Bill Simmons Book Tour (NBA Book Being Released in October)

[DCAllAfrican]

http://sports.espn.go.com...ry?page=simmons/booktour


All right, here's the final schedule for my book tour. If you want to get a book signed and have an awkward ten-second conversation with me, this isyour big chance.

THE TOUR SCHEDULE:
• Tuesday, September 27: New York, NY
Riviera Café & Sports Bar -- 6:30 p.m.

Comments: This is the only NYC stop ... hopefully I won't get shanked like an inmate on "Oz." And yes, I'm prepared forall the "Thanks for keeping first place warm for us" jokes from Yankee fans. Bring them on.

• Wednesday, September 28: Stamford, CT
Borders Book Shop -- 7:30 p.m.

Comments: This is right off the Merritt Parkway and easy to find. My Uncle Ricky (the diehard Yankee fan in my family) will also be thereautographing copies of his new book, "25 More to Go And You'll Catch Us."

(One other note: We had to cancel the West Hartford stop the following afternoon -- sorry about that.)

• Thursday, September 29: Worcester, MA
College of the Holy Cross -- 7:00 p.m.

Comments: If there's going to be a Larry Eustachy-type moment from this tour, this night is the odds-on favorite. Just kidding. I amgoing to sign some books, give a speech about college life, complain about the fact that our administration doesn't give football scholarships anymore, andthen ESPN will quickly hustle me out of there before I end up on Caro Street doing keg stands.

• Friday, September 30: Boston, MA (Kenmore Square)
Barnes & Noble at Boston University -- 5:00 p.m.

Comments: Hopefully the Red Sox season won't be over before this signing happens, but it's taking place right before the firstYankees game. We'll also be handing out replica forks that look exactly like the one sticking out of Edgar Renteria's back right now.

• Saturday, October 1: Boston, MA
The Souvenir Store -- 11:30 a.m.
Note: Only ticket holders for Saturday's Red Sox-Yankees game may attend.

Comments: Sadly, only fans holding game tickets can attend this one before Saturday's Yankee game. We are trying to work out somethingfor Game On (a bar right next to the ballpark) right after the game, so stay tuned on that front.

• Sunday, Oct. 2: Boston/Foxboro
No signing this day -- I'm either going to the Pats-Chargers game or the Sox-Yankees game (if it means anything). This day could either be fantastic orgive new meaning to the word "Black Sunday."

NEW STOP!
• Monday, Oct. 3: Boston, MA (Downtown Crossing)
Borders Book Shop -- 12:30 p.m.

• Tuesday, October 4: Washington, DC
ESPN Zone -- 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Comments: Honestly? This was just an excuse to hang out with my buddy House for the night. Don't tell ESPN.

• Wednesday, October 5: Chicago, IL
ESPN Zone -- 6:00-8:00 p.m.

 

[shabooyah1124]

Gotta scoop this up when it releases. Bill Simmons seriously keeps me sane at work. BS Report

 

[DCAllAfrican]

I might just go see wassup with my man Bill but I won't buy that book on the first day. I am sure it will be way too much

 

[pharelfor3]

Gonna be there in NYC when he makes that stop. copped Day 1.

 

[RyGuy45]

Stupid me, i actually thought he may branch out to different cities instead of the same 3 locations.

 

[JD617]

I'm definitely gonna show up for one of the Boston signings.

 

[CP1708]

As much as I love the guy's work, I don't trust him for @#$%. I have a feeling it will be 27 chapters of how great the Celtics are, and 4 paragraphsabout the rest of the league, 3 of those bagging on the Lakers. I dunno about this book.......

 

[shabooyah1124]

Originally Posted by CP1708

As much as I love the guy's work, I don't trust him for @#$%. I have a feeling it will be 27 chapters of how great the Celtics are, and 4 paragraphs about the rest of the league, 3 of those bagging on the Lakers. I dunno about this book.......

Although I do like the fact that he doesn't hold his bias back most of the time, I just wish he was from any other city than Boston. Maybe NYCtoo

 

[osh kosh bosh]

Isn't the book like 800 pages?

I doubt anybody could talk about the Celtics for 800 pages...he does say some

stuff when it comes to boston teams but even he admits he is not to be trusted concerning his teams.

