Mr. Simmons:

I know you don't know me. I know you probably don't care at all what I have to say. But that isn't going to stop me from writing to you, because I think I can save your career.

Now, I realize that it sounds silly to say that your career needs saving. You're the most well-known sportswriter on the web. You just signed a four-year deal with ESPN.com which presumably has assured you quite a lot of money over that period. Your columns are a large part of the reason people even visit ESPN.com

But bear with me for a minute here. When you first started your career, you did so on your own as the Boston Sports Guy. Granted, it made sense at the time to jump to ESPN.com: they could offer you the visibility that otherwise would have been almost impossible, and of course they could pay you more. Now, however, I think your association with the WorldWide Leader is holding you back.

I don't just mean that you can't write critical things about ESPN personalities and the way ESPN covers sports (though I think we all know that you've been dying to do so for years). No, the truth is that as long as you solely work for ESPN you'll never be able to be the cross-over star that you want to be.

We've known since you took that extended leave to work for Jimmy Kimmel that your lifelong goal wasn't to write the same column for 20+ years. And honestly, I don't blame you. You've railed against the calcification that happens in most newspapers sports departments, and it's become clear that you don't want to go down that same road. Still, the Kimmel thing didn't work out, and neither have any of your other outside ventures (writing a movie script for one).

Here's the reason (in my opinion) that you've been unable to go past the confines of the WWL. ESPN does a fantastic job of creating what my colleague David Arnott has called a "Celebrity Bubble." The basic concept is that ESPN has made its various personalities into celebrities, but they're only celebrities within the confines of ESPN and its various enterprises. Allow me to quote:

"So it goes with ESPN. The Entertainment and Sports Network has, apparently, created a hell of a Celebrity Bubble. There is no real competition for what they're doing. The various Fox Sports Nets aim more for local audiences, and then... there's no one else. Is Kenny Mayne a real celebrity? Of course not, but he gets A-list treatment at the ESPYs, which are ESPN's Kids' Choice Awards; a self-fellating charade disguised as an awards show. Is Skip Bayless a celebrity? What about Stat Boy? Outside of Dancing With The Stars (a debacle that I won't touch here), ESPN Celebrities don't get any attention outside of that lavished upon them by ESPN's various forms and its captive audience."

One the one hand, being a part of the ESPN Celebrity Bubble ensures that you'll have a great Q rating among ESPN.com readers. On the other, it gives you next to no recognition outside that community. You've stated before that one of your goals is to be an Us Weekly celebrity, and I just don't believe that can happen as long as you're under the auspices of ESPN.

Don't believe me? Look at the paltry number of people who have crossed over into the mainstream from ESPN: Keith Olbermann, Craig Kilborn, Robin Roberts (and arguably Kenny Mayne). First of all, they were all SportsCenter anchors, which already gave them a hell of a lot more exposure than you've had. Second of all, they all had to go outside sports to reach another audience (though Olbermann is finally coming back, at least occasionally). Since you're mostly known through your writing, you face an even bigger hurdle.

So here's my suggestion: strike out on your own. Start up your own website: I'm almost certain it would instantly be the biggest site out there. Doing so wouldn't just allow you to have complete control over your content and style (not to mention ad revenue), but I think it would reinvigorate you. Let's face it, you've gotten a bit bored by the whole ESPN.com gig.

Because let's be honest, ESPN has mostly screwed you over when it comes to advancing your career. They've never given you a chance to be an on-air personality even though you'd have to be better than the vast majority of the guys they throw out there. You haven't been a part of their NBA draft coverage even though you've got at least as many credentials as Mel Kiper and are far more interesting. They seem to ignore all of your suggestions for how to improve the network. Despite the fact that you're perhaps their most valuable commodity (at least on the .com side), they treat you like an outsider.

So leave them. Write some pieces for the New York Times, or Rolling Stone, or whatever. Get your name and face out there to a wider audience. Take the shackles off, and take a chance with your career. Because trust me, you'll never be an Us Weekly celebrity if you stay at ESPN.com: you'll just end up as another crusty, bitter old columnist who wishes he could go back in time thirty years (and the warning signs are already there on that one).

Even though a large portion of the blogging community loves to rip on you, they seem to forget that when you care, you're a better writer than just about anyone else out there. The problem is the ESPN.com job has gotten to easy: bang out a few thousand words, throw in a few 80s references, and you're done. Why not challenge yourself? You know ESPN.com will never give you the chance to write more serious pieces, but if you're running your own site you do whatever you want.

There's never been a better time than now to run your own site: the costs are minimal and the audience is growing. The stigma attached to blogging is dissipating at a rapid rate as more and more well-known writers are jumping into the scene.

