Bill Simmons loves Lebron James

[rondohondo]

This is an article from January of 2010 .

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100120&sportCat=nba


Everyone knows Lebron is the best player in the league, but Simmons sounds like he wants to date Lebron. It is so pathetic how much of a Lebron fanboy he is.


The only reason I could see Simmons rooting for the C's VS Lebronze is so that Lebron will join Bill Simmon's beloved LA Clippers as a free agent next year.

[Kwhit10]

He loves Durant more.

[Donoghus]

Uh oh, the combination of 2 topics that lead to unadulterated hatred by many on this blog; (Simmons & Lebron)  

[rondohondo]

I love how he says "Lebron James is the most charasmatic athelete of his generation" . I guess charasmatic means acting like a complete arrogant tool almost all the time.

[misha]

The only reason I could see Simmons rooting for the C's VS Lebronze is so that Lebron will join Bill Simmon's beloved LA Clippers as a free agent next year.

Even Lebron is not that stupid to join the Clippers.

[LarBrd33]

Simmons loves the Celtics, but he loves the NBA in general.  His book is great.  He has a massive appreciation for the history of the game.   He rightfully realizes that LeBron is historically good.  He gets excited by that.   He's most definitely rooting against him in this series, though.  

[Roy Hobbs]

Simmons loves the Celtics, but he loves the NBA in general.  His book is great.  He has a massive appreciation for the history of the game.   He rightfully realizes that LeBron is historically good.  He gets excited by that.   He's most definitely rooting against him in this series, though.  

I respectfully disagree.  Simmons *used* to love the Celtics.  He seems to have real problems with the current front office, though, which spills into his coverage (and affection) for the current team.

[Donoghus]

Simmons loves the Celtics, but he loves the NBA in general.  His book is great.  He has a massive appreciation for the history of the game.   He rightfully realizes that LeBron is historically good.  He gets excited by that.   He's most definitely rooting against him in this series, though.  

I respectfully disagree.  Simmons *used* to love the Celtics.  He seems to have real problems with the current front office, though, which spills into his coverage (and affection) for the current team.

I willing to bet when it comes down to it, all issues aside with the current regime or whatever, he's still a Celtics fan and pulling for a title.  30 years of passion just doesn't go away with some management issues, IMO.

I remember one point in the early 00s, I was utterly disgusted by the Harrington regime and the team implosion going on with the Red Sox.  When it came down to it, though, it wasn't enough to tear me away from the Eosx.

[LarBrd33]

Simmons loves the Celtics, but he loves the NBA in general.  His book is great.  He has a massive appreciation for the history of the game.   He rightfully realizes that LeBron is historically good.  He gets excited by that.   He's most definitely rooting against him in this series, though.  

I respectfully disagree.  Simmons *used* to love the Celtics.  He seems to have real problems with the current front office, though, which spills into his coverage (and affection) for the current team.

He bleeds Celtic green.  I think he's frustrated.   Come on... he obviously is rooting for Boston.  But he's just one of those disgruntled fans (there are a lot on this board... I probably qualify as one) who whine and complain and almost exaggerate about how bad the team is.  We hate losing.  We're pessimistic.  It's easier to write off the team and assume they are going to get owned by Dwayne Wade than to blindly root for a bad team and feel the pain of getting beaten.  That way, any victories become a surprising success.    It doesn't really work, though.  Simmons is still going to hate watching the Cavs beat the Celtics no matter how many times he tweets like the series is already over.   It's just a defense mechanism.   And really you can't blame him for hating Sheed.  

Look, I love the Celtics.   I think Glen Davis is a bum.  I think Sheed is useless... and I never understood why we traded for some headcase midget.   Meanwhile, I respect that LeBron is the best player in the NBA and is insanely gifted and fun to watch.  I already admitted I'm rooting for Bron once the Celtics get eliminated (anything other than Kobe).  With all that said... I'm obviously rooting for Boston to pull off an upset.  I am positive Simmons is too.

