by the Boston Red Sox. The book spent five weeks on The New York Times extended best-seller list. In July 2008, Simmons announced that he would be taking 10 weeks off from writing columns for ESPN.com's Page 2 to concentrate on finishing his second book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy, which was released on October 27, 2009. The book tries to find out who really are the best players and teams of all time and the answers to some of the greatest "What ifs?" in NBA history. It debuted at the top of The New York Times Best Seller list for non-fiction books. Style When Simmons first started his website, he wrote what he thought friends would enjoy reading because he never understood how people could be sportswriters while claiming they did not care which team won, in the name of journalistic objectivity. Since Simmons was writing on the web he figured that "in order to get people to read it, it had to be different from what people got in newspapers and magazines." He claims that he believed his job was not to get into the heads of the players, but into the heads of his readers, and to do so by updating frequently and being provocative, and get a discussion going with his readers. Simmons has stated that he "...will never write a traditional sports column." With his column, Simmons aims to speak for, reconnect sportswriting with, and reproduce the experience for the average fan. Simmons' writing in his columns is characterized by mixing sports knowledge, references to pop culture including movies and television shows, his non-sports-related personal life, his many fantasy sports teams, video games, and references to adult video. His columns often mention trips to Las Vegas or other gambling venues with his friends, including blackjack and sports gambling. In 2007, he was named the 12th-most influential person in online sports by the Sports Business Journal, the highest position on the list for a non-executive. Controversy A frequent column target for Simmons in the past has been former New York Knicks coach and general manager Isiah Thomas. This led to Thomas threatening Simmons on Stephen A. Smith's radio show in early 2006, saying that there would be "trouble" if they ever met in the street. Upon a meeting in Las Vegas, they both decided they were entertainers at heart. Simmons