When Good Writers Go Bad...or Start Podcasting

There are very few writers whose columns I look forward to reading as much as Bill Simmons, aka the Sportsguy, over at ESPN.com. I started reading him in 2000 when he was still writing for his former website back in New England. (Being a Redsox fan, I just kind of stumbled across it one day while searching the web.)

For those of you with the misfortune to not have enjoyed any of Simmons' work, it's like reading a transcript from a conversation between you and your friends. He not only discusses sports, but he takes movies, TV, music, and current events and relates them all to the sports world in an original and extremely entertaining style.

A couple of years ago, Simmons took several months off to write Now I Can Die in Peace, a tribute to the 2004 World Champion Redsox. I didn't realize how much I liked his writing until it was no longer available three times a week.

In the past year, Simmons has, with too much regularity, turned to what I consider the lamest invention spawned by the internet - the Podcast. It is like everyone who ever wanted to have a radio show can have one simply by creating a podcast, regardless of whether or not they are any good. (I know, a guy with a blog isn't much better.) Simmons is a bit different because he has a lot of celebrity connections, not to mention he works for ESPN, so he gets first-rate guests. The problem is not that the podcasts aren't satisfying, it's that I miss the articles. I just don't enjoy sitting in front of my computer and listening to two people banter back and forth about the NBA Draft, or the upcoming season of the "Real World/Road Rules Challenge." One, it is way to hard to pay attention to and two, the host tends to turn into a total kiss ass for fear of not pissing off his guest.

Simmons needs to get back to doing what he does best - writing columns, mailbags, running diaries, movie reviews, etc. One column a week is crap. A few years ago, Simmons took a shot at Rick Reilly, then with SI, and said he was "mailing it in," meaning Reilly would just submit a mediocre, 500-word column once a week and collect a paycheck as opposed to writing cover stories and in-depth articles about the world of sports.

Simmons, I think you may have become the pot.