RSN: Who is Jerry Spar, and what is Boston Sports Review?
JS: I'm a guy with local roots who worked my way up the ladder as an editor and writer for the Waltham News Tribune, MetroWest Daily News and Boston Herald (where I still contribute part time). Boston Sports Review is Boston's only monthly sports magazine. I guess the best way to describe us would be something like a Sports Illustrated for Boston. We're focused on providing features and short, fun items about all the teams and athletes in the area.
RSN: What is the history of Boston Sports Review? When did it get started, and how has it evolved?
JS: Our publisher, Eric Seamans, has more than a decade of proven success in the magazine business, putting out New England Hockey Journal and New England Ski Journal, and I had done some work for him when I worked at the Herald. We first discussed doing an all-sports magazine about 6-7 years ago, but the timing wasn't right for all involved. We occasionally rekindled the idea over the years, and in 2004, shortly after I left the Herald to spend more time with my growing family, we decided to go ahead with it, with help on the business side from Steve McNulty and editing assistance from another Herald alumnus, Eric Beato. Our timing proved perfect. Our first issue came out two months before the Red Sox won the World Series. (It was very gratifying putting that issue together, along with the Patriots' Super Bowl issues). There have been other Boston sports magazines in years past, dating back to Sunrise in the late 1960s and SportBoston in the late 1980s, but none of them lasted very long. We kept that in mind when we drafted a business plan and tried to keep costs down without sacrificing quality. We started as a free publication on newsprint paper and we've improved to the point where we are now an all-glossy magazine that is sold in hundreds of locations all over New England -- and even some spots in New York. The response has been tremendous, as evidenced by our success on newsstands.
RSN: The issue that just hit the shelves is a special “Year in Review “edition. What are some of the things readers will find when they open the pages?
JS: In short, we have our annual year-end awards, a section of offbeat items from the past 12 months, an analysis of each team's season and a look ahead to 2007. And much more, of course, but you'll have to pick it up to see.
RSN: Boston Sports Review also has a Web presence. Tell us about that, including whether you see your online content expanding in the future.
JS: Our web site is very basic. There's no getting around that. We have occasional stories and columns, but it's a work in progress. We've been focusing on improving the print product, and with the success we've had in stores, it's hard to argue against that. But I would expect to see a major improvement in our web site in 2007. We want to start offering a lot more original and appealing web content, and we have had some discussions to that end. The problem with the web is that it's tougher to see an immediate financial payback, and we're not a big company that can throw a ton of money around and hope things work out a few years from now. As I indicated before, our business plan has been a success because we've been careful not to do things that will put us in the red, thus ensuring we can afford to stick around for a long time to come. But the web site definitely will improve soon. That I can assure you. We understand the importance of that.
RSN: According to the website, Boston Sports Review provides “unique sports content that can't be found from any other media platform.” Give us a few examples of that.
JS: Well, in this current issue, one thing I think is neat is that we polled our readers to select the Boston Athlete of the Year, along with the top rookie, coach, team, play and game. We like getting the fans' input and giving them more of a say in what we do. We also have a "players poll," which is a semi-regular feature in which we ask players from different local teams the same question. This month's is: "Do you have a New Year's Resolution," and we got some interesting and varied responses from members of the Patriots, Celtics and Bruins. A few months ago we asked some Red Sox players if they listened to sports talk radio, and that elicited some good responses as well. In every issue we have trivia questions, a historical feature. a Where Are They Now -- one month we did an entire issue of Where Are They Now and it was one of our most popular issues -- a Q&A, and a humor column from a talented writer named Joe Lavin. We also have stories on the Boston media scene and a regular feature called "Meet the Media" where we profile a local media member and have them tell us about their background and likes and dislikes. We did an issue on the most powerful people in Boston sports, we did a media poll in which we had readers select their favorite and least favorite writers, broadcasters and radio/TV personalities (we're going to do another one of those soon as it was very popular), and we had a big feature on the history of Boston sports radio. We have features each month on all the Boston teams, and we try to take a more magazine-oriented approach to our feature stories to give readers a different style from what they might see in the daily newspaper. And we are able to play up our world-class photos -- just look at the photo spreads we ran in the current issue (Pages 28-33) and you'll see what I mean. You can only get that quality from a full-color magazine, and we're the only one around that's devoted to the Boston sports scene.
RSN: Who are some of the writers that contribute to BSR?
JS: Beside yourself, who we are happy to have on board, we have a long list of talented writers. The guys who do the bulk of our cover stories are Lenny Megliola, the veteran columnist from the MetroWest Daily News who has long been one of my favorite writers, and David Scott, a media critic from the Boston Sports Media Watch website who has been writing for major magazines for more than a decade. We also use some rising newspaper stars including Rob Bradford, Alex Speier, Scott Souza, Albert Breer and Christopher Price. Matt Kalman, who is editor of our sister publication, New England Hockey Journal, handles our Bruins coverage, and Kevin Henkin does a nice job with some Celtics stories. We have columns from Bob Halloran (of Channel 5) and the aforementioned Joe Lavin and David Scott. We've purposefully stayed away from using any full-time Boston Herald or Boston Globe writers, because we want to offer a different perspective from what you see every day in the Boston dailies. We've used Mike Reiss and John Tomase in the past, but stopped when they moved from their regional papers to Boston. We're happy to see them succeed, though, and take some pride in the fact that they were a part of our family first. I'd also like to acknowledge Bill Keefe, who does a great job with our Q&As -- he's interviewed everyone from a Bruins Ice Girl to celebrity Boston sports fans to a psychic (in our current issue) -- and comes up with great story ideas. And Nick Zaino, who also regularly provides some interesting ideas for the front part of our magazine -- called BSR Bits and Pieces. I apologize to those I did not mention, but I don't want this to go on forever.
