For those of you that pay attention to these sorts of things, Bill Simmons of ESPN.com fame launched a new website earlier this week called "Grantland." It's basically Simmons and a bunch of writers that he's a fan of, from the looks of things. . .guys like Chuck Klosterman, who is awesome in every conceivable way, as his first Grantland article shows (and grew up about half an hour away from where I did in Southeast North Dakota), Wright Thompson, Bill Barnwell (formerly of Football Outsiders, who I've interviewed a couple of times for the site), and others.

So, I figure this is as good a time as any to ask you folks on this Friday night. . .what do you think of Bill Simmons?

I, personally, like the guy, although I'm not as huge a fan of his as I once was. I first started reading him before Boston's sports teams started being really successful, during which time I could relate to him a whole lot more than I can now. . .after all, the last time my favorite team in any sport won a championship, I was 15 years old and a four and a half hour drive from Minneapolis. He knew what it was like, as a Boston sports fan, to get stomach punched by his sports teams on a regular basis, much like we Minnesota sports fans do.

Then the Patriots started winning Super Bowls. . .and the Red Sox won a World Series. . .and the Celtics won an NBA title. . .and he changed. I can't quite put my finger on how, but he just became different somehow. Maybe it was just my impression that I couldn't relate to him as well since he was no longer a "down on his luck" sports fan, but I wasn't crazy about his articles and his writing any more like I had been previously. Granted, the guy is still a talented writer and everything, but if I miss something he's written, I don't really flip out about it.

I know that Simmons can be quite polarizing, so I thought I'd present this to you folks out there for a debate. So, have at it!