December 13, 2005
BOSTON - Perhaps I think too highly of myself (I mean, I am a work in progress, but then
again aren't we all?), but maybe there's a chance that you've read this little column that
I have and you've thought to yourself, "Hey, this guy Chris Brockman kind of writes
like that Sports Guy on ESPN.com."
Like I said, maybe some of you have thought that, maybe you have no idea who either of
us are. But if you have, it's not by accident. Several years ago, in college, when I was
trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life upon graduation, I, like tens of
thousands of others across the country, discovered this new sports writer on a new site on
ESPN.com called Page 2. He called himself The Sports Guy, and his name was Bill Simmons.
He wrote about things I liked - the Red Sox, Celtics, quoted movies, talked about current
TV shows, music and in general pop culture - and it was quite funny. I looked forward to
reading him a couple times a week and would often check out his stories before getting to
any of my reading or school work (like I did any of that anyway.) It wasn't long before I
decided that I would like to have some kind of career similar to his, and hence here I am.
No doubt he's influenced my writing style.
Recently, Simmons wrote a book entitled "Now I Can Die in Peace", in which he re-ran his
past columns about the Red Sox dating back from 1999 up to the Sox' run to the 2004
World Series, with updated footnotes. I'm sure many of you have seen/read it in the last couple months.
He now lives in Los Angeles and has been going on sort of a east coast/west coast book tour the last few weeks, and this past
Sunday he paid a visit to the Boston University Barnes and Noble in Kenmore Square. So, having nothing to do for once, my friend
and I made the 100-mile trek down to check him out, and we weren't disappointed.
The signing was to start at 3 p.m., so after some shopping in Copley, we got there around 2:40. To say there was already a line
would be an understatement, but it paled in comparison to what would come. There were about 30-40 people or so in front of us,
which was perfect, only that I had yet to purchase the actual book. Once I did that we resumed our spot and line and waited patiently
for our turn.
People everywhere had the book, some had two, others three books for Simmons to pen. We ended up talking to these two guys
and girl in front us who were from New Haven, CT and were actually New York Mets fans, which I found interesting. We joked about
everything from the annoying guy in front of us (Seriously, you should have heard this guy. You just knew that he was the type that
always calls into sports talk radio shows and just rattles off stats to make himself sound smart. Needless to say he was getting on my
nerves) to Punk'd to how Mariah Carey's hotness outweigh's her craziness to fantasy football and things in between.
Finally we were near the front, and as those guys got their books signed, one of them played for Simmons the ringtone on his cell
phone, which turned out to be the final call from Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Simmons wasn't amused.
"Where'd you get that," he asked.
"They had it on T-Mobile," the guy replied.
"I'm gonna blow them up," Simmons quipped.
Then, it was our turn. Danielle got her book signed and since she wasn't going to ask him a question, I took this as my opportunity to
inform him that the Patriots were beating the Bills 21-0 at the time. Simmons asked how I knew, to which I said that I have the Internet
on my cell phone (ya know, because it's a practical thing to have on a telephone). It was my turn now, and I asked him if he could do
sort of a running diary like in one of his columns, to which he wrote, "3:41 - Thinking about asking Brock to look up a Panthers
score..."
And after I informed him that the Panthers were losing 13-3, he added, "3:42 - Bummed out"
It was classic. We then got our picture taken and I thanked him for his time and told him
that I, too, am a sports writer and that he's an inspiration for me, which is the truth.
He told me "good luck with that," and we moved on. A couple of minutes, that's all it
was, but it's something I'll always remember.
Sports Guy meets Local Celebrity. So it wasn't quite like the first time Washington met
Jefferson or Britney met Kevin or even Beavis met Butthead, but it was monumental,
and hopefully we'll meet again down the road.
In all, we waited for about an hour and when we left the line was still wrapped around the
store and nearly out the door, which is where we went.
It wasn't the end of our day though, after dropping off our bags we hit up the TD
Banknorth Garden for the Bruins-Coyotes game. Needless to say, and much to my
surprise, the only tickets left for the game were in the 40-50 dollar range. After we
reluctantly agreed to get a pair of seats for 40 bucks the lady behind the counter
told us that the only seats available were $52. Sweet.
We left the Garden and had plans to get back on the train and go eat dinner somewhere.
Since we were out of cash an ATM was now our white whale, but wouldn't you know it, there wasn't a TD Banknorth ATM anywhere
to be found in the TD Banknorth Garden. Interesting.
So while we were outside, passing the homeless guys begging for change a couple times in our search, these two guys asked us if
we wanted to buy tickets to the game "real cheap." I really wanted to but the empty wallet made me reply, "I would but we don't have
any cash."
"Eh, (forget) it," the guy responded, and handed us two tickets to the game.
Walking into the Garden Danielle looked at me and said, "These are $75 seats." And sure enough when we went in we were 12 rows
from the ice.
Too bad the Bruins lost 2-1 in overtime, but it was a nice cap to a tremendous day.
