Thanks for checking in
Thanks to all that called or messaged today after the Marathon bombing. I was tucked away safely at the Globe, far away from any danger. But I do appreciate your thoughts and concerns, particularly because the Boston Marathon is an event that I work on each year. My head is still swirling from the events of the day. Sadly, it will be a more memorable day than any one of us had imagined. My thoughts are with my colleagues who were at the finish line when the explosions occurred. And my heart bleeds for all the victims. There’s not much else to do now but pray.
Talking Patriots on 98.5 The Sports Hub
On Saturday I was on 98.5 The Sports Hub with hosts Johnston and Flynn talking about the New England Patriots. Producer Tracy Clements was nice enough to provide me with a clip of the audio, which you can listen to by clicking on the player above. You can listen to 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston online here.
Video: Future Boston Alliance is throwing stones
I saw this on Universal Hub and it kind of sums up what a person of my age thinks of this city (no 24-hour food options, a lack of cultural activities for young folks, and a lack of venues). But this obviously takes a political bent against Mayor Menino. He’s portrayed, frankly, as a cranky old man. Bostonians, take a look.
The Boston vs. Philadelphia sports rivalry – Boston.com
The Celtics are squaring off with the 76ers in the NBA playoffs and the Red Sox are beginning interleague play against the Phillies. Between Boston and Philadelphia, there’s much ado in sports, politics, and history. Trust us when we say we’re over Benjamin Franklin’s departure. But what is interesting is the storied series between the teams in each city, whether that is the old Celtics-76ers rivalry, Sox-Phillies, Bruins-Flyers, or even Patriots-Eagles. It’s all worth a deeper look. Here are the bullet points on Boston vs. Philly. I promise no cheesesteak or clam chowder references.
via The Boston vs. Philadelphia sports rivalry – Boston.com.
Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary inspires ‘Color of Baseball in Boston’ exhibit – Extra Bases – Red Sox blog
How interested are you in the best baseball player “you have never heard of”? That’s one of the tie-ins for the Museum of African American History in Boston’s new exhibit, “The Color of Baseball in Boston.”
Riding the fanfare of Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary, the museum has put together a collection of rare photographs and articles of clothing of black baseball players in Massachusetts from the 19th and early 20th century. One of the main draws will be the more than 20 articles of clothing, including a full uniform, of William “Cannonball” Jackman, a negro league player for the Boston Royal Giants who was regarded as the best black pitcher from Boston from 1920 through the 1940s. He played for 30 years, before integration, and was otherwise known as the “best ball player you have never heard of.”
Read more about the “Color of Baseball in Boston” exhibit on Boston.com
What else?
After today’s Boston Marathon, I’ve now covered all of the major sporting events in Boston. You’d think I would’ve scratched this one off the list pretty early because of the throngs of people the Boston Globe dedicates to marathon coverage. But in the two years prior to today, Marathon Monday, I had been on desk duty — the other half of the equation in our amazing coverage. Today I helped produce our live broadcasts on Boston.com from Hopkinton.
The Boston Marathon is one of those unusual events in the sporting landscape, one I would easily equate with the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup, which I’ve also covered. Not because of its popularity outside of the running community, but because of its festive atmosphere, prestige and the throngs of coverage thrown its way. It’s a great event, filled with tons of stories on redemption, determination, exuberance and filled with people who flaunt a never-say-quit attitude in front of the world. It’s the runner’s Mecca, better than NYC and more serious than the wacky Bay to Breakers.
Which leads me to this: What’s next? I’ve now covered every major sport in the area. You name it, I’ve done it. Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, Revs, high schools. I haven’t touched a college event yet, including the Bean Pot, but I have been to a few press conferences. I can’t imagine I’d want to be near a regatta, but a Head of the Charles might be cool enough to warrant extra coverage in the future.
What else is there?
If I’m truly blessed, and so are the Red Sox, maybe a World Series. Is that too much?
Wondering out loud why spring is such a vexing season
It’s spring. That’s been the official word for more than a week now. But don’t let that stop the weather here in Boston from messing things up.
Did you know it actually snowed in some parts of Massachusetts this past week? True story. In Boston we’ve had to deal with rain while the weather has hovered around 40 degrees. My heat is still on.
But besides my gripes with the weather, my focus currently is shifting from the basketball and hockey seasons to spring sports. I’m turning my attention to high school baseball, softball and lacrosse. And as always, my mind will be on the Patriots. I’ll likely be working the NFL draft again from Gillette Stadium and I know everybody wants to know what kind of move Bill Belichick will make now that the free agency boom is over. (Just a thought: The Pats probably won’t draft a receiver.) And then there’s the opening of the MLB season. The Red Sox begin their quest for another World Series title on April 5. There’s also the Bruins and Celtics getting ready for the playoffs.
