Or will people realize that when a sport is growing, media exposure is something that should be fostered?
13 comments:
Anonymous
said...
what a whining bitch that guy is. Awwww poor baby got his interview request denied. Awwww... With as 'non-existant' as soccer is here in LA, it seems like the Galaxy do a pretty good job of getting 20K+ out to the park every game. Maybe this guy has only seen some Chivas USA games last season. I'm not even a Galaxy fan and I can readily admit that they do a good job drawing fans.
What an ass-hole that guy is. No offense to LB and AC--clearly, I love you guys--but this is exactly what frustrates me most about journalists.
Could this guy be more self-important, more sickeningly solipsistic?
Why does he feel that he has some God-given right to have an audience with a given athlete, simply because he can flash a press credential? Because he attended the journalistic hotbed of Northern Illinois University? Because he covered pro football for a large portion of his career?
In fact, just what makes him qualified to even write about soccer, exactly?
Strange wonder why people overseas see Americans as arrogant and insular...
T.J. Simers has always tried to be a comedic sports columnist. The problem is he has grown to be one of the biggest sports writer in LA. So by getting denied he has become as they say a spoiled sports writer. I bet you he said "you are denying me an interview". I hate to say it but the Galaxy should of treated him better knowing damn well who he is.
Does he deserve an interview, probably not, he doesn't like soccer. But he is huge in LA sports in general so....
The real question is HAS Beckham talked with anybody? As I recall, AC had some issues getting even casual comments from the guy let alone an actual interview. Here on the right coast, he might as well not exist for all the ink he's garnered and he sure hasn't done much (yet) for Galaxy on the field. Blanco has had FAR more impact.
Is maybe Beckham "a little big for his britches" and MLS a little too media shy with the stars it does have? If you're going to pay a guy that kind of bread, mightn't he be at least visible regularly if not on the field, perhaps off? If professional sports are "entertainment" where does the responsibility of a major star begin and end? Perhaps not with underwear ads.
I thought the column was embarrassing. I assumed it was supposed to be funny, but that's only because I couldn't figure out what else it was supposed to be doing.
Maybe Beckham should talk more to reporters, maybe not. I feel like I hear plenty from him, honestly.
But if Simers sounded anything in his interview request like he did in his column, I wouldn't fault anyone for turning him down.
You can't take anything Simers writes seriously. If Beckham did talk to him, his column would have had the same tone & the same digs with only slightly different content. I don't know why the Times gives him the privilege of the column inches and the ink - his schtick got old many years ago.
Hey TJ, That is an excellent tabloid article (“So much for Beckham being a voice for MLS”). You probably should stick to such reporting and get that Posh interview and (please) avoid soccer.
I wrote this after I read his column in the paper, the second time I've made the mistake of reading him talking about soccer.
Wow.
See, here I thought that a guy who has so spectacularly blown the last time he tried to write soccer would just go about his business and ignore it like every other American male over the age of 60.
But I can see that I was stupendously incorrect in my assumptions about the whole "once bitten, twice shy" deal. Clearly I'm still learning about your predilections. My bad. I'll pay closer attention from here on out.
Now, let me not be seen as a defender of the powerful, for both AEG and Tim L. have clout to spare. And its not like Beckham needs me running to his defense.
Nope, I'm just sitting here defending myself. Myself being an American soccer fan who mistakenly exposed himself to your second Beckham-based column. I should have taken my own advice - from a reader's perspective. I mean how many times do I have to read The Family Circus before I have to remember that I'm making the choice to read it in the first place? (Great, now I have to apologize to Bil Keane for dragging him into the vicinity of your ridiculousness.)
Look, I get it. You are a sports columnist who doesn't really cover teams so much as personalities here in the LA area. Awesome. But it's just to patently clear that you don't understand soccer, either as a game or as a sports business.
Cuz what I don't understand is not that you don't understand soccer (and really you don't. Can you even describe what Beckham's on-the-field duties are as a right/central midfielder? Besides some asinine flip remark? Go on, surprise me. Make me eat my words.), but it is that you are so intent on trumpeting your ignorance as if that makes you more "authentic", more of an American sports columnist. Like the way guys in my home state fly the Confederate flag on their pickup trucks to show they are down with being from the South. With you guys it's the obligatory "soccer is so beneath me it makes me a man to ridicule it".
That's just weak. Weak and ignorant.
It just puts you in the same category with the rich and powerful who seek to silence the voices of those they do not understand or find threatening. You know, the same guys you spend many a column belittling and exposing.
And, frankly, I think that kind of thing is beneath you, if, in fact there is any room underneath your belly where it is pressed so firmly into the slime and muck of willful ignorance.
I'm not a Simers fan but he's right on about the Galaxy and Beckham. I cover the Galaxy so let me tell you an incident that both a.c. and l.b. will remember well.
After the final home game of the season, the reporters were waiting to enter the Galaxy clubhouse. According to the league, reporters are supposed to have access 10 minutes after the game ends. Reporters were denied access for about a half hour. When Scott French asked about a sign near the clubhouse door mandating such access, former Galaxy flak David Beltran replied, "It's just a sign."
Interestingly enough, an AP article ran in the previous 24 hours saying that Beckham had aggravated his left ankle in training. The Times said the same thing. Nobody got the chance to ask Beckham about it after the game because the Galaxy is so "protective."
The Galaxy only wants to make money and Beckham is their tool for doing so. Promoting the sport is secondary.
13 comments:
what a whining bitch that guy is. Awwww poor baby got his interview request denied. Awwww...
