In 1994, nobody could have predicted ‘Shawshank’ would one day be an iconic movie – and believe me, that would never have happened if Danny Glover had been Red instead of Morgan Freeman. Bill Simmons Read Quote
We don’t realize how much the NFL is quietly drifting towards flag football. During the ’80s, part of the defense’s goal was to put the fear of God into offensive players… that’s fading away. Bill Simmons Read Quote
The hardest achievement in acting – in my opinion, anyway – is nailing a role that absolutely nobody else could have played. Pacino owned Michael Corleone… but DeNiro could have owned it as well. Who else, though, but Val Kilmer could have nailed Jim Morrison? Does anyone besides Will Ferrell pull off Ron Burgundy? Bill Simmons Read Quote
Our favorite teams bring people together, keep family members close, bond people from different generations. Some of the happiest moments of my life involve something that happened with one of my teams. Some of the best relationships I ever had were with Boston athletes that I never even met. Bill Simmons Read Quote
You always hear that tragedies put sports in perspective, that they prove we shouldn’t care this much about the successes and failures of a bunch of wealthy strangers. I’m going the other way – sometimes, sports put everything else in perspective. Bill Simmons Read Quote
Five days after the Tsarnaev brothers blew up Boston’s most sacred event, and just 24 hours after one brother was killed and the other was caught, everyone decided that it was OK to play baseball at Fenway again. The game happened on a Saturday afternoon, preceded by an emotional ceremony and many prayers. Bill Simmons Read Quote
I am old enough to remember every Red Sox season since 1975. Baseball is long. Baseball takes forever. It’s day in, day out, for six solid months – seven if you’re lucky. Winning is always fun. Bill Simmons Read Quote
First impressions matter more in basketball than in any other sport, and they can be savored only in person. Players can’t hide behind pads or helmets, so we can stare at them, evaluate every move they make: running, jumping, walking, even ogling the cheerleaders. We can see every ripple and tattoo. If they’re lazy, we can tell. Bill Simmons Read Quote
The NBA and NHL have different agendas: The NBA is much more protective of its players and its brand; the NHL has less to lose, and it’s in their best interest to generate buzz any way they can. Bill Simmons Read Quote
There’s a tipping point that happens with soccer in which you just kinda get it. I was drawn to it because the best soccer teams play similarly to my favorite basketball teams – like the eighties Lakers or eighties Celtics – teams that emphasized teamwork over individualism and relied on passing as their biggest ongoing edge. Bill Simmons Read Quote
