Bill Simmons

[TheChillFactor]

From his chat today:

Enrique, SA, TX: Bill, what were you thinking when you wrote that Spurs coach Greg Poppovich was going to retire after this season? Do you know how much money he would be walking away from if he did?

Bill Simmons: (1:30 PM ET ) I didn't, actually. The funny part was all the angry e-mails from the San Antonio era - is San Antonio a 3rd World country or something and nobody told me? I haven't seen that many misspellings and crazed threats in the history of my column... if there was a way to send e-mails in capital letters and crayons, that would have been the typical response from a Spurs fan. Do they have school systems there or is it simply home schooling and that's it?



he is ragging on our spelling but then he types "era" instead of "area"

[SpurInDallas]

The Simmons flamefest is about to begin. Take a seat before the show starts

[TexasNate]

He must enjoy getting all that hate mail with coming back with that kind of statement. Good grief - comparing San Antonio to a third world country is treading on some thin ice.

[TheChillFactor]

I just wanted to be the one to get it started.

Cue the Spurs themesong-

Y'ALL READY FOR THIS???

[Robinson50]

Like I said, he wanted all the hate he could get that's his way of getting publicity for his articles. You guys bite and that's helping him to get his job secured.

[SenorBildo]

Love Bill Simmons. One of the funniest writers out there. So he hates SA. Dude's columns are still funny.

[RichB]

I've worked with plenty of adults - not necessarily kids - over the last 15 years (in South AND Central Texas) that have proven to me time and time again, that yes - many people cannot spell to save their lives.

I went to a typical high school where some teachers cared more than others. Still, I think I had enough good teachers and enough sense of my own - to learn how to spell words correctly.

I went to Austin Community College and graduated from UTSA where I had the chance to read how other people wrote papers, stories, reports, etc, etc.

I was amazed at how many people couldn't spell even at the college level. I'm talking about people that have gone through 4-6 years of college! I'm talking about 40-50 year olds that have spent considerable time in the workplace and returned to college to complete a degree. People that should know how to spell even the most basic words correctly - but don't.

I am still amazed at how many people can look at a misspelled word and genuinely believe it is spelled correctly.

I have noticed that problem here for sure - but I think it's an alarming problem throughout our society.

Simmons may be a jerk about it – but I don’t doubt for one minute that he’s telling the truth.

[BackInTexas]

Bill Simmons is so stupid he thinks a quarterback is a refund
Bill Simmons is so stupid he told everyone that he was "illegitiment" because she couldn't read

See how easy it is to take good ole "yo momma" jokes and insert his name? Too easy....too easy....I could go on and on and they would all make sense.

[TexasNate]

Originally Posted by BackInTexas

Bill Simmons is so stupid he thinks a quarterback is a refund
Bill Simmons is so stupid he told everyone that he was "illegitiment" because she couldn't read

See how easy it is to take good ole "yo momma" jokes and insert his name? Too easy....too easy....I could go on and on and they would all make sense.

I'd say that post is a fair representation of the types of e-mails he was talking about.

[Matias]

Originally Posted by TexasNate

He must enjoy getting all that hate mail with coming back with that kind of statement. Good grief - comparing San Antonio to a third world country is treading on some thin ice.

Why?

[magliop]

The reason is simple: more international fans. I don't think any other franchise in American sports has international fans that follow so closely the opinion about their team.
If people from US make some spelling mistakes as RichB pointed out, obviously WE, the international fans, will make some as well and more.
It seems that he just isn't familiar with people from other countries sending opinion to him. That sound pretty ignorant to me.

[TexasNate]

Originally Posted by MATIAS

Why?

The implication is that San Antonio is a city filled with ignorant people just like third world countries are full of ignorant people - kind of a double insult, particularly to international fans that might live in such countries. Also, San Antonio has a bit of a unique culture for a big city that he was probably not that aware of.

I was born, grew up in, and have spent most of my life in San Antonio, much of that in the Southwest side of town (at least until High School). The city has a proud Hispanic culture that traces its roots back to Mexico. By some, the nature of the statement and what it implies could be seen as offensive, although I'm pretty sure he didn't mean it that way.

