I read Charles Pierce’s rant review last week, raised my eyebrows, read a little more of The Book of Basketball [see my review here] and I now have something to say about Pierce’s take on Simmons’ book.
Here is the crux of Pierce’s problem with the 700-page opus:
2.) I Am The Cosmos: Not my line. The late Molly Ivins used it in her epochal takedown of the egregious Camille Paglia. But it applies just as well here. Skip any passage having to do with Bill’s gambling, Bill’s taste in movies, Bill’s friends, and Bill’s ongoing wonderment that there are bars in this great land in which women take off their clothes for money. Also, lose most of the footnotes. You’re not the cosmos, and you’re not David Foster Wallace, either.
In the interest of full disclosure, I occasionally post about Simmons and it’s not always flattering. Is he self-absorbed? Of course, but that’s the way his readers like it. They want to hear the stories about his friends, and their trips to Vegas, or strip clubs, or strip clubs in Vegas. These anecdotes make up a solid 20% of his columns at the Worldwide Leader. If he wrote a book and didn’t talk about “House” or his theory about how an exotic dancer picks her stage name, then he’d piss off his loyal following and his book wouldn’t be a New York Times bestseller. The bottom line is that just because Pierce doesn’t think that Simmons is the cosmos, it doesn’t mean that no one else does.
Pierce continues…
The Spurs lost at home to the Celtics, 90-83, but it was a national television coming out party for rookie DeJuan Blair, who posted 18 points and 11 rebounds in one of his best games of the season. He hit 9 of 11 shots from the field, and scored eight straight points in the fourth quarter to keep the Spurs in the game.