Media Movement All Over The Place

Posted by Bruce August 15, 2008 (6 days ago) at 8:30 am

Last night we learned about the changes at the Globe, which included Tony Massarotti moving over from the Herald, and Chad Finn earning himself a sweet promotion.

This morning, David Scott has more on the move, but also reports on new hires at weei.com, which include Jeff Goodman, Alex Speier and wait for it…Ron Borges.

Ron Borges? 

Seriously? Ken Powers wasn’t available? Mike Barnicle turned them down? Patricia Smith wasn’t interested?

My interest and enthusiasm in their new venture just sunk considerably. They were doing things right all the way up until that point. Michael Felger, Rob Bradford, Goodman and Speier are all relatively young guys who understand how things work in the new age of sportswriting. For the most part they have a fresh perspective on things, and don’t stir up stuff just to get noticed (well, except for Felger.)

Borges throws all that out the window. The quotes from Dennis and Callahan in Scott’s piece are just nauseating. Yeah, I’m sure Bill Belichick is shaking in his shoes at the thought of Borges back in Foxboro. That’s provided of course that he knows how to get there. He hasn’t been seen down there in a long time, even before his (wink wink) retirement from the Globe.

I had high hopes for this new weei.com. Borges just about kills it for me. You hire him, you lose your credibility. Simple as that.

Bad move, guys.

——————————
The Red Sox hitters are surely sorry to see the Texas Rangers pitchers leave town. Boston finished off the sweep of the Rangers with a 10-0 victory at Fenway Park last night. The Red Sox scored 37 runs in 3 games off the Rangers…

Globe beat reporter Amalie Benjamin has the game story. Jeff Horrigan has the Red Sox continuing their hot hitting since the Manny Ramirez trade. Paul Kenyon has the Red Sox finishing off their roundup of the Rangers. Jeff Goldberg has Daisuke Matsuzaka once again letting the runners on, and once again not letting them score. Bob Stern has the Red Sox pounding the Rangers one more time. Garry Brown has more on the demolition at Fenway. Phil O’Neill has another big inning leading the way for Boston.

Tony Massarotti has David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis proving to be a formidable 3-3 combination. Barbara Matson has Ortiz especially sorry to see the Rangers go. Ortiz has regain his power stroke in this series, and even enjoyed an early departure last night. Still, I can’t help but remember the reaction from the media when Pedro Martinez left the ballpark early after a start. I’ve got absolutely no problem with Ortiz (or Pedro) going home early, but it’s interesting to note the difference in reaction. Steven Krasner analyzes the lack of success by the Rangers pitching in this series. Massarotti says that the Blue Jays will provide a much stiffer test for the Boston bats.

Marty Dobrow has a minor league notebook in the Globe, and examines a rash of oblique strains in the Red Sox organization. Rich Thompson’s minor league notebook has Bartolo Colon on the road back to the majors.

Benjamin’s notebook has Jon Lester trying to help out Clay Buchholz. Horrigan’s notebook has Dice-K once again walking a tightrope last night. The ProJo notebook has more on Matsuzaka. Goldberg’s notebook says that Kevin Youkilis is making a case for league MVP. Brown’s notebook has Paul Byrd getting ready for his first Red Sox start tonight. O’Neill’s notebook also makes the case for Youkilis as AL MVP.

Patriots

Over on Patriots Daily, Scott Benson examines whether the Patriots can or will carry five running backs on their roster.

Christopher L. Gasper has a look at the Patriots signing of veteran safety John Lynch. Christopher Price has more on the Lynch signing. Carolyn Thornton says that Lynch could end up being a big presence in the Patriots secondary. Eric McHugh thinks Lynch should fit well here. Jennifer Toland writes that Lynch could fill the void left by Tank Williams being placed on IR. Mark Farinella looks at this year’s carbon-dated addition to the Patriots roster.

Karen Guregian says that adding Dom Capers to the coaching staff might be the best move the Patriots made in the offseason. Thornton has rookie QB Kevin O’Connell doing all he can to learn from Tom Brady. Guregian has more on the rookie learning how to play the position in his first NFL camp. Farinella has a look at Kenny Smith, who gets a feature written about him for the second day in a row. Thompson has punter Chris Hanson secure in his role with the team.

Price tells us what to watch for during Sunday night’s game. Ian M. Clark has a Ruud family reunion on tap for Sunday night. Mike McMahon looks at former Boston Patriot Daryl Johnson going into the Morgan State Hall of Fame.

Gasper’s notebook has Jason Webster getting close to returning to action for the Patriots. Guregian’s notebook has more on the signing of Lynch. Toland’s notebook has Dean Pees talking about some of his young players on defense. McHugh’s notebook examines the impact on he safety depth chart that the Lynch signing will have.

Misc

Steve Bulpett and Marc J. Spears report on the Celtics signing first round pick J.R. Giddens.

