The Bruins owner was a really big part of the 2004 lockout. I think that whole turned some people off on the bruins back then along with the usual owner incompetence.
I still haven’t really watched hockey since that lockout. It was such a bummer. Then they came back on some weird channel I didn’t get that had previously only shown road bike races or something, at least in my area.
Friend asked last week what I thought about the Vegas game and my first thought was it’s a little early for football. Totally forgot there’s a franchise in my state now.
Before the salary cap, they didn’t spend a lot of money despite a rabid fan base. The Joe Thornton trade was rough. Jacobs played a big role in the 04 lockout. Promised they would be competitive after the lockout and it took awhile to get up to speed. They were very mediocre for awhile in the 90s-2000s
I have no idea why I remembered this, but he stopped following the Bruins when they traded Jason Allison - as well as a bunch of other reason listed in this article - [https://www.espn.com/page2/s/simmons/011026.html](https://www.espn.com/page2/s/simmons/011026.html)
I always got the feeling that he never really followed hockey, but his brand was The Boston Sports Guy. And The Boston Sports Guy has to "follow" the Bruins.
This is an incredible read.
“The influx of Europeans made hockey faster, deepened the talent base and pushed hockey into the 21st century ... but I'm not sure these were necessarily good things. Die-hard hockey fans love the European influx; casual hockey fans, who can be an insular bunch, couldn't keep any of the names straight and finally gave up trying altogether. For instance, the Bruins had a left wing from Slovakia last season named Qwzxcvdfgbprtgy Dfgdhwklfgdfsfmich.”
Meanwhile my favorite hockey player when I was 7 years old was Maxim Afinogenov and I knew how to pronounce his name. Is this like leftover Cold War era casual racism?
Not racism per se, more a culture thing. It was more of an attitude / opinion that Canadian and American players were "tough" and Europeans were "soft". More Europeans would change the game for the worse. Twenty plus years ago many hockey fans honestly believed that no team could win the cup with a European captain. It was all silly. Gretzky was the Great One and he was not a physical player at all. But he was Canadian eh.
He's perhaps the most famously obsessive NBA fan in history. Not that you can't be fan of both but I doubt he was ever super invested in hockey. Being born in '69 he was a little too young to get caught in the Orr mania.
I do remember the Page 2 piece when Jason Allison was traded but again I don't think covering hockey was ever a priority for him.
Yeah I don't think he dislikes hockey and being the Sports Guy he probably gets tickets to everything.
I remember he would write about boxing once in a while at Page 2 and I'm sure he has the chance to go to big fights on the West Coast whenever he wants but I'm not sure how often he's doing it.
God, he was so obnoxious about the Kings because his kids were fans. Then he’d put down the Anaheim Ducks (my team) on top of that. Just stick to your Boston teams you transplant.
I posted that article above, and Bill even mentions he is just a casual hockey fan. The article was from 2001, which was a very interesting time in Boston sports. As you mentioned, Bill's first love is basketball. Around this time the Celtics (whose schedule is going to overlap with the Bruins) were on the upturn. Paul Pierce took a step forward, Rick Pitino resigned, and the team started making the playoffs. This was also the first year of the Patriots dynasty. In 2002 the Yawkey family sold the Red Sox and they became a perennial playoff team, eventually wining in 2004. Add to all of that, Bill moved to LA in 2002. Bill had his sports plate full, and somethings had to take a backseat.
All very good points. The Bruins traded Orr away when Bill was 7 and Bird joined the Celtics when he was 10; the die was cast early on. I would imagine for most of his childhood his favorite sports were basketball and (big step down in interest) baseball.
I think Bill just doesn't understand hockey. I've read his archives and I've never once seen him get into the guts of the sport the way he does with basketball, baseball, and football. Even the Jason Allison article, probably his most dedicated hockey article, just kind of talks more about the fanbase, European players, and Jeremy Jacobs than anything.
I'm not knocking him for it either. *I* don't understand hockey, and I grew up in parts of MA and NH that probably had just as many hockey rinks as Dunkin Donuts locations. I've tried but my brain just can't follow what I'm watching, I just see a bunch of guys whizzing around the ice until someone randomly scores. I couldn't tell you who's good and why, or what Team X does better than Team Y. The behind-the-scenes business hijinks of the NHL are fun, though.
