Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Sorry my life is so much more bitchin than yours
rectumdamnnearkilledem
True. Guess why: People keep clicking on those links like the madmen that they are.
True. Guess why:
People keep clicking on those links like the madmen that they are.
Which is why I've been clicking on everything else. The comics with his quotes replacing the original text are pretty much gold, though. The Family Circus was not the least bit funny until Charlie Sheen went into full trainwreck mode.
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
He's an okay writer, but yeah he's become a caricature. True story: I used to read Bill Simmons when he was working in some entry level job in Boston and used to write his "sports guy" column for a few of his buddies and email it around as a word doc (I shit you not). A guy in my office was a friend of a friend of his and used to email it around to a few guys in our office.
He's an okay writer, but yeah he's become a caricature.
True story: I used to read Bill Simmons when he was working in some entry level job in Boston and used to write his "sports guy" column for a few of his buddies and email it around as a word doc (I shit you not). A guy in my office was a friend of a friend of his and used to email it around to a few guys in our office.
Oo! Does friend-of-a-friend get one of Bill Simmons' "cool" nicknames?
BS likes to make lists. Lists are fun; lists get people talking. I like reading his lists. But sometimes they are self-serving and/or unintentionally hilarious. My favorite was his multi-column, multi-month attempt at figuring out America's most tortured sports city. Which, of course, just served as a platform for talking endlessly about Boston and how fucked they were for years sports-wise. His ultimate answer? Chicago.
Chicago.
Specifically because the Red Sox had won, so that meant the Cubs were now the lovable losers. Fine, whatever.
The man who fancies himself as a super basketball expert had developed a teeny little blindspot about Michael Jordan and the Bulls juggernaut.
(I dunno what the answer to that question is, but he has retrofitted it to be Cleveland... and I dig that answer way way more than Chicago)
Oh yeah.
CHARLIE SHEEN
Why is it sideways?
So, wait. You haven't been clicking on the links. Except for the ones with Sheen quotes.
Ha!
Yes, Sheen has now replaced Nietzsche as the only man in Western Civilization that could make Family Circus funny. That is quite the accomplishment.
Oo! Does friend-of-a-friend get one of Bill Simmons' "cool" nicknames? BS likes to make lists. Lists are fun; lists get people talking. I like reading his lists. But sometimes they are self-serving and/or unintentionally hilarious. My favorite was his multi-column, multi-month attempt at figuring out America's most tortured sports city. Which, of course, just served as a platform for talking endlessly about Boston and how fucked they were for years sports-wise. His ultimate answer? Chicago. Chicago. Specifically because the Red Sox had won, so that meant the Cubs were now the lovable losers. Fine, whatever. The man who fancies himself as a super basketball expert had developed a teeny little blindspot about Michael Jordan and the Bulls juggernaut. (I dunno what the answer to that question is, but he has retrofitted it to be Cleveland... and I dig that answer way way more than Chicago) Oh yeah. CHARLIE SHEEN
But this is exactly what is great about Simmons. He writes as a fan boy. That's his schtick--his blindness, his loyalty to laundry, etc. It's through embracing his provisional perspective and writing through his blindnesses that he achieves universal truths about sports fandom.
Except that his fan boy schtick no work so well (for me) when he's name dropping famous people he just ate dinner with, etc etc. He lacks a certain self awareness and this is why "fan boy" schtick feels like an overplayed Charlie Sheen caricature.
(ok, I threw "Charlie Sheen" in there because it is in this thread's product placement contract.)
1. First off, this is not meant to dispute mikey, I'm just borrowing words. I am AMAZED at the number of people who claim not to have heard of Two and a Half Men or didn't know it was actually a big deal (in network TV terms). The thing has been on for 7 or 8 years, and in my town reruns are on 2x a night on one channel and 2x (or more) a night on cable FX. The dang show is everywhere, and it is highly rated so somebody is watching it. And yet it seems like the only people who ever claim any amount of knowledge regarding the show... it's either to claim that they have none or that they don't watch it. Hmm. I'll admit it. I've seen it. It is hard to avoid.
We have a kid, so if the TV is on, he demands a show. We watch almost NO prime-time television. That's my excuse, anyway. (In fact, the most Two and a Half Men I've seen was the bit in "The Hangover" "Due Date".)
Weren't folks all over the meltdown of Britney Spears? Or Lindsay Lohan (OK, maybe less fervently, but she's less a star than CHARLIE SHEEN)?
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau
"fan boy" schtick feels like an overplayed Charlie Sheen caricature.
But hello if you know real sports junkies they are just like Charlie Sheen except it's not crack and hookers, it's gambling and tv. They know the hollowness of it all and do it ANYWAYS because they are STEELERS FANS.
Sports are totally ridiculous in the first place. Totally meaningless. Absolutely an infantile practice of blind, ignorant celebrity worship and partisanship.
That's why they are so rad like Bill Simmons. Not a good writer. But a hell of a way to waste another 15 minutes of my meaningless existence. KEEP WRITING BILL SO I DONT HAVE TO THINK ABOUT HOW MY JOB SUCKS AND ALL I CARE ABOUT IN LIFE IS A SPORTS TEAM!!!!!
Now you're just being overly argumentative.
No need to click on any links...his quotes are showing up as people's FB and Twitter statuses (stati?). Actual articles about him...no need to actively look for them or read them. His antics are unavoidable. I think the only way one could actually avoid hearing or reading any details would be if they holed-up in a cave with no electronic communication devices or access to paper media.
Now?
I'm a lawyer. I have a high tolerance for argumentative.
Sports are totally ridiculous in the first place. Totally meaningless.
No way man. The meaning of life apparently was revealed in the stands at the Boston Garden in the late 1970s between Bill and dad Simmons.
"Every now and then I see an old playoff game on ESPN Classic, and I see the child version of me in the stands."
Shut up, Bill Simmons.
True. But unless there is some vast media conspiracy to shove SHEEN in our faces all day long, then I think that the only justifiable explanation for Sheen frenzy is that people want to hear about it.
Which brings me back to my original position which is that there is something about him that touches the American psyche in just the right way. He's like chocolate candy for our current neurosis. He's giving us a stomach ache, but we just can't stop eating him.
I had never heard of Two and a Half Men before, I haven't watched TV in about 10 years
I don't read internet news anymore
Because of this thread, I just learned more about Charlie Sheen's raving than I wanted
It's more like wanting to know what everyone is talking about rather than giving a crap about Charlie Sheen
So I watched some of his interviews
He did invent some interesting phrases though.....
But I don't like watching someone's demise
You all made me do it
I hate you, violently
"During a marathon, I run about two-thirds of the time. That's plenty." - Margaret Davis, 85 Ed Whitlock regarding his 2:54:48 marathon at age 73, "That was a good day. It was never a struggle."
Good Bad & The Monkey
Jeff, are you really trying to figure out why people act in herds and why people respond to certain humorous stimuli when borne in a community than others? For real? And on a running website?
I once asked why younger runners generally run faster than older runners. On the same running website. And I was ridiculed for that.
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby