Witness the limitations of its technology infrastructure. As great as Ryan is, Montville was better. As a result, the list of young, talented sports reporters who have moved on from Boston media grows longer every year: There's the NHL executive Chris Snow (the Globe ), the NFL Network's Ian. Bob Ryan The next bearer of Ray Fitzgerald's mantle. Not include Tim Horgan.Are you nuts or just too young to appreciate a good writer.Look up some of his columns.A great writer who never distorted the facts.He was the vboice of the fan in his era.Ray Fitzgerald was also another great writer. No question is stupid or ridiculous to him, and you can tell he truly loves the NFL and what he does. However, they are also some of the funniest sports-related content on the planet and definitely worth a read. I promise that this is the last ESPN Twitter account for right now. Occasionally over-rotates, a la Olney, on human interest stories. His insight into the actual business of the league (contracts, rules, etc.) He cites sources, gives insight and has great knowledge about the game of football. Incredibly, it happened. . Michael Lombardi is one of the most well known NFL sportswriters there are. Dave Egan of the Record-American known as the Colonel. Wetzel is one of the classiest and most talented writers currently covering the NFL. The playoff run was tougher than the teams 66 regular-season wins might have suggested. The US hockey team was about to play the Soviet Union in the Olympics but their countrymen seemed ready to go to war. (LogOut/ WEEI.coms Alex Speier, who specializes in incorporating advanced stats into articles meant for the average fanand who is therefore one of the citys few inventive sportswriterstold me that everything has changed now that readers no longer depend on print for all their news. He's always got more inside information than anyone else, and he's also able to add a wealth of information to the draft and scouting of prospects. Weaknesses: Doesnt stand out in a crowded market place, lacks a clear niche advantage versus the competition. On the eve of the game, we sat on the beach and Russ played songs hed learned growing up in Hawaii. Dan Kadar is a rather underrated individual on Twitter. He was covering spring training in Fort Myers, Florida when he passed away. He'll tell you exactly what he thinks about a situation, which is usually correct, and he does a great job at interacting with followers. The good old days are gone as far as Boston columnists are concerned. It makes no difference whether I'm on there or smashed up against the windshield of a car. Weaknesses: Occasionally gets bogged down in metrics, losing the forest for the trees. Granted, some promising young guys coming up in new mediums, but the shoes are very large to fill. Peter Gammons. Borges, a Globe sportswriter for 24 years who was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year four times and is a regular guest on a local sports radio station, was also barred from broadcast. Prior to assuming the B's beat, Shinzawa was the lead college hockey writer . Good or bad, it doesnt matter, he wrote on his website, Boston Sports Media Watch. His media outlet, meanwhile, has its share of technology issues, from frequent bad links from Twitter to mobile redirection issues. With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the sixth, Thurman Munson signaled for a slider down and in on Fred Lynn. The truth is that ESPN does a fine job at covering the NFL and their analysts, like John Clayton, provide great information on Twitter. He loves the game of football and has a great sense of humor. He'll often repeat what a guy like Todd McShay or Mel Kiper, Jr. said and give you his take. . While this is probably good for Bradfords career, the decline in coverage is bad news for Red Sox fans. Leverages his strengths and advantages well. Gammons and McDonough were great reporters. Kapler). When it comes to the world of NFL, Eisen is as respected as they come. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Tony Massarottis defection set it back, as did Sean McAdams abbreviated stint and subsequent departure for CSNNE. Change). Peter Gammons WOW!! Currently, he works as a sports business reporter at The Boston Globe in Greater Boston. He spent the beginning of his career actually working for NFL teams and has since turned back to writing about them. New York ran the score to 5-2, but the Sox clawed to within a run by the ninth. 