By David Scott
Boston Sports Media

In addition to the Scott’s Shots Self-Ombuds piece below, please be sure to check out David Scott’s PodShots for a quick and breezy podcast that looks at: an unforgivable sin performed by the Patriots organization on Tedy Bruschi and why the Globe gave so much space to Mrs. Idiot, MichelleMagnanDamon.

As promised, Scott’s Shots is offering up a post-mortem on the widely linked and circulated Bill Simmon’s story that ran last Friday. This will hopefully be similar to what we did in the aftermath of the Michael Gee story. It was received pretty well – or as well as self-critiques can be received. We figure for the larger pieces we end up doing, we can try to look back and get some reaction from what we did right, wrong or in between. If it were on ESPN SportsCenter it would be sponsored by Prestone and called BREAKDOWN or something sublime like that.

That said, it’s strictly coincidence that our first post-story comment comes from Gee, the very man who got himself in hot water over at BU for comments he posted on a message board regarding a female student of his.

Once again, Gee, posting under his own name (and shown to be still at the same email address) has found it necessary to comment on the incident in a open, public forum, again at www.sportsjournalists.com.

This time, the topic was our Simmons story and Gee took some offense to a post from the poster id’d as “David ‘Fathead’ Newman.”

Last Friday, when a fellow poster (“Lee Jackson Beauregard”) asked: “Isn’t Scott(‘s Shots) the guy who decided to take wider Michael Gee’s remarks on this forum?”, Newman sarcastically replied with this:

“Yes, because Gee’s leering, disgusting behavior and comments toward a child he was supposed to be teaching (posted under his own name, in a shocking show of braggadocio) deserved to be kept quiet … Let’s roast Scott for actually acting like a journalist.”

Gee, who has again been posting regularly at sj.com since August, wrote back:

“Dear Mr. Newman: You are a fool. When hyperbole in admiring women becomes a crime, I no longr (sic) wish to live on this planet.
Bill Simmons has earned a great gig through his own skill.
Congratulations to him. If he’s such a hot shit, why in the world is he so defensive about his early day (sic).
Just my opinion: He (sic) a frickin wuss.”

Okay – to clarify: Gee wants off the planet because his hyperbole is misunderstood and Simmons is a ‘wuss’. Whassa wuss, wabbit?

We’re guessing, maybe, Gee hasn’t found gainful employment as of yet?

It would seem that Gee Whiz really doesn’t get it the way we thought he did when he posted at sj.com, in July: “This is my only public comment. Otherwise, I will suffer the wages of folly in silence. An earlier poster touched me where it hurt. That post was pathetic, juvenile, and boorish. It’s not me. It’s not remorely (sic) me, yet I said it and I’m deeply ashamed I did. Never say anything anywhere when in the grip of profound negative emotions.”

For those who never saw it, Boston Magazine’s Corey Fenwick did a nice job with tracking down the girl and allowing her voice to be heard.

Evidently, Gee was listening.

• Okay, some honest self-assessment of the Simmons interview:

1. While our weekend numbers did pick up considerably, the undercurrent of Sports Guy followers who I believed might find the story was not as substantial as anticipated. A link and kind words from the industry insiders’ blog, www.deadspin.com, certainly increased traffic. Late in the day Friday and through the weekend, the witty and dead-on, deadspin was a common referral spot according to our free, tracking software.

In the end, where our weekend numbers usually hover in the 4-5,000 page view range, the Simmons piece basically doubled those recent summer trends. That’s a big bump for a small-timer like me but doesn’t accurately represent the fervency of SG’s fans (the attendance numbers for some of his signings below may be more indicative).

2. Message board response to the story was mostly predictable: the haters at places like www.sportsjournalists.com and www.sonsofthesportsguy.com found fault in everything from Shots himself (can you imagine?!) to Simmons’ tone in his responses.

As hateful, vitriolic and anonymous as those message board posters can be, the underlying theme is that Simmons resonates with a lot of people and that clearly, traditional newspaper folks have a problem with someone who they perceive to have entered their world through the back door.

Please. Get over your damn selves. If you can’t see Simmons talent it’s only because you refuse to.

Sure, Shots continues to wonder about SG’s future and we remain convinced that a lot of his original national appeal is starting to wear off. But we will never overlook the impact he has had on the newer generation of writers, bloggers and info providers.

Simmons might even be thinking as much – or at least considering his own value in the open market – when he said what, to me, was the most intriguing quote of the story (and supposedly angered a few ESPN higher-ups):

“My biggest obstacle has been writing for a Disney website in the post-Janet Jackson Era – if something is going to sidetrack me ultimately, it will be that,” Simmons said. “There’s going to be a point where it will no longer be worthwhile creatively for me to write my column for them, and that point is coming sooner than anyone realizes. Including them.”

But the undeniable truth is that he has changed the sports media industry in incalculable ways. Shots knew that before, but it registers louder after spending a few weeks stepping back and looking at the Guy and sharing a back and forth.

He was pretty open with me from what I can tell and he didn’t shy away from too much. There isn’t a person reading this (or writing it) that wouldn’t switch places (at least for a month) with the Guy. That’s all I’m sayin’.

3. A couple of direct-to-Shots emails summed up the bulk that were anti-Simmons, so here they are:

“I just have to wonder about Simmons. I can’t believe how much he whines. I’m sure he wasn’t the only one not to get a sniff at a major newspaper job. He just needs to sit back and write 1300 words on why sega NHL hockey saved the video game industry. That will get him back on course.” – Scott D.