 

[lazyj10]

He's a closet Warriors fan...so half a chapter depicting his experience at Oracle would be enough for me to cop.

 

[ezflash26]

He said the book will basically be about him breaking down who he feels is the greatest ____ players/teams/coaches of all-time, but doing it in a round-aboutway that his columns usually are....

Simmons can have bias/jaded look on things, so his opinions doesnt hold much weight with me, but he's always entertaining, and he's passionate aboutbasketball, so this is an automatic cop for me, and I usually dont even read books like that....

 

[DCAllAfrican]

He is going to talk about when Zeke wanted to fight him too LOL

 

[bijald0331]

I'll be at ESPNZone on 10/5. Enjoy his articles and some of his BS reports. Book looks epic

 

[pharelfor3]

was looking forward to this until I realize this is the book tour from his last book. Very disappointed. Was really looking forward to having the book to readon my trip to AC.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

Originally Posted by CP1708

As much as I love the guy's work, I don't trust him for @#$%. I have a feeling it will be 27 chapters of how great the Celtics are, and 4 paragraphs about the rest of the league, 3 of those bagging on the Lakers. I dunno about this book.......

QFT...his homerism is ridiculous

 

[frenchblue23]

If he had an LA signing, there would be trouble... .

 

[38690]

a

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by jerseymizzle

Originally Posted by PharelFor3

this is the book tour from his last book.

this. hence "now i can tour in peace".
the old page 2 layout should've tipped you off as well.

Originally Posted by westcoastsfinest

Originally Posted by CP1708

As much as I love the guy's work, I don't trust him for @#$%. I have a feeling it will be 27 chapters of how great the Celtics are, and 4 paragraphs about the rest of the league, 3 of those bagging on the Lakers. I dunno about this book.......

QFT...his homerism is ridiculous

LA LAKERS

TEAMCHAMPIONS

Watch my dude, watch. This guy went on and on and on and on about the Celtics title last year.

He barely spoke of the NBA after the Lakers won. And when he did, he tried to * it to death. I've said a million times, I like the guy and his writing,but not when it involves the Celtics and Lakers, he can't put it aside on those two topics. He has slant stuff regarding those teams. It don't matterwhat my sig says.

 

[38690]

a

 

[airmaxpenny1]

Dude's a homer, but his articles are thoroughly enjoyable. I'll prolly wait till the book comes out in paperback though or see if my school library hasit.

 

[ezflash26]

^it's only gonna cost like 10 or 20 dollars or somethin he said....and it'll be available online/PDF for even cheaper....

 

[ezflash26]

Editor's note: The following is excerpted from Bill Simmons' new book, "The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy,"copyright 2009 by Bill Simmons. Reprinted by permission of ESPN Books and Ballantine Books.

[+] Enlarge

This excerpt is from a chapter called "The Secret." In the summer of 2007, my buddy Hopper and I were in Vegas for the NBA Summer League. Wewere playing blackjack at the outdoor pool in Vegas when we ran into announcer Gus Johnson, who wanted to introduce me to his friend Isiah Thomas. After Iexplained to him that this would be an absolutely horrible idea, Gus vowed to broker the peace. Here's what transpired.
[h3]Meeting Isiah Thomas at a Topless Pool In Vegas[/h3]
I played a few hands of rattled blackjack while wondering how to defend myself if Isiah came charging at me with a piña colada. After all, I killedthis guy in my column over the years. I killed him for some of the cheap shots he took as a player, for freezing out MJ in the '85 All-Star Game, forleading the classless walkout at the tail end of the Bulls-Pistons sweep in '91. I killed him for pushing Bird under the bus by backing up Rodman'sfoolish "he'd be just another good player if he weren't white" comments after the '87 playoffs, then pretending like he was kiddingafterward. (He wasn't.) I killed him for bombing as a TV announcer, for sucking as Toronto's GM, for running the CBA into the ground, and most of all,for his incomprehensibly ineffective performance running the Knicks. As I kept lobbing (totally justified) grenades at him, Isiah went on Stephen A.Smith's radio show and threatened "trouble" if we ever met on the street. Like this was all my fault. Somewhere along the line, Isiah probablydecided that I had a personal grudge against him, which simply wasn't true -- I had written many times that he was the best pure point guard I'd everseen, as well as the most underappreciated star of his era. I even defended his draft record and praised him for standing up for his players right before theugly Nuggets-Knicks brawl that featured Carmelo Anthony's infamous +@%%%-slap/backpedal. It's not like I was obsessed with ripping the guy. He justhappened to be an easy target, a floundering NBA GM who didn't understand the luxury tax, cap space, or how to plan ahead. For what I did for a living,Isiah jokes were easier than making fun of Flavor Flav at a celebrity roast. The degree of difficulty was a 0.0.