[Lord Deimos]

Sounds like that Ducks guy. Was there any random Lebron hate in the email?

[Spurs|ATX|]

Originally Posted by TexasNate

He must enjoy getting all that hate mail with coming back with that kind of statement. Good grief - comparing San Antonio to a third world country is treading on some thin ice.

No kidding, if another media outlet got ahold of that I'm sure he'd get some heat for that one.

I guess that's the "IN" thing to do now... they really can't rag on the team so they're going after the city it's self... *******s....

[Derek Flint]

Originally Posted by RichB

I've worked with plenty of adults - not necessarily kids - over the last 15 years (in South AND Central Texas) that have proven to me time and time again, that yes - many people cannot spell to save their lives.

I went to a typical high school where some teachers cared more than others. Still, I think I had enough good teachers and enough sense of my own - to learn how to spell words correctly.

I went to Austin Community College and graduated from UTSA where I had the chance to read how other people wrote papers, stories, reports, etc, etc.

I was amazed at how many people couldn't spell even at the college level. I'm talking about people that have gone through 4-6 years of college! I'm talking about 40-50 year olds that have spent considerable time in the workplace and returned to college to complete a degree. People that should know how to spell even the most basic words correctly - but don't.

I am still amazed at how many people can look at a misspelled word and genuinely believe it is spelled correctly.

I have noticed that problem here for sure - but I think it's an alarming problem throughout our society.

Simmons may be a jerk about it – but I don’t doubt for one minute that he’s telling the truth.

What gets me is that people who are genuinely intelligent about other things laugh off not being able to spell. It's like it's okay to not be able to spell in America....I blame Microsoft!

[TexasNate]

Originally Posted by boo_radley

What gets me is that people who are genuinely intelligent about other things laugh off not being able to spell. It's like it's okay to not be able to spell in America....I blame Microsoft!

Definitely true. I am a software developer and it is amazing how many people in the IT world can't spell and have bad grammer even when they are brilliant programmers. I have seen a lot of miscommunication over the years about project requirements and related issues due to this.

[RichB]

Originally Posted by boo_radley

What gets me is that people who are genuinely intelligent about other things laugh off not being able to spell. It's like it's okay to not be able to spell in America....I blame Microsoft!

I believe that has a lot to do with it as well. We've grown so increasinglly dependent on technology - that we even expect it to spell for us. That's sad.

What happens when you don't have a spellcheck and you have to write a letter or a note - and your boss or worse, your employees - realize you can't spell worth a damn?

I agree, people want to laugh it off - but it's not funny at all.

[RichB]

Grammar.

[Eddy from Austin]

Bill Simmons is just sour grapes because San Antonio got to Draft Duncan instead of his precious Celtics

[RichB]

I was just thinking about a girl who was maybe 23 at the time and was wrote something in college that I proofread. She referred to a particular member of the Royal family as "Prints Charles".

Wow.

Prinse Charles, I can almost forgive.

But Prints?

I'll never forget that.

[shelden]

Well, at least she was using her spell checker.

A friend's husband was thinking of going to a local business college, but changed his mind when one of the professors told him he would learn to write "more crisper".

[SoupIsGood]

Originally Posted by shelden

Well, at least she was using her spell checker.

A friend's husband was thinking of going to a local business college, but changed his mind when one of the professors told him he would learn to write "more crisper".

[brickowskay]

I once had a girlfriend who apologized to her Dad in a father's day card about taking him for granite.

[samurai32]

I got a mispelled word for you, Bill.

Fcuk U.

I apologize in advance, moderators.

[millamant]

I think a lot of misspellings come from the fact that people don't read as much as they used to, or at least not much stuff beyond newspapers and magazines, which mostly are written for, what?, a fourth-grade reading level or something like that? If you don't see a word on the printed page--not just once, but repeatedly and preferably at a younger age rather than older so that you can really internalize it--spelling it is going to be difficult.

[RichB]

Originally Posted by millamant

I think a lot of misspellings come from the fact that people don't read as much as they used to, or at least not much stuff beyond newspapers and magazines, which mostly are written for, what?, a fourth-grade reading level or something like that? If you don't see a word on the printed page--not just once, but repeatedly and preferably at a younger age rather than older so that you can really internalize it--spelling it is going to be difficult.

