Re: Mercer-less

[Andy Shaw <shaw@transmeta.com>]

|   From: opi@unesco.org
|   Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 20:14:59 +0200
|   
|   > (clipped) Forgive me, but I can't help stirring up
|   > the hornet's nest. Having just witnessed Bob Ryan's vituperative
|   > no-holds-barred assassination of AW's character, would it be correct to
|   > assume that this merely represents yet one more instance that uniquely
|   > virulent Boston racism?
|   >
|   > Cheers,
|   >
|   > Tom Murphy
|   
|        I'm glad to see Tom is still out there - yet another of the many fine
|   Cambridge  (or at least MIT) "townies" involved with the Celts list. :-) I bet
|   you all are just stunned to here me react on this particular subject (race)!
|   Well surprise, I personally don't think Bob Ryan can ever be accused of what
|   amounts here to a subconscious race bias. If you ask me, it's all about the
|   generational gap and manners with Bob Ryan. He's routinely outraged by any
|   example of stupid behavior by young athletes, whatever the color. If anything,
|   he is a true bleeding-heart Beantown/Hahvard liberal type who regularly feels a
				^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!!!!!!
|   need to actually apologize on behalf of any public behavior by fans or athletes
|   that suggest arrogance or lack of sportsmanship no matter how trivial (the
|   "USA!" chants at international sporting events; Sox fans in game 4; the dream
|   team overkill etc.).

Uh, "Hahvard" liberal type?!

I'm pretty sure that Bob Ryan would be horrified by the suggestion.
He is the prototypical Boston College, Boston Irish, Boston
Establishment figure.  Think Ray Flynn, Mike Barnicle, Dan
Shaughnessy, Tom Finneran.  It's interesting to note that it's the
*politicians* on that list who are the decent ones ...

The Irish ran Boston for over 50 years (Menino is the first non-Irish
mayor since 1903!), and they've run the Boston Globe sports section
for most of the last 20 years or more.

The level of sports reporting has really sunk -- Ryan and Shaughnessy
may have been decent sports reporters at some point in the past, but
they've just become lazy, pompous, crypto-racist asses like Mike
Barnicle, and should get kicked the hell out of the Globe except that
it's harder to plagiarize sports reporting, and they're "Boston
institutions".

-Andy