“basically, he is coming across exactly how i have claimed him to be: the rich, only-child who doesn’t really know what hard work is and blames everyone else when adversity hits. . .
from your “preview” it seemed as though you were ball-washing like other media outlets(improper bostonian comes to mind). however, you provided the rope, and he hung himself. it is almost laughable when you look at the scope of his career and how all the negatives are everyone else’s fault. its so clear and i cant believe he isnt ashamed to keep making excuses.
the refusing to give the name of the bar is curious. at first i thought “get over yourself sports dork”. then i thought that maybe that whole story is a lie. why would he not give the name? what could they possibly do to him to hurt him? he was only there for a year. either he was a complete f^&*-up or its a lie. im convinced.
again, just let me say that i think you did a good job with a difficult piece. i will not tear up my scott’s shots membership just yet. . .” – PortJeff

• Right about here would be a good time to place the only quote I truly wrestled with including in the original piece, but ultimately didn’t have a place for. This was part of a question I had asked SG regarding why, despite his success, he’s been known to reach out to small-time bloggers who are criticizing him. I summed up the question thusly: “In summation, I guess I have to ask: What is it that gets under your skin?”

Simmons replied: “I always have time for anyone back home. Plus, I type really fast. You should realize that by now. I’m the fastest two-fingered typer in the country. Even receive compliments on airplanes and everything.

“As I told you, I don’t care if you rip me, or if you didn’t like a certain column, or whatever. You (Shots) seemed hell-bent on advancing this perception that A) I didn’t give a sh*& about my column, and B) nobody was reading me anymore. . .

“I mean, I knew the first one wasn’t true, and ESPN.com has copious amounts of numbers to refute the second argument. So I was trying to clear that up for you. If the roles were reversed, you would understand . . . It sucks to read stuff about yourself that’s untrue – I don’t care if it’s being written in the East Bumf^%@ Gazette.”

• Some quick, estimated numbers from the Sports Guy book during his New York and Boston stops (according to people closely associated with the tour):
600 people at his NYC stop
700 people and 500 books signed at Kenmore Square on Friday
250 books at Fenway on Saturday
500 books at Downtown Crossing during lunch on Monday.

NICDIP is also Top 10 on the NYT Best-Seller list and No. 2 in Sports at Amazon (No. 47 overall as of Tuesday, 2:20 p.m. EST).

The one sports book ahead of NICDIP is “No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life”, which also comes in at No. 14 overall.

• Join the club, buddy! That’s how Shots felt when he read the SG’s disappointment at having his screenplay rejected. You know that forthcoming Don Haskins/UTEP story of the monumental 1966 season? Shots (and his infinitely more talented writing partner) were in on that from the start. Had the better script even. Lawyer fucked us. Happens all the time in Hollywood. My sympathy was limited on that one, I gotta say.

• During Simmons’ Fenway visit last weekend there was reportedly a moment when Simmons and his buddy (and recurring character), JBug were given some semiprivate time with the Gold, Pennanted, Holy Grail. “JBug actually started misting up. . . what a moment,” said a Friend of the Trophy.

• Oh and speaking of characters? The Sports Dad is indeed a school superintendent for a district in the greater Boston area. If it means that much to you, you can get it from some basic SG knowledge and use of your favorite search engine.

• Shots missed the Monday afternoon Mike Felger/Sports Guy interview on ESPN Radio Boston 890 AM because Percy the Dog asked us for a beach walk and 890 gets even less reception shore-side. However, a couple of folks that did hear it tell us the segment was both entertaining, brisk and informative. There was a small dose of Herald talk and the “old days” and some pretty hardcore football chatter. Might be a good idea for Felgie to try and line up SG for a regular call-in gig at his hometown affiliate. He’d take a Millar hometown discount to do a half-hour gig every week. And ERB could counter-program him against Belichick or the like. That’d be a nice little bump for ERB. Did you hear that Mike Winn? Which leads us to. . .

• It might not be the Titanic quite yet, but WWZN 1510 AM, The Zone is showing signs of taking on water. Vice President of Sales (for the Sporting News) and 1510’s General Manager Michael “Mike” S. Winn informed co-workers on Monday, via email, that he was abandoning ship and heading over to the new Guy in town, ESPN Radio Boston.

Only referred to as a “Management position” in his note to the Zoners, Winn said the move was the “right one for me and my family at this time. . . You should all be proud of what you have accomplished here under some pretty difficult circumstances.”

With a shoestring budget, a weak signal, the irrelevant Eddie Andelman and the burden of trying to take on the Town Bully, WEEI, Winn’s farewell tone sounds like a definite foghorn – at least to Shots’ sensitive ears:

“Do not panic about the future here,” Winn wrote.

(Translated: PANIC! PANIC NOW!)

“My replacement will quickly understand how valuable each of you are to this station. I should be around for the better part of the next week. . .”

Winn was never given the proper tools to try and take on Entercom’s Leader but that’s the way The Sporting News has operated for at least 20 years – if not longer. One of the biggest mysteries in all of publishing is how The Sporting News magazine has survived all these years. When Shots was at SPORT for the British Invasion/Death March, there was a point where both Inside Sports and TSN were in play and available. SPORT – in its infinite wisdom – got Inside Sports and its subscriber list that consisted of about five real, living names. Meanwhile TSN continued on, re-launched and somehow still endures.

• See you on Friday in our regularly scheduled time slot – with your Friday morning or afternoon coffee. . .

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. and can be reached at shots@bostonsportsmediadotcom