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. The phenomenon of reporters seeking revenge on players through the pen is hardly new, especially in Boston. Maybe you have your reasons for putting Gammons on the list. While controversy does little for me personally, however, Im cognizant of its role in selling newspapers. View all posts by Bruce Allen. Plus her basketball writing was the best. Todd McShay is the other draft wunderkind for ESPN. A great place to learn and grow as a writer. But the least I would expect from a sportswriter, particularly in an age where the commentary is growing more sophisticated at an accelerating rate, would be some basic logic to offset the emotionally driven opinions. Secondly, McDonough. I would no doubt vote Haggerty, Haggerty and then Haggerty. There had been four previous winners from the Boston chapter of the BBWAA: Peter Gammons,. Peter Gammons isnt officially ranked here, because that exercise would be pointless. As an NFL writer for the New York Times, Battista specializes in news regarding the New York Giants and New York Jets. It appeared the series would be tied at 2 when the Lakers took an 18-point halftime lead in Game 4 in Los Angeles. Ill use that feedback to compile another list, from which well vote on the all-time best. If you want to see some of Zerkle's crazier side, I recommend you follow his alter-ego, @PUNTE. During the 30s, 40s and 50s no true Boston Sports fan went to bed before reading The Colonel When you want to know about the business side of the NFL, there is no better man to follow on Twitter than Darren Rovell. Judy Battista brings a wealth of knowledge and information to Twitter. and the Celtics . Russell was awarded the Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama in 2011, the nation's highest civilian honor. Whats equally apparent is that his former ties rub some fans the wrong way. The sun was still above the left field roof, blinding Piniella. She's covered the New England Patriots, the Boston Celtics. I have a certain bias (or lack of perspective, I guess) as my family has been Globe subscribers for generations, so the only time I read other papers regularly was when I delivered them. Rehashing games, for example, is something that can be done by a variety of third parties: its non-differentiating for writers. A note on bias: I lean towards statistics, clearly, but not exclusively. I never really considered McDonough a columnist, but more of an information guy. As reported by the New York Times, the Globe's political writer, Robert L. Healy, and Jack Driscoll, the editor of The Evening Globe, recruited Mr. Barnicle to write a column. . You know that this man is obsessive about fantasy football because he's already starting to put out fantasy mock drafts one week after the Super Bowl. While he doesn't spend as much time on Twitter as others on this list, the information he does tweet is simply amazing. Another Pulitzer winner with New England ties is Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein, who won for commentary. When I asked Cowens how it felt to have finally achieved the goal of winning a title, he said, For me, the fun was in the doing. If thats what you like reading, enjoy. His defense of the gamer the post-game writeup which is about as useful as an appendix these days is one example of his affection for the way things used to be done. Senior staff writer and columnist Kevin Paul Dupont. We won, but you didnt lose, Steinbrenner told the Boston players. Its a similar story over at the Herald, where old mainstays like Gerry Callahan and Steve Buckley continue to occupy top billing. Mike Pereira is a great man to follow on Twitter during actual NFL games. 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. Ater he retired joe became an official score keeper at Fenway.__My other choices are Timmy Horgan, Peter Gammons and Joe Fitzgerald. It didnt feel that way for Sox fans. Photo by Landov (McDonough). His analysis e.g. Later that week, the New-Hampshire-based sports-media critic Bruce Allen summed up the entire episode. The crossword clue possible answer is available in 12 letters. Bob Ryan is the standard bearer but Peter Gammons, Will McDonough and Dan Shauhnessy are soooo ever so close as well it's a tough call. He was the first Boston sports columnist that I truely adored, and the Globe has been the same since he left. That type of information is priceless to true NFL fans. The majority of content that Greg Bedard puts on Twitter is related to the New England Patriots, but as a former journalist covering both the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins, Bedard does a good job at sharing about most NFL teams. There is willful mediocrity alongside innovative brilliance, with the inevitable faux-populist vitriol bubbling to the surface every so often. What still sets them apart is access, which Speier uses brilliantly, getting everyone from Anthony Rizzo to Keith Law to Mike Hazen on his podcast. Adam Caplan has a wide range of knowledge concerning every team in the NFL. Montville, Ryan & Fitzgerald& Larry Whiteside should be included on list. I freely admit to liking his old weekend thoughts/notes. Heres my list, which are all guys Ive actually read: Fitzgerald (You need this book.) }Customer Service. Ryan probably sneaks on the list for consistency, if nothing else, but Im just a fan of his writing style. Weaknesses: The move to CSNNE has lowered his visibility for this fan. Gone forever. Twitter has taken the world by storm. I meant that some of YOU (meaning the readers) might not think he deserves to be considered. And how we would re-double our efforts. Im sorry, but leaving him off is like leaving Lawrence Olivier off a Best Actors list because he only did Shakespeare, really.. Like Murray Chass and other traditionalists, Cafardo is aggressively old school, with his antipathy towards modern analysis regularly on display. As for numbers, Abraham will use them, but perhaps not to the extent he should: his dismissal of Miguel Cabreras value, for example, was curious. I don't know how this man gets any writing done with tweeting so frequently, but it happens. 