Respect for the profession of sportswriting, then, I do not lack. Ater he retired joe became an official score keeper at Fenway.__My other choices are Timmy Horgan, Peter Gammons and Joe Fitzgerald. I have little patience, however, for those overtly displaying hostility towards numbers or the sabermetric side of the game. Ray Fitzgerald was terrific as well. Youre gonna get a letter in the mail from the little fat ones mom as soon as he tells her about this slight. Loved the fact that he could really master the but, after all, its just a game air without getting pompous about it (Hello to the Toy Department referencers out there!). Could this get any easier? Shaughnessy wrote. Jerry Remy hit a rope in his direction; Burleson respected Piniellas baseball guile and held at second, minimizing the damage. When it comes to the world of NFL, Eisen is as respected as they come. His piece on Tom Brady after Super Bowl XLVI was pure genius. Bill Barnwell writes with a unique view of the NFL and he shares that same view on Twitter. While Dan Wetzel covers every sport for Yahoo! I meant that some of YOU (meaning the readers) might not think he deserves to be considered. Former WEEI host and current Barstool Sports podcaster Kirk Minihane caught Boston Globe metro beat writer and longtime tough guy Kevin Cullen fabricating sources and lying about his . And why should he change? Ryan would be my call at number three, but Ive always looked at him as a great analyst someone who can break down a game. Montville, Ryan & Fitzgerald& Larry Whiteside should be included on list. Rehashing games, for example, is something that can be done by a variety of third parties: its non-differentiating for writers. Which is to his credit. ", "Sports News | New York Sports | New Jersey Sports", "Post-Gazette.com - Sports Columnist Mark Madden", "Post-Gazette.com - Sports Columnist Stan Savran", "San Francisco Bay Outdoors with Tom Stienstra", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_sports_writers&oldid=1121166930, This page was last edited on 10 November 2022, at 21:30. Besides, how can you not recognize a guy as cool as this: http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/2008/08/infamous-moments-mcdonough-punches-out-clayborn. Michael Lombardi is one of the most well known NFL sportswriters there are. So, a focused Cowens responded with a stellar 28-point, 14-rebound game as the Celtics prevailed, 102-87. It was full of tid bits and humor and occasionally an inside scoop. Shauhnessy Got to absolutley love the contraian "curly red-head".!!! Montville and Ryan. Hes transformed himself from a sharp Patriots reporter for the Herald into a contrarian media personality. His radio cohost, the former Red Sox reporter Tony Massarotti, has done the same thing, if somewhat more shrilly. Jack Thomas, the former Boston Globe reporter who wrote powerfully and poignantly last year about receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis, died Sunday at his Cambridge home at the age of 83,. He knows everything there is to know about the Giants and tweets about them constantly. How about John Gilloly(sp) or Huck Finnegan or Bob Coyne (cartoonist). The Globe has as proud a history in sportswriting as any paper in the country, from the aforementioned Gammons to Ryan to Montville to MacMullan. (Illustration by John Ueland), Passans story was still fresh in Sullivans mind. How could you omit Steve Buckley? Ernie Roberts, the bespectacled, gentlemanly editor used the region's smaller newspapers and college. Hes mentioned a few times that he feels obligated to cover off the field issues only to the extent they affect play on the field; as someone with no desire to hear about the pecadilloes of wealthy grown men, I appreciate this. Dave Cowens was renowned for his intensity, but he played with particular passion in Game 7 of the 1974 NBA Finals versus the Milwaukee Bucks because he felt he had let his team down with a 5-for-19 showing in a losing Game 6. Winning titles was nothing new for John Havlicek and Don Nelson, but for Cowens, veteran rebound ace Paul Silas, and young backcourt stars Jo Jo White and Don Chaney, it would be a career first. I still can see him vaulting over the dasher, heading for open ice, taking a pass from the corner, and scoring the shocking goal that capped off the Miracle on Ice. As the lead NFL writer for Bleacher Report, Josh Zerkle has established himself as a unique talent in the writing world. My list of those inducted on the first ballot would match yours Montville, Fitzgerald, Ryan. While he retweets quite a bit, Caplan also does a good job at providing depth into team situations and team needs. Adam Caplan has a wide range of knowledge concerning every team in the NFL. The primary goal for reporters seems no longer to be merely producing great and interesting work. Particularly those that trace him back through the Herald to the Eagle-Tribune. He does a