The Greater Boston area has become a center of the sporting universe over the last five years, particularly in light of the success of both the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox. Of course, the New England sports fan can’t get enough coverage of their favorite teams in regular times – these years have been no regular times. The Red Sox have won the 2004 and 2007 World Series; the Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls and reached two consecutive AFC Championship games.
Following a 16-0 season, the Patriots run to this years’ AFC Championship game has the clamor for Patriots information getting even louder. If you’re not in Boston, you may not have the easiest time sorting out the local coverage. Where can the out of town fan find the nitty-gritty information on their teams without turning to the national pundits?
The Big Two.
The Boston Globe is the largest of the Boston newspapers. Sporting coverage includes such notable writers as Bob Ryan, Dan Shaugnessy, and Eric Wilber. Mike Reiss frequently blogs the Patriots, and readers are encouraged to submit their “fan photos.” Also prominently featured are the commemorative sections for past Super Bowl glory, a breakdown of Tom Brady’s throwing motion, and of course a Patriots forum.
The Boston Herald print version is formatted as a tabloid – the back pages are all Patriots coverage. Where the Globe focuses their attention on the Red Sox, the Herald fills the niche with Patriots coverage. The Herald features Tony Massarotti, Karen Guregian, Steve Buckley, John Tamasse, and Michael Felger. Felger has taken on the job of reporting out “The Patriots Report Card,” and has written a history of the Patriots somewhat less glorious past entitled, Tales From the Patriots Sidelines.
“Greater Boston.” Realizing the “Greater Boston” area encompasses six states and several cities, no sports reporting resource would be complete without news outlets from these areas. Indeed, the Patriots play in Foxborough – a small town equi-distant from Boston and Providence, RI.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette covers Central Massachusetts and as one gets farther away from Boston, the sports coverage shifts from being a predominantly professional affair to coverage of the local colleges and minor league teams: Worcester is home to 9 colleges, The Worcester Tornados of the Can-Am Baseball League and the Worcester Sharks, the San Jose NHL franchises’ AHL affiliate. Patriots coverage is supplied by Rich Garven, Jennifer Toland and Bill Doyle. The T&G; is owned by the Times Company, the same company which owns the Boston Globe – this allows some cross pollination of the content as well.
The Metrowest Daily News is a local paper from the Boston suburb of Framingham. The major name associated with Patriots coverage is Lenny Megliola; coverage also includes a lesser known writer, Douglas Flynn. The “Daily News” will also capture a significant number of Associated Press articles. This will not be your first stop for hard hitting Patriots action, but there will be some original articles of interest.
The Providence Journal coverage of the Patriots includes a heavy emphasis on photography and a staff blog. ProJo Patriots writer Shalise Manza Young is a writer of some note with sometimes off beat pieces. Providence has some claim to being the Patriots’ home city in as much as it has often been considered by the NFL to be the “host city” when the Patriots play a Championship game, but it is not large enough to support a paper as large as its competitors to the North.
Other New England Coverage.
The Hartford Courant is in a trickier predicament. Somewhere along the baseball fault line known as “Munson-Nixon” sits Hartford. For years before the New England Patriots came into existence, and for more than a few thereafter, New England was New York Giants territory. It took more than 30 years for the Patriots to emerge as a viable option for a good number of football fans in New England to accept them and during that time the New York Football Giants kept a significant fan base. The Courant walks the line between the team with the words “New England” in its name, and the team a sizable number of people within its readership still follow even though their name begins with “New York” with two distinct sections on their site – one for each team. Patriots writers include David Heuschke and Jeff Goldberg. The Courant republishes Associated Press material and relies on photo galleries.
The Manchester Union Leader is a New Hampshire newspaper known more for their politics than sports coverage, but there is a reasonable section on their website devoted to Patriots/NFL coverage. Coverage is supplied by Ian Clark and through Associated Press wire articles.
Another New Hampshire paper of note is the Nashua Telegraph. Writing duties fall to Tom King, with Associated Press wire articles to fill in gaps. Mr. King also maintains a Patriots blog as well.
There are many other news media outlets in the Greater Boston/New England media market that will provide varying degrees of sports coverage; newspapers from the smaller Massachusetts cities of Quincy and Lawrence and the hometown paper of the New England Patriots The Sun Chronicle which covers several communities, including Foxborough.
