.
Its such a retarded statement. There are obviously guys who are better NFL coaches than college coaches and vise versa. Its a different skill set all around.
He wrote the book of basketball and now outside of small conversations with joe house every so often he only talks NFL. His lack of sticking to what he knows has hurt him.
Is it really a hot take to think that Saban "failed" in the NFL and took the easy way out going back there? I understand he didn't do as poorly in the NFL relative to the reputation he's gotten but he obviously didn't have the success near what he's had in college. Only Harbaugh (who didn't win Super Bowl) and Jimmy Johnson (who did) in my lifetime really found a lot of success coming from college. Saban, Chip Kelly, Butch Davis, Dennis Erickson, Spurrier, Bobby Petrino... the list of great college guys who failed (and failed quickly) in the league is pretty long.
This is true but he'll start doing a lot more basketball related stuff once Football ends, always has. He still doesn't pay as much attention regardless though
Its not a hot take to say he failed in the NFL. He did. But saying that he's scared and that the best coaches are all in the NFL is stupid. Jim Caldwell wouldn't win at Alabama, Michigan or Ohio State.
Being "scared" of coaches in the NFL is not a take I'm defending. I didn't hear that and that sounds idiotic. It's tougher to win in the NFL for a variety of different reasons. But on the whole, the best coaches (and obviously, the best players) are in the NFL. And so not going to the NFL means he's avoided the pinnacle of the sport. It's like Geno Auriemma to me. A fantastic coach who has built a dominant program, sure. But there are levels (and in his case, multiple levels instead of just one for Saban) above him where he's chosen not to go.
I think its harder to win in the NFL because of the talent parity and the simple fact that up until recently college teams didn't consider it a failure if they didn't win a national championship. The challenges of coaching in the NFL vs college are just different. In the NFL you're competing against better athletes who aren't limited by practice time limits or concerned about staying academically eligible. College coaches have to recruit 24/7/365, and motivate 18-22 year olds, the vast majority of whom, aren't playing for a paycheck. The primary reason you hear college coaches wanting to come to the NFL isn't to compete against the best, its to take a lot of recruiting, glad handing and other bullshit off their plate. There are very successful NFL coaches who wouldn't have the same kind of success in college and college coaches who would flop in the NFL. The difference, I think, is that in college you can recruit your ass off (if you get a big time job) and make your team better. In the NFL its much more about you get what you get.
what does his salary have to do with the quality of his content? Are we not allowed to criticize the play of Brock Osweiler because of his contract?
its seasonal imo during football season him and Sal must get killer listenership because at least Simmons doesn't hardly prepare and barely knows anything but they continue to do a ton of NFL pods. as soon as NFL season starts hes back to all NBA and it's quality.
I've never liked Simmons' NFL content as a writer or podcast guy. The stuff with Sal is funny at times, but he just makes too many sweeping generalizations about everything to make me care what he thinks about it. I wonder if his NFL stuff would be better if the Pats weren't so good, because it just seems like everything he thinks about the NFL for a long time was either "this team isn't as good as the Pats so they suck" or "this team scares me as a Pats fan." Maybe it's gotten better, but that's why I pretty much stopped listening to or reading any of his football stuff a while ago.
judging by his MLB "coverage", if the Pats weren't good, he probably wouldn't even talk NFL and just double up on basketball pods
I think he would still do a bunch of NFL stuff because he's not stupid. People will listen to anything related to the NFL. Maybe he'd delegate some of that stuff, but no one listens to national baseball stuff except the absolute die hards. Russillo and Le Batard talk about it a lot in terms of how you can't do national baseball segments on radio because people get pissed or turn it off.
I obviously knew I wouldn't agree with the politics of the Keeping It 1600 podcast and I largely ignored it the first few months it was out, but after Trump won I went on a politics binge and that pod was one of the things I listed to. Not just the post Trump podcasts but I downloaded a few old ones as well. I'm honestly surprised anyone would admit to liking it. Its like what me and my conservative buddies would create if we wanted to make fun of liberals. Three cosmopolitan, effete, smug liberals who one second say how they're not going to be those things and the next second proudly are. The only redeeming quality is that they talk about actually things that took place in the White House. I find those stories fascinating regardless of party. But otherwise, Jesus its bad unless you're looking or an echo chamber for your own beliefs.
we liberals like a taste of what our version of the right wing media world would look like if it worked on a grand scale for the left
The editorial pages of every major newspaper in the country doesn't do it for you? Edit: And I'm not saying liberals shouldn't like it, I'm just surprised how many actually admitted it. There are one or two conservative commentators I enjoy because I'm partisan but I wouldn't want them playing in the car when I have someone in the passenger seat. I do have shame.
Stick with the radio argument, that one has validity. TV has Fox, that's it. MSNBC tried to be that for the left for years and just couldn't get the ratings.
which is exactly my point left wing propaganda doesn't sell here, thus its usefulness is limited to tiny audiences
Which is interesting. You guys have/had MSNBC, Daily Show, John Oliver, Samantha Bee and the editorial pages of the NYT, WaPo, LATimes all to yourselves. The folks on CNN and the networks obviously lean left but at least they usually pretend to be objective, which is fine because it really only pisses off conservatives who can tell their POV. If Fox and talk radio are that popular is it because more people are center/right (which is what I think) or are the messengers just more talented on the right?
demographically among specifically TV news watchers and political talk radio this is potentially true. you're disregarding a whole bunch of factors and likely the most important imo. First, lots of research has shown conservative leaning people by and large react to news with a negative bias (including paranoia) and with a stronger psychological/physiological response. This colors their worldview and their political beliefs leaning towards conservative viewpoints through personality traits (threat management, predisposition to authoritarianism and dogmatism, as well as social dominance). You basically have a perfect stew of being able to skew something negative or fear based to a group of people that are going to react the strongest while also skewing it even further negative due to how their brain reacts. There is in no world the talent is actually better, you're talking about people fishing with dynamite vs people fishing with a pointy stick.
I tried listening to Keepin it 1600. Too cunty for my taste. I've started listening to Chapo Trap House here recently. It's hosted by a couple of BernieBros and the hosts are pretty far to the left, but I like how they just talk shit about the Beltway media constantly. Their episode this weekend was just them shitting on Kurt Eichenwald and Ben Shapiro for an hour. Couple of weeks ago they went after the game theory guy (Eric Garland) and Josh Marshall. It's basically the anti-Samantha Bee/John Oliver.
Cousin Sal felt neutered this whole season, so many things to hammer Bill on and he played it soft the whole year
Announcement came out today that Michael Lombardi is joining the Ringer on a full time basis. That's a pretty solid NFL crew they have now. Hope he does a lot of stuff leading up to the draft.
Saw Jacoby was on a pod w Juliette. Didnt listen because it was about the bachelor, but im shocked ESPN would allow him to do that.
Agree. Really like Lombardi discussing NFL teams. Has a unique perspective and isn't afraid to throw shade at some players/teams.