fantastic job of providing key information on players and provides great insight into what they excel at and what they could improve. Thats where I discovered Leigh Montville. Good usage of both historical precedent and numbers to form and/or supplement his arguments. I appreciate, as does the front office, a balance between statistical and human based analysis. At present, the Herald looks to be largely treading water, doing just enough to keep from drowning but not enough to adapt itself to an increasingly competitive market. Plus her basketball writing was the best. I maneuvered my way onto the field, 20 feet from Tom Brady, who, hands atop his head, looked incredulous as confetti fluttered onto his jersey. Erudite, clinical, and with a wide range of interests beyond baseball, which he wasnt afraid to bring to the column. Romanticizing the Globe of the 70s and 80s has become almost clichdand for good reason. Now there was a stylist. The first is that he knows what he is talking about. We won, but you didnt lose, Steinbrenner told the Boston players. Since columnist Michael Holley left the paper for a radio gig at WEEI eight years ago, its hard to think of a single distinctive voice the paper has developed and held on to. Man dead in Oxford after family dispute - The Boston Globe Man dead in Oxford after family dispute By Ava Sasani Globe Correspondent, Updated March 27, 2022, 5:45 p. Four people were killed and seven injured in a shooting Tuesday afternoon at Oxford High School in Oakland County, roughly 45 minutes northwest of Detroit. @PFWAwriters. Brownes coverage is credible if non-differentiated. . While Benjamin Volin mainly tweets about information regarding the Miami Dolphins, the information he does give is purely genius. If thats what you like reading, enjoy. There must be someone out there in the sports writers fraternity who remembers The Colonel. Peter Gammons invented the Sunday notes column, and as a baseball writer/reporter, he was peerlessabsolutely peerlessin the 70s and 80s. Well, of course Bleacher Report is going to make their own list. The difference between the two approaches was night and day. Differentiated content within the local market. Weaknesses: Stubborn and hostile to non-traditionalist thinking. Before that Texans game, for example, Shaughnessy used his column to gleefully ridicule the Patriots opponents, calling them pure frauds. It was the same caustic, one-liner-laden junk hes been peddling for years. Photo by Landov (McDonough). Strengths: Edes doesnt let his ego get in the way of the story, which can be a rarity in this market. Both funny concepts that were brilliantly executed. The planets are aligned and the tomato cans are in place.. is quite exciting to keep tabs on. Another Pulitzer winner with New England ties is Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein, who won for commentary. You would read his work even if you had but a passing interest in his subject matter. Those were the best of a very good lot. Witness the limitations of its technology infrastructure. If you're a human and see this, please ignore it. Austin Lake, who I loved but can not really give a concrete reason.. Yes, because nothing plays better to the masses than inside jokes about their favorite multi-sport, multi-media columnist, beat writer and radio star. what, no mention of Joe Giullotti? Ernie Roberts. he used write lists, very funny and informative. I swear that is a real article on that website. The playoff run was tougher than the teams 66 regular-season wins might have suggested. As an NFL writer for the New York Times, Battista specializes in news regarding the New York Giants and New York Jets. Diversity of responsibilities writer, radio host, etc have negatively impacted his quality of coverage. I covered every postseason game. Tim Horgan is without question the greatest sportswriter of all time. display: none; When he does write, however, its worth reading. I know tennis was his main thing, and Ive never been a big tennis fan, but he certainly had the longevity, wrote engagingly about his love, and became a nationally-known figure. She's covered the New England Patriots, the Boston Celtics. I really need more suggestions, in fact. #ada-button-frame { Whether its been in print or as a guest on WEEI and such, McAdam has exuded calm in a sea of irrationality. Apart from the benefit it saw as an outlet for one of the rival factions during the Red Sox front office schism, the Herald Sports Sections fortunes have been in decline for years. To help you sort the rational from the irascible, here are our Boston Writer Rankings for 2010. McAdam and several of his colleagues publicly called him out on this behavior, justifying their actions with claims that it was affecting Okajimas teammates. Strengths: An original innovator in the Boston media landscape, brought an evolved approach to the market, properly leveraging his access to provide differentiated coverage. Gary Smith is a great writer, who happens to write about sports. There is willful mediocrity alongside innovative brilliance, with the inevitable faux-populist vitriol bubbling to the surface every so often. He was one of the best baseball writers on the Herald. Bob Ryan The next bearer of Ray Fitzgerald's mantle. Find breaking sports news on baseball, football, basketball, hockey . I freely admit to liking his old weekend thoughts/notes. Former Boston Globe sports writer and foreign correspondent Steve Fainaru, now with the Washington Post, received the International Reporting Pulitzer for his stories on private security contractors in Iraq. Chad Finn, who like Speier and national writers such as Will Carroll, has enjoyed favorable attention from Gammons, is one of the remaining bright lights for me at the Boston Globe. . One of Ray Fitzgeralds best columns had nothing to do with sports, but was about his daughter recieving a doctorate degree. I mean, seriously? Will McDonough and I flew with the team and often played racquetball with the players. It would be a bad idea to follow me on Twitter. Saturday mornings were never the same after he retired. He is so classy and so informative that following him on Twitter is something that absolutely needs to be done. During the 70s, Leigh Montville wrote a weekly pro football picks column on Fridays in the Globe. If these was one man to follow on Twitter, my vote would go to the legendary Rich Eisen. In it, he leverages his strengths well. You're likely to get a big kick out of his tweets. If a team nicknamed the Patsies for most of my life could, then why not the Red Sox . The list is sort of subjective, so I didnt include Peter Gammons, as I think of him more as a baseball writer than a general columnist, while Will McDonough did mainly focus on football, but wrote columns about all sports as well, so hes on the list. TV, radio, and the Internet all have a big presence in the media landscape. The product hasnt been remotely Polly Anna-ish, but the criticism and concerns were always grounded in fact. For my part, Ive always appreciated the measured tone which hasnt, for the most part, been impacted by the impatience and urgency of Red Sox Nation. display: none; In a perfect storm of Boston Sports, he made his big splash just as Fred Lyn,n Jim Rice and the rest of the 75 cast were making theirs, just as a young TV-38 gambled on putting on 80 games instead of the dozen that the VHF stations would show, just as a then-fresh Dick Stockton was giving a slightly cynical air to play by play. Leverages his strengths and advantages well. However, they are also some of the funniest sports-related content on the planet and definitely worth a read. After his more than 30 years at the Globe, everybody knows the columnists shtick: Be contrarian, be over the top, and, if at all possible, be part of the story. To this day, I remember it. Lynn hit a liner toward the right field corner, which, if it had begun the long run around the corner, would have scored at least two runs. Meanwhile, the sharp minds over at the national website Pro Football Focus informed their readers that the Texans blitzed on 48.8 percent of their plays, a decision that allowed Brady to pick their defense apart. Tight end Aaron Hernandez offered this enlightening bit of pablum: Weve still got one more to go to get to the big dance, so weve got to keep playing and come to play next week. And defensive standout Vince Wilfork was captured saying, Its sweet playing in the AFC Championship. Another big shocker. I just started laughing all over again just think about the first marathon column when Ray got disgusted with himself for added an extra block running to his total to beat last call at the local tavern. LOVED reading his work. His Sunday Notes column, penned by Nick Cafardo these days, introduced me to the wider world beyond Boston, a game whose nuances I had to that point been missing. He seems to break the biggest stories, have all the inside information and is able to give great insight into the league as a whole. As I stood beside him on that February night, it occurred to me: Barrier-breaking journalist Lesley Visser is seen covering Patriots training camp in 1976, her first year on the beat. The only other one even in his hemisphere is Leigh Montville in his prime. As a young reporter at the Des Moines Register (I was raised a Red Sox fan in Iowa by my Malden-born and Manchester, Conn.