Bill Simmons is one of my favorite sports columnists. Mostly because he is about my age and writes about things I find more fascinating than sports stats. His fandom is more extreme than mine but he has a love for pop culture and movies that he blends well with sports.
A lot of his stuff is schtick I enjoy which makes it easy to forget that under the schtick is a really good writer. When a topic catches his eye that deserves serious words he has no problem reaching down and finding just the right angle to approach it from.
His column this week about Elgin Baylor is one such example. Despite the fact that Baylor has been the butt end of many of Simmons’s jokes while he was running the LA Clippers, there is a great deal of respect evident and a sense of historical perspective that is pointed out all the more by the author’s normally light hearted tone.
After reading the column, I have learned something new and been reminded of how far we have come as a country and how far we still have to go.
We might elect our first black president in four weeks; this wouldn’t have a chance of happening without the strength of people like Elgin once upon a time. If you’re younger than 40, when you think of Elgin, you probably remember him wearing one of those Bill Cosby sweaters and wincing because the Clippers’ lottery number came too soon. That’s the wrong memory. You should think about him creating hang time from scratch in 1958. Think of him putting up a 38-19 in his spare time in 1962. Think of him dropping 71 on the Dipper. Think of his eyes narrowing as they passed along his owner’s condescending message during that snowy day in Boston. Think of him retiring with dignity because he didn’t want to hang on for a ring. Think of him telling Hundley that he couldn’t play that exhibition game in West Virginia, not because he was trying to prove a point, but because it would have made him feel like less of a human being.
ESPN Page 2 – Simmons: The forgotten pioneer.
