While doing the approval ratings, I was dismayed at how many times I’d put someone up for approval, and a wave of WHO???? would roll through the comments.

Maybe because I read, listen to and observed all their work almost each day, all the names I put up were very familiar to me, and I thought would be to most observers of the Boston sports scene.

This was part of the reason the approval ratings were discontinued, more and more it was becoming difficult to put up a name that I could be assured that most readers would be familiar with and thus be able to give a valid approve/disapprove. We went through around 75 media people, so that was certainly a good start.

Periodically, I’m going to spotlight some of the media types who didn’t make the approval ratings list. Hopefully this will increase their exposure to you a little bit so that you can be on the lookout for their work, or know a little something about them as you review something that they’ve done.

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Today we’re going to spotlight longtime Quincy Patriot Ledger writer Mike Fine. If you don’t know who he is, you definitely should.

Fine’s time with the PL dates back to 1968 when he landed a co-op with Northeastern. He started with high schools, and then colleges before landing on the Boston Celtics beat in 1977. His first year was also the rookie year of Cedric Maxwell, and it was the last year for John Havlicek.

He was on the beat full time for 21 years, until the PL was sold, and the new owners switched to only home coverage of the team, which he has done for the last 10 years. All told, Fine has 31 years on the Celtics beat. 

In the offseasons Fine would serve as a columnist for the paper, and would also do quite a bit of Patriots coverage.

Since 1999 Fine has also covered the Red Sox for the paper.  Before the advent of WEEI, and shows such as Sports Final and Sports Xtra, Fine did a lot of radio and TV interviews, and did pregame reports on WRKO.

Since Gatehouse Media purchased the Patriot Ledger, the paper’s status has fallen immensely. Once boasting a sports staff of 18, the paper has now dropped all road coverage of the local teams, though Fine was in Detroit to cover the Eastern Conference Finals this season. He was not sent to Los Angeles to cover the NBA Finals, however.

If you’ve only been following the Boston sports scene for the last 15 years or so, you might have no idea who Mike Fine is, or how extensive his experience and background are.

Hopefully now you have a little better idea.

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