Grantland Essay About Father-Daughter Fandom Among 2012 ONA Winners

On June 8, Bill Simmons published a piece at grantland.com titled "The Consequences of Caring." It's all about the juxtaposed emotional layers of his daughter's newfound love for the LA Kings and dad's die hard support of the Boston Celtics. Over the weekend, that essay garnered Simmons a well-deserved prize for Online Commentary, Large at the 2012 Online News Association (ONA) convention in San Francisco. Here's how Simmons frames his decision to fly cross-country and back within a 24-hour span. All so he can watch his Celtics take on the Heat in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, right after nursing his daughter through a Kings Game 4 Stanley Cup Final loss at Staples: Because it's my favorite Celtics team in 25 years. Because there was real history at stake — the LeBron/Wade era hanging in the balance, the Big Three possibly playing their final home game, the distinct possibility of either LeBron's greatest game or LeBrondown III (with no in-between). Because I wanted to be there with my dad. Because I wanted to stroll down Causeway Street, see that familiar sea of green, feel like I never left. Because I wanted to savor those "Let's Go Celtics" chants, hear the accents, enjoy that only-works-in-person moment before tip-off when a wired Garnett bumps fists with every opposing player, stomps over to the foul line near Boston's bench and yells at his fans. Because we spent five years watching Rondo, Pierce, Allen, Garnett and Doc fighting to maintain something that mattered to them — and to us — even as teammates kept changing, bad breaks kept happening, trade rumors kept swirling and there were multiple reasons for any one of them to pack it in. Great stuff. Other winners at the 2012 ONA Awards included the LA Times for its Occupy LA coverage (Breaking News, Large) and California Watch for a look at the shoddy investigative treatment many incidents involving severely disabled residents suffer at the hands of state investigators (Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Medium). Full list of winners here. Previously on FishbowlLA: California Watch, LAT, Neon Tommy Score ONA Nominations

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Grantland Essay About Father-Daughter Fandom Among 2012 ONA Winners

Richard Horgan

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Richard Horgan