Why does LA Times keep him around?
Theories, anyone?
posted by A Lakers Fan at 5:40 AM
68 comments
Saturday, January 28, 2006
I am not the only one
Selected comments about Simers from around the web:
An Op/Ed piece in the LA Times itself lambasting Simers and Plaschke. I must say it was gutsy for the LA Times to get an outsider to comment on its own reporters. It would have been gutsier to turn around and fire Plaschke and Simers, or at least Simers.
Ultimately, I think his columns are poisonous
Simers intends on pissing people off and by causing a scene, he only gets more fodder for his column. I know it is only an opinion column, but isn't there a journalistic ethic where it isn't appropriate for the journalist to create the news and then write about it (thus profiting from his/her own creation). Simers is so far from a serious investigative journalist, yet he uses tactics with players so that he can say he has all these famous enemies. I suppose the plan is to poke at celebrity, but it just comes across as dumb.
Check this page out: desperate for attention... He wants to be on tv again. So, he's just going to rip everyone... I think Simers and Plaschke (along with many other ESPN/newspaper columnists) have become caricatures of themselves...tired old farts like Simers and Plaschke...a terrible columnist
Strangest Damn Sports Columnist, Period
Really, there is incredible consensus on how bad this guy is. Just Google him.
And to top it all off, here is Simers describing a show he was working on when he made this statement: "I hate it. I hate that show. But I hear a cash register going off in my head when I do it." Needless to say, he was fired from that show. Good precedent.
An Op/Ed piece in the LA Times itself lambasting Simers and Plaschke. I must say it was gutsy for the LA Times to get an outsider to comment on its own reporters. It would have been gutsier to turn around and fire Plaschke and Simers, or at least Simers.
Ultimately, I think his columns are poisonous
Simers intends on pissing people off and by causing a scene, he only gets more fodder for his column. I know it is only an opinion column, but isn't there a journalistic ethic where it isn't appropriate for the journalist to create the news and then write about it (thus profiting from his/her own creation). Simers is so far from a serious investigative journalist, yet he uses tactics with players so that he can say he has all these famous enemies. I suppose the plan is to poke at celebrity, but it just comes across as dumb.
Check this page out: desperate for attention... He wants to be on tv again. So, he's just going to rip everyone... I think Simers and Plaschke (along with many other ESPN/newspaper columnists) have become caricatures of themselves...tired old farts like Simers and Plaschke...a terrible columnist
Strangest Damn Sports Columnist, Period
Really, there is incredible consensus on how bad this guy is. Just Google him.
And to top it all off, here is Simers describing a show he was working on when he made this statement: "I hate it. I hate that show. But I hear a cash register going off in my head when I do it." Needless to say, he was fired from that show. Good precedent.
posted by A Lakers Fan at 5:14 AM
3 comments
Is TJ Simers provocative?
LA Times calls Simers provocative. I disagree. Hurling random insults is not provocative -- it is just asinine. Pippen telling Malone, "The mailman doesn't deliver on Sunday," is provocative. Jackson calling Bryant uncoachable is provocative. Simers does not have the wit or the depth or the intelligence to be provocative -- he can only be mindlessly abusive. He insults his readers, his friends, his bosses, all the players, his family (many of his columns go on and on about the grocery store bagger, presumably his son-in-law).
Since LA Times charges for archived articles, some of the very worst Simerisms are lost to us. But here is a fine example of complete pointlessness. And here is the worst ever column about college sports.
Even Plaschke, another mediocre writer for the LA Times, can be provocative, once getting Shaq to call him a frog (search for elephant in the page to see the quote). But no body now bothers to get provoked by Simers, so his random gratuitous insults are even more pointless.
Since LA Times charges for archived articles, some of the very worst Simerisms are lost to us. But here is a fine example of complete pointlessness. And here is the worst ever column about college sports.
Even Plaschke, another mediocre writer for the LA Times, can be provocative, once getting Shaq to call him a frog (search for elephant in the page to see the quote). But no body now bothers to get provoked by Simers, so his random gratuitous insults are even more pointless.
posted by A Lakers Fan at 4:27 AM
4 comments
Introductory post
T. J. Simers is a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times. He is also the most awful columnist I have ever read, by far. He is nasty, has no sports insight, no wit, and basically writes pure drivel. I am a Lakers fan who doesn't live in LA anymore, and rely on the Los Angeles Times for Lakers gossip, inside news etc. But Simers is so awful that I am literally scared to even go to the LA Times' Lakers web-site because that site always has a few sentences by Simers right up there in your face.
If you have read Simers and agree with me, leave a comment on this blog and sign the petition requesting that he be fired.
If you have read Simers and do not agree with me, also leave a comment on this blog and sign this other petition saying that he should be retained.
If you have not read Simers, you can check out his columns to form an opinion. Also, I will periodically post examples of this joker's writings for the LA Times.
Why the two petitions? Because maybe I am wrong and Simers actually appeals to a large contingent of LA sports Fans. I am pretty sure he will find an appropriate proof-reading or copy-editing job if he loses his LA Times job. Still, losing a job is hard on a fella, so we ought to be a little careful. If roughly equal numbers of people sign each petition, I will just drop the issue. If there is overwhelming support for firing Simers, we should share the results with LA Times.
Stay Tuned.
If you have read Simers and agree with me, leave a comment on this blog and sign the petition requesting that he be fired.
If you have read Simers and do not agree with me, also leave a comment on this blog and sign this other petition saying that he should be retained.
If you have not read Simers, you can check out his columns to form an opinion. Also, I will periodically post examples of this joker's writings for the LA Times.
Why the two petitions? Because maybe I am wrong and Simers actually appeals to a large contingent of LA sports Fans. I am pretty sure he will find an appropriate proof-reading or copy-editing job if he loses his LA Times job. Still, losing a job is hard on a fella, so we ought to be a little careful. If roughly equal numbers of people sign each petition, I will just drop the issue. If there is overwhelming support for firing Simers, we should share the results with LA Times.
Stay Tuned.
posted by A Lakers Fan at 2:04 AM
43 comments