Spears also has the United States’ men’s basketball team taking care of business with Greece yesterday.

Mark Blaudschun has a media column on NBC Sports reporter Bob Neumeier. Neumy mentions that WEEI wasn’t “fair” in their contract offer to him, which is why he left his show with Dale Arnold.  

Army changes its mind, Campbell can’t play in NFL

Posted by NECN - Sports July 24, 2008 (4 weeks ago) at 9:47 am

(NECN/ABC) - Caleb Campbell will not get a chance to play for the Detroit Lions because of a change in military policy.

Campbell was a seventh-round draft pick for the Lions in April.

At the time, Army policy would have allowed the West Point graduate to serve as a recruiter if he made the team.

Now the Army is saying that Campbell must serve in active duty until 2010, when he would be eligible to ask for leave to play football.

Any extensive time away from the game would hurt Campbell's chances of playing in the NFL.

Dressed Up and Playing Her Tune

Posted by Bob Ekstrom July 1, 2008 at 8:57 am

Welcome to July, the summer queen who is supposed to separate baseball’s cream from its crop, right? Well, our beloved Red Sox begin the month a game and a-half behind the Tampa Bay Rays, courtesy of last night’s 5-4 loss at Tropicana Field. It’s not the old Trop anymore says Jeff Horrigan, who has Justin Masterson (4-2) struggling with his command for the first time this season. Jeff Goldberg says the Sox start this series in a very different state than the Rays, which was evident from literally the first pitch, a B.J. Upton homer. Sean McAdam says the Rays were opportunistic in building their AL East lead last night. Bill Ballou reminds us it’s been all downhill since Boston’s high-water mark on Saturday night, when the Sox sat mightily atop the division. Gordon Edes can’t remember the last time the Rays’ crowd outnumbered Sox supporters at the Trop. Tampa has undoubtedly been reignited from the Tribune’s tips for fans , where Marc Lancaster reminds everyone the Sox are the new Evil Empire. Rob Bradford says there’s a different feel to the Trop this year, as the surreal setting last night illustrates.

In the wake of Saturday’s shoving incident, Bradford’s Red Sox Beat has the New Manny image already in the shop for repairs. McAdam has both Manny and skipper Terry Francona in damage control mode, trying to downplay the incident. Dan Shaughnessy calls out the Sox organization as “spineless” and labels them Manny enablers after this latest chapter.

Edes’ Red Sox Notebook has last night’s security beefed up in the wake of threats directed toward Manny and Coco Crisp, although they aren’t related to last month’s brawl with the Rays in Boston. Horrigan also has an account of the stepped-up security measures. Horrigan’s Red Sox Notebook has Big Papi on a slow recovery and officially out of this year’s All-Star Game. In his Red Sox Notes, Ballou has Ortiz reporting he won’t need surgery.

The C’s

With every title in Title Town comes the hangover and, as James Posey’s declaration for free agency yesterday attests, the Celtics are not exempt. Mark Murphy says that tight cap space around the NBA, coupled with Posey’s midlevel salary expectations, will make him hot this summer. Marc J. Spears says Posey will be the top offseason target for the C’s, who also failed to make Tony Allen a qualifying offer yesterday.

Pats

Karen Guregian features Randy Moss’s weekend work with youth, culminating with his golf tournament to raise funds for providing learning centers in West Virginia. With the good, comes some bad. Christopher L. Gasper has the details on Willie Andrews’ busy offseason, capped by his second arrest yesterday.

Odds & Sods

Tom King has former Sox infielder Brian Daubach returning to the area as hitting coach for the Nashua Pride. As the Sox tangle with the Rays in Tampa this week, Dan Duggan recalls Daubach’s involvement in an infamous Tropicana melee eight years ago.

Kevin Provencher has New Hampshire Motor Speedway GM Jerry Gappens dog tired after his first NASCAR Sprint Cup event last weekend, the 27th consecutive sellout in Loudon.

The Telegram updates us about Derek Jeter’s bat woes - not only in swinging them, but in holding them as well. Kind of a slow sports day.

Bruce will be taking some time off this week, so we guest bloggers will try to fill his shoes. Join us each day throughout the week and, as always, send me your comments at bob02878@yahoo.com. Thanks.

ShareThis

I today got Will Jackson…

Posted by Ted McEnroe June 9, 2008 at 12:43 pm

I today got Will Jackson says Dr. Steve ____ get two of the MBA finals late last night early this morning, Jackson complained very much about the disparity and ____ teams shoots just 10 ____ entire game of the Southeast get 38 ____ one player then entire lego team, got one problem with the complaint here and you know what is going to get equal without ____ the one problem is ____ and that include just [speech too fast, please listen]. listen

Powered by Jott

This is a test post….