BOSTON - Perhaps I think too highly of myself (I mean, I am a work in progress, but then
again aren't we all?), but maybe there's a chance that you've read this little column that
I have and you've thought to yourself, "Hey, this guy Chris Brockman kind of writes
like that Sports Guy on ESPN.com."
Like I said, maybe some of you have thought that, maybe you have no idea who either of
us are. But if you have, it's not by accident. Several years ago, in college, when I was
trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life upon graduation, I, like tens of
thousands of others across the country, discovered this new sports writer on a new site on
ESPN.com called Page 2. He called himself The Sports Guy, and his name was Bill Simmons.
He wrote about things I liked - the Red Sox, Celtics, quoted movies, talked about current
TV shows, music and in general pop culture - and it was quite funny. I looked forward to
reading him a couple times a week and would often check out his stories before getting to
any of my reading or school work (like I did any of that anyway.) It wasn't long before I
decided that I would like to have some kind of career similar to his, and hence here I am.
No doubt he's influenced my writing style.
Recently, Simmons wrote a book entitled "Now I Can Die in Peace", in which he re-ran his
past columns about the Red Sox dating back from 1999 up to the Sox' run to the 2004
World Series, with updated footnotes. I'm sure many of you have seen/read it in the last couple months.
He now lives in Los Angeles and has been going on sort of a east coast/west coast book tour the last few weeks, and this past
Sunday he paid a visit to the Boston University Barnes and Noble in Kenmore Square. So, having nothing to do for once, my friend
and I made the 100-mile trek down to check him out, and we weren't disappointed.
The signing was to start at 3 p.m., so after some shopping in Copley, we got there around 2:40. To say there was already a line
would be an understatement, but it paled in comparison to what would come. There were about 30-40 people or so in front of us,
which was perfect, only that I had yet to purchase the actual book. Once I did that we resumed our spot and line and waited patiently
for our turn.
People everywhere had the book, some had two, others three books for Simmons to pen. We ended up talking to these two guys
and girl in front us who were from New Haven, CT and were actually New York Mets fans, which I found interesting. We joked about
everything from the annoying guy in front of us (Seriously, you should have heard this guy. You just knew that he was the type that
always calls into sports talk radio shows and just rattles off stats to make himself sound smart. Needless to say he was getting on my
nerves) to Punk'd to how Mariah Carey's hotness outweigh's her craziness to fantasy football and things in between.
Finally we were near the front, and as those guys got their books signed, one of them played for Simmons the ringtone on his cell
phone, which turned out to be the final call from Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Simmons wasn't amused.
"Where'd you get that," he asked.
"They had it on T-Mobile," the guy replied.
"I'm gonna blow them up," Simmons quipped.
Then, it was our turn. Danielle got her book signed and since she wasn't going to ask him a question, I took this as my opportunity to
inform him that the Patriots were beating the Bills 21-0 at the time. Simmons asked how I knew, to which I said that I have the Internet
on my cell phone (ya know, because it's a practical thing to have on a telephone). It was my turn now, and I asked him if he could do
sort of a running diary like in one of his columns, to which he wrote, "3:41 - Thinking about asking Brock to look up a Panthers
score..."
And after I informed him that the Panthers were losing 13-3, he added, "3:42 - Bummed out"
It was classic. We then got our picture taken and I thanked him for his time and told him
that I, too, am a sports writer and that he's an inspiration for me, which is the truth.
He told me "good luck with that," and we moved on. A couple of minutes, that's all it
was, but it's something I'll always remember.
Sports Guy meets Local Celebrity. So it wasn't quite like the first time Washington met
Jefferson or Britney met Kevin or even Beavis met Butthead, but it was monumental,
and hopefully we'll meet again down the road.
In all, we waited for about an hour and when we left the line was still wrapped around the
store and nearly out the door, which is where we went.
It wasn't the end of our day though, after dropping off our bags we hit up the TD
Banknorth Garden for the Bruins-Coyotes game. Needless to say, and much to my
surprise, the only tickets left for the game were in the 40-50 dollar range. After we
reluctantly agreed to get a pair of seats for 40 bucks the lady behind the counter
told us that the only seats available were $52. Sweet.
We left the Garden and had plans to get back on the train and go eat dinner somewhere.
Since we were out of cash an ATM was now our white whale, but wouldn't you know it, there wasn't a TD Banknorth ATM anywhere
to be found in the TD Banknorth Garden. Interesting.
So while we were outside, passing the homeless guys begging for change a couple times in our search, these two guys asked us if
we wanted to buy tickets to the game "real cheap." I really wanted to but the empty wallet made me reply, "I would but we don't have
any cash."
"Eh, (forget) it," the guy responded, and handed us two tickets to the game.
Walking into the Garden Danielle looked at me and said, "These are $75 seats." And sure enough when we went in we were 12 rows
from the ice.
Too bad the Bruins lost 2-1 in overtime, but it was a nice cap to a tremendous day.