Order "The Book of Basketball" from IndieBound. Meet Bill in person and get your book signed. Check out the "Book of Basketball" book signing tour to see if Bill is visiting your city.

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BUY THE BOOK​

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With that said, I would have rather been playing blackjack and drinking vodka lemonades than figuring out how to cajole a pissed-off NBA legend. When asomber Gus finally waved me over, I was relieved to get it over with. (By the way, there should be no scenario that includes the words "Gus Johnson"and "somber." I feel like I failed America regardless of how this turned out.) Gus threw an arm around me and said something like, "Look, Istraightened everything out, he's willing to talk to you, just understand, he's a sensitive guy, he takes this %%%+ personally."[sup]9[/sup] Understood. I followed him to a section of chairs near the toplesspool, where Isiah was sipping a water and wearing a white Panama hat to shield himself from the blazing sun. As we approached, Gus slapped me on the back andgestured to a female friend who quickly fled the premises, like we were Mafia heads sitting down in the back of an Italian restaurant and Gus was sheddingevery waiter and busboy. Get out of here. You don't want to be here for this. Meanwhile, Isiah rose from the chair with a big smile on his face --he'd make a helluva politician -- saying simply, "Hi, I'm Isiah."[sup]10[/sup]

We shook hands and sat down. I explained the purpose of my column, how I write from the fan's perspective and play up certain gimmicks -- I like theBoston teams and dislike anyone who battles them, I pretend to be smarter than every GM, I think Christmas should be changed to Larry Bird's birthday --which made Isiah a natural foil for me. He understood that. He thought we were both entertainers, for lack of a better word. We were both there to makebasketball more fun to follow. He didn't appreciate two things I had written: that he destroyed the CBA (which he claimed wasn't true) and how I lumpedhim with other inept GMs in a widely read parody column called "The Atrocious GM Summit."[sup]11[/sup] That led to us discussing each move and why he made them. Headmitted two mistakes -- the Jalen Rose trade (his fault) and the Steve Francis trade (not his fault because Larry Brown insisted on it, or so he claimed) anddefended everything else. Strangely, inconceivably, each explanation made sense. For instance, he explained the recent Randolph trade by telling me (I'mparaphrasing), "Everyone's trying to get smaller and faster. I want to go the other way. I want to get bigger. I want to poundpeople down low." I found myself nodding like Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé in SNL's "Sinatra Group" sketch. Great idea, Chairman! Ilove it! You're a genius! Only later, after we parted ways and I thought about it more, did it dawn on me how doomed his strategy was -- not the"getting bigger" part as much as the "getting bigger with two headcase fat +!$!! who can't defend anyone or protect the rim and areprohibitively expensive" part. You get bigger with McHale and Parish or Sampson and Olajuwon. You don't get bigger with Eddy Curry and ZachRandolph.[sup]12[/sup]

Read more sneak previous from "The Book of Basketball" as we count down to the official release date of October 27. • Thursday -- The Summer of 1976: The Merger • Friday -- What if the ABA had landed Kareem • Monday -- Should Bill Walton have won the 1978 MVP? • Tuesday -- Why Patrick Ewing was the 39th best player ever

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MORE EXCERPTS!​

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But that's not why I'm telling you this story. After settling on an uneasy truce about his job performance, we started remembering thoseunforgettable Celtics-Pistons clashes from the eighties: how their mutual hatred was palpable, how that competitiveness has slowly eroded from the leaguebecause of rule changes, money, AAU camps and everything else. Today's rivals hug each other after games and pull the "I love you, boy!" routine.They act like former summer camp chums who became successful CEOs, then ran into each other at Nobu for the first time in years. Great to see you! I'lltalk to you soon -- let's have lunch! When Isiah's Pistons played Bird's Celtics, the words "great to see you" were not on theagenda. They wanted to destroy each other. They did. There was an edge to those battles that the current ones don't have. I missed that edge and so didIsiah. We both felt passionate about it, passionate enough that -- gasp -- we were legitimately enjoying the conversation.[sup]13[/sup]

I was getting comfortable with him. Comfortable enough that I had to ask about The Secret.