RSN: Looking back, what are some of your favorite features from previous issues?
JS: The history of Boston sports radio, written by Lenny Megliola, was a great story, and we had some nice artwork to go with it -- including a photo of Glenn Ordway from the late 1970s that was worth a chuckle. The Where Are They Now issue was a blast, led by the cover story on former Red Sox slugger George Scott, along with David Scott's compelling piece about his efforts to track down some famous, infamous and not-so-famous Boston athletes of years past. He was able to find reclusive ex-Patriot Tony Eason in California, only to have Tony hang up on him because of his dislike of Boston. I enjoy our regular history features, as they rekindle some great memories and provide some interesting background. We had a couple of Q&As that stood out. One was with Bruins Ice Girl Kelly Craven, one of the three B's Ice Girls who is or was a law school student -- that's got to be the smartest group of pro cheerleaders I've ever heard of. The other was with comedian Gary Gulman, who still has a beef with his former high school basketball coach in Peabody.
RSN: In your opinion, what is good about the Boston sports media, and what is not so good?
JS: Well, having seen the media in action from both sides -- as an editor and writer (and sometimes photographer) -- for two decades now, it's given me an interesting perspective. There are a number of excellent, hard-working media people in this town, and I enjoy being in the company of many of them and watching people I admire do their job like the professionals they are. This is a very tough job because there are so many people after the exact same thing, so it's very difficult to come up with original stuff. That makes it even more impressive when a guy like Mike Reiss continues to break news and come up with exclusive interviews. And I enjoy seeing a guy like Mike -- a humble, hard-working regular guy -- move up the ladder and get the recognition he deserves. And there are some other young guys to watch for in the next few years -- baseball insider Rob Bradford, another hard-worker who is already making a name for himself, college basketball expert Jeff Goodman, CN8 funnyman John Carchedi and co-host Phil Burton to name a few. On the other side, this market is so oversaturated that sometimes media members cry out for attention with forced controversy instead of good old-fashioned reporting, and some of these guys' egos are out of control. Far worse than any athlete. And they don't just embarrass themselves, they give the entire Boston sports media a bad name. No, I'm not going to name names. Sorry.
RSN: Is this a Red Sox town or a Patriots town? Or is it a Celtics town or a Bruins town? And does the success of each team have any impact your content?
JS: Our cover story for our debut issue back in 2004 discussed whether it's a Red Sox or Patriots town. The answer then, as it is now, is that the Red Sox rule the roost. There's no way around that. Certainly, the success of the teams helps dictate the coverage, but we always have at least one article on each of the four.
RSN: Who do you think is the most popular professional athlete in Boston now, and who is it in the last 20 years?
JS: David Ortiz was a runaway winner in our fans poll for Athlete of the Year, so he'd have to get the nod, especially with Tom Brady struggling a bit this year (as compared to his previous lofty standards). Daisuke Matsuzaka has a chance to be something special if he lives up to the hype. Going back 20 years, I'd have to go with Larry Bird. He combined incredible individual ability with team success like no other athlete has done in this town since (Brady only comes close). There's no one else who comes close, especially considering the lull we had here in the 1990s.
RSN: Give us Jerry Spar’s all-time favorite Red Sox players; one for each position, talent-level isn’t a factor.
JS: Well, I grew up memorizing the "Impossible Dream" album like most kids of that era, so I'd have to go with Jim Lonborg on the mound. Luis Tiant is a close second. Out of the bullpen, I want Steve Crawford because after he helped the Sox beat the Angels in a 1986 playoff game, he admitted his nerves with the memorable quote: "If there was a bathroom on the mound, I would have used it." I was a big fan of Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans growing up, and I'd have to give Yaz the start in left field (which, by the way, gives me an outfield with the same middle name (Michael), one of my favorite obscure trivia questions that I came up with on my own 30 years ago). Dave Henderson is my backup outfielder, not just because I was at Game 5 of the ALCS against the Angels in 1986 as a fan, but I loved seeing the fun he had playing the game. He was almost always smiling. Garry Hancock deserves honorable mention because that standing ovation he got for his first at-bat always stuck with me. I'll go with Bob Montgomery behind the plate. My infield is Don Baylor (13 games there in '86), Jerry Adair, Rico Petrocelli and Carney Lansford. I just liked the way those guys played the game. My DH has to be Big Papi. I'll make Johnny Pesky a coach and go with Ralph Houk as manager because of the fun of watching him try to figure out how to slap five with the players of the early 1980s.
RSN: Looking ahead to 2007, what are a few things we might see in the pages of BSR?
JS: We have some fun features in the works, and we have a couple of serious, issue-oriented pieces that I think will stir up some discussion. The Red Sox once again have offered us plenty of topics with all their comings and goings. But I don't want to give anything away for fear that someone else will take the idea and beat us