You can kinda liken it to when we had a 2 man offense and Antoine Walker was jacking up 50 three pointers a night.  A lot of us wanted the Celtics to blow it up and get rid of Walker.   That doesn't mean we weren't rooting for them come playoff time.  We just saw the flaws.

[rondohondo]

Simmons loves the Celtics, but he loves the NBA in general.  His book is great.  He has a massive appreciation for the history of the game.   He rightfully realizes that LeBron is historically good.  He gets excited by that.   He's most definitely rooting against him in this series, though.  

I respectfully disagree.  Simmons *used* to love the Celtics.  He seems to have real problems with the current front office, though, which spills into his coverage (and affection) for the current team.

He bleeds Celtic green.  I think he's frustrated.   Come on... he obviously is rooting for Boston.  But he's just one of those disgruntled fans (there are a lot on this board... I probably qualify as one) who whine and complain and almost exaggerate about how bad the team is.  We hate losing.  We're pessimistic.  It's easier to write off the team and assume they are going to get owned by Dwayne Wade than to blindly root for a bad team and feel the pain of getting beaten.  That way, any victories become a surprising success.    It doesn't really work, though.  Simmons is still going to hate watching the Cavs beat the Celtics no matter how many times he tweets like the series is already over.   It's just a defense mechanism.   And really you can't blame him for hating Sheed.  

Look, I love the Celtics.   I think Glen Davis is a bum.  I think Sheed is useless... and I never understood why we traded for some headcase midget.   Meanwhile, I respect that LeBron is the best player in the NBA and is insanely gifted and fun to watch.  I already admitted I'm rooting for Bron once the Celtics get eliminated (anything other than Kobe).  With all that said... I'm obviously rooting for Boston to pull off an upset.  I am positive Simmons is too.

You can kinda liken it to when we had a 2 man offense and Antoine Walker was jacking up 50 three pointers a night.  A lot of us wanted the Celtics to blow it up and get rid of Walker.   That doesn't mean we weren't rooting for them come playoff time.  We just saw the flaws.

What you just described there is a front running bandwagon fan, which is exactly what Simmons is . He will pull out the reverse jinx sooner or later, but we all know its bs.

[Donoghus]

Simmons loves the Celtics, but he loves the NBA in general.  His book is great.  He has a massive appreciation for the history of the game.   He rightfully realizes that LeBron is historically good.  He gets excited by that.   He's most definitely rooting against him in this series, though.  

I respectfully disagree.  Simmons *used* to love the Celtics.  He seems to have real problems with the current front office, though, which spills into his coverage (and affection) for the current team.

He bleeds Celtic green.  I think he's frustrated.   Come on... he obviously is rooting for Boston.  But he's just one of those disgruntled fans (there are a lot on this board... I probably qualify as one) who whine and complain and almost exaggerate about how bad the team is.  We hate losing.  We're pessimistic.  It's easier to write off the team and assume they are going to get owned by Dwayne Wade than to blindly root for a bad team and feel the pain of getting beaten.  That way, any victories become a surprising success.    It doesn't really work, though.  Simmons is still going to hate watching the Cavs beat the Celtics no matter how many times he tweets like the series is already over.   It's just a defense mechanism.   And really you can't blame him for hating Sheed.  

Look, I love the Celtics.   I think Glen Davis is a bum.  I think Sheed is useless... and I never understood why we traded for some headcase midget.   Meanwhile, I respect that LeBron is the best player in the NBA and is insanely gifted and fun to watch.  I already admitted I'm rooting for Bron once the Celtics get eliminated (anything other than Kobe).  With all that said... I'm obviously rooting for Boston to pull off an upset.  I am positive Simmons is too.

You can kinda liken it to when we had a 2 man offense and Antoine Walker was jacking up 50 three pointers a night.  A lot of us wanted the Celtics to blow it up and get rid of Walker.   That doesn't mean we weren't rooting for them come playoff time.  We just saw the flaws.