All things considered, there’s a lot to think about and mentally prepare for.
I write all this to say that of the things that my focus often fall to, high schools coverage often comes first, even it is of least importance. It remains in my peripherals partially because of both my professional responsibility and personal pride. But of all seasons, spring high school sports can be the most confounding.
Consider this: High school baseball and softball in Massachusetts had 23,209 kids participate last year, according to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. (12,923 for just baseball.) That easily surpasses the singular juggernaut in every local district, which is football, as the second most engaged sport in the state. Football had 20,399 student-athletes last year to be fourth. Lacrosse netted 15,491 for fifth behind basketball at 22,518 which is third.
The most popular sport, again adding boys and girls together, is soccer: 26,809 kids participated last year in the state. From our coverage at the Globe, you wouldn’t know it.
(I should note here that I’m omitting the numbers for Indoor and Outdoor track & field as they occur in separate seasons and often carry the same students, thus making their actual figures hard to pin down. In all likelihood, those numbers would definitely shake up this Top 5.)
Our big thing at the Globe and Boston.com, as it is every year and for every newspaper around this country, is football because of its popularity. Nothing draws clicks in the fall like football. No soccer feature or extra game coverage can change that, despite being in the same season.
Conversely, the same can be said of hockey, which had 9,143 kids participate in the winter of 2010-11 — far behind the participation numbers of basketball. And yet, no basketball feature or game coverage could move the dial as our hockey coverage did.
This has been proven to me time and time again that despite the the size of engagement in a sport, its popularity here in Massachusetts is not as obvious. Parents may encourage their kids to play soccer and run track, but secretly they want to watch them and read about them playing football, hockey and lacrosse. Which brings me to the point of my writing this.
Why is lacrosse the king of spring? Without even a smidgen of understanding, I ventured to Boston three years ago thinking that baseball was the No. 1 sport in this state. What with the Red Sox and all it would seem that a foundation was likely in place for kids and parents to be drawn to to the sport at the high school level. I imagined fist fights in the stands over whose kid was the better pitcher.
Participation-wise, I haven’t been disappointed. But when the needle begins to measure the traffic for baseball/softball coverage, in direct comparison to football coverage, hockey coverage, and lax coverage, all logic flies out the window faster than a Dustin Pedroia laser bomb. It doesn’t even come close and there is no explanation worthy.
I’ve discussed this with some colleagues in the high school coverage bubble here and they too agree it’s a weird conundrum, one which I do not think there is an easy answer. But in the interim, the traffic patterns are encouraging coverage decisions that I would not normally make. While football may be behind soccer in participation, it by no means is behind because of shallow numbers. In fact, hockey and lacrosse are more easily relatable because they defy the engagement/popularity enigma that I’ve been puzzling.
Do I feed the insatiable taste for lacrosse stories and photos as our No. 1 sport of choice? Do I give the lax feature top billing over the baseball feature? Where does my time go? And so on, and so on.
This is a vexation I have that’s only applicable it seems to this state. And with each year living here, it’s easier to pin down which sport gets a certain amount of my attention. However, that doesn’t mean any of this makes any sense. And that doesn’t mean that everyone will be satisfied.
In Indianapolis for the Super Bowl
In Indianapolis, the media center hotel is adorned with tons of Super Bowl logos.
Before I get too busy, I wanted to stop and share some thoughts with those that frequent this site. I’m here in Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI, the rematch game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. Who knew when I wrote on this very site five months ago that I was going to be taking a greater role in Patriots coverage that I would be here, that the Patriots would be here, and that I would have this opportunity. It really is a blessing.
Since I’ve come to the Globe, Boston sports teams have done extremely well. I took part in our coverage of the NBA Finals in 2010 as the Celtics and Lakers went toe to toe. I was on the ground in Vancouver when the Bruins throttled the Canucks in Game 7, and then Vancouverites throttled their city. And now I’m here in Indy as the Patriots try to cap a really serendipitous season.
In the words of Kevin Garnett, “Anything is possible.”
The Huddle: Looking back at Super Saturday
We’re a few days away from Saturday’s Super Bowls which capped the end of the high school football season, but there’s no better time then now to look back at the games, the season and even look forward a bit.
In the latest episode of The Huddle, we take a look at Cathedral’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the Division 4A Super Bowl, go over BC High’s Division 1 win, discuss Everett post-Jonathan DiBiaso and take a look at some of the best Super Saturday performances, including Mashpee’s Jared Taylor’s 306-yard performance.
For past episodes of The Huddle, go to boston.com/huddle. Subscribe to The Huddle in iTunes (video). (Also available in audio only.)
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