The Z-Team
TWO WEEKS AGO, in an item about the New York Press's roster of the "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers," I asked readers to nominate Bostonians for a list of our own. After receiving some 150 emails and 250 posts on Boston.com, the results are in. But space constraints, as well as a disinclination on my part to reveal the identities of those nominees I have to work with (only one of whom, a sportswriter, made the Top 20), prevent me from revealing the complete list. What follow are the highlights.
The Top 10 "most loathsome" Bostonians, according to readers, are – in descending order – Mitt Romney ("Fake Bostonian"), Ben Affleck ("No-talent actor mooching off his Boston roots"), Cardinal Bernard Law (in absentia), Tom Finneran, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Tom Menino, WRKO's Howie Carr, Big Dig overseer Matthew J. Amorello, and WTKK's Mike Barnicle. These worthies are followed closely by WEEI's Gerry Callahan; Johnny Damon (as author, not athlete); William Bulger (whose brother Whitey tied for 50th place with Jay Leno and "Fever Pitch" star Jimmy Fallon – "Take off the Sox gear you phony"); Curt Schilling ("It's like the entire city of Boston can't make a decision until they get Schilling's input"); and, tied for 15th place, a lineup of grating furniture-store spokespersons: Bob of Bob's Discount Furniture, Eliot and Barry of Jordan's, and Bernie and Phyl of Bernie & Phyl's ("GO AWAY").
Things get more interesting if we remove from consideration all politicians, local TV/radio personalities, and salesmen. Affleck now tops the list, with three times as many votes as the No. 2 guy, Damon – that's Johnny again, not Matt, who tied for 49th place with uberlawyer Alan Dershowitz and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler ("If I hear him butcher the national anthem one more time I may jump from the Tobin Bridge"). Nos. 3 and 4 are ubiquitous reality-show contestant "Boston Rob" Mariano ("Get a new hat") and celebrity chef Todd English ("I'm stretched too thin – just like my pizza"). A couple of bigwigs – former GE exec Jack Welch ("Yuck!") and Gillette chief Jim Kilts ("Carpetbagger") are Nos. 5 and 7. The rest all hail from the groves of academe: ex-BU honcho John Silber (#6), Kennedy historian and baseball pundit Doris Kearns Goodwin (#9), and Harvard president Lawrence Summers (#10) – who may be surprised to discover that a woman bested him at something, especially an unpopularity contest.
As for No. 8 on the adjusted list of Most Loathsome Bostonians, it's yours truly. Why? Because my Top 50 list wasn't an original idea ("You're a joke to credible journalists doing real work"), Bostonians should be classier than New Yorkers ("Be the better city and embrace all of our celebrities"), and nobody should bad-mouth Ben ("If you could have a day in Affleck's life you'd jump at the chance"). No argument here, on the first two points anyway.