With as 'non-existant' as soccer is here in LA, it seems like the Galaxy do a pretty good job of getting 20K+ out to the park every game. Maybe this guy has only seen some Chivas USA games last season.
I'm not even a Galaxy fan and I can readily admit that they do a good job drawing fans.
Mostly another whiner
What an ass-hole that guy is. No offense to LB and AC--clearly, I love you guys--but this is exactly what frustrates me most about journalists.
Could this guy be more self-important, more sickeningly solipsistic?
Why does he feel that he has some God-given right to have an audience with a given athlete, simply because he can flash a press credential? Because he attended the journalistic hotbed of Northern Illinois University? Because he covered pro football for a large portion of his career?
In fact, just what makes him qualified to even write about soccer, exactly?
Strange wonder why people overseas see Americans as arrogant and insular...
He is still the LA Times #1 columnist and therefore has a lot of influence on the general sports fan in this town...
MLS should never write off guys like that, sarcastic as he is...
T.J. Simers has always tried to be a comedic sports columnist. The problem is he has grown to be one of the biggest sports writer in LA. So by getting denied he has become as they say a spoiled sports writer. I bet you he said "you are denying me an interview". I hate to say it but the Galaxy should of treated him better knowing damn well who he is.
Does he deserve an interview, probably not, he doesn't like soccer. But he is huge in LA sports in general so....
The real question is HAS Beckham talked with anybody? As I recall, AC had some issues getting even casual comments from the guy let alone an actual interview. Here on the right coast, he might as well not exist for all the ink he's garnered and he sure hasn't done much (yet) for Galaxy on the field. Blanco has had FAR more impact.
Is maybe Beckham "a little big for his britches" and MLS a little too media shy with the stars it does have? If you're going to pay a guy that kind of bread, mightn't he be at least visible regularly if not on the field, perhaps off? If professional sports are "entertainment" where does the responsibility of a major star begin and end? Perhaps not with underwear ads.
Is there anyway that guy cannot come off as an ass hole? Maybe that's just his writing style, but to me that's not very entertaining.
I thought the column was embarrassing. I assumed it was supposed to be funny, but that's only because I couldn't figure out what else it was supposed to be doing.
Maybe Beckham should talk more to reporters, maybe not. I feel like I hear plenty from him, honestly.
But if Simers sounded anything in his interview request like he did in his column, I wouldn't fault anyone for turning him down.
You can't take anything Simers writes seriously. If Beckham did talk to him, his column would have had the same tone & the same digs with only slightly different content. I don't know why the Times gives him the privilege of the column inches and the ink - his schtick got old many years ago.
This is what I emailed TJ:
Hey TJ,
That is an excellent tabloid article (“So much for Beckham being a voice for MLS”). You probably should stick to such reporting and get that Posh interview and (please) avoid soccer.
Let's get that guy some cheese & crackers to go with his whine.
I wrote this after I read his column in the paper, the second time I've made the mistake of reading him talking about soccer.
Wow.
See, here I thought that a guy who has so spectacularly blown the last time he tried to write soccer would just go about his business and ignore it like every other American male over the age of 60.
But I can see that I was stupendously incorrect in my assumptions about the whole "once bitten, twice shy" deal. Clearly I'm still learning about your predilections. My bad. I'll pay closer attention from here on out.
Now, let me not be seen as a defender of the powerful, for both AEG and Tim L. have clout to spare. And its not like Beckham needs me running to his defense.
Nope, I'm just sitting here defending myself. Myself being an American soccer fan who mistakenly exposed himself to your second Beckham-based column. I should have taken my own advice - from a reader's perspective. I mean how many times do I have to read The Family Circus before I have to remember that I'm making the choice to read it in the first place? (Great, now I have to apologize to Bil Keane for dragging him into the vicinity of your ridiculousness.)
Look, I get it. You are a sports columnist who doesn't really cover teams so much as personalities here in the LA area. Awesome. But it's just to patently clear that you don't understand soccer, either as a game or as a sports business.
Cuz what I don't understand is not that you don't understand soccer (and really you don't. Can you even describe what Beckham's on-the-field duties are as a right/central midfielder? Besides some asinine flip remark? Go on, surprise me. Make me eat my words.), but it is that you are so intent on trumpeting your ignorance as if that makes you more "authentic", more of an American sports columnist. Like the way guys in my home state fly the Confederate flag on their pickup trucks to show they are down with being from the South. With you guys it's the obligatory "soccer is so beneath me it makes me a man to ridicule it".
That's just weak. Weak and ignorant.
It just puts you in the same category with the rich and powerful who seek to silence the voices of those they do not understand or find threatening. You know, the same guys you spend many a column belittling and exposing.
And, frankly, I think that kind of thing is beneath you, if, in fact there is any room underneath your belly where it is pressed so firmly into the slime and muck of willful ignorance.
Please. Just stop.
Regards,
Nathan
I'm not a Simers fan but he's right on about the Galaxy and Beckham. I cover the Galaxy so let me tell you an incident that both a.c. and l.b. will remember well.
After the final home game of the season, the reporters were waiting to enter the Galaxy clubhouse. According to the league, reporters are supposed to have access 10 minutes after the game ends. Reporters were denied access for about a half hour. When Scott French asked about a sign near the clubhouse door mandating such access, former Galaxy flak David Beltran replied, "It's just a sign."
Interestingly enough, an AP article ran in the previous 24 hours saying that Beckham had aggravated his left ankle in training. The Times said the same thing. Nobody got the chance to ask Beckham about it after the game because the Galaxy is so "protective."
The Galaxy only wants to make money and Beckham is their tool for doing so. Promoting the sport is secondary.
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