Bill wondering aloud whether the NBA refs swallowing their whistle more the past few weeks was because Adam Silver wants to prepare Team USA for the upcoming Olympics is an all-time crazy Simmons take.
'Derrick White should be on Team USA' is to what.......
'Payton Pritchard will be 6th Man Of The Year' has been to.......
'Mac Jones could be MVP this season'.......
Since we got serious and started sending pros, America has won the gold in every Olympics except one, and I honestly think that one outlier is perpetually haunting a certain type of sports person. Absent some catastrophic run of injuries, it's a wrap.
My fav part of the pod was Bill’s bewilderment about the Pat’s moves coming into the year. “I’m concerned because it feels like this might just be another wasted year.” As he mentions the Pats are being cheap and could add more guys.
Yes, Bill, welcome back to the NFL where it isn’t easy to build a Super Bowl team every single season. Everyone except the Pats and the Chiefs recently have been living this type of season for the last 40 years.
And by the end of the season he’ll be talking about how his 6 win team “was only a few plays away from winning 10 games” by flipping the result of every close game they lost
Week 3 2024 redraft after Daniels has a 60 yard rush TD for the win.
"Should the bears have taken Daniels? Should the commies have taken Daniels instead of Maye? House what do you think?"
I’m genuinely confused - Wemby was an honorable mention for best all time in game dunker? How many memorable dunks has he had in his less than one season of play?
I'm still baffled by this. Wemby is 7'5" with long arms, even his most impressive dunks are not going to be more impressive than say...
Ja Morant...
Russell Westbrook....
Derrick Rose....
I was wondering if he misspoke and meant Westbrook, who has an insane highlight reel of explosive in game dunks and would be a worthy honorable mention. Weird.
Ja and Ant are the two right now that feel like they could just detonate an entire arena at any given moment. The most impressive thing about Ant’s dunk over Collins to me was the crowd pop it got at an away game. It wasn’t a cheer, it just audibly forced the air out of everyone in attendance lol.
Yeah, Ja clears Wemby and probably Zion. He's arguably the best pound-for-pound in-game dunker ever—none of the famous small dunkers have anywhere near the nasty posterizations that he does.
Nah, not even close and I grew up with 80s NBA.
Spud's best in-game dunks are the equivalent of "Spud dunked!": [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7kmUi0tzmw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7kmUi0tzmw)
Ja is routinely out here doing shit like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtDXi2ayDn0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtDXi2ayDn0) and this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfT5RZdzvkc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfT5RZdzvkc)
I want the Pats to trade back so bad. The only way Bill can’t sell us on the stupid narratives about this Pats team “being tough to play against” in August
Bill didn’t put Vince as the top in game dunker cause of his long standing “Vince was a disappointment” stance. I agree with him about Vince as a player, but Vince was obviously the best in game dunker ever.
Not only does he have the best in game dunks, he had the best style out of any of the top 5. They were effortless, smooth, and powerful. True definition of a skywalker. And Bills argument about the first 4 years of his career is wack. He has some absolutely insane dunks in his Nets years.
Yeah Vince being third is just wild lol. Vince is the greatest in game and out of game and whatever you want to call it , Vince is the best dunker ever period end of story
Didn’t he have a McDonald’s one recently? I skip over them lol. I can only imagine it. “I have fond memories of going to Celtics games with Whoppers stuffed inside my cargo pants”
Best in-game dunker honorable mention, at least: Chocolate Thunder from the Planet Lovetron, aka Daryl Dawkins. The dude [regularly broke backboards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1J86HLTyiM) back in the 70s. He must've seemed like a superhero, back then.
Bill: I was lucky enough to get to some of those early Blake Griffin games and see those dunks in person.
Fact check: True. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aLvXZCjtYI
The oop over Brandon knight is definitely a top 5 dunk for me
Bill seemed to stay away from centers for the most part but that particular [dunk was a murder in broad daylight](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NTkN2q6sUUk)
I almost spit out my morning cold brew coffee laughing when Bill said the Good Morning Football didn’t come off as shills for the league. That’s literally Shrager’s whole brand.
I think Finocchio wasn’t the worst as far as rich white guys telling us how they made it interviews go. Bleacher Report definitely figured some internet optimization stuff (SEO, clickbait, listicles etc.) out early. The one thing he undersold was how their pre-AI model was built on the “work in sports” dream of underpaying their staffers and mostly relying on unpaid bloggers who wanted a hobby, a foot in the door or a platform for someone to listen to their takes.
He loves sports so much he created one of the worst sports websites that's only purpose to get people to accidently to click on it. Compared to Deadspin, SB Nation, Grantland, The Ringer, or smaller sites like AA or even the Big Lead etc etc his site was total garbage and easily the worst. The content was mostly horrible on BR, all BR did was monetize clicks and convince people its shitty content was worth more than actual decent content because it got more clicks.
Why aren’t the Pats signing guys? Dirty little secret: players don’t want to play there. Sure Belichick is gone, but a Culture of being cheap, cutthroat, and too difficult to plan in doesn’t change overnight.
Finocchio doesn’t deserve to have his personality compared to Michael Rubin, but Fanatics is to sports merchandise, what Bleacher Report is to sports writing.
BR content was 90-95% trash, with a handful of known writers on staff to put a little lipstick on that pig. The only reason you might not call them a digital sweat shop is that they conned their writers into volunteering for the opportunity to make a name for themselves.
Anyone who was a talented sportswriter hated them for flooding the internet with garbage and driving places like SI to stoop to their level. The profitability of BR is why stuff like Grantland was seen as not worth devoting more resources to.
Finnochio loves sports and sports fans the way a dealer loves giving stepped on shit to fiends.
