Author: BostonMac

Ryan is a teacher, writer, journalist, basketball coach, sports aficionado, occasional real estate agent, and political junkie. He graduated from both the College of the Holy Cross (bachelor's) and Boston College (Master's), 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 homer who, according to lore, once picked the Patriots to win for 25 straight weeks on the "NFL Picks Show," which he co-hosts with Vin Diec, R.J. Warner, and Burton DeWitt. He is also an original co-host of SportsColumn's "Poor Man's PTI." He is married, lame, and a lifelong Massachusetts resident (except for a brief sojourn into the wilds of Raleigh, NC) who grew up in North Attleboro and currently lives and works in Everett.

NBA General

Larry Legend- the Nation Turns its Lonely Eyes to You

Post author By BostonMac
Post date February 21, 2005
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By Ryan McGowan

A couple of months ago, I was playing cards at home with a few buddies in our usual Thursday night game. For whatever reason, we decided to put on my roommate’s DVD copy of Larry Bird: A Basketball Legend, a video on which at least four questions on the tenth-grade MCAS exam should be based. (Perhaps a compare-and-contrast essay topic in which the student has to dissect the Bird-Magic rivalry in the context of the greater cultural Boston-L.A. rivalry, for some interdisciplinary learning.)

General Sports

The Commonwealth of Mass Euphoria

Post author By BostonMac
Post date February 8, 2005
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By Ryan McGowan

Who would have thought they’d live long enough to see it?

I’m not talking about the Red Sox winning the World Series. I’m not talking about the Patriots winning the Super Bowl, once an unthinkable concept that never crossed our minds during the Tony Eason/Hart Lee Dykes/Zeke Mowatt era of the Patriots in which I grew up. I’m certainly not talking about the Patriots winning three out of four Super Bowls, which during my high school years in the mid-90’s seemed about as likely as my chances of getting with Tiffany Amber-Thiessen.

New England Patriots

Who Needs Warmth? We’ve Got the Pats!

Post author By BostonMac
Post date January 25, 2005
1 Comment on Who Needs Warmth? We’ve Got the Pats!

By Ryan McGowan

Recently I was driving with my parents up to Waterville, Maine, to watch my brother play basketball for Colby College. I have never been a huge fan of the Pine Tree State. Even with my father’s affection for the state he went to college in, the love for Maine is by no means genetic. I don’t mind a nice Saturday afternoon drive past moose crossings and through toll booths manned by 80-year-old guys who look like they just crawled out of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, ending up in some old factory city which the factory abandoned decades ago. It’s kind of relaxing. I just don’t know how anyone could ever live there voluntarily. In fact, if not for Maine’s network of small but highly reputable colleges, I don’t know why anyone from the Lower 47 states would ever venture there between the months of September and June.

New England Patriots

Who Can Doubt the Patriots Now?

Post author By BostonMac
Post date January 17, 2005
3 Comments on Who Can Doubt the Patriots Now?

by Ryan McGowan

After watching yesterday’s NFL divisional playoff games, I feel like a jaded father whose son has just gotten suspended from school for the third time for misbehavior: When are you going to learn?

Specifically, when is Sports Nation going to learn that when it comes to the NFL, this is Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s world, and everyone else is just paying rent?

Boston Red Sox

Wade Boggs: Crazy- but Great

Post author By BostonMac
Post date January 10, 2005
2 Comments on Wade Boggs: Crazy- but Great

By Ryan McGowan

Memo to Red Sox Nation: You can now breathe a sweet sigh of relief. Wade Boggs will be wearing a Boston cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.

New England Patriots

Charlie Weis: Finally- Something to Write About

Post author By BostonMac
Post date December 13, 2004
2 Comments on Charlie Weis: Finally- Something to Write About

By Ryan McGowan

God bless Notre Dame.

You’d think with my last name that I’d be a bigger Fighting Irish fan, but I’m not. I’m not a Notre Dame hater, just more of a Notre Dame agnostic; I am basically indifferent to the institution. (As opposed to a Notre Dame atheist, who believes that Notre Dame doesn’t exist.) But God bless them today. I love Notre Dame.

Random Thoughts

California- Here We Come

By Ryan McGowan

I’ve been humming the same bars of music for weeks now. If I knew anything about notes and melodies, I could easily play it on a piano. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, mindlessly flubbing unintelligible lyrics, but the song is always the same.

NFL General

Drew Bledsoe = Elaine Benes?

Post author By BostonMac
Post date November 17, 2004
6 Comments on Drew Bledsoe = Elaine Benes?

By Ryan McGowan

Let’s flash back around eleven years, to 1993. The Patriots, in their first year under Bill Parcells and Drew Bledsoe, finished 5-11, seven games behind the Buffalo Bills. The Red Sox finished 80-82, fifteen games behind the Blue Jays. The Celtics were eliminated by the Charlotte Hornets in four games, and Reggie Lewis died shortly thereafter. Only the Bruins were able to salvage some respectability, with a first place finish in the then-Adams Division. It wasn’t the best of times for Boston sports.

Boston Red Sox

Rewriting History

By Ryan McGowan

Some day, maybe in 2034, some disgruntled, fan-beaten manager of the Boston Red Sox will issue a harsh rant to the assembled throng of media members in the clubhouse:

“All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. Doug Mientkiewicz isn’t walking through that door, friends. Dave Roberts isn’t walking through that door, and Pokey Reese is not walking through that door. And if they did, they’d be old and gray.”

Boston Red Sox

I Almost Bought a Yankee Hat

Post author By BostonMac
Post date October 17, 2004
3 Comments on I Almost Bought a Yankee Hat

By Ryan McGowan

I almost did it. I almost bought a Yankee hat.

I was driving from Boston to North Attleboro on Sunday for my dad’s birthday and stopped at the Walpole Mall, knowing full well that the closer I got to Foxboro, the more chance I had of accidentally driving into a state trooper setting out orange cones for traffic control, which would not be a good thing. I wanted to get my dad a book at Barnes and Noble. Hey, I`ve only bought him about 20 books over the years, approximately 5% of which he’s actually read. Still, I figure I can get away with buying him books because at least I can read them when I come visit.