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
The AFC this year is quirky—so many teams, so few clear-cut favorites. There isn’t even a clear-cut worst team in the conference, as the Raiders shouldn’t be quite as horrid as past years. In fact, the conference title is wide open, pretty much for whichever team can conceal its flaws long enough to [...]
[NOTE: Of course, everything in this column might be completely moot by 10:00 EDT tonight. The author reserves the right to say "I told you so" but also to backtrack 100% in case of something completely unforeseen.]
By Ryan McGowan
There’s only one word to describe tonight’s “The Decision”—embarrassing.
Freaking embarrassing.
By Ryan McGowan
The last three years were more than I ever would have hoped for on May 22, 2007, when I sat down at my old Brighton house on Newton Street to watch the NBA draft lottery.
At the time, we Celtics fans were hoping for the mathematical near-certainty of landing at least one of the [...]
By Ryan McGowan
Dave Cowens, #18 himself, said it best on Friday night.
“Go out there on behalf of the NBA and Red Auerbach and all Celtics present and past,” he said, as he presented the Eastern Conference championship trophy to Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, “and bring home No. 18.’’
By Ryan McGowan
It’s almost May, and the Bruins are still alive in the playoffs, so you know what that means—I’m a hockey fan again.
By Ryan McGowan
A local radio host (Andy Gresh of 98.5 the Sports Hub) got me thinking Sunday morning. Tom Brady, Gresh said, is Boston sports. With all due respect to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Josh Beckett, and maybe Jason Varitek, when people think of sports in the Hub, #12 shows up in their minds as [...]
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 [...]
