Simmons is just expounding, at the highest level, the fascinations, lifestyle and thoughts of a guy who likes sports. So much so that he actually doesn't cover sports as much as he covers being a sports fan.
The cheating Red Sox http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/0905...
and a ~3,000 word obituary of his dog http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/0901...