Posted by Ted McEnroe June 4, 2008 at 2:41 pm

This is a test post. This is a test post for the Boston Score Blog to see if this actually work for us when we get to Los Angeles that will make much easier for XRYLEVINE(?) if it does that would be beautiful(?). listen

Powered by Jott

Super 7

Posted by Mike Giardi April 29, 2008 at 2:25 pm

Just getting ready to head off to Celtics practice. This should be interesting. To the “Super 7.”

1) All this talk about possible suspensions, and I neglected to mention two things that I found annoying and concerning about the Green team. Both revolve around Paul Pierce. Didn’t he learn his lesson from that Indiana playoff meltdown a few seasons ago? He went over the top in Game’s 3 loss. I won’t speculate on the nature of his gesture. Only Paul really knows what he was doing there. But bottom line is, he let his emotion get the best of him, and it didn’t help matters.

As for the other Pierce related issue, the man’s back is bothering him. He rarely attacked the basket, and that is a sure sign. That certainly complicates matters as we head into tomorrow’s Game 5.

2) Who knows how well Jerod Maro and Shawn Crable adapt to pro ball and to the complicated Bill Belichick defensive system, but the one thing that really stands out to me, is that both were incredibly productive collegiate players at elite schools. I hate combine warriors, so I think these two get a moderate thumbs up. I can’t give ‘em any better than that in April.

3) I wonder if we’re seeing the end of Mike Timlin. His numbers are frightening at this point, but then again, didn’t we feel that way last year? And the year before? If history has taught us anything with this guy, is that he is awfully resilient. Can he still be that way at 42? If he can’t, Craig Hansen will get another crack, and probably sooner than later.

4) Imagine how the San Francisco Giants feel right now? Barry Zito and his 126-million dollar deal to the bullpen. That signing was dicey at the time, and now it looks like it could be one of the worst in baseball history, rivaling Mike Hampton, Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort and Denny Neagle.

5) I would appreciate Doc Rivers giving James Posey a chance to guard Joe Johnson.

6)  I think Matt Ryan can have success in Atlanta, but only if the franchise has hired the right coach. If Mike Smith is a mistake, then Ryan will have to start from scratch. That’s the QB killer. Ryan also goes into a situation where his receivers aren’t even average, and cut their best target, tight end Alge Crumpler. Actually, Matty Ice is used to that. He played with a suspect group at BC.

7) Mike Jordan hiring the ancient Larry Brown to coach his Bobcats. Jordan was a great player. Maybe the best of all-time. But he’s been no more of a success in his next career as Isiah Thomas has, and Ike gets killed for it.

That Voodoo You Do Soooooo Well

Posted by Mike Giardi April 12, 2008 at 9:31 pm

Remember how I said BC’s Nathan Gerbe should have/could have won the Hobey Baker trophy? Well, he just reinforced that notion. Gerbe with a between the legs pass as he worked away from the net, and Ben Smith buries it for what should be the dagger in Notre Dame’s chances. BC 4, ND 1. In another half-hour, the Eagles should be National Champs.

I’d put Gerbe in my Top-10 or 15 players who I love to see play. In no particular order: Tiger Woods, Brian Gionta, Kobe Bryant, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, LeBron, Tom Brady, Rodney Harrison, former BU Goalie Jon Curry, Steve Smith and Wes Welker. No, that’s not the best at their sport (although several do qualify), but just guys that I find I can’t take my eyes off when they play.

Quick Hitters

Posted by Mike Giardi April 12, 2008 at 8:17 pm

If Notre Dame continues to carry the physical play to Boston College, the Eagles will skate away from a third straight title game without the hardware. Its imperative for the Fightin’ Irish to slow BC’s speedy, skilled forwards. Give them space, and they’ll kill you. Not a lot of space for the favorites in that first period.

No sooner do I type this, than Nathan Gerbe nets the ice-breaker for BC. His 34th…and the Eagles lead 1-0. Gerbe leads the entire country in goals scored, and would have been a heck of a selection for the Hobey Baker. He’ll take a team title first anyway.

Gutsy move by Bruins coach Claude Julien to scratch Phil Kessel. The kid has a ton of skill, but sometimes not enough courage. That won’t do in the playoffs, and Julien put him - and everyone else - on notice. No Dennis Wideman tonight either. Wideman wasn’t very good in Game One. Then again, no one else was either. Still, a much better opening period tonight, although somewhat negated by that late goal by Roman Hamrlik, assisted by Smolinski. The ex-Bruin killing them in this series so far.

David Ortiz is currently 3-for-42. Wow! That’s stunning for a hitter who’s as gifted as Big Papi is. And today against the Yankees, Ortiz showing no signs of coming out of it. He hit into a double play in the first, and it was just feeble. Thoose are two words I never thought I’d use in a sentence: “Ortiz” and “feeble.”