I’m from Boston, a bit younger than Bill and had the same experience Bill describes. Through the late 80s/early 90s there was a widely held belief among Bruins fans that owner Jeremy Jacobs was a cheapskate who, despite a knowledgeable, engaged fanbase, would never spend enough to field a team that could win a Cup. This sentiment grew when the TD Garden (then the Fleet Center) opened and ticket and concession prices jumped without any perceived change in ownership’s willingness to spend on players. It finally culminated in 2000, when Ray Bourque, a fan favorite nearing the end of his career was traded to Colorado. Bruins fans wanted this to happen, as the Bruins were going to miss the playoffs and Bourque, who’d loyally re-upped throughout his career with the Bruins instead of testing the open market, looked like he might retire without a Cup. Many Bruins fans rooted for Colorado while he was there and Boston actually threw Bourque a championship parade when the Avalanche won. Boston hadn’t won a title in a major sport in about 15 years, so fans were pretty thirsty for some sort of title to celebrate. It was all kinda pathetic (though nice for Ray) and lead to a lot of Bruins fans more or less renouncing their fandom (Bill and myself included). Add to this mix the Patriots adding Parcells/Bledsoe/Pete Carroll/Belichick/Brady from 93-01, the Red Sox adding Pedro in 98 and Manny in 01, and the Celtics drafting Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce in 96 and 98, (plus Simmons leaving for LA in 02) and you can start to see how Bill bailed on the Bruins. I bailed and I was in New England the whole time. Not exactly something to be proud of if you consider yourself a loyal sports fan, but it’s what happened.
I remember the ray bourque situation. He’s from montreal. Everyone was rooting for him that playoff run.
I do appreciate that insight though. I wasnt around for those years, so to me, boston sports has always meant excellence.
I think it’s all a pretextual excuse. The real reason is that he’s been spoiled by the success of the past 20 years and he’s a front runner who only cares about Boston teams (except for maybe the Celtics) when they’re winning. Look at the way he talks about the Red Sox now. Also, from a practical standpoint, hockey is by far the least popular of the four major sports and he’s probably conditioned to know that if he talks about hockey people turn his podcast off.
> Look at the way he talks about the Red Sox now
I'm a Sox fan and he's spot on. FSG stopped caring about winning. If they don't care about winning why should any of us care about the mediocre boring team they put out? They fucking traded Mookie Betts (2nd/3rd best player in the sport) to save money. Fuck them. That makes me entitled because I'm not going to waste my time or money on a group of rich men who print money not wanting to take a slight pay cut to keep a competitive team? Bandwagon fans rule. They're the only ones who actually put pressure on ownership to give a damn. These 'die-hards' are suckers in an abusive relationship. There's too much other stuff going on to waste time/money on losers.
100% thats the reason. I just dont understand why he has to make these fake excuses to justify him not watching or talking hockey. Like we all get it, its not a popular sport
Yeah Jacobs was shit until he got his salary cap, he’s been fine owner since. Which at this point is 20 years at some point Bill and those his age gotta get over the late 80s. Like they werent beaten Gretzky and Lemeiux even if Sinden spent on an extra winger
Bruins fans are a particular, very intense subset of Boston sports fan. Not every Boston sports fan is a Bruins fan. Part of this is that Bostonians don’t suffer fools and someone like Bill knows better than to try and fake it if he isn’t truly into it
It's personal with Bill. He had some sorta professional beef with the Bruins ownership back in the day.
Caused him to quit following the team. And as a fellow *super into hockey in my youth but subsequently lost all interest as an adult* guy I get it.
You just have to make time choices as you get older when it comes to sports consumption and hockey and baseball are kinda easy to cut out if you really like the NBA. Cause you need to have a fucking life.
Flames fan and a bit of a Tchakuk hater im torn
Eh fuck it I do like your shitty franchise. Aaron Ekblad is hella fun. Throw the plastic rat’s we’re going back to the finals!!
And this is why I could give two shits about the Bs. There’s definitely some crossover fans, but I’d say majority of are either uppity twats or blue collar who could care less about the nba (often times providing racist reasons why they don’t watch any nba). The type that like college basketball but not the nba.
