Boston Sports Media Watch

Here’s a snapshot look at the movement of some Boston sports media members during the last few months: (Not in strict order)

Gordon Edes – Boston Globe > Yahoo! Sports

Jackie MacMullan – Boston Globe > Buyout > ESPN

Peter May – Boston Globe > Buyout > Yahoo! Sports

Tom Casale – Patriots Football Weekly > DegenerateGambler.com

Michael Parente – Woonsocket Call > Patriots Football Weekly

Michael Felger – Boston Herald/ESPN 890 >WEEI.com (and Comcast SportsNet)

Rob Bradford – Boston Herald > WEEI.com

Alex Speier – NH Union Leader > WEEI.com

Tony Massarotti – Boston Herald > Boston.com/Boston Globe

Jeff Horrigan – Boston Herald > Private Sector

Ron Borges - Soup Kitchen > WEEI.com > Boston Herald

Sean McAdam – Providence Journal > Boston Herald

Bob Lobel – WBZ-TV > Retirement > WODS103.3FM/Oldies 103.3

Hazel Mae – NESN > MLBTV

Adam Kilgore – Washington Post > Boston Globe

Lew Goldstein and Mike Vallee (”Lew & Mike”) 1510theZone > ESPN 890

Laura Behnke – NECN/CSN > KNTV-NBC11 (San Francisco)

Joe Haggerty – Boston Metro > WEEI.com

Who did I miss?

Popularity: 28% [?]

We knew that Tony Massarotti hates the Patriots and their fans, and he has continued his slanted coverage of them in his new role at the Boston Globe.

While his Red Sox coverage is generally shiny and positive, his Patriots postings consist of things like Tony’s Top 5 most disturbing statistics about the Patriots. You know, Patriots fans probably aren’t feeling all that great already, and Tony feels the need to pile on more misery, even though the season has already gotten as disturbing as it can be. Now that posting is from a few days ago, and I just now got around to seeing it. Lucky me.

His first statistic is an old standby.

With Tom Brady as his starter, Bill Belichick has a career record of 87-24. Without Brady, Belichick is 43-58. As Bill Parcells might say, you are what you are. As Belichick might say, it is what it is.

How many times is this going to be trotted out there? First used by Ron Borges, this stat has been repeated over and over and over again by the self-proclamed “objective” members of the meda.

How come no one says: “With David Ortiz on his roster, Terry Francona has a career record of 468-338. Without Ortiz, Francona is 285-363. As Bill Parcells might say, you are what you are. As Belichick might say, it is what it is.”

How about: “With Kevin Garnett on his roster, Doc Rivers has a career record of 66-16. Without Garnett, Rivers is 273-312. As Bill Parcells might say, you are what you are. As Belichick might say, it is what it is.”

No, you don’t hear either of those. It’s only Belichick that this stuff gets applied to.

I prefer to turn it around and say Belichick’s career record without stiffs like Bernie Kosar and Drew Bledsoe is 105-46. (Something like that anyway…I’m counting the second half of the ‘93 season after Kosar was cut, and all of the ‘94 and ‘95 seasons, and not counting the first 18 games of his New England career when Bledsoe was the QB.)

Popularity: 25% [?]

The baseball beat on the Boston Herald has taken another blow, as Jeff Horrigan will be leaving and looking for a non-journalism job in Milwaukee, where his wife is from.

Scott’s Shots has the details.

It’s the latest in a series of losses for the Herald, which earlier this season could boast of one of the best collection of baseball writers in the country with Horrigan, Michael Silverman, Rob Bradford and Tony Massarotti. Now, only Silverman will remain.

Popularity: 23% [?]

The Boston Herald has been looking for an NFL reporter to take on the Patriots beat. The Heraldsports editor has already all but confirmed that John Tomase will be going over to the Red Sox beat, which is in need of help with both Rob Bradford and Tony Massarotti leaving. Tomase is also in need of a fresh start given his disastrous “walk-through” story.

Who are some of the candidates for the position, and which one should they hire?

Here are some reporters who might seem to be a logical fit for the position, and could very well end up with the job.

David Heuschkel

Heuschkel covered the Patriots for the Hartford Courant until July 31st, when as part of a downsizing of the sports department, he was let go. He had been with the paper for 17 years, covering the Red Sox for seven seasons (2000-2006) and moving to the Patriots beat last season. Heuschkel scored a number of scoops and exclusives while on the Red Sox beat and now also has the football credentials as well. The fact that he is currently out of work may actually be in his favor as he could step into the job immediately.

Christopher Price

Currently at the Boston Metro, Price has covered the Patriots for the paper since 2001. He has written a book on the team, The Blueprint which was published last season. Price writes the very popular “10 Things We Learned…” column following each game, which is one of the most clicked-through columns each week here on BSMW. Price has also been a contributor to Patriots Daily, penning the weekly “Inside Gillette” notes column.

Douglas Flynn

Flynn was profiled in this space yesterday, and his past association with the Herald through the former content sharing agreement between the Metrowest Daily News and the Herald make him well known to management at the latter. His work on the Patriots beat has been impressive in his one year on the job.