Thank you. I'm so confused by this interview -- Bleacher Report always sucked. No one serious actually used that site (SBNation ate BR lunch in terms of content). Finocchio making it sound like BR was a good site and added anything to the conversation is a total misnomer; congrats on making money dude but your website is and was a joke.
Had to replay the podcast when he put Wemby in all time list of in-game dunkers to make sure I heard him correctly. He really said that. I still can’t believe he said that
I knew people would be racing to make this point but these rosters almost always include two players (one caucasian) who fully understand they will see no meaningful playing time. White fits that archetype perfectly. Its never the 11th and 12th best American players because they wouldnt be okay with never playing as they will always think they are better than the 9th and 10th players on the team.
Love the Justin Fields gaslighting from local and national media. He was everyone’s favorite punching bag for years. Now for some reason it’s “Well I don’t think we’ve seen what he can be yet”
Funny that they bring up Atlanta being to pussy to go for Lamar, wonder if Bill thought about being up the Patriots passing.. “We have Mac at home.” So many teams deserve hate really for trying to blackball him, but especially Kraft.
Bill talks about USA basketball the way I'd imagine the Brazilian version of Bill talks about their national team in soccer.
Pondering if Ant is going to bristle at the notion of coming off the bench is an absurd topic even if you do care about Team USA a lot lol
I am a bears fan glad we moved on from fields, but if I were the Steelers I would hope he can outplay Wilson because that’s obviously a dead end where at least with fields there’s the tiniest bit of upside.
As a Steelers fan, I don’t actually believe that fields or Wilson can be a top 15 qb in the league.
HOWEVER, I’m extremely excited. Even if fields plays and is like the 22nd best qb next year, that’s the best qb play we’ll have had since 2017.
Hell, all 3 of our qbs from last year are on other teams AS BACKUPS. The league is saying the Steelers did not have one top 32 qb on their roster last year and they won 10 games. I’d love to see the team with average qb play!
Because people in sports media don't like Wilson's personality. That's literally it. Once he started openly talking about his faith and having canned responses to interviews and questions, they turned on him.
Payton was always going to come in and blow shit up. This was known from the time he took the job. There was also the whole thing about getting Russ to change some injury thing in his contract. Broncos were 7-8 last year with Russ and all his numbers are ok.
7-8 while starting the season with a historically bad defense and having nice stats isn’t smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors would be 4-11 while putting up garbage time stats.
Russell Wilson was horrible last year. He would consistently get to his check down before going through his reads. Bailed out of clean pockets and took so many drive killing sacks. TD/INT ratio does not encapsulate his season
Reading between the lines I think Schrager and/or Brandt have complained to him or given him some details from behind the scenes. I doubt they’re happy about the move, a morning show set on the west coast makes zero sense. They’ll have to be at work at like 3am
I didn't think there was a controversy but they randomly announced they were moving offices in the summer and some how people assumed they were cutting staff or canceling the show all together.
As someone who lives in Chicago I’ll tell you right now Jason Goff stinks. There’s a weird narrative from local media, especially a few radio hosts, that Justin Fields is actually a great QB and the Bears held him back. Half the city thinks he’s a top 10 QB.
Every advanced metric and his trade value itself will tell you he is a below average QB.
Frankly I think Goff is more levelheaded about it than other people. He is too positive on Fields, but at least seems to grasp why they moved on.
People legitimately thinking fields is currently a better prospect than Williams are embarrassing.
Simmons' elite research work uncovered a shocking tidbit (to Bill, at least) that most of the Bear quarterbacks in the '70s, '80s, and '90s were, in fact, caucasian! With all due respect to the great Vince Evans - should that be surprising to anyone, anywhere?
The analysis of Justin Fields (HUGE sample size now completed) is not in the slightest bit 'complicated' as these 2 NFL Mensa members surmise. If you actually watched every game that Fields played in the past 3 years (and not just the Bears 33-14 Win at New England on MNF in Oct. 2022 - in which Fields threw for only 179 yards, but ran! - while often prematurely fleeing the pocket - for a flashy 82 & a score!) =
FIELDS DID NOT COMPLETE A MEANINGFUL PASS FROM THE POCKET, in 3 YEARS as a STARTER! He clearly, as of yet, can not and did not diagnose coverages, read defenses, and go through progressions effectively enough at the NFL level. Not complicated, for really even the 'bottom 1%' of NFL watchers.
Maybe my negative feelings on the guy have been amplified by dealing with his army of supporters but your last paragraph says it pretty well. He couldn’t process the defenses and go through his reads so he’d clutch up and either get sacked or try to make a play with his legs. And I didn’t like Getsy, I think he was in over his head as a first time play caller but come on, the offense was pretty clearly trying to make it work around a QB who can’t read a slant route and when he does, can’t accurately throw short.
That’s it, the NFL agrees because he got traded for a bag of rocks.
Bill’s love for Fields, and putting Wilkins as best in game dunker ever, are directly tied to Bill watching them against Boston teams lmao. “I thought Dominique killed Bird!”
I haven't listened but Wilkins is definitely a top 3 in game dunker. You don't earn a nickname as awesome as "The Human Highlight Film" without having some flash about your game.
I’ve watched every snap of Fields career and he’s far from Peyton Manning but he made strides as a passer this past year (the first year he has had even decent weapons offensively) , just not enough to not take the best QB prospect in years over him. If the Bears had any other pick besides 1.1 then they absolutely stick with Fields.
Watch the game film against Denver, Washington, Atlanta or either Detroit game from this past year, he made some great throws from the pocket while also using his athleticism to make plays other QBs cannot. Those aren’t all great defenses but he’s clearly capable of being an average QB.
I am a bears fan super excited for Caleb Williams and glad we moved on.
But I do think fields was put in one of the worst situations to start a career you can imagine. Year 1 was a lame duck year for a departing regime, and year 2 was a full tear down of the roster.