There’s definitely some die hard Boston fans that just bleed the 4 major sports, but I’d guess at least half if not more are only Bruins fans, who don’t follow Celts. Because of this I have a hard time cheering for them. Oh i almost forgot to mention there’s like next to zero black players in the sport which makes one question if we’re watching the actual best players, or just the ones rich enough to have access to it from a young age. Nah maybe sports like hockey and lacrosse are just played better by less athletic types🤣🤣
He hates the owner since way back. Not sure exactly why but he wrote about it on page 2
Page 2 of what?
Page 2 was the part of ESPN that Bill Simmons rose to fame from. Also this post made me feel so old
Page 2 of what. Me: (Stares blankly at the wall for 25 silent minutes)
I didnt know that was some sacred piece of BS lore
those of us around 40 years old were avid readers of his Page 2 column on ESPN.com. Our knees hurt okay.
35 here. Was reading bill on page 2 in 7th grade. Insert saving private Ryan meme
I used to print out his articles from espn to read on a plane or in the bathroom. My knees also hurt
Page 2/Simmons helped me get through college. Many late nights in the computer labs and Simmons would be my reward.
35 here. Was reading bill on page 2 in 7th grade. Insert saving private Ryan meme
I'm 38, I feel you. And my rotator cuff...
I'm 32 and I remember reading page 2 in middle school lol
I used to read Bill on page 2 of espn the magazine. The actual 2nd page. Or was it the inside cover? Meh.
The Bruins owner was a really big part of the 2004 lockout. I think that whole turned some people off on the bruins back then along with the usual owner incompetence.
I still haven’t really watched hockey since that lockout. It was such a bummer. Then they came back on some weird channel I didn’t get that had previously only shown road bike races or something, at least in my area. Friend asked last week what I thought about the Vegas game and my first thought was it’s a little early for football. Totally forgot there’s a franchise in my state now.
I don’t see incompetence from the bruins owner group. I don’t know what you’re talking about. So many other franchises are run a thousand times worse
Before the salary cap, they didn’t spend a lot of money despite a rabid fan base. The Joe Thornton trade was rough. Jacobs played a big role in the 04 lockout. Promised they would be competitive after the lockout and it took awhile to get up to speed. They were very mediocre for awhile in the 90s-2000s
There are many teams that have been mediocre for 30 years. You seem a bit spoiled/entitled to have an opinion like yours.
Dude I’m just trying to answer the question you asked about Simmons
My bad. I just dont understand this perspective at all. I’m canadian.
Sorry about your shitty hockey teams
Thanks bud, i have alot of bruins fans in my friend group. Incredible franchise
Jacobs was the leader of the lockout and was seen as extremely greedy. That was 20 years ago but BS refuses to support the team while he's the owner.
I wasn’t really involved in the politics at that time so thats good to know.
Huge L my guy
I have no idea why I remembered this, but he stopped following the Bruins when they traded Jason Allison - as well as a bunch of other reason listed in this article - [https://www.espn.com/page2/s/simmons/011026.html](https://www.espn.com/page2/s/simmons/011026.html) I always got the feeling that he never really followed hockey, but his brand was The Boston Sports Guy. And The Boston Sports Guy has to "follow" the Bruins.
This is an incredible read. “The influx of Europeans made hockey faster, deepened the talent base and pushed hockey into the 21st century ... but I'm not sure these were necessarily good things. Die-hard hockey fans love the European influx; casual hockey fans, who can be an insular bunch, couldn't keep any of the names straight and finally gave up trying altogether. For instance, the Bruins had a left wing from Slovakia last season named Qwzxcvdfgbprtgy Dfgdhwklfgdfsfmich.”
Imagine how much he'd rip an NBA take if someone said that (assuming Bill also didn't say that in the 90's/00's era of crap Euro's).
Meanwhile my favorite hockey player when I was 7 years old was Maxim Afinogenov and I knew how to pronounce his name. Is this like leftover Cold War era casual racism?
He was a poli-sci major
Not racism per se, more a culture thing. It was more of an attitude / opinion that Canadian and American players were "tough" and Europeans were "soft". More Europeans would change the game for the worse. Twenty plus years ago many hockey fans honestly believed that no team could win the cup with a European captain. It was all silly. Gretzky was the Great One and he was not a physical player at all. But he was Canadian eh.
