Youngish, mostly white men in preppy attire clog the aisles of the Borders Books on Broad and Chestnut streets. Some are jocks, some are dorks, many are wearing sports paraphernalia. If you were to give this crowd a demographic label, it would be guys. They're here to see their leader.

The Sports Guy—also known as "Bill Simmons"—writes a column for Espn.com's Page 2 that features a regular fan's take on sports, mixed with a regular guy's take on pop culture (his last two columns were about the NBA and the death of Pat Morita, the actor who played Mr. Miyagi). Simmons' writing style is intimate and conversational; this enables him to create a fraternal atmosphere amongst his readership. And since he writes prolifically—on a typical week he will churn out two columns, along with a note or two on his blog—a reader can begin to think of the Sports Guy as one of the boys. "You won't believe what Simmons said the other day"

Recently, Simmons released his first book, Now I Can Die in Peace, a collection of columns that he's written over the years about his beloved Boston Red Sox. Last Wednesday, his promotional tour brought him to Philly. Previewing the engagement on his blog, he wrote, "Very excited about this one—the Philly readers are among my favorites. Plus, this could be my one chance to get booed during a signing."

It's playoff-game atmosphere inside the Borders. A young sales clerk says this is the biggest crowd they've had for a book signing since professional wrestler Triple H came by; the manager has made several announcements asking people to go linger upstairs until more people clear out. A lot of guys look unhappy about this, but nowhere near so much as some of the girls, who, at a stereotypical first glance, look like they've come to get a sweet holiday gift for their honeys, but are now wishing they'd just gone with the Gap sweater. You can even see the "OK, no sex for two weeks" look on some of their faces.

The crowd buzzes with little snippets of conversation about relief pitching and a general surprise about the size of the crowd. Mike, a reader for five years, is bewildered that Simmons has done this well, just by writing down the stuff guys talk about anyway.

"Hell, I put 27 bucks in his pocket tonight," he says, looking around. "I can't believe a guy I would read in the bathroom at work has this kind of following."

Some patrons are brainstorming what to have the Sports Guy write in their books. One guy plans to ask him to make a note out to "all Yankees, past, present and future." Rob Hasett, who asked for a Seinfeld quote, says he gets the feeling that people are competing to give the Sports Guy memorable lines, to see if they can warrant a mention on the blog.

"It's kind of like a career fair," he says.

Rob's buddy Tim Gallagher asked for the message "Glad my Pats added to your misery as a Philly sports fan." But the Sports Guy insisted on writing "Sorry my Pats added to your misery as a Philly sports fan." Apparently, Philly, Bill Simmons feels your pain.

"He said he was gonna move here," Gallagher said, "because he has a habit of turning sports franchises around."