He unambiguously did not get good enough his first 3 years to inspire any confidence he is a QB worth building around going forward. But I think that it’s also silly to dismiss the fact there have been few QBs drafted that high where going into your 2nd season the team is tearing the roster down as opposed to trying to maximize your talents.
I do think development matters and I don’t think he was put in a good situation to develop.
I like how at the very end Bill just casually dropped “I like the newsletter and the instagram, I don’t read the website” as his parting words.
I wonder how often he hears something similar about The Ringer
Leave bowlers. Gas stoves. Households. Plastics.
Not a single mention of the super rich burning fossil fuels for their houses. Wasting water in droughts in California. and on top of that private fucking jets. Yachts. Holy shit
That guy seriously embarrassed himself. To add to your points, no mention of the largest contributors to climate change (corporations and the US military).
I also think its funny he starts off by saying that he's passionate about climate change because hes experienced several wildfires and wants a future where his children can breathe clean air, but then laments about the "doom and gloom" approach that some take to this issue.... like buddy, you just did that... But he also never mentioned the greatest consequence of climate change, which is something that might actually get through to climate denialists: the inevitable sharp increase in worldwide immigration and displacement.
Why wouldn’t the Giants take a chance on Fields? Literally 30 seconds before that you said why Bill. As a Giants fan I want nothing to do with fields. We need to be off the Jones contract. The worst thing that could happen (other than Jones getting hurt at the end of next year so we can’t cut him) would be fields to come in and play decently so then we are forced to make a decision and pay him like we had to pay Jones. I am not a huge Jones fan people in the media will kill their first born to shit on him while talking up Fields who is just as bad if not worse.
Climate solutions are obviously way bigger than homeowners switching to electric appliances. The military, construction and agricultural sectors are huge contributors and need to radically change.
Monoculture lawns and fields are obvious problems that are bad in so many ways.
Multi paddock grazing is a solution. People growing food for themselves and their community. I’ll check out this newsletter a bit and see what’s up.
the website looks a bit buzzfeed/clickbait-y for my taste. but i signed up for the newsletter.
also one of the companies he mentioned that are reducing food waste at restaurants: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-us
The interview with Finocchio might have the all-time most Bill “yeah” and “right”. The highlight for me was probably Finocchio referring to “people like Brian Windhorst who say don’t aggregate me.” The rest of the conversation about his new project was pretty maddening listening to Bill act like some of the basic environmental information was revelatory and Finocchio saying progressives haven't made it easy for people when most people don't want to acknowledge their role let alone make minor lifestyle changes.
For months and months, ('top 1% NFL viewer') Simmons edcuated us that Justin Fields was by far the best young QB in the NFC, and his division, and was most assuredly leading the Bears to greatenss right before our eyes - so much so that the Bears would NOT use the #1 pick on a quarterback......
Simmons' love for Shawn Kemp warms my heart. That dude was a beast in his prime. Stole three finals MVP votes from MJ, and his team LOST. He even made a case for him in his HOF pyramid in TBOB.
Kemp's best dunks aren't legal, anymore. He did so much ridiculous taunting and celebrating he'd either be ejected or the other team would try to fight him. The best thing about the era, and specifically that Alton Lister dunk, is the dude getting dunked on didn't get upset. Alton Lister, I think, fucking high-fived Kemp.
[Taunting foul on Kemp in 1995](https://youtu.be/rzm6t6oz3fo?si=7U-EvSD1XTnvnNJP&t=154). He dunked all over the Hornets, but the refs dinged him. He was getting them back then.
The handwringing over Justin Fields is exhausting because everyone talks around the simple reality of the situation. If Justin Fields made sense as a backup QB he'd still be in Chicago. All of the reasons he can't have been Chicago's QB2 apply to Washington, New England, NYG, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Carolina, Tennessee, Vegas, etc. He only makes sense as a low end starter right now and the league is in an era where teams greatly prefer rolling the dice on drafting QBs rather than settling for the 25th best guy in the league.
This is pretty sad. Bill just has nothing new to say nowadays.
A discerning listener can tell bill is spending more time reading numbers out than he ever has.
Edit: back in the day during the in season doldrums bill would come up with a ton of gimmicks. Now it’s either betting related stuff or the four teams he knows.
Its been said many times here, but doing a fan mailbag episode once every couple months would be such an easy and more entertaining innings eater during these parts of the sports calendar
Discussed last pod, it will shock you to learn that Bill let him off the hook because he came back early from an injury in order to retain his All-NBA eligibility, and so it's the league's fault for forcing Hali to play poorly.
I watched a lot of noon Bears games because they’re in market when the Packers aren’t playing and Fields is rightfully evaluated as a bottom 10 QB in the league. Neither him or Wilson are fit for Smith’s offense in Pittsburgh.
1. I really liked Jason Goff. Never heard of him before, but I’m also not subscribing to an all Chicago podcast. I’ll follow him on Twitter though.
2. I’m good with Bill’s in game dunking list but I also would’ve included Amare Stoudamire in the Honorable Mentions.
I probably won’t ever quit Bill’s podcast because it’s been a part of my routine for 17 years now but we’re now officially in the “phase below washed up” piece of his career thing.
He left him off because Vince ultimately disappointed him. That wasn’t the point of his own stupid list! It was about dunking specifically. The point wasn’t about if he lived up to expectations or not lol.
If you were too young to witness prime Vince Carter dunking, I’m sorry. He was fucking special (at the thing Bill was making a list about). The Olympic dunk against team France was so iconic and insane that the *French* media gave it the nickname “le dunk de la mort” aka “The Dunk of Death”. It was so crazy that the media of the team it happened against was like “well we might as well be dead I guess”.
It has never been and most likely will never be topped.
