On Herald Thursday, we check in today on hockey writer Stephen Harris.
Perhaps one of the lesser known Herald writers, Harris has nonetheless been around for a long time. He’s covered the Bruins for Herald since the 1979-80 season, though he also served as the Red Sox beat writer for five seasons during the 1980’s. Harris’ doesn’t usually do the game stories for the paper, instead doing more “overview” and analytical type articles.
Harris is also the closest thing that the paper has to an Olympic writer, having covered six Olympic games during his career with the paper. You don’t see or hear him much on the local airwaves, and I couldn’t even find a photo to use with his profile here.
—————–
Stephen Harris Approval Ratings
Popularity: 24% [?]
who?
enough already with the appetizers. we want to vote on some bigger names. bring out the main course
Never uses “saucers,” “spoons,” or “windshield wiper” in his stories. Approve!
A groundbreaking heavy-metal bassist and one of the principal songwriters of Iron Maiden. Approve!
Does he have an amazing technicolor five-hole?
I mean all of the hockey writers around here are decent. Not much agenda-driven crap. But I think they should start writing the Sumo Wrestler goalies thing and Tapioca pudding articles.
Apparently no photos of the man exist. How can we make fun of the guy if we don’t know what he looks like? Perhaps we can commission the Pulitzer Prize winning “cartoonist” Larry (Barbapapa) Johnson to do one of his amazing sketches?
I humbly submit that these polls are not created for the sole purpose of making fun of the subject each day…
It’s a sometimes amusing side effect though.
I’m witholding my vote until I know whether or not Joe Thornton should be stripped of his captaincy.
Anybody who could put out an album like “Elite Hotel” is alright in my book…even if they now write about hockey…
Talk about making fun, I can’t wait for Pete Sheppard day
This isn’t him:
http://bdsm.spuddy.org/inside.html
May not be safe for work.
(I hope this hasn’t been posted on the board.)
That’s not just disturbing, but the guy should be locked up for life.
I don’t know who this is, that means he hasn’t pissed me off. Approve.
who?
I loved him on The Practice and Diary of a Mad Black Woman!
I am not big into this guy. He stuff is too factual and he isn’t into storylines.
All joking aside, Harris made one of the most keen observations that any Boston sportswriter has made in years, when at the end of the last Bruins’ season, he compared them to “an expansion team” that was entering its 3rd year in the NHL.
This statement rang true, for many of us Jacobs-haters out there will recall that after the 2004 season, the B’s let pretty much all of their veteran free agents leave town (Rolston, Gonchar, etc.) in anticipation if the looming work stoppage and a potential league-wide salary cap agreement. This left them with just 4 players under contract when the work stoppage ended a year later. After the team hesitated and let the prime free agents on the market sign with other teams after the work stoppage ended, Mike O’Connell jumped into the fray a bit too late and doled out the $37 million in Bruins’ cap room pretty much on also-ran veterans. Then O’Connell compounded those errors by dealing away Thornton 3 months later for 40 cents on the dollar.
Chiarelli came in the following year and spent the B’s cap room a bit more wisely than O’Connell, on guys like Chara, but the team still missed the playoffs. That’s when Harris came up with his “expansion team” analogy, because the B’s had basically spent two years building almost an entire roster from the ashes of a roster with just 4 players on it in the summer of 2005.
For that column alone, I’ll give him a “thumbs up” rating.
I am thirsting for the blood of Pete Shepard.
Was not even going to vote until I saw Tony’s comment. He convinced me to vote APPROVE. (Tony, you can’t be Tony Mazz because you know too much about hockey!) I haven’t been reading Harris a while, partly because the whole Herald sports page is SO DEPRESSING. First of all, the whole paper seems thin with all the cutbacks and buyouts. And the stories just don’t add much to the overall knowledge base. I’ll read Bradford, Silverman and Buck on baseball, but Mazz is a lecturing, hectoring, crap-stirring hack who is not informative in the least. On football, Felger is a look-at-me joke and Tomase is a pariah for his irresponsible Super Bowl Saturday stunt. Not much of an NBA fan. So I have not been visiting the bostonherald.com much at all and have missed Harris’ reportage. But his observation, recounted by Tony, is astute, as T. Sarandis would say. (Plus the NHLPA stabbed Jacobs in the back with the 25% salary giveback, which enabled teams with players under contract to keep them at lower pay. JJ. Harry and MO’C were looking for a flooded market of cheaper quality players, and that didn’t happen.)
Thanks Sluggo.
No, I’m not Tony Mazz! I for one would NEVER defend ANYTHING that Grady Little did while he was manager of the Red Sox–Mazz probably STILL thinks he made the right move leaving Pedro in Game 7 in 2003, and he’s probably STILL talking down to the Red Sox fans that disagree with him.
Yes, that 25% salary giveback was a huge kick in the jewels for the B’s, because they had a pretty good team coming out of the 2004 season, despite blowing the 3-1 first round series lead to Montreal, and they opted to break it up because they felt that the post-lockout environment would leave them in a better position than all other teams if they only had a few players under contract.
Still, O’Connell simply was overmatched in that job. Hopefully Chiarelli will play the cap smartly, draft well, and the B’s will eventually return to the top of the NHL (given the level playing field the salary cap has created, spending “too much” money should no longer be a concern for them, right Jeremy?)
I don’t know who this is and wasn’t going to vote until I saw Tony’s post. I vote approve of Stephen Harris….and Tony.
I cannot WAIT till you get to P-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-t (aka John Tomase). Talk about a ‘guy’ (quotes used for emphasis) who’ll get literally strung up.
As for Mr. Harris, if you toil in anonymity, you have a good chance of being APPROVED!!
I give Harris an APPROVE with 2 thumbs up…good writer and he doesn’t walk around acting like his Bleep don’t stink….. As opposed to STEVE BUCKLEY, TONY MAZZ, SEAN MACADAM, SHANK SHAUGNESSY
He doesn’t matter, like many hockey writers. Please bring on the main courses.
Next poll will be Brookline High’s own beat writer whose parents don’t even have a photograph of him.
This is getting ridiculous.
I do not believe this