Eric McHugh

McHugh is another Patriots beat writer who has paid his dues at a smaller paper, having taken the reins from the legendary Ron Hobson at the Quincy Patriot Ledger. McHugh has done some solid work in his time on the beat, avoiding most of the hysterics that some of his colleagues occasionally fall into.

Jon Couture

Couture could be a long shot, as he is more of a baseball guy. He writes for the Standard-Times of New Bedford, doing Red Sox columns and notes for the paper. He’s a young guy with a bright future in the business, and with his paper having recently followed the trend of many others in the industry and doing away with most of their professional sports coverage, he might be ready to step out and make a move to a larger paper. Edit – I had the Standard-Times mixed up with another paper that is cutting back coverage…I’m assured that they’re trying to do more, not less. However, Couture is still a great candidate for the job.

Now is your chance to weigh in on these candidates, or to suggest your own. If you vote “someone else,” please put their name down in the comments section and give us some reasons why.

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Popularity: 25% [?]

Jeff Horrigan is one of the baseball writers for the Boston Herald.

A graduate of Northeastern University, Horrigan’s MLB beat career started in Cincinnati, where he covered the Reds for seven seasons with the Cincinnati Post.

In 2000, he joined the Boston Herald, where he is in his ninth season sharing the beat writer duties covering the Red Sox.

Horrigan is the  Co-Founder and Director of the Hot Stove Cool Music concert series, which has raised over $2 million for The Foundation To Be Named Later – benefiting inner city and at risk children and the Jimmy Fund. He was named  the Jimmy Fund Council’s Co-Man of the Year with Peter Gammons in 2005.

His work on the beat in the paper is solid, but Horrigan doesn’t do a whole lot of  appearances on TV and Radio, and it was hard just to find a photo of the guy. The picture from the right is from an interview with Stacy and Lauren of foxxysports.com.
 
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Popularity: 31% [?]

Boston Herald  Patriots beat writer John Tomase will make his first TV appearance tonight at 10 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet’s Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight to talk Patriots training camp, the Red Sox and to address the controversy over his walkthrough tape story.

Host Michael Felger and guest co-host Sean Grande will interview Tomase, who will comment on “tapegate” for the first time since he issued an apology in the Boston Herald after Matt Walsh denied taping the Rams Super Bowl walkthrough in meetings with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Sen. Arlen Specter.

Also appearing this evening on Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight is Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and NBC Sports.com’s Tom Curran at 6:30 and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak at 10 p.m.

Popularity: 21% [?]

www.celticslinks.com – I still can’t compose anything here. It’s going to take a little while to find the words.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Tony Massarotti, come on down…

Massarotti has been with the Herald since 1989, as he joined the paper fresh from Tufts University. He was the Massachusetts Winner of the 2001 National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Sportswriter of the Year award.

He’s been covering the Red Sox since 1994, but in recent years has moved into more of a general columnist role. With a few exceptions, his columns on sports outside of baseball usually tend to be on the negative side, and his recent column attacking Patriots fans alienated many readers.

He is highly visible on the Boston sports media scene, appearing on WEEI, Comcast SportsNet, NESN and WHDH TV.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

With the NBA Finals tapping off tonight, it’s appropriate that we look at the man that his Boston Herald profile calls ”the dean of NBA beat writers in continuous service with a team.”

Steve Bulpett has been on the Celtics beat since the Bird days, and has seen plenty of ups, but probably more downs during his time covering the team. The profile says that he has been on the beat for 23 years, but I’m not sure when that figure was last updated.

Bulpett is a native of Lynn and Swampscott is a graduate of the University of Dayton, where he played intramural hoops, winning a championship with teammate Dan Patrick.

Bulpett is not someone you see and hear all over your airwaves, he seems to pick and choose his spots, and just focuses on doing his job and covering the team. He’s made appearances on Comcast SportsNet, Celtics Stuff Live, and a few other outlets recently.  

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Popularity: 21% [?]

So is he a newspaper writer, radio personality or television host?

Felger holds all three roles at the moment, though his work at the Boston Herald has been scaled back considerably. He first joined the paper in 1989 and worked his way up to the Bruins beat where he served from 1997 to 1998 before being pulled off the beat after an incident involving the Bruins ownership. He was moved to the Patriots beat starting in 1999, and really started to make a name for himself as an early supporter of Bill Belichick’s decision to go with Tom Brady over Drew Bledsoe in 2001.

He became a regular on WEEI’s Big Show, as well as on WBZ’s Sports Final, where his battles with Globe writers Ron Borges and Nick Cafardo were appointment viewing for a time. In those battles Felger was viewed as a Patriots toady, and ironically, since that time he has pretty much done a complete 180 and is now among the team’s more outspoken critics.

In 2005, Felger jumped to the new 890 ESPN Boston where he was given his own drive-time show in competition to WEEI’s Big Show. In the last year he has also taken over as co-host of Mohegan Sun’s Sports Tonight on Comcast SportsNet, replacing Greg Dickerson, who moved to the role of sideline reporter for the Celtics broadcasts on the station.

Felger is originally from Milwaukee and a graduate of Boston University. He is married to former WBZ/WSBK news anchor Sara Underwood.

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Popularity: 36% [?]