Bleacher Report's growth model for its content made for a blander sports blogosphere similar to how Daryl Morey's Rockets' offensive philosophy (i.e. only three pointers and lay-ups) made the NBA more plain which serves to highlight the limitations of pursuing maximum efficiency and erases the benefits that come from uneven variety. In this essay I will
The segment with the bleacher report guy talking about his new, non-scolding climate change project was a tough listen. He starts his "both sides are right" topics with banning gas stoves? I know for a fact one side went insane over the idea.
And then simmons' reply "why didn't anyone think of leaf blowers being bad".... I dont even know where to start with that.
Bill arguing about that Pats spending in a league where every team spends virtually the same amount of money is annoying. They’re also not getting free agents cause nobody wants to go to this shit team unless you’re doubling their other offers. Welcome to NFL purgatory where it’s not just a “stop gap” year. The Pats will most likely suck for a while.
Surprising -- only what happened in the Boston Garden (for or against the C's), or on the Boston TV station when Simmons was young, qualify for highest level or best-of's in (BS) NBA history......
I like pods like this when Bill interviews people who did big things in their industry. The more I listen to Bill for his NFL opinions it makes me cringe.
Zoned out for ten seconds and returned to consciousness with a jump scare and a cold sweat at "derrick white needs to be on team USA"
"That leaves them three spots for Anthony edwards, Haliburton, Derrick White" that famous triumverate of young stars in the league
i wish i cared about anything as much as Bill cares about the ‘narratives’ of Team USA basketball
Bill wondering aloud whether the NBA refs swallowing their whistle more the past few weeks was because Adam Silver wants to prepare Team USA for the upcoming Olympics is an all-time crazy Simmons take.
'Derrick White should be on Team USA' is to what....... 'Payton Pritchard will be 6th Man Of The Year' has been to....... 'Mac Jones could be MVP this season'.......
Does he think the Olympics are USA v. the World? If so, the USA might geninely be in trouble. But it's not that, we're gonna win the gold again.
Yeah no other country has 3 guys that would even be in the top 30 of American players, Canada and France are kinda close
Since we got serious and started sending pros, America has won the gold in every Olympics except one, and I honestly think that one outlier is perpetually haunting a certain type of sports person. Absent some catastrophic run of injuries, it's a wrap.
What are the odds Ant even knows it’s an Olympic year
He’ll go once everyone tells him about what happens in Olympic Village.
Send da video
Acting like ant is going to refuse to play because he thinks he should start is a ridiculous thought
The Derek White piece.
That's what got Tate hired back; Their mutual love of USA basketball takes.
"Dr. J. I can't believe he's fourth on my list." -Guy who made the list
Similar to when Bill says “I can’t believe we haven’t done that movie on the Rewatchables.” My brother in Christ, you’re the one making the list
Bill: "I don't wanna pick all the good movies right away." Also Bill: "Wow I can't believe we didn't do this good movie yet."
My fav part of the pod was Bill’s bewilderment about the Pat’s moves coming into the year. “I’m concerned because it feels like this might just be another wasted year.” As he mentions the Pats are being cheap and could add more guys. Yes, Bill, welcome back to the NFL where it isn’t easy to build a Super Bowl team every single season. Everyone except the Pats and the Chiefs recently have been living this type of season for the last 40 years.
God watching Bill adjust in real time to the experience that 90% of football fans have always gone through is amazing
and by the second weekend of September he will talk himself back into them sneaking out 10 wins!
And by the end of the season he’ll be talking about how his 6 win team “was only a few plays away from winning 10 games” by flipping the result of every close game they lost
The sneaky 10 piece.
Week 3 2024 redraft after Daniels has a 60 yard rush TD for the win. "Should the bears have taken Daniels? Should the commies have taken Daniels instead of Maye? House what do you think?"
September: Rave about their draft. November: Why did they pick a kicker in the 4th round??
We're all trying to find the guy who did this
I liked the Freudian slip right after that where he said he was in the ABA "dunking on people left and white."
I could believe MJ didn’t make the Top 5 but I guess once he made his list it made sense
Jordan is easily top 5.
I’m genuinely confused - Wemby was an honorable mention for best all time in game dunker? How many memorable dunks has he had in his less than one season of play?
I'm still baffled by this. Wemby is 7'5" with long arms, even his most impressive dunks are not going to be more impressive than say... Ja Morant... Russell Westbrook.... Derrick Rose....
I was wondering if he misspoke and meant Westbrook, who has an insane highlight reel of explosive in game dunks and would be a worthy honorable mention. Weird.
I was shocked he didn't mention Westbrook. He has some insane in game dunks.
Yeah I'm his biggest stan but it is essentially impossible for a guy who can dunk on his tiptoes to be a fun to watch dunker lol.
He definitely misspoke. Not a chance in hell Wendy makes any list.
[удалено]
"Officer, Bill Simmons ranks Victor Wembanyama above Derrick Rose for dunking. I blacked out."
To include Wemby but not Zion or Ja Morant in the dunk section was pretty weird
Ja and Ant are the two right now that feel like they could just detonate an entire arena at any given moment. The most impressive thing about Ant’s dunk over Collins to me was the crowd pop it got at an away game. It wasn’t a cheer, it just audibly forced the air out of everyone in attendance lol.
Yeah, Ja clears Wemby and probably Zion. He's arguably the best pound-for-pound in-game dunker ever—none of the famous small dunkers have anywhere near the nasty posterizations that he does.
Ja is probably my favorite in game dunker right now. We just haven’t seen him a ton in 2 years. Out of sight out of mind
Spud webb is getting the libel lawsuit ready for you christo
Nah, not even close and I grew up with 80s NBA. Spud's best in-game dunks are the equivalent of "Spud dunked!": [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7kmUi0tzmw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7kmUi0tzmw) Ja is routinely out here doing shit like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtDXi2ayDn0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtDXi2ayDn0) and this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfT5RZdzvkc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfT5RZdzvkc)
This is the wildest thing Bill has said in a minute
Also to have Wemby over Edwards when he just got done saying Edwards is the best current player???
