I share some of your last-paragraph feelings. I think he's too invested in non-writing activities and his brand comes first. Understandably, I think, given all the opportunities he has now and his (seemingly genuine) fascination with celebrity and all those trappings. I have no use for that stuff.
However, you attribute motivations to him in your first paragraph that I would dispute. Perhaps he, like many others, saw this craptastic Celtics team and legitimately thought they'd lose in the first round. It wasn't a CRAZY idea. I don't think you can say with any certainty that he wrote that column as a credibility grab. I've heard that many times round these here parts and I don't find it anymore convincing now than I did then.
The thing is, he didn't say he thought the heat would win, they were favored to win, or that it was highly probable they would win. He stated, flat out, that he knew the heat would 100% win. Coming from a guy who has always been associated with boston, do you think he was surprised when that bit drew so much attention to it? Do you think that after a decade in this business, he was completely oblivious that that bit would be the bit that would stick out and draw reactions from people? Of course not.
Even if he was certain of the outcome of that series, certainly that wasn't the only series he was certain of the outcome. But as a writer it's his job to draw in readers. That bit drew in more readers than the rest. I fail to see what is so problematic in assuming that he wrote it like he wrote it to maximize readership. And I fail to the problem in calling him out when he makes strongly worded claims that turn out to be wrong.
Topic: What Bill Simmons should say: "I'm an idiot" (Read 17264 times)