On Bob Ryan and the art of the gamer

jr/shotglass · Oct 10, 2014

Great read from Grantland's Bryan Curtis.

http://grantland.com/features/the-commissioner-bob-ryan-nba-career-boston-celtics-boston-globe-larry-bird-new-book-scribe/

Songbird · Oct 10, 2014

Bob Ryan and Peter Gammons started at the Globe on the same day: June 10, 1968. It wasn’t immediately clear they could write. It was immediately clear they could talk. “Ryan and Gammons were the original PTI,” said Lesley Visser, who joined the paper in 1974. They could argue about anything. Their voices were passionate and nerdy and would sound throughout the Globe’s sports desk.

One day, Tom Fitzgerald, a crusty hockey writer, looked up from his copy and said, “Is my typing bothering you two?”

“No, no, don’t worry about it!” Ryan said.
Click to expand...

Funny.

Songbird · Oct 10, 2014

“The Celtics are not just a messy living room after the kids have finished opening the Christmas gifts,” Ryan wrote on December 30, 1977. “[T]hey are not merely an unmade bed which can be straightened out with 10 seconds of pulling and tugging. They are nothing less than downtown San Francisco after The Earthquake … ”

That was a Bob Ryan lede — reaching out from the sports page and grabbing you by the lapels. In 1973, the Celtics were tied with the Knicks 3-3 in the conference finals and eyeing a matchup with the Lakers. Ryan began his April 27 story, “OK, so it’s too soon to start singing, ‘California, Here I Come,’ but it’s now permissible to hum it.”

The Knicks won Game 7. When the New York writers walked by Ryan on press row, they were humming “California, Here I Come.”

“Remember, all this is on deadline,” Ryan said. “That was the fun part. Insight and readability in 45 minutes or an hour.”
Click to expand...

Funny.

Songbird · Dec 15, 2014

Gotta say too that this picture kicks ass.

poindexter · Oct 10, 2014

That picture is incredible. The absolute wonder of all the kids around him. Had they never seen a typewriter before? And the guy ready to light up a sig.

Gammons looks like a young Stuttering John.

joe king · Oct 10, 2014

Songbird said:

“The Celtics are not just a messy living room after the kids have finished opening the Christmas gifts,” Ryan wrote on December 30, 1977. “[T]hey are not merely an unmade bed which that can be straightened out with 10 seconds of pulling and tugging. They are nothing less than downtown San Francisco after The Earthquake … ”

That was a Bob Ryan lede — reaching out from the sports page and grabbing you by the lapels. In 1973, the Celtics were tied with the Knicks 3-3 in the conference finals and eyeing a matchup with the Lakers. Ryan began his April 27 story, “OK, so it’s too soon to start singing, ‘California, Here I Come,’ but it’s now permissible to hum it.”

The Knicks won Game 7. When the New York writers walked by Ryan on press row, they were humming “California, Here I Come.”

“Remember, all this is on deadline,” Ryan said. “That was the fun part. Insight and readability in 45 minutes or an hour.”
Click to expand...

Funny.
Click to expand...

Needs a fuckin' editor.

cranberry · Oct 10, 2014

The Globe and Philly Daily News of that era assembled a couple of the best sports staffs ever.

BillyT · Oct 10, 2014

I was fortunate enough to be in college and just starting out in the business in the mid-70s and early 80s, and reading The Globe sports section was simply an absolute joy.

Songbird · Dec 15, 2014

Songbird said:

Gotta say too that this picture kicks ass.

Click to expand...

Would be interesting to know if any of the 3 boys around him became writers.

Joe Williams · Dec 15, 2014

Songbird said:

Songbird said:

Gotta say too that this picture kicks ass.

Click to expand...

Would be interesting to know if any of the 3 boys around him became writers.
Click to expand...

Picture looks like something Babe Ruth would have been in, with kids hanging all over and around him.

Hope those kids didn't grow up to be analytics fanatics who now consider Ryan to be a grumpy old man.

Log in or Sign up

On Bob Ryan and the art of the gamer

jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

poindexter Well-Known Member

joe king Active Member

cranberry Well-Known Member

BillyT Active Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

Joe Williams Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

On Bob Ryan and the art of the gamer

jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

poindexter Well-Known Member

joe king Active Member

cranberry Well-Known Member

BillyT Active Member

Songbird Well-Known Member

Joe Williams Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches