Boston Sports Media Watch

Dickerson has done a little bit of everything in his career.

He’s been a radio host (WWTM, WBZ, WEEI), a television host (FSN/Comcast SportsNet), a PA announcer for two of the local professional sports franchises (Celtics, Patriots) and is currently the sideline reporter for the Celtics broadcasts on CSN.

On the national level, Dickerson has been a Sports Center anchor on ESPN Radio and a studio host on Westwood One’s NHL Radio broadcasts.

On WEEI, he’s recently been added to the Big Show co-host rotation, and last fall he hosted the Sunday morning football show on the program, going up against his CSN colleague Gary Tanguay, who hosts the pregame show for the WBCN Patriots telecasts.

Dickerson is a native of Milford, MA and is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston.

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Popularity: 41% [?]

A hell of a nice guy, from most accounts.

Cafardo begin his career in Brockton in 1975 before moving to the Quincy Patriot Ledger in 1981. In 1989 he joined the Boston Globe sports staff.

Cafardo has covered both the Red Sox and Patriots during his tenure at the Globe, but his heart is clearly with baseball. During his time on the Patriots beat he was clearly frustrated with the working environment and it reflected in his coverage of the team. Having moved back to baseball, he’s noticeably more confortable and in his element.

He was a frequent presence on the various NESN programs, and in the past was in demand on WWZN radio, ESPN Radio and WBZ-TV’s Sports Final.

He is the author of several books, including The Impossible Team: The Worst to First Patriot’s Super Bowl Season, 100 Things Red Sox Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die and Boston Red Sox: Yesterday and Today

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Popularity: 40% [?]

With TomaseGate slowing down, (though I still plan on a wrap-up post) its time to get back to the approval ratings.

Today we’re looking at WEEI Big Show Football co-host Steve DeOssie.

DeOssie played for Don Bosco Technical High School and then Boston College for playing 12 years in the NFL for the Cowboys, Giants and Patriots, winning a championship with the Giants in Super Bowl XXV.

Year-round (but especially during the football season) DeOssie is a presence on WEEI as well as various television outlets around New England, such as WBZ-TV. He plays up the touch-guy persona, but can also bring strong analysis of the game to his appearances on the various shows. He also co-hosts The Real Postgame show with Pete Sheppard and Fred Smerlas.

During the week of Super Bowl XLII DeOssie did a creditable job of balancing his Patriots analysis with the fact that his son Zak was playing for the opponent.

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Popularity: 41% [?]

Today we’ll look at football analyst and radio host Andy Gresh.

Gresh is a fixture on the WBCN Patriots Rock Radio network pre and post game shows as well as a frequent guest on Comcast SportsNet, especially during the football season.

Up until March Gresh co-hosted a daily show alongside former Patriots quarterback Scott Zolak on sports radio 790/99.7  The Score in Providence. The station eliminated their local sports programming leaving the duo without that daily gig.

Gresh also does work for ESPN radio, filling in on shows such as Game Night and hosting his own show on Saturday mornings, ESPN Today.

Gresh played college football at URI, which he refers to often to as his source of expertise when analyzing the NFL.

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Popularity: 36% [?]

Today we’re having a look at the Dean of the Boston sports media, Bob Ryan.

A graduate of Boston College, Ryan joined The Boston Globe in 1968 - on the same day as Peter Gammons, and on the day that Robert Kennedy was shot. Ryan and Gammons worked together that day (as noted in Gammons’ Hall of Fame speech.) and their story appeared on the front page of the paper.

He covered the Celtics during the 1970’s and into the 80’s before becoming a general columnist in 1989. He made a brief foray into TV in the early 80’s on WCVB.

He’s been hosting Globe 10.0 on NESN for almost a year now. He has been a regular on ESPN’s Sunday morning show The Sports Reporters and has done a number of other shows with the network such as Pardon the Interruption.

His honors include the 2006 Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism as well as the 1997 Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame.

His books include Drive: The Story of My Life with Larry Bird, Forty-Eight Minutes: A Night in the Life of the N.B.A. with Terry Pluto and When Boston Won the World Series: A Chronicle of Boston’s Remarkable Victory in the First Modern World Series of 1903.

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Popularity: 28% [?]

Meterparel is the morning flash guy for the Dennis and Callahan program on WEEI.

He is known for taking purposefully obtuse stances against the local teams for the sake of controversy. He went on a ridiculous run during last year’s Red Sox postseason, picking against the Red Sox for a number of inane reasons on a daily basis, only to come back the next day with a new one.

Boston College is exempt from his antics, as he serves as the play-by-play man for the football team of the school. Last season he infamously missed an important play during a game because he was in the bathroom. In the past he served as the voice of the New England Revolution, and the Triple A Charlotte Knights while working down in Charlotte.

He joined the Dennis and Callahan show in 2000.

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Popularity: 32% [?]

Behnke is another relative newcomer on the Boston sports media scene, having joined NECN as a sports reporter in 2005. She does on-the-scene sports reporting for the station, as well as filling in as sports anchor.

She has a  journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin, and grew up a Packers fan in Eagan, Minnesota (making her also a Twins fan).

She also hosts the weekly Celtics magazine show Celtics Now alongside Donny Marshall on Comcast SportsNet.

Here is an interview she did with David Laurila for RedSoxNation.net.

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Popularity: 28% [?]

No really, he was scheduled today in the approval ratings prior to the Matt Walsh statement from last night…

Tomase is the beat reporter covering the New England Patriots for the Boston Herald. He is a Tufts grad, and joined the Herald in 2005 after covering the Red Sox for the Lawrence Eagle Tribunefor a number of years. He is the main blogger for the Herald’s Point After Patriots blog, and makes appearances on Comcast SportsNet from time to time.

He is in the spotlight now, of course, for the article he wrote the day before this year’s Super Bowl, where a source in his article claimed that the Patriots had filmed the Rams walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. The article brought Tomase national attention…whether that was his aim or not…and with yesterday’s revelation that Walsh has no such tape of the walkthrough and was not the source of Tomase’s article, speculation will likely renew as to who was that source.

Tomase is no stranger to controversy, having written a scathing piece in June 2005 on Manny Ramirez while working for the Eagle-Tribune. The piece claimed the the Red Sox themselves were sick of the slugger and that Ramirez was “robbing the Red Sox and more than indirectly contributing to the cost of baseball’s highest tickets.” He made the rounds of the radio stations after that article, getting his name out there, and possibly leading to his promotion to the Herald.

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A warning shot - take it easy in the comments, folks. Anything deemed inappropriate, offensive or overly personal is subject to removal.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Can you believe it?

Castiglione is in his 26th seasoncalling Red Sox games on the radio. Prior to coming to call the games here in Boston, he had done television broadcasts for the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers, but is now a fixture here in Boston.

He also did time as a sports anchor back in the Ohio in the 1970’s, after graduating from Colgate in 1968 and getting an M.S. in TV-Radio from Syracuse in 1970.

Castiglione has taught broadcasting courses at Northeastern University since 1985 and at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire since 1997.

He has also written a book, Broadcast Rites and Sites, Revised Edition: I Saw It on the Radio with the Boston Red Sox

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Popularity: 29% [?]

One of the new kids on the block here in Boston, Spears is in his first season covering the Celtics for The Boston Globe.

Spears came to the Globe from the Denver Post, where he covered the Nuggets. He also did work for ESPN.com and America Online. Spears is also the Vice-President of Print for the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force, and thanks to an early encounter with Jason Whitlock (See the last question here) is committed to doing his best to be a mentor and answer questions for any aspiring journalists.

Spears attended San Jose State University. He spent eight years at the Post before coming to the Globe last summer. He arrived soon after Kevin Garnett, which seemed to signal the Globe’s increased commitment to Celtics and NBA coverage.

He is also perhaps one of the few writers who can look most NBA players in the eye when he talks to them.

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Popularity: 30% [?]