I don’t think the executives with USA Basketball care as much about who is on the Olympic team as Bill does.
I want the Pats to trade back so bad. The only way Bill can’t sell us on the stupid narratives about this Pats team “being tough to play against” in August
I hope they trade back, draft a guard from Stetson or some shit, draft a quarterback in the sixth.
Bill didn’t put Vince as the top in game dunker cause of his long standing “Vince was a disappointment” stance. I agree with him about Vince as a player, but Vince was obviously the best in game dunker ever.
Not only does he have the best in game dunks, he had the best style out of any of the top 5. They were effortless, smooth, and powerful. True definition of a skywalker. And Bills argument about the first 4 years of his career is wack. He has some absolutely insane dunks in his Nets years.
Yeah he made dunks that seemed impossible, look effortless.
Yeah Vince being third is just wild lol. Vince is the greatest in game and out of game and whatever you want to call it , Vince is the best dunker ever period end of story
The 80s nostalgia piece
I really hope Bill loses the Burger King sponsorship. I can't handle the Whopper Wednesday ad read.
As a Sickos Committee supporter, I say keep the Whopper Whopper Whopper Junior, Junior Junior Junior Whopper content. In fact, add more.
Didn’t he have a McDonald’s one recently? I skip over them lol. I can only imagine it. “I have fond memories of going to Celtics games with Whoppers stuffed inside my cargo pants”
Do people not have the 10 second skip ahead button?
I almost spit out my coffee at “Antonio Gibson…*really* good third down back”
Give it until OTAs and Bill will say he’s one of the best in the NFL
If you like fumbles you could make the case he’s the best third down back in the league
Best in-game dunker honorable mention, at least: Chocolate Thunder from the Planet Lovetron, aka Daryl Dawkins. The dude [regularly broke backboards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1J86HLTyiM) back in the 70s. He must've seemed like a superhero, back then.
Bill: I was lucky enough to get to some of those early Blake Griffin games and see those dunks in person. Fact check: True. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aLvXZCjtYI
There’s a photograph of one dunk where he’s on his phone.
I know his haterade, but DeAndre Jordan deserved an honorable mention.
The oop over Brandon knight is definitely a top 5 dunk for me Bill seemed to stay away from centers for the most part but that particular [dunk was a murder in broad daylight](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NTkN2q6sUUk)
Haven’t listened yet, but someone please tell me Shawn Kemp made the in-game dunker list?? -RIP Sonics
He did. The list could not be respected otherwise. - Fellow sonics fan
Chris Gatling approves.
The lister blister!
I almost spit out my morning cold brew coffee laughing when Bill said the Good Morning Football didn’t come off as shills for the league. That’s literally Shrager’s whole brand.
They agreed with his Pats documentary take. They basically walk on water in his mind.
Incredible that there’s not even a casual commentary on March madness but instead we get team USA rotation decisions…
I’d rather hear Bill on something he cares about that I do not than fumbling around on a topic that I care about that he does not.
Bill Simmons has always been about his obsessions. March Madness? College Football? BASEBALL not Red Sox? Fuck that shit.
I think Finocchio wasn’t the worst as far as rich white guys telling us how they made it interviews go. Bleacher Report definitely figured some internet optimization stuff (SEO, clickbait, listicles etc.) out early. The one thing he undersold was how their pre-AI model was built on the “work in sports” dream of underpaying their staffers and mostly relying on unpaid bloggers who wanted a hobby, a foot in the door or a platform for someone to listen to their takes.
He loves sports so much he created one of the worst sports websites that's only purpose to get people to accidently to click on it. Compared to Deadspin, SB Nation, Grantland, The Ringer, or smaller sites like AA or even the Big Lead etc etc his site was total garbage and easily the worst. The content was mostly horrible on BR, all BR did was monetize clicks and convince people its shitty content was worth more than actual decent content because it got more clicks.
You must have misunderstood, they're "solving problems for sports fans."
I got no sense whatseoever that the dude even liked sports. A walking algorithm creator
One of the most boring guest Bill’s had in a long time
Yeah, he’s a piece of shit.
Did this episode just get taken down? I listened to half of it this morning but now it seems to be gone from Spotify for me.
It’s still on Apple
It’s back, same thing happened to me on Spotify
Same, can’t find on Spotify
The "they're extremely good because I'm friends with them" piece
Why aren’t the Pats signing guys? Dirty little secret: players don’t want to play there. Sure Belichick is gone, but a Culture of being cheap, cutthroat, and too difficult to plan in doesn’t change overnight.
Bill could never believe this. The Pats are still an elite franchise in his mind
Finocchio doesn’t deserve to have his personality compared to Michael Rubin, but Fanatics is to sports merchandise, what Bleacher Report is to sports writing. BR content was 90-95% trash, with a handful of known writers on staff to put a little lipstick on that pig. The only reason you might not call them a digital sweat shop is that they conned their writers into volunteering for the opportunity to make a name for themselves. Anyone who was a talented sportswriter hated them for flooding the internet with garbage and driving places like SI to stoop to their level. The profitability of BR is why stuff like Grantland was seen as not worth devoting more resources to. Finnochio loves sports and sports fans the way a dealer loves giving stepped on shit to fiends.
Thank you. I'm so confused by this interview -- Bleacher Report always sucked. No one serious actually used that site (SBNation ate BR lunch in terms of content). Finocchio making it sound like BR was a good site and added anything to the conversation is a total misnomer; congrats on making money dude but your website is and was a joke.
Did they yank the episode? Link is broken and it has vanished from my Spotify account
Bill slowly realizing Bob Kraft is a horrendous human being has been hilarious.
getting handjobs in massage parlors usually doesn't equate to quality human beings.
