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Will Bill Simmons come to the LA/Boston match? Weigh in here.

Bill Simmons

Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy from ESPN.com and author of "Now I can Die in Peace" said on his weekly podcast last Friday that he is considering going to this weekend's game between the Los Angeles Sol and Boston Breakers.

"My daughter is a good athlete and runs around. She's almost four. I could see her dragging me," said Simmons, who has a popular cult follwing for is Page 2 column and BS Report podcast.

VOTE HERE: http://www.polldaddy.com/p/1596575/

"Here's your chance...you can go next week. There's a game in Los Angeles," retorted ESPN.com soccer writer Jacqueline Purdy. "It's a home and home series... Kelly Smith and Marta are like Kobe vs. LeBron, Crosby vs. Ovechkin, Tiger vs. Phil, the two best players at the top of their game."

"I think it's too early. It's been a lot to process. Now you have me going to games. This has been a pretty big step. This whole conversation [about women's soccer]...a full 10 minutes."

Check out the full interview here (scroll to final 10 minutes for Jacqueline Purdy's interview):
http://sports.espn.go.com/stations/player?id=4112499

Voice your opinion: Should Bill Simmons go to this weekend's WPS game between the Los Angeles Sol and the Boston Breakers to see for himself?

Tags: wps

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Excellent job by Jacqueline Purdy to get Simmons to talk about the game and to issue the challenge to go.

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Jacqueline Purdy gave Bill the wrong answers to his motivation questions.
Reasons Jacqueline should have given Bill to go:

-The sex symbol on the Breakers is Heather Mitts, someone he has most likely heard of and may even know seeing as she used to work for ESPN.

-Any Boston fan should feel obligated to watch an LA team go down in flames that is tauting that they have the best player in the world playing for them.

-Boston has a better A-Rod(Amy Rodriguez) than New York's version. Boston's is drug-free, a role model, highly skilled, and better looking. New York's is...I don't need to say it but I will because it's enjoyable. A-Fraud.

-Spend less paying for the Sportsgal, Sportsgal Jr. and himself to attend a Sol game than for a single ticket to Disneyland.

-If he is going to be "one of those dads." He should have some working knowledge of the sport before Sportsgal Jr. starts asking him questions he can't answer.

-It is an original family activity for Mother's Day. Sportsgal would be surprised. And it only takes 2 hours.

-Can Tivo the Rockets/Lakers game, watch it once he gets home, and still have 5 minutes to spare to get ready to watch the Celtics/Magic game live.(Okay this one is a stretch.)

-He will be as shocked as I was by how good these teams and players really are.

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I like reading Bill Simmons' columns, except when he's trashing the WNBA. Who knows? Maybe he'll soften up a little bit on that when he attends a game, sees how great these women play and comes to realize that the WPS is worthwhile. Oh, and Chevy, I like to call New York's version A-Roid.

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Absolutely - this is a game ALL sports fans can get into, if the Sports Guy misses this one he will miss something special!

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Stewart said:
I like reading Bill Simmons' columns, except when he's trashing the WNBA. Who knows? Maybe he'll soften up a little bit on that when he attends a game, sees how great these women play and comes to realize that the WPS is worthwhile. Oh, and Chevy, I like to call New York's version A-Roid.

I agree that A-Roid is good, but I think A-Fraud covers more of his short comings. His lying, cheating, drug use, the affair. A-Roid just seems a little incomplete to cover how much of a scoundrel he really is. :)

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I couldn't find it.

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Hey Chevy,

Kelly has already proven she is a better player than Marta.
I think Simmon should come out not to see some sexy girl but instead the true magic of Marta. Not to mention the biggest match in WPS short history.

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solalive said:
Hey Chevy,

Kelly has already proven she is a better player than Marta.
I think Simmon should come out not to see some sexy girl but instead the true magic of Marta. Not to mention the biggest match in WPS short history.

Marta has been named the world's best player 3 years in a row. She is the face of the sport right now internationally. That is the reason the Sol wanted her for her ability but also for that recognition of having the world's best player. That is why I made that statement. While Smith has outplayed everybody in the league thus far and got recognized for it as the POTM, she has not dethroned Marta as the world's best player. That won't be decided until next January or February at the FIFA award ceremony. There is a lot of soccer/football to be played between now and then, and don't be surprised to see other players enter into the discussion as world's best as well. Right now Marta is still number one.

In the discussion between Simmons and Purdy they were discussing sex symbols and names that Simmons would recognize. That is why I mentioned Mitts because she is a name that Simmons would most likely recognize. While I agree that the motivation to see these players should primarily be for their abilities with the soccer ball. You can't deny that some people have other motivations, which is true in all sports.

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solalive said:
Hey Chevy,

Kelly has already proven she is a better player than Marta.
I think Simmon should come out not to see some sexy girl but instead the true magic of Marta. Not to mention the biggest match in WPS short history.

I have to say that it totally sucks that that match isn't televised - I don't know why they thought the Red Stars-Sky Blue match would be of greater interest.

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StarCityFan said:
solalive said:
Hey Chevy,

Kelly has already proven she is a better player than Marta.
I think Simmon should come out not to see some sexy girl but instead the true magic of Marta. Not to mention the biggest match in WPS short history.

I have to say that it totally sucks that that match isn't televised - I don't know why they thought the Red Stars-Sky Blue match would be of greater interest.

Yeah I don't understand FSC's broadcasting choices thus far. As of May 17th, FSC will have shown 5 out of 6 Washington games they have played. The only non-Washington games shown will have been Boston vs. Gold Pride, and Chicago vs. Sky Blue(twice), and 2 of those weeks will have been bye weeks for the Freedom. In the meantime the Sol and Athletica will have only been on once. I can't figure out why they would throw the bulk of their attention into one market like that, but they must have a reason. Certainly above my pay grade anyway. I know the coverage will even itself out as the season progresses but strange choices in the early going. And not choosing to cover the Boston matchups vs. LA all season is probably the strangest, unless they thought Kelly Smith wouldn't sign with Boston.

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I think the FSC lineup was determined before either Marta or Kelly Smith had committed to their respective teams. Still, it would be nice if there were the flexibility to reconsider which game to televise. We're liable to end up with a situation on the last Sunday of the season where we're watching the #6 team face the #7 team while the #4 team is battling the #5 team for the last playoff spot, or maybe the #1 team is playing the #2 team in a rehearsal for the championship match.

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StarCityFan said:
I think the FSC lineup was determined before either Marta or Kelly Smith had committed to their respective teams. Still, it would be nice if there were the flexibility to reconsider which game to televise. We're liable to end up with a situation on the last Sunday of the season where we're watching the #6 team face the #7 team while the #4 team is battling the #5 team for the last playoff spot, or maybe the #1 team is playing the #2 team in a rehearsal for the championship match.

Yeah I was looking at the last 3 games. The Athletica vs. Gold Pride in a home and home in 2 of the last 3 matches on FSC, again surprised by the decision there. Ideally it would be a battle for as high as 3rd but most likely a battle toward the bottom of the table, only time will tell. But the 2nd to last match Red Stars vs. Sol will be an excellent game to have televised.

This is the hand we have been dealt so we will just have to deal but hopefully FSC chooses the games better next season.

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