Getting inside look at pro sports
The intention was to use the final line of this SporTView to thank all -- readers and newsmakers alike -- who have made writing this chunk of the sports section a labor of love for the past four years.
However, that line moved to the top because this reporter's 40-year career came full circle this week. The journey began Aug. 1, 1965, when an eager Northeastern University co-op student walked into the Globe's sports department for his first night of work.
The journey ended Tuesday, as I went ''back to college," thanks to an invitation from Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione to join his Sports Broadcasting classes from Northeastern and Franklin Pierce on their field trip to the TD Banknorth Garden as guests of Bruins executive Nate Greenberg and coach Mike Sullivan.
It was the second of the students' trips this fall. Each provided a series of real-life lessons, the type NU students don't get in Room 425 at Hayden Hall.
Their trip to Fenway Park Nov. 2 was the day former GM Theo Epstein chose to hold his news conference to talk about his resignation. Thus, the first half of their class was relocated to the Green Monster seats while the Crown Royal all-purpose room was used for the media gathering. Once the press cleared out, the students moved in for sessions with a series of Sox executives, including executive vice president of public affairs Dr. Charles Steinberg.
Tuesday, WBZ Radio's Dave Goucher spoke to the class in Loge 101 of the Garden even as the Bruins had their team picture taken and then practiced; afterward, Sullivan and rookie center Brad Boyes joined the students in the Will McDonough Press Room for two media conferences.
All three sessions were illuminating.
Goucher talked about the importance of getting that first job -- in his case with the Wheeling (W.Va.) Thunderbirds of the ECHL -- and the need to wear many hats, including media relations, advertising sales, and traveling secretary.
He told them how his career path took him home to Rhode Island, where he was calling the Providence Bruins games while Don Orsillo was doing the same for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Orsillo is a graduate of Castiglione's course and his tape of a 1989 class -- looking like something from the early days of TV -- is shown yearly by Castiglione.
''Don and I would get together for lunch every couple of months and wonder if we'd ever get a break and a major league job," he said. ''Then it happened for both of us within six months in 2000."
Boyes, roughly the same age as the students, seemed to bond with his audience as they went back and forth with questions. When the students asked what he'd have done if his hockey career hadn't worked out, Boyes told them he'd be in school, just like them.
Then he turned the tables on his questioners, asking how NU's hockey team was doing (1-8-1 as of Tuesday), what courses they were taking, and about their career hopes. He was envisioning what life as a student would have been like for him. Down the road, he said, ''I'd like to own my own company someday, to have the opportunity to use my mind."
''Using your mind" was a message reinforced by Sullivan, who told the students his trip to the podium after games was ''a walk of terror," then proceeded to speak eloquently.
Sullivan told the classes he enjoyed his job, even during the team's current adversity. ''I love it, even though we're in a down time now," he said. ''It's not a time when you want to see your name in the paper every day. The chips are down, and it's time to show what you're made of.
''We've got a lot of new bodies this year. It's a very different group than my other two teams at Providence and Boston. The challenge is to get them to pull together. We're trying to create a team ID."
He used the Patriots as an example. ''I don't know [coach] Bill Belichick personally, but I have the utmost respect for him. I watch his players' media comments. It's part of his influence that the message gets out to the rest of the league that 'we're family.'
''My job isn't a lot different from management. It's motivating players, inspiring them to work for a common cause, and building relationships."
That's something Castiglione has done with his classes and program. The messages were clear all around that sports media circle.
Shared love of books
Recently, Armen Keteyian sat down with Bill and Steve Belichick to talk about their relationship and their huge shared collection of football books. Steve Belichick passed away last Saturday. Keteyian's piece will air Sunday on ''The NFL Today" (Channel 4, noon-1 p.m.) before the Chiefs-Patriots game . . . The emergence of Chris Simms as a solid NFL quarterback with Tampa Bay is a source of pride and potential conflict for CBS lead game analyst Phil Simms, whose network covers the AFC. ''I'm glad my son's in the NFC so it won't come up so much," Phil Simms said on a CBS conference call Monday. ''[Colts coach] Tony Dungy brought it up last week while we were meeting before the Colts-Bengals game, and I told him, 'Tony, can you imagine if you were playing my son's team in the playoffs, and I came in here and asked about your defensive plans?' " Whether he'd work a game involving his son -- as Bob Griese did with his son, Brian -- Simms said, ''Like everyone in life, I know who I work for and do what they tell me. That decision will be made by CBS." Executive producer of CBS Sports Tony Petitti sounded intrigued by the possibility, wary of the pitfalls, and ready to make that decision should the situation arise. ''We'd talk about the upside and value what Phil thinks," he said. ''We'd take his wishes into consideration, but we won't put any of our people in a situation where they're not comfortable." . . . As for the father, criticize his work, but lay off his kid. After ESPN's Steve Young questioned the younger Simms's mental toughness on ''NFL Countdown" last Sunday, saying, ''I worry that he grew up in a much different atmosphere, a laissez-faire kind of atmosphere," his father retorted, ''Who can be tougher than him [Chris], physically or by what he endures [as Phil Simms's son] . . . Steve should follow football more than one day a week." Wednesday, Phil wrote on NFL.com, ''I'm not saying I'm proud that I spoke out earlier this week, but I would do it again under similar circumstances. A lot of people criticize my son, and they have for many years. I understand the business, so I remain quiet. If that's what you do, that's what you do. But I thought this instance was different. Young questioned Chris's mental toughness and said it was due to a laissez-faire upbringing. It was a thought that I know not to be true. Even though I'm in the business and he is my son, I didn't feel like I had to refrain and let that go. I speak out weekly about NFL matters -- about players, teams, and coaches -- that I know are not true. I speak out about perceptions that other people in my business have. And when I totally disagree, I say it. I say it in this column, I say it on radio shows, I say it on Sundays. So I've said my piece, and I will not talk about it ever again." . . . Artist/cartoonist/radio talk show host Larry Johnson finally has his work online at larryjohnsonart.com. We've seen his cartoons and caricatures for years; now his fine art efforts are available, too . . . Keith Olbermann, who has joined ESPN radio's Dan Patrick from 2-3 p.m. each Friday, makes it a daily collaboration beginning Monday . . . ''Nancy Kerrigan's World of Skating," a weekly hour of skating news, features, competition, and exhibitions, debuts Sunday on CN8 at 10 p.m. Kerrigan will skate in some exhibitions and co-host weekly with Lou Tilley . . . Few journalists have been allowed behind the scenes on ''Monday Night Football" in recent years. ''Real Sports" takes us there Tuesday (HBO, 9 p.m.) with a retrospective on the 35-year run of prime-time football on ABC . . . Sunday's Patriots-Chiefs game will be the topic tonight when the Globe's Jerome Solomon joins former Patriot Tim Fox and host Bob Neumeier on ''Sportsplus" (NESN, 6 and 10:30 p.m.) . . . ''60 Minutes" continues its sports segments, visiting tennis star James Blake Sunday (Channel 4, 7 p.m.). CBS has the NFL Films documentary on former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle tomorrow (Channel 4, 2 p.m.), a show that helps explain the NFL's hold as the nation's No. 1 TV sport.