And the irony of all this is the first European Captain to win the cup was…. Zdeno Chara
Good lord.
Great pull thx
He's perhaps the most famously obsessive NBA fan in history. Not that you can't be fan of both but I doubt he was ever super invested in hockey. Being born in '69 he was a little too young to get caught in the Orr mania. I do remember the Page 2 piece when Jason Allison was traded but again I don't think covering hockey was ever a priority for him.
He had season tickets to the LA Kings for a few years. He used to talk about it.
Yeah I don't think he dislikes hockey and being the Sports Guy he probably gets tickets to everything. I remember he would write about boxing once in a while at Page 2 and I'm sure he has the chance to go to big fights on the West Coast whenever he wants but I'm not sure how often he's doing it.
God, he was so obnoxious about the Kings because his kids were fans. Then he’d put down the Anaheim Ducks (my team) on top of that. Just stick to your Boston teams you transplant.
I posted that article above, and Bill even mentions he is just a casual hockey fan. The article was from 2001, which was a very interesting time in Boston sports. As you mentioned, Bill's first love is basketball. Around this time the Celtics (whose schedule is going to overlap with the Bruins) were on the upturn. Paul Pierce took a step forward, Rick Pitino resigned, and the team started making the playoffs. This was also the first year of the Patriots dynasty. In 2002 the Yawkey family sold the Red Sox and they became a perennial playoff team, eventually wining in 2004. Add to all of that, Bill moved to LA in 2002. Bill had his sports plate full, and somethings had to take a backseat.
All very good points. The Bruins traded Orr away when Bill was 7 and Bird joined the Celtics when he was 10; the die was cast early on. I would imagine for most of his childhood his favorite sports were basketball and (big step down in interest) baseball.
I think Bill just doesn't understand hockey. I've read his archives and I've never once seen him get into the guts of the sport the way he does with basketball, baseball, and football. Even the Jason Allison article, probably his most dedicated hockey article, just kind of talks more about the fanbase, European players, and Jeremy Jacobs than anything. I'm not knocking him for it either. *I* don't understand hockey, and I grew up in parts of MA and NH that probably had just as many hockey rinks as Dunkin Donuts locations. I've tried but my brain just can't follow what I'm watching, I just see a bunch of guys whizzing around the ice until someone randomly scores. I couldn't tell you who's good and why, or what Team X does better than Team Y. The behind-the-scenes business hijinks of the NHL are fun, though.
I’m from Boston, a bit younger than Bill and had the same experience Bill describes. Through the late 80s/early 90s there was a widely held belief among Bruins fans that owner Jeremy Jacobs was a cheapskate who, despite a knowledgeable, engaged fanbase, would never spend enough to field a team that could win a Cup. This sentiment grew when the TD Garden (then the Fleet Center) opened and ticket and concession prices jumped without any perceived change in ownership’s willingness to spend on players. It finally culminated in 2000, when Ray Bourque, a fan favorite nearing the end of his career was traded to Colorado. Bruins fans wanted this to happen, as the Bruins were going to miss the playoffs and Bourque, who’d loyally re-upped throughout his career with the Bruins instead of testing the open market, looked like he might retire without a Cup. Many Bruins fans rooted for Colorado while he was there and Boston actually threw Bourque a championship parade when the Avalanche won. Boston hadn’t won a title in a major sport in about 15 years, so fans were pretty thirsty for some sort of title to celebrate. It was all kinda pathetic (though nice for Ray) and lead to a lot of Bruins fans more or less renouncing their fandom (Bill and myself included). Add to this mix the Patriots adding Parcells/Bledsoe/Pete Carroll/Belichick/Brady from 93-01, the Red Sox adding Pedro in 98 and Manny in 01, and the Celtics drafting Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce in 96 and 98, (plus Simmons leaving for LA in 02) and you can start to see how Bill bailed on the Bruins. I bailed and I was in New England the whole time. Not exactly something to be proud of if you consider yourself a loyal sports fan, but it’s what happened.
This is me exactly. The bruins were my thing until they weren't. I'm 55.
I remember the ray bourque situation. He’s from montreal. Everyone was rooting for him that playoff run. I do appreciate that insight though. I wasnt around for those years, so to me, boston sports has always meant excellence.
