Begging to Be Punched in the Face, T.J. Simers Almost Finds a Dodgers Player Who Will Oblige

I have covered T.J. Simers history of bashing women's soccer, attacking his colleagues at the Los Angeles Times using the written word, and attempting to goad or baiting Dodgers players into physically assaulting him. The man is a Grade-A troll. Simers' work of goading Dodgers players into a physical altercation is never finished. Apparently he went into the Dodgers locker room recently and tried to "spread joy" because he was in a good mood. The Dodgers had lost 6 out of their last 10 games, so you can imagine how well this went over. They were not in a good mood because they were losing games. It turns out Simers almost got in a physical altercation with a player, which is the goal he was trying to achieve by the way, and then he wrote about it. While I find the behavior of the Dodgers player (Matt Treanor) not very impressive, I also find the behavior of Simers deplorable as well. He knows what he was trying to do. He was trying to bait the Dodgers players into saying or doing something stupid so he could write another scathing column about them. He succeeded.

If Simers had walked into the locker room and everyone was joyous he would write about how the team isn't taking their losses seriously enough. Instead he walked into a somber locker room and tried to "spread joy." Now please know, the very existence of Simers in any room is bound to destroy any joy that can be found in that room. Simers passive-aggressively needled each player he came across until he got the reaction he wanted. He's pretty much everything wrong with sports journalism. What is shocking to me is there idiots in the comments defending Simers. I'm not going to defend Treanor, but Simers was the one baiting everyone here to get a reaction, and he got the one he wanted. I am of the opinion if you poke a bear so many times it is your fault when the bear smacks the shit out of you and ends up mauling you to death. Matt Treanor stopped shot of mauling T.J. Simers to death.

It was the perfect start to a day, breakfast with the granddaughter twins, one of them even letting me sit next to her.

"Why does Granddaddy smells like mothballs and dust?"

Then it was off to Target to spoil them, one getting a Barbie and the other a talking baby. They chose the most expensive toys, so there's no doubt they're my daughter's children.

I'm guessing Simers finds his daughter to be a money-hungry and high maintenance. What a joy it must be to have Simers as your father. It's a wonder his daughter even allows him to spend time with his granddaughters.

Not to mention, a Barbie is not the most expensive toy. Maybe in 1967 it was.

There's no way the Dodgers were going to ruin this day.

So Simers decided to top the day off he would go into the Dodgers locker room and "spread joy," thereby ruining the Dodgers day. Even when he is in a good mood, Simers has to passively-aggressively celebrate misery.

It seemed like an impossible task, but the Yankees brought so much joy to those people.

But shouldn't that be the mission of every sports team, bringing joy to their fans?

Yes, that probably be the mission of every sports team. I'm 100% sure the Dodgers aren't intentionally trying to lose games. Walking around the locker room and pretending you know how to fix their losing ills by "spreading joy" isn't going to help...which of course is something Simers knew already.

It seems so basic, but the Dodgers have been failures. They are trying to do a better job making players available for autographs, but inside the clubhouse there's no joy.

Probably because they are not playing well as a team and they aren't very happy about this. Hey! I have a good idea, why doesn't T.J. (which must stand for "Total Jackass") go spread some cheer and remind the Dodgers they are losing games? I'm sure they have forgotten by now.

I thought I'd try to change things, going to the clubhouse with the intent of inspiring — only to be told to leave.

T.J. Simers is full of shit. He wasn't trying to spread joy, he went into the Dodgers locker room with a fake air of joy in order to annoy the Dodgers players and elicit a reaction because they know he is being fake. Simers is doing the equivalent of a victory dance in front of a team he just beat at a pick-up basketball game. He was essentially taunting the Dodgers players by asking why they weren't happy when he knew full well why they weren't happy.

What you will find is Simers takes cheap shots at the Dodgers throughout this column, even after having talked to a player or coach who said he had joy in his heart. This proves to me Simers real intent. If Simers was really trying to put the players in a good mood, he wouldn't criticize them to their face. If a blogger went into a locker room and pulled this act, there would be calls for that blogger's access to be revoked and I am sure 100 articles written about how uncivil the Interwebs can be and how "real" journalists know how to behave around professional athletes. Because it is T.J. Simers a "real" sportswriter, no one gives a shit. Who cares if he is taking a dump on journalistic integrity?

First person I see is pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, so I ask him if he has joy in his heart.

"Every day," he says, which is impressive, knowing Joe Blanton pitches every five days.

There we go. Simers is spreading cheer by being critical. He must play the worst Santa Claus ever around Christmas time.

"How about you, you don't look joyful."

"This is my game face," he says.

Here comes the punchline...

By the way, I say, "Who are you?"

There we go. Simers accosts this player for not being joyful and then has the rudeness and audacity to say, "Who are you?" He does this just to be dipshit asshole he has consistently shown he can be.

"Matt,'' he says, and so that's who Matt Guerrier is.

Guerrier pitched for the Dodgers in 2011, how the hell did Simers not know who he was? The answer is that he knew exactly who Guerrier was, but he wanted to get a reaction. Simers is a pest, a cockroach, someone who needs to get punched in the face for pulling these antics. What kind of writer can't recognize a player who has been on the Dodgers team for two years?

Luis Cruz is beaming, the joy just oozing from him as he shows me a picture of his 6-month-old son and his first haircut.

"I couldn't feel any better," Cruz gushes, and I'm not surprised later when Cruz gets two hits and loses a home run on a great catch.

If joy is supposed to help a person do his/her job much better, then why does this column suck so bad? Simers claims he was joyful when he wrote it.