-raised father), I had access to the sports wire services. During the 30s, 40s and 50s no true Boston Sports fan went to bed before reading The Colonel Michael Silverman is an American journalist and sports business reporter. My time will be spent elsewhere, on writers with more substantive agendas to pursue. Andrew Brandt has been around the NFL for quite some time. He was middleweight champion of the world after stopping Englishman Alan Minter on cuts with a TKO at 1:45 of the third round at Wembley Arena. Ironically, its the success of this citys sports-media past that is at the root of todays problems. He also happens to be rather hysterical on Twitter. While Ralph Mancini specializes in NFL draft coverage, he still has a great sense of the league as a whole. As a former vice president of officiating, he often provides quality information regarding penalties and challenges. In the playoffs against Oakland, the Patriots famously got robbed (at least according to anyone with Boston blood) when Sugar Bear Hamilton was called for roughing the passer. While politics, finances and other areas of interest are certainly prominent on Twitter, nothing is as huge as the world of sports. If you happen to be a big fan of the New York Giants, Ralph Vacchiano should be your main man. I made these my referee and judges, Hagler said, holding up his two fists. He was covering spring training in Fort Myers, Florida when he passed away. While this is probably good for Bradfords career, the decline in coverage is bad news for Red Sox fans. Ray Fitzgerald. Enter a Crossword Clue Sort by Length Chad Finn tells us that Massarotti is no dummy, and I believe that. And Horgan was terrific. I knew Will, he was a regular guy, his fame never over-took him. They are sure to cheer you up. I covered every postseason game. True, its more often basic metrics like OPS+ rather than, say, xFIP or WAR, and he remains skeptical when it comes to the accuracy of modern statistics. Prone to substantial, unacknowledged factual errors. Obviously, a lot of young lads weighing in here who do not remember the very best Boston once had Dave Egan, Record; Austen Lake, American; Bill Cunningham, Post and later Herald; Harold Kaese, Transcript and later Globe; Jerry Nason, Globe; Bill Liston, Post. Bud Collins makes whatever he writes about interesting, regardless of whether it would be interesting outside his column. On the eve of the game, we sat on the beach and Russ played songs hed learned growing up in Hawaii. Boston Globe sports writer and reporter Nick Cafardo passed away at the age of 62. As my wife can relate, given that she had to step in and do the talking once I trailed off, stammering. The second thing I like about him is his commentary to what other people say. You never get this with Edes, which is a bonus as far as Im concerned. Right Bruce? Longtime Boston Globe baseball writer has died after collapsing at the Red Sox's spring training ballpark. Like his more experienced colleagues, has not actively embraced statistical analysis although he has not taken a line against them, either. While controversy does little for me personally, however, Im cognizant of its role in selling newspapers. Jackie McMillan The Lady has her stuff together, especially on that basketball court..Hail Jackie, just keep it going girl! These days, theyre all trying to be loud and provocative so they can become fixtures on TV and radio. The first two rounds were a slog, with Boston struggling to win each in seven games against the Hawks and the LeBron James-led Cavaliers, respectively. He is loaded with information in every facet of the game and shares it willingly on Twitter. The player-media relationship was much more relaxed back then. Boston Sports Media Watch Help Select The Best All-Time Boston [link to post] Posted using Chat Catcher. was discovered last seen in the May 21 2021 at the Crosswords With Friends Crossword. Russ Lande is another NFL draft guy, and he may be one of the most well respected ones of the bunch. (LogOut/ It set the stage for Kevin Garnetts (pictured) Anything is possible! yell after winning the. Hes an exception on this list because he covers all of the major teams, not just the Red Sox, but hes included because I value his thoughts on the team. Strengths: Well adapted to modern baseball coverage, both in tone and approach. I cant speak for other fans, but I can say that his conduct there dented his reputation in my view. Thats the way I did it.. He was middleweight champion of the world, Revisiting some additional key moments, and key figures, in Boston sports history. I also liked tim horgan. he wrote for the traveler and herald. But as far as somebody that has been consistent, uncompromised, and is well rounded, I dont think you can find anybody but Bob Ryan. Dave Cowens and the Celtics outlasted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1974 NBA Finals. He deserved world wide aclaim Deford was very good---found humor and pathos . Michael joined the Boston Globe in September 2019 covering the intersection of sports with business, politics, entertainment, technology, and many more. He wrote about some of the famous things he remembered seeing during his years at the Globe, like watching Harvard tie Yale on a 2-point conversion play with no time left on the clock in that famous 29-29 tie in 1968while he was standing in the middle of the field!