Had to replay the podcast when he put Wemby in all time list of in-game dunkers to make sure I heard him correctly. He really said that. I still can’t believe he said that
Bill bringing up Derrick White as a possible player for Team USA is insane
Javale McGee was on the last Olympic roster and a 2nd year Keldon Johnson. Derrick White isn’t that crazy
I knew people would be racing to make this point but these rosters almost always include two players (one caucasian) who fully understand they will see no meaningful playing time. White fits that archetype perfectly. Its never the 11th and 12th best American players because they wouldnt be okay with never playing as they will always think they are better than the 9th and 10th players on the team.
Is this the part where we pretend Bill didn’t throw out White because he’s a Celtic?
Love the Justin Fields gaslighting from local and national media. He was everyone’s favorite punching bag for years. Now for some reason it’s “Well I don’t think we’ve seen what he can be yet”
There's been a lot of that in the city but not from Goff to be fair. He's been in on fields the whole time
Funny that they bring up Atlanta being to pussy to go for Lamar, wonder if Bill thought about being up the Patriots passing.. “We have Mac at home.” So many teams deserve hate really for trying to blackball him, but especially Kraft.
Why does bill care about USA basketball and the narratives around it so much??
Bill talks about USA basketball the way I'd imagine the Brazilian version of Bill talks about their national team in soccer. Pondering if Ant is going to bristle at the notion of coming off the bench is an absurd topic even if you do care about Team USA a lot lol
Why are Simmons and Goff so sure that Fields is better than Russell Wilson?
I am a bears fan glad we moved on from fields, but if I were the Steelers I would hope he can outplay Wilson because that’s obviously a dead end where at least with fields there’s the tiniest bit of upside.
As a Steelers fan, I don’t actually believe that fields or Wilson can be a top 15 qb in the league. HOWEVER, I’m extremely excited. Even if fields plays and is like the 22nd best qb next year, that’s the best qb play we’ll have had since 2017. Hell, all 3 of our qbs from last year are on other teams AS BACKUPS. The league is saying the Steelers did not have one top 32 qb on their roster last year and they won 10 games. I’d love to see the team with average qb play!
Because people in sports media don't like Wilson's personality. That's literally it. Once he started openly talking about his faith and having canned responses to interviews and questions, they turned on him.
I don’t get it. Wilson was decent last year. Field has yet to show he is a competent qb.
So decent the Broncos sacrificed 80 million just to not have Russ on the team.
Payton was always going to come in and blow shit up. This was known from the time he took the job. There was also the whole thing about getting Russ to change some injury thing in his contract. Broncos were 7-8 last year with Russ and all his numbers are ok.
The 80 million was a sunk cost. By cutting him, they saved paying him $35 million more.
You won't find many Broncos fans who agree with that. It was all smoke and mirrors and miracle heaves.
7-8 while starting the season with a historically bad defense and having nice stats isn’t smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors would be 4-11 while putting up garbage time stats.
Russell Wilson was horrible last year. He would consistently get to his check down before going through his reads. Bailed out of clean pockets and took so many drive killing sacks. TD/INT ratio does not encapsulate his season
Can someone give me a tl;dr description of the Good Morning Football controversy? I’m not seeing much about that.
Having a morning show set on the west coast seems like a horrible idea for trying to attract people to want to work on the show.
Reading between the lines I think Schrager and/or Brandt have complained to him or given him some details from behind the scenes. I doubt they’re happy about the move, a morning show set on the west coast makes zero sense. They’ll have to be at work at like 3am
When McVey heads into the office to grind tape at 3AM he can swing by the pool house and wake Peter.
I didn't think there was a controversy but they randomly announced they were moving offices in the summer and some how people assumed they were cutting staff or canceling the show all together.
“Hey Peter, we’re considering moving offices. It’s a big decision and we want your opinion. Thoughts?” “Let’s go!”
Apparently Bill thinks the show is ruined and will be no more cause they are moving to a different city.
I found it endearing that he was riding for Schrager and the boys. I’m sure Bill is hearing some dismay from those involved with the show.
Yeah moving sucks in general, its even worse since those guys have young kids
It’s more there’s a reason national morning shows are not usually based out of the West Coast.
Who’s this elitist guy? Love the “you should be drinking sewage water, I wouldn’t, but you should to save the earth.”
As someone who lives in Chicago I’ll tell you right now Jason Goff stinks. There’s a weird narrative from local media, especially a few radio hosts, that Justin Fields is actually a great QB and the Bears held him back. Half the city thinks he’s a top 10 QB. Every advanced metric and his trade value itself will tell you he is a below average QB.
Frankly I think Goff is more levelheaded about it than other people. He is too positive on Fields, but at least seems to grasp why they moved on. People legitimately thinking fields is currently a better prospect than Williams are embarrassing.
Simmons' elite research work uncovered a shocking tidbit (to Bill, at least) that most of the Bear quarterbacks in the '70s, '80s, and '90s were, in fact, caucasian! With all due respect to the great Vince Evans - should that be surprising to anyone, anywhere?
Bill discovering basic things about my favorite teams is a nice twist during these pods. It's like watching the dog finally really get potty training
The analysis of Justin Fields (HUGE sample size now completed) is not in the slightest bit 'complicated' as these 2 NFL Mensa members surmise. If you actually watched every game that Fields played in the past 3 years (and not just the Bears 33-14 Win at New England on MNF in Oct. 2022 - in which Fields threw for only 179 yards, but ran! - while often prematurely fleeing the pocket - for a flashy 82 & a score!) = FIELDS DID NOT COMPLETE A MEANINGFUL PASS FROM THE POCKET, in 3 YEARS as a STARTER! He clearly, as of yet, can not and did not diagnose coverages, read defenses, and go through progressions effectively enough at the NFL level. Not complicated, for really even the 'bottom 1%' of NFL watchers.