Mr. Simmons, I've been a fan of yours for years. Despite the fact that I don't always agree with you, or even watch the shows/movies you refer to, you're still a must-read. Yet I fear that too much more time at ESPN.com might turn me off from your writing. So I implore you: take a chance on yourself.

Zachary Geballe
Editor-in-Chief
Sportszilla and the Jabber Jocks

Posted by Zachary Geballe at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the goals I have for this upcoming baseball season is to create more multimedia content than I have in the past. I've put together a few videos for Sportszilla, and the odd audio-only piece, but this year I think it's time to execute a couple ideas that have been bouncing around my head for a while.

Weekly Baseball Podcast
This is a project that's eminently do-able, and the other guys who write the blog can help out by either recording content themselves, or over the phone. It's not a new form, but I think I can challenge people's perceptions of what a podcast is supposed to be.

Create 4 or 5 Live Action Videos
In the past, I've primarily made video slideshows, but recently I procured a new memory card for my digital camera that will allow me to gather the requisite quantities of footage to later stitch together segments with some meat to them.

The keys to both of these endeavors are:

1) Keep everything short. For web consumption, audio and visual media especially, it's easy to lose audience simply due to the amount of time asked of listeners and viewers.
2) Fresh ideas. Good content draws an audience. It's as simple as that. If I can offer something that can't be found anywhere else, or can't be done as well as I can, then the experiments will be successful.

Tangentially, I think it's funny that Will Carroll is embracing video to present ideas on BP Unfiltered, and doing a poor job of it. His videos aren't working for me because nothing he's done so far has necessitated filming. In other words, all of the BP videos I've seen have been repurposed columns, just Carroll sitting in front of the camera talking. If you look back at all the videos I've created for this site, in each case there is a good reason I chose the video medium; otherwise, I would have simply written out the ideas in prose.

Why is it funny that Carroll's embracing video? Well, in December 2005, I suggested to him on his blog (my username: deadteddy8) that the plummeting costs of video production would lead to a dedicated someone creating new ways of following sports on the web. With the rise of YouTube (which, unbeknownst to me, had launched two days before that conversation!) and video recording equipment becoming ubiquitous, web video publishing is ripe for someone to shake the system. Carroll dismissed me then, but he now seems to be falling into the trap he himself warned against, falling in love with the opportunities the technology offers without developing the great ideas needed to make the technology worthwhile, and without applying knowledge of the technology's strengths and limitations.

I want Sportszilla to be that website that shakes the system.

***

Besides these projects, I also came up with one more idea that I will be unable to carry out, but that might be worthwhile for someone in a slightly different situation:

Podcast Your Own Play by Play
I've looked and looked, and there really doesn't seem to be anything pro sports leagues or broadcasting outlets can do to prevent someone from podcasting his or her own play by play accounts and descriptions of games, as long as the podcasts are not streamed live and are released after the games. In essence, the podcasts would then be an after-the-fact commentary, released on the same timetable beat writers are on. Also, as long as major websites are allowed to publish live play by play data, unchallenged by the leagues, then there's a precedent supporting the independent commentator.

I won't be able to do this because of my particular employment situation, and because the San Francisco Giants have such good announcers the audience just won't be there for an alternative account of the games.

Posted by David Arnott at 5:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

A sportswriter from Chicago sent in a blank Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, ensuring that Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr., will not be inducted unanimously.

I can't take this guy seriously. If he's so pissed off at the system, why didn't he abstain from voting and announce that to his audience? Instead, he took the route of pettiness to express his self-righteous indignation. His beliefs seem to dictate that he refuse to vote, period, not that he refuse to vote for obviously deserving candidates that played at the same time as proven cheaters.

Posted by David Arnott at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I thought Page2 was supposed to be filled with hacky crapaliciousness. What the hell is up with publishing Chuck Klosterman? Are they trying to remind us that they once employed the likes of Ralph Wiley and Hunter S. Thompson? (Hmmmm... the Good Doctor's ESPN archives have been purged.)

And seriously, if the WWL is committed to mediocrity, who let Simmons rear back and throw a vintage 98 mile per hour fastball?

What's next? Sean Salisbury refers to DVOA! John Kruk forms a coherent argument! Stephen A. Smith discovers the benefits of subtlety! Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!

Posted by David Arnott at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This past weekend, I visited Zach in Seattle to celebrate the New Year, consume potent potables, and watch a few football games. During the Rose Bowl, before the craziness later that evening that would cause us to dance giddy jigs at the beauty of it all, Zach rendered an interesting opinion of Brent Musburger's announcing.

Posted by David Arnott at 1:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)