What you just described there is a front running bandwagon fan, which is exactly what Simmons is . He will pull out the reverse jinx sooner or later, but we all know its bs.

I wouldn't call that front-running.  Being critical and having limited expectations of your team and then being pleasantly surprised when positive things occur shouldn't be considered "front-running" at all.

To me, its just more of a realist approach.  The way the Celtics played the last 3 months certainly opened themselves to criticism and doubt from many Celtics fans.  If a Celtics fan had limited expectations of this team yet were pleasantly surprised by postive developments, it shouldn't involved being labeled a "front-runner".

[Roy Hobbs]

To me, its just more of a realist approach.  The way the Celtics played the last 3 months certainly opened themselves to criticism and doubt from many Celtics fans.  If a Celtics fan had limited expectations of this team yet were pleasantly surprised by postive developments, it shouldn't involved being labeled a "front-runner".

Is it "realist" to:

1) Not say a positive thing about the team all season;

2) Say continually negative things about the team you purportedly bleed for;

3) Pick the team to lose to their biggest rival in 2008 and to the Cavs in 2009;

4) Say the team has no shot of winning against the Heat; and

5) Not show an ounce of excitement about the Paul Pierce game winner or any other Celtics victory, or even acknowledge the series other than cracks about the front office?

I think labeling Simmons a "realist" does a disservice to a lot of other realistic fans who follow this team through thick and thin.

[rondohondo]

To me, its just more of a realist approach.  The way the Celtics played the last 3 months certainly opened themselves to criticism and doubt from many Celtics fans.  If a Celtics fan had limited expectations of this team yet were pleasantly surprised by postive developments, it shouldn't involved being labeled a "front-runner".

Is it "realist" to:

1) Not say a positive thing about the team all season;

2) Say continually negative things about the team you purportedly bleed for;

3) Pick the team to lose to their biggest rival in 2008 and to the Cavs in 2009;

4) Say the team has no shot of winning against the Heat; and

5) Not show an ounce of excitement about the Paul Pierce game winner or any other Celtics victory, or even acknowledge the series other than cracks about the front office?

I think labeling Simmons a "realist" does a disservice to a lot of other realistic fans who follow this team through thick and thin.

Agreed 100%

Not giving a championship tested team a shot against a 1man miami team ?

Then when the C's dominate the series he doesn't even twitter anything about it.

[Donoghus]

To me, its just more of a realist approach.  The way the Celtics played the last 3 months certainly opened themselves to criticism and doubt from many Celtics fans.  If a Celtics fan had limited expectations of this team yet were pleasantly surprised by postive developments, it shouldn't involved being labeled a "front-runner".

Is it "realist" to:

1) Not say a positive thing about the team all season;

2) Say continually negative things about the team you purportedly bleed for;

3) Pick the team to lose to their biggest rival in 2008 and to the Cavs in 2009;

4) Say the team has no shot of winning against the Heat; and

5) Not show an ounce of excitement about the Paul Pierce game winner or any other Celtics victory, or even acknowledge the series other than cracks about the front office?

I think labeling Simmons a "realist" does a disservice to a lot of other realistic fans who follow this team through thick and thin.

What do people seriously want him to be? "Johnny Rah-Rah"?  I mean there's different levels of fandom.  If you feel that "realist" isn't the proper term, then we're really just discussing semantics, aren't we?  If the "realists" are peeved at me for using the label, so be it.  They can come after me.

Like I mentioned before, when all is said & done, I still believe the guy is a Celtics fan even if he's not fulfilling the expectations of other Celtics fans.

In regards to the Twitter thing , who cares?  I didn't update my facebook status after the win last night nor made any reference to the Celtics.  Does that destroy my fandom? 

[fairweatherfan]

I'm pretty down on Simmons these days, but in the 08 Finals Simmons picked the Celtics in 7.   He did however make some throwaway remark about the Lakers being "unstoppable" about a week before that, then later played the reverse jinx card, which is where everyone gets the "he picked against us!" from.