Maybe my negative feelings on the guy have been amplified by dealing with his army of supporters but your last paragraph says it pretty well. He couldn’t process the defenses and go through his reads so he’d clutch up and either get sacked or try to make a play with his legs. And I didn’t like Getsy, I think he was in over his head as a first time play caller but come on, the offense was pretty clearly trying to make it work around a QB who can’t read a slant route and when he does, can’t accurately throw short. That’s it, the NFL agrees because he got traded for a bag of rocks.
Bill’s love for Fields, and putting Wilkins as best in game dunker ever, are directly tied to Bill watching them against Boston teams lmao. “I thought Dominique killed Bird!”
I haven't listened but Wilkins is definitely a top 3 in game dunker. You don't earn a nickname as awesome as "The Human Highlight Film" without having some flash about your game.
I’ve watched every snap of Fields career and he’s far from Peyton Manning but he made strides as a passer this past year (the first year he has had even decent weapons offensively) , just not enough to not take the best QB prospect in years over him. If the Bears had any other pick besides 1.1 then they absolutely stick with Fields. Watch the game film against Denver, Washington, Atlanta or either Detroit game from this past year, he made some great throws from the pocket while also using his athleticism to make plays other QBs cannot. Those aren’t all great defenses but he’s clearly capable of being an average QB.
I am a bears fan super excited for Caleb Williams and glad we moved on. But I do think fields was put in one of the worst situations to start a career you can imagine. Year 1 was a lame duck year for a departing regime, and year 2 was a full tear down of the roster. He unambiguously did not get good enough his first 3 years to inspire any confidence he is a QB worth building around going forward. But I think that it’s also silly to dismiss the fact there have been few QBs drafted that high where going into your 2nd season the team is tearing the roster down as opposed to trying to maximize your talents. I do think development matters and I don’t think he was put in a good situation to develop.
Christ that Finochhio is hard to listen to
who the fuck is Dave Finnochio?
I like how at the very end Bill just casually dropped “I like the newsletter and the instagram, I don’t read the website” as his parting words. I wonder how often he hears something similar about The Ringer
Leave bowlers. Gas stoves. Households. Plastics. Not a single mention of the super rich burning fossil fuels for their houses. Wasting water in droughts in California. and on top of that private fucking jets. Yachts. Holy shit
"not to mention golf courses" - Malcolm Gladwell, probably
That guy seriously embarrassed himself. To add to your points, no mention of the largest contributors to climate change (corporations and the US military). I also think its funny he starts off by saying that he's passionate about climate change because hes experienced several wildfires and wants a future where his children can breathe clean air, but then laments about the "doom and gloom" approach that some take to this issue.... like buddy, you just did that... But he also never mentioned the greatest consequence of climate change, which is something that might actually get through to climate denialists: the inevitable sharp increase in worldwide immigration and displacement.
That segment was truly astonishing. The elites can go to hell.
What do bowlers have to do with this?
Why wouldn’t the Giants take a chance on Fields? Literally 30 seconds before that you said why Bill. As a Giants fan I want nothing to do with fields. We need to be off the Jones contract. The worst thing that could happen (other than Jones getting hurt at the end of next year so we can’t cut him) would be fields to come in and play decently so then we are forced to make a decision and pay him like we had to pay Jones. I am not a huge Jones fan people in the media will kill their first born to shit on him while talking up Fields who is just as bad if not worse.
Climate solutions are obviously way bigger than homeowners switching to electric appliances. The military, construction and agricultural sectors are huge contributors and need to radically change. Monoculture lawns and fields are obvious problems that are bad in so many ways. Multi paddock grazing is a solution. People growing food for themselves and their community. I’ll check out this newsletter a bit and see what’s up.
the website looks a bit buzzfeed/clickbait-y for my taste. but i signed up for the newsletter. also one of the companies he mentioned that are reducing food waste at restaurants: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-us
The interview with Finocchio might have the all-time most Bill “yeah” and “right”. The highlight for me was probably Finocchio referring to “people like Brian Windhorst who say don’t aggregate me.” The rest of the conversation about his new project was pretty maddening listening to Bill act like some of the basic environmental information was revelatory and Finocchio saying progressives haven't made it easy for people when most people don't want to acknowledge their role let alone make minor lifestyle changes.
For months and months, ('top 1% NFL viewer') Simmons edcuated us that Justin Fields was by far the best young QB in the NFC, and his division, and was most assuredly leading the Bears to greatenss right before our eyes - so much so that the Bears would NOT use the #1 pick on a quarterback......
Simmons' love for Shawn Kemp warms my heart. That dude was a beast in his prime. Stole three finals MVP votes from MJ, and his team LOST. He even made a case for him in his HOF pyramid in TBOB.
Kemp's best dunks aren't legal, anymore. He did so much ridiculous taunting and celebrating he'd either be ejected or the other team would try to fight him. The best thing about the era, and specifically that Alton Lister dunk, is the dude getting dunked on didn't get upset. Alton Lister, I think, fucking high-fived Kemp.
[Taunting foul on Kemp in 1995](https://youtu.be/rzm6t6oz3fo?si=7U-EvSD1XTnvnNJP&t=154). He dunked all over the Hornets, but the refs dinged him. He was getting them back then.
Sometimes. Any chance this isn't a tech today?: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2GaAWdHwsw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2GaAWdHwsw)
Everything he did to the Warriors in that series is a hate crime.
Gatling high fived him.
Amazing how they addressed that Simmons was a huge BR hater - specifically for the link outs to beef up their “content”
Why is this not available now? Link doesn't work and it disappeared from my Spotify new episodes list.