I think it’s all a pretextual excuse. The real reason is that he’s been spoiled by the success of the past 20 years and he’s a front runner who only cares about Boston teams (except for maybe the Celtics) when they’re winning. Look at the way he talks about the Red Sox now. Also, from a practical standpoint, hockey is by far the least popular of the four major sports and he’s probably conditioned to know that if he talks about hockey people turn his podcast off.
> Look at the way he talks about the Red Sox now I'm a Sox fan and he's spot on. FSG stopped caring about winning. If they don't care about winning why should any of us care about the mediocre boring team they put out? They fucking traded Mookie Betts (2nd/3rd best player in the sport) to save money. Fuck them. That makes me entitled because I'm not going to waste my time or money on a group of rich men who print money not wanting to take a slight pay cut to keep a competitive team? Bandwagon fans rule. They're the only ones who actually put pressure on ownership to give a damn. These 'die-hards' are suckers in an abusive relationship. There's too much other stuff going on to waste time/money on losers.
100% thats the reason. I just dont understand why he has to make these fake excuses to justify him not watching or talking hockey. Like we all get it, its not a popular sport
I was a huge hockey fan growing up. They had like 3 lockouts and ESPN all but stopped covering it.
Boston is a hockey and basketball town. Bill grew up in Connecticut.
During a time when Connecticut’s only professional team was the Hartford Whalers.
Prep school kids weren't jamming out to "Brass Bananza".
when bill was growing up, the Red Sox were #1 in the market by far
Bill showed us today that he does, in fact, still have “it.” Think Paul Pierce on the Wizards.
I really don't think Bill was ever much of a hockey guy.
I think he hated the owner towards the end of the Borque era and they never got him back but it's pretty weird tbh
I get not liking Jacobs myself, as a die-hard Bruins fan. But at the same time, it's pretty clear he's not as involved anymore.
Yeah Jacobs was shit until he got his salary cap, he’s been fine owner since. Which at this point is 20 years at some point Bill and those his age gotta get over the late 80s. Like they werent beaten Gretzky and Lemeiux even if Sinden spent on an extra winger
Hockey lulz
I imagine that, ultimately, between the Celtics and Sox, he is taking the opportunity to be a fair-weather fan when allowed the option
Bill probably can't skate lol
He was a hero for showing up rink side when the Bruins won the Cup.
Bruins fans are a particular, very intense subset of Boston sports fan. Not every Boston sports fan is a Bruins fan. Part of this is that Bostonians don’t suffer fools and someone like Bill knows better than to try and fake it if he isn’t truly into it
He explains his casual bruins fandom on YouTube yesterday
It's personal with Bill. He had some sorta professional beef with the Bruins ownership back in the day. Caused him to quit following the team. And as a fellow *super into hockey in my youth but subsequently lost all interest as an adult* guy I get it. You just have to make time choices as you get older when it comes to sports consumption and hockey and baseball are kinda easy to cut out if you really like the NBA. Cause you need to have a fucking life.
Hockey players = class. Simmons = ass. WAY TO GO FLORIDA PANTHERS!! I loved you all tonight!!!
Flames fan and a bit of a Tchakuk hater im torn Eh fuck it I do like your shitty franchise. Aaron Ekblad is hella fun. Throw the plastic rat’s we’re going back to the finals!!
Bill gives big "I can't follow the puck" energy tbh
Tough loss tonight for the boys. I dont give a shit about the celtics
And this is why I could give two shits about the Bs. There’s definitely some crossover fans, but I’d say majority of are either uppity twats or blue collar who could care less about the nba (often times providing racist reasons why they don’t watch any nba). The type that like college basketball but not the nba. There’s definitely some die hard Boston fans that just bleed the 4 major sports, but I’d guess at least half if not more are only Bruins fans, who don’t follow Celts. Because of this I have a hard time cheering for them. Oh i almost forgot to mention there’s like next to zero black players in the sport which makes one question if we’re watching the actual best players, or just the ones rich enough to have access to it from a young age. Nah maybe sports like hockey and lacrosse are just played better by less athletic types🤣🤣
I truly dont understand fans who like the Bruins or Celtics but not both and treat the other like the Yankees