---

[h3]FOOTNOTES[/h3]
http://9. After seeing him in action, I'm totally convinced that Gus Johnson can resolve any feud, controversy, or territorialmatter within 25 minutes: Bloods- Crips, Richards-Locklear, Shiites-Sunnis, TO-McNabb, the Gaza Strip, Vick-PETA, you name it. He's like a cross betweenObama, Jay- Z, and Cyrus from The Warriors.

http://10. Totally underrated part of the story: "Hi, I'm Isiah." As if there potentially could have been someconfusion.

http://11. I gathered all the inept 2006 GMs for a fake conference panel where they gave tips on how to completely suck at theirjob. Isiah ended up stealing the fake show.

http://12. His funniest-in-retrospect explanation was for the hideous Jerome James signing. As Isiah spun it, he signed James tobe his center, then had a chance to land Curry a few weeks later and went for it. A bummed-out James felt betrayed and never dedicated himself, but hey, Isiahhad a chance to get a young low-post stud like Curry and it was worth the risk. I swear, this made sense as he was saying it. He swayed me enough that I neverhad the urge to sarcastically quip, "Hey, anytime you can lock up Eddy Curry and Jerome James for $90 million and lose two lottery picks, you have to doit."

http://13. Proving yet again that I can get along with anyone on the planet as long as they like basketball. You could dress mein red, drop me into a Crips neighborhood, tell me that I have 12 minutes to start a high-caliber NBA conversation before somebody puts a cap in my +*% ... andI would live.

 

[pharelfor3]

Here's the updated book tour info. Him on PTI and Around the horn will be epic. Might go home early just to see that.

[h2]Bill Simmons book tour schedule[/h2]

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Monday, Oct. 26	Washington, D.C.	[url=http://www.espnzone.com/washingtondc/]ESPN Zone

[th=""]DATE[/th] [th=""]CITY[/th] [th=""]LOCATION[/th] [th=""]TIME[/th]

555 12th St. NW #7	11:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 27	Philadelphia	Borders 1 S. Broad, Suite 100	6 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 28	New York	Professor Thoms' 219 Second Avenue	7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 29	New York	Borders 100 Broadway	Noon
Friday, Oct. 30	Boston	Barnes & Noble 800 Boylston Street	12:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 30	Boston	Hurricane O'Reilly's 150 Canal Street	4 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 2	Chicago	ESPN Zone 43 E. Ohio Street	5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 3	Phoenix	Barnes & Noble 21001 N. Tatum Blvd	7 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 5	San Francisco	Borders 200 King Street	7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 6	San Diego	Borders 1072 Camino Del Rio North	7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 7	Las Vegas	ESPN Zone 3790 Las Vegas Blvd S.	4 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 9	Los Angeles	ESPN Zone 1011 S. Figueroa St.	TBA
Friday, Nov. 13	Anaheim	ESPN Zone 1500 Disneyland Dr.	4 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 17	Seattle	Sport Restaurant & Bar 140 4th Ave. North, Suite 130	7 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 19	Beaverton, Ore.	Borders 2605 SW Cedar Hills Blvd	7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 20	Denver	Tattered Cover LoDo 1628 16th Street	5 p.m.

[/url]

Other cities, dates and locations to be confirmed (check back on this page for updates): Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Toronto (December); Atlanta, Orlando, Chapel Hill, Miami (Super Bowl Week); Austin, Houston, Dallas (week of NBA All-Star Game).

In addition, Bill will be making the following TV appearances:

• Tuesday, Oct. 27: "Around the Horn" and "PTI"

• Thursday, Oct. 29: "Morning Joe" (6-9 a.m. on MSNBC) and "The Colbert Report" (11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central)

• Friday, Oct. 30: Bill will join the announcing team during ESPN's broadcast of the Bulls-Celtics game (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)

 

[JD617]

Nice. I have tickets for that Celts-Bulls game, so I'm definitely gonna show up at Hurricane's.

 

[pdouly33]

Simmons on the Colbert Report? Should be great.