Ryan is a native of North Attleboro, MA, and currently lives and works in Everett, MA. He graduated from both the College of the Holy Cross and Boston College, and knows anyone who has never heard of Holy Cross probably would never have gotten in there anyway. He is an unabashed Boston sports fan and (unlike another site's so-called "Sports Guy" HC alum who shall remain nameless) he has not sold out to the temptation of warmer climes. He is also an original co-host of SportsColumn's "Poor Man's PTI" Thursday night podcast which becomes the "NFL Picks Show" during football season and welcomes calls from both obnoxious Yankee fans and erudite Southerners.
By Ryan McGowan
February is the dark month in the sports calendar. The Super Bowl is over, baseball hasn’t started yet (unless you count “Truck Day”), the NBA is just going through the motions until the home stretch, and the NHL is shut down for two weeks. We didn’t even have the Pro Bowl this February [...]
By Ryan McGowan
On December 31, I wrote “Five reasons the Patriots can win Super Bowl XLIV.”
Nice prediction. That’s right up there with the geniuses who predicted the Betamax would clobber the VHS, or that New Coke would be a sales bonanza for Coca-Cola, Inc. Predictions like that basically show why I don’t make my living [...]
By Ryan McGowan
As surely as the calendar changes from oh-nine to oh-ten, I’m back with my annual homerific justification and rationalization as to why the Patriots will solidify their Team of the Decade standing with a Super Bowl title. (Or, in the case of last year, why the Super Bowl XLIII champion will always have [...]
By Ryan McGowan
I didn’t sleep much last night. I usually pass out easily on Sunday nights, but this week I kept replaying the final two minutes over and over again in my head. Somehow, I eventually got to sleep—and when I woke up, it all made sense.
Belichick was right. He went for it on 4th [...]
By Ryan McGowan
It’s almost November, and we’re deep into football season. Yes, I realize it’s not exactly the midpoint of the season, but enough marriages have been ended from excessive game watching, friendships strained from fantasy drama, and eyeballs disturbed from staring at electronic screens for hours upon hours of obsessive fandom that we can [...]
By Ryan McGowan
The Patriots are done. Tom Brady is done. Bill Belichick is cooked.
It’s over.
By Ryan McGowan
Consider this my August article. To paraphrase Jimmy Buffett, it must be August 31 somewhere.
My colleague Trevor Freeman broke down the NFC this past weekend and mentioned how baseball has become “unwatchable” for him. Alas, unlike this sad soul, I am still watching the Sox on a nightly basis, and I generally hate [...]
By Ryan McGowan
Some quick hitters as we roll into August, even though by my internal weather-clock it should be late June here in the Northeast…
Ortiz, Manny on steroids
We didn’t get around to discussing this on the podcast yesterday. This topic lost out to Cliff Lee/Roy Halladay trade discussion, Michael Vick and Connecticut Puerto Rican cockfighting, [...]
By Ryan McGowan
Mariano Rivera notched his 500th career save last weekend against the Richmond Braves New York Mets.
Back in the 90’s, or even as recently as 2003, such an event would have been greeted in Red Sox Nation with snotty, sarcastic dismissals and whiny, insecure hating. New England would have made a collective litany of [...]
By Ryan McGowan
It’s only April, of course. And I know that you can’t win the division in April (but you could lose it – see New York Yankees, 2007).
But is there any doubt after the Red Sox swept the Yankees (as well as their recent nine-game homestand) that the chasms between these two franchises are [...]