I agree with that. Good post.

Its amazing to me how many people just don't care to read anymore.

Couple that with the fact that we don't actually write letters as we once did.

Again, society and technology has made it much easier and more acceptable to consider a quick e-mail and even a text message as accepted forms of communication.

It's a combination of many things.

I think society and technology has made it much too easy for us to become even lazier than we already are.

[TexasNate]

Originally Posted by Blake

umm.....just for the record, I'm not the best speller, but you misspelled 'grammor'.

I don't which is funnier, my original misspelling (which proved my point btw) or the incorrect correction.

[YoMamaIsCallin]

See how easy it is to take good ole "yo momma" jokes and insert his name? Too easy....too easy....I could go on and on and they would all make sense.

Good ole what jokes?

[kyleo]

Insulting deflection of an asinine comment - fairly standard Simmons. And I enjoy reading his stuff.

[pjjrfan]

Originally Posted by BackInTexas

Bill Simmons is so stupid he thinks a quarterback is a refund
.

A quarterback isn't a refund!!!! Awww man!!!!

[bnwhuxley]

I almost always misspell the word "weird", putting the i b4 the e.

[SoupIsGood]

Originally Posted by bnwhuxley

I almost always misspell the word "weird", putting the i b4 the e.

I'm pretty sure I do the same thing with relieve. Maybe.

[panacea]

One of my pet peeves is the NBA web site.

They must have 6th grade students writing the Post Game Quotes. The number of times that their, there and they're, are misused is criminal. I will not get into the to and too or the, then and than mistakes, or as I like to think of them, typos.

The NBA, sponsoring, "Read to Achieve", it's Fantastic.

[SCdac]

Misspelling is one thing, bad English and ignorance is another. I dont think a misspelled word here or there is really indicative of how smart a person is or isn't. I'm sure some of the most intelligent people ever were bad spellers... It's the butchering of the language that I hate. The double negatives. The "likes" (ex: I like did this, and like did that). The immensely short vocabulary some people have really gets to me too.

[jackc852]

Originally Posted by RichB

We've grown so increasinglly dependent on technology - that we even expect it to spell for us. That's sad.

It's only going to get worse, this is incredibly indicative of today's attitude toward spelling and grammar. My 12 year old niece cannot spell at the 4th grade level and occasionally has problems constructing compound sentences.

Her response when we check her on this, "Oh well, that's what the computer is for."

[1SOTEX]

Sounds like this loser attended the Stepen A. Smith school of hating.

[curiousspirit]

I suppose that similar arguments were made when the calculator was first introduced. Unless you are an English teacher, I don't see the importance of perfect spelling in a forum or chat room. Obviously, in a professional environment, spelling is important. Why not use a spellcheck if it is available to you? I know that I have too many duties at work to not take advantage of "technology".

It is easier to find fault with others than it is to admit to our own inadequacies.

[scol]

Originally Posted by RichB

I agree with that. Good post.

Its amazing to me how many people just don't care to read anymore.

Couple that with the fact that we don't actually write letters as we once did.

Again, society and technology has made it much easier and more acceptable to consider a quick e-mail and even a text message as accepted forms of communication.

It's a combination of many things.

I think society and technology has made it much too easy for us to become even lazier than we already are.

Great points! I guess I'm strange because I actually read everything before I post/send. I am not comfortable communicating via text messages or in chatrooms. I think I've been in the SR chat room once.

[spurs000001]

Originally Posted by TexasNate

I'd say that post is a fair representation of the types of e-mails he was talking about.

omg, my sides hurt

[Grego]

Wow, the tide has turned. Bill Simmons, formerly loved here....not so loved.........

[VDeal]

Perhaps we are being a little too hard on anyone who doesn't spew love and undying affection for SA. Perhaps we need to take a step back and not be so defensive. Maybe we should laugh at ourselves, just a bit............NAHHHHHHH...... SAS and Simmons Sck kangaroo AZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. (With all apologies to our Aussie friends)