10:38 am Jump to Comments Ted Williams and his feud with baseball writers By Christopher B. Daly The Boston Globe is running a series of excerpts from a new book about Ted Williams, written by Ben Bradlee Jr., a former Globe editor and son of the great Washington Post editor. (Businesses: Want to donate a prize and get mentioned? Kaese who wrote for the Globe long after the Transcript folded. Was Leigh Montville the first person to refer to Bob Irsay as Tiger? Marvin Hagler winning the. One thing worth noting that Ive always appreciated from Edes has been his respect for the privacy of the players. Voice is balanced, neither strident nor fawning. He does a fantastic job covering the Patriots and the rest of the information he provides is generally awesome also. Piniella later said, I went to where I guessed the ball would go off the bat.. He is easily the least well known of all sportswriters on this list, but he absolutely deserves to be followed on Twitter. Ray Fitzgerald hands down. His work, fortunately, commands the same respect. But while his relationships are none of my business, his coverage, to some extent, is. What made the game special for me was the local angle four of the players were from Boston University. 1) All 3 are globies back in the days of the best sports section in the country. As a former vice president of officiating, he often provides quality information regarding penalties and challenges. As far as his Friday football picks, the one that stands out the most for me is his one and only college pick when in November 84 he not only called the correct final score, but had Doug Flutie winning the game with a Hail Mary pass as time expired. Diversity of responsibilities writer, radio host, etc have negatively impacted his quality of coverage. When Will McDonough, Bob Ryan, and Peter Gammons began showing up on TV, they evolved from working writers into celebrities. After the game, George Steinbrenner appeared in the Red Sox clubhouse. 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. It was still a year of magical thinking. As an aside, Massarotti in the past has requested that critics not hide behind anonymity: Somewhere along the line, someone needs to devise a system in which people who post comments on the internet are required to provide their real names and, perhaps, places of employment. Overall, hes a tremendous asset to the market and one that I look genuinely forward to reading, even if I dont really appreciate the baseball cards. Another name for consideration, though how about Bud Collins? 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. Jim O'Connor, who coached his Catholic Memorial football team in the inaugural Eastern Massachusetts Super Bowl in 1972, died early Saturday morning at his home in Norwood at age 87. The players, who called him "Scoop," alternately respected and resented the Boston Globe writer. 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. Its just that too many of our sportswritersahem, sports personalitieshave become adept at using these 21st-century tools to serve up what is little more than the same old slop. Its a pleasure having him cover the Red Sox. Ron Guidrys velocity wasnt what it had been, so Lou Piniella took eight steps from right-center toward the right field line. Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe had his moment Saturday as the 67th winner of the Spink Award. While Dan Wetzel covers every sport for Yahoo! Shauhnessy Got to absolutley love the contraian "curly red-head".!!! It continues to workthe rest of the citys sports-media complex feeds on his bluster. 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. Honorable mention too to John Updike, who only did two, but man . 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. 7. It's great to watch a tactician go to work on a team he loves, and the breaking news and insight that Volin gives is awesome. Will Mc in by a landslide. 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. 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. He was very, very good, and he never brought an agenda with him. The difference between the two approaches was night and day. Russ Lande is another NFL draft guy, and he may be one of the most well respected ones of the bunch. #ada-button-frame { What actually came out when I had the honor of shaking his hand was, well, a bit less eloquent. One of Ray Fitzgeralds best columns had nothing to do with sports, but was about his daughter recieving a doctorate degree. Simply put, Speiers as good as youll find in this market at present, and if comments like Gammons are to be believed, would stack up well across the pool of national writers. I covered every postseason game. Good guy, struggled recently with a huge personal loss, and still sticks to his beliefs. . The player-media relationship was much more relaxed back then. The NFL Twitter account of the world's greatest sports website (too much?) They are often rude, crude and way out in left field.