I don't see Adrian Gonzalez, but already know there's no joy to his game, or it's well-hidden. I'm not surprised later when he takes a called third strike to end the game with the tying run on second.

Would you be joyful knowing that T.J. Simers has a pass into the Dodgers clubhouse and could wander in at any point? I wouldn't.

I talk to Hanley Ramirez, who says, "Hey, my man.''

"I'm just trying to get everyone going,'' I tell Ramirez, "Because nothing else is working.''

There we go. Simers gets the joy he wants from a player and immediately adds on an insult to how the Dodgers are playing. Because you know, if the Dodgers locker room was really joyful then Simers would criticize them for being in a good mood while the team lost. Simers knows team isn't in a good mood, so when he doesn't get the reaction he wants, he throws a quick jab at the Dodgers not playing well in order to stir the pot and eventually get the reaction he wants.

But the voice is telling the team's PR guy to "Get that clown out of here,'' so I know Matt Treanor is talking about me.

Come on now, I hate clowns too, but do they really deserve to be compared to T.J. Simers? That's a low and unnecessary blow to clowns.

"What's your problem?'' says Treanor, and I'm thinking, I'm not the one who hasn't had a hit since July 26.

Which explains why Matt Treanor is in a bad mood and doesn't want to deal with T.J. Simers "fake joy" bullshit.

"Are you trying to tell me you have no joy in your heart?'' I say to Treanor, never for a second thinking I would talk to a Treanor unless it was the athlete in the family.

How does Simers not get fired for things like this? This isn't how a professional is supposed to act. He isn't supposed to bait the players he covers in order to get one of them to commit an act of violence against him. This is where the Los Angeles Times is now and they give him permission to continue with these antics by continuing to pay him. It's not the quality of the journalism that matters, but how many pageviews Simers can create no matter what he has to do to create them. Newspapers are dying because sportswriters like T.J. Simers are too concerned with trolling the team he covers rather than taking the time to know what one of the 25 athletes he gets paid to cover looks like in person.

"Get out of here," says Treanor, a second later saying, "Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Hello, anyone home?

"Sure, but you don't seem in the talking mood,'' I say, and Treanor says, "I am now.''

So in summary, T.J. Simers goes into the Dodgers locker room, trolls players in the locker room about feeling "joyful," and then gets the reaction he wants, at which point he stops talking to the players because he's finally gotten the reaction he wants.

He deserved to be punched for his actions. He hides behind his access badge and uses the written word to eviscerate the Dodgers players in print. He's like Jay Mariotti, except rather than hiding from the people he insults in print, he trolls these people to their face and then badmouths them in print.

Then he gets in my face and we're belly to belly because mine is so big.

"What's wrong with this team?'' I ask.

"Are you playing tonight?'' I ask, curious if the Dodgers have opted to surrender.

He's not, and credit to his teammates for not cheering.

What kind of professional is it who confronts an athlete like this? Why can't he ask questions like a normal person rather than get Treanor's blood pressure up in the hopes of creating a story to write about? He's the worst kind of troll. The kind of troll that acts like he has positive intentions when he is merely baiting a person in order to get a reaction and then runs back to whatever forum he has (Simers' forum being the column the LA Times inexplicably still allows him to write) and trashes that person again.

He tells me to meet him outside. I have a pass to get back in but I worry he might not. He says, "In the dugout.''

I agree, but need to chat with Mark Ellis. Ellis says he has joy, while Treanor interrupts to call me names that can't be printed here.

This is what Simers wanted. He had two goals. He wanted to bait an athlete into a reaction which would give him a column to write and make the athlete look bad. He achieved half of his intended goal in my opinion.

To me, the only one who looks bad is T.J. Simers. Though their fans may not agree, the Dodgers do care about whether they win or lose. Simers knows Dodgers' fans have high expectations that the Dodgers aren't meeting, so he figured he would let some of that frustration boil over and it would create a column he could write. So T.J. Simers saunters into the Dodgers' locker room and starts this "spreading joy" bullshit, all the while knowing his fake joy will only serve to irritate the Dodgers. When his intended effect isn't working, he states,

"I'm just trying to get everyone going,'' I tell Ramirez, "Because nothing else is working.''

which irritated Matt Treanor. Treanor loses his temper and mission accomplished, a Dodgers player has gotten pissed off. I don't think is the sign of a professional sportswriter. If Treanor had lost his temper because Simers was asking tough questions for a real journalistic reason, then I could fault Treanor more. He is at a fault for taking Simers' bait, but Simers didn't act professional by going into the locker room of the team he was covering simply to rub in how poorly they were playing under the guise of "bringing joy" to the locker room.

In the dugout, Treanor swears a lot, puts a finger in my face and when a team official suggests he apologize, Treanor goes on an obscenity-filled rant.

He's probably just mad he doesn't have a hit since July 26, right? Marcus Thames understands how Treanor feels.

I just pull out my Blackberry

Of course T.J. Simers owns a Blackberry. Why wouldn't he?

As for the joyless Dodgers, they fall flat again.

Even after all that joy Simers tried to spread in the locker room the Dodgers still fell flat? There is definitely no hope for the Dodgers then.

This is just another brick in the wall for Simers. Another example of his act and a continuation of his unprofessional baiting of Marcus Thames last year. I can't help but wonder what his colleagues think of him. I realize Dodgers fans have a lot of frustration at how the team has performed, but a sportswriter going through the locker room trying to troll the Dodgers players into getting angry isn't the answer. Simers should be ashamed and so should the LA Times. Of course, neither are.