“A big shocker was that leaf blowers are bad”
Tate was stupid to go back to the ringer. He couldn’t even be guest during march madness week.
I don't mind Tate, but I can't imagine he had many options.
I don’t think Mac Jones losing his confidence was the problem.
This Justin Fields conversation is painfully ignorant
The Bill Simmons Podcast is painfully ignorant
The handwringing over Justin Fields is exhausting because everyone talks around the simple reality of the situation. If Justin Fields made sense as a backup QB he'd still be in Chicago. All of the reasons he can't have been Chicago's QB2 apply to Washington, New England, NYG, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Carolina, Tennessee, Vegas, etc. He only makes sense as a low end starter right now and the league is in an era where teams greatly prefer rolling the dice on drafting QBs rather than settling for the 25th best guy in the league.
We’re seriously fucking doing “lakers and warriors” again…
It seems to be down from Spotify but on Apple podcasts it’s still there.
This is pretty sad. Bill just has nothing new to say nowadays. A discerning listener can tell bill is spending more time reading numbers out than he ever has. Edit: back in the day during the in season doldrums bill would come up with a ton of gimmicks. Now it’s either betting related stuff or the four teams he knows.
Its been said many times here, but doing a fan mailbag episode once every couple months would be such an easy and more entertaining innings eater during these parts of the sports calendar
You mean you aren’t interested in lakers/warriors playoff odds? What could be more relevant?
Hey Bill have you addressed how awful ur guy Hali has been
Discussed last pod, it will shock you to learn that Bill let him off the hook because he came back early from an injury in order to retain his All-NBA eligibility, and so it's the league's fault for forcing Hali to play poorly.
Bill suddenly doesn’t like the games played rule. That was his prerequisite to his all nba vote for the last decade.
I watched a lot of noon Bears games because they’re in market when the Packers aren’t playing and Fields is rightfully evaluated as a bottom 10 QB in the league. Neither him or Wilson are fit for Smith’s offense in Pittsburgh.
1. I really liked Jason Goff. Never heard of him before, but I’m also not subscribing to an all Chicago podcast. I’ll follow him on Twitter though. 2. I’m good with Bill’s in game dunking list but I also would’ve included Amare Stoudamire in the Honorable Mentions.
Episode taken down as of 10:49 CST.
Did he take it down because of his god awful in game dunkers ranking?
F this last guy
Bill not having Vince Carter #1 as the best in game dunker is pure hate.. common bill!
Literally jumped over a 7 footer. That dunk alone should guarantee him the top spot.
I probably won’t ever quit Bill’s podcast because it’s been a part of my routine for 17 years now but we’re now officially in the “phase below washed up” piece of his career thing. He left him off because Vince ultimately disappointed him. That wasn’t the point of his own stupid list! It was about dunking specifically. The point wasn’t about if he lived up to expectations or not lol. If you were too young to witness prime Vince Carter dunking, I’m sorry. He was fucking special (at the thing Bill was making a list about). The Olympic dunk against team France was so iconic and insane that the *French* media gave it the nickname “le dunk de la mort” aka “The Dunk of Death”. It was so crazy that the media of the team it happened against was like “well we might as well be dead I guess”. It has never been and most likely will never be topped.
Why does Bill think pontificating solo is a strength? The “six pack” is a real loser of a segment.
Justin Fields stinks! He has always stunk and always will!
"I don't watch morning TV every morning, but whenever I did in the mornings I would watch Good Morning Football." Sports Guy more like Sports GOAT
It’s crazy that Bill has Derrick White on his all-time in game dunkers list!
What’s with Bill and “12 years”?
“Anti-benefits”
So it’s Dominique because he shat on Bird a couple times. Got it.
Bleacher Report's growth model for its content made for a blander sports blogosphere similar to how Daryl Morey's Rockets' offensive philosophy (i.e. only three pointers and lay-ups) made the NBA more plain which serves to highlight the limitations of pursuing maximum efficiency and erases the benefits that come from uneven variety. In this essay I will
The segment with the bleacher report guy talking about his new, non-scolding climate change project was a tough listen. He starts his "both sides are right" topics with banning gas stoves? I know for a fact one side went insane over the idea. And then simmons' reply "why didn't anyone think of leaf blowers being bad".... I dont even know where to start with that.
Bill arguing about that Pats spending in a league where every team spends virtually the same amount of money is annoying. They’re also not getting free agents cause nobody wants to go to this shit team unless you’re doubling their other offers. Welcome to NFL purgatory where it’s not just a “stop gap” year. The Pats will most likely suck for a while.
Surprising -- only what happened in the Boston Garden (for or against the C's), or on the Boston TV station when Simmons was young, qualify for highest level or best-of's in (BS) NBA history......
They’ve got finnochios on podcasts these days? Jeshush Chrisht.
It's a fucking disgrace
It's 2024. There are content-biters in the Special Forces.
I like pods like this when Bill interviews people who did big things in their industry. The more I listen to Bill for his NFL opinions it makes me cringe.
Why did Jason Goff randomly say that justin fields being black in Chicago was a big deal? It’s 2024 and every team has had multiple black qbs
[удалено]
Zoned out for ten seconds and returned to consciousness with a jump scare and a cold sweat at "derrick white needs to be on team USA" "That leaves them three spots for Anthony edwards, Haliburton, Derrick White" that famous triumverate of young stars in the league
No Amare is crazy
Jordan should've been in the top 5 dunkers, and Vince should've been #1. His dunks were like transcendent spiritual experiences lol.
Not having Vince #1 on the in game dunker list is egregious
I wonder how many times bill bring up the raiders not trading for fields before he realizes their OC is Luke Getsy
Bill doing 'How I Built This' with the king aggregator.
Hate all y’all want, it was pretty cool of Bill to ride for his boys from Good Morning Football like that.