El Hombre Deportes
In the vapid realm of what passes for sports journalism in this ESPNified age (fuck you very much Rick Reilly), Bill Simmons consistently towers above the rest. The Sports Guy’s columns careen from keen observation to astute analysis (with a heavy dose of sometimes obscure pop-references), tackling every aspect of sports and sports super-fandom in America without lapsing into arbitrary bourgeoisie ranting (listen up, Kirk Bohls) or meaningless emotional hyperbole (*cough Cedric Golden*).
Distraught at some of the demeaning trends he has detected in the American Sports Experience, like so many people in the last couple of years the Sports Guy has had his eye drawn increasingly to the world at large — and it will make the fútbol heads among us happy to know that in soccer, at least, he very much likes what he sees. On Monday, Simmons published one of his best columns yet; a meditation on his trip to Estadio Azteca to see the US fall in a world cup qualifying match to Mexico. The work is vintage Sports Guy. Watch the video after the click.
He manages to somehow relate some small sense of an indescribable experience with equal parts humor, evident and sincere passion and an expert eye for the dramatic details that make being a Sports Fan such a spiritual experience for so many. I challenge you to read the article and not be moved…
Here is another great soccer article from Simmons in which he tries to decide on an EPL team to support; and here is a random picture from Deadspin about crazy new BK-sponsored uniforms and the unique celebrations players from this Spanish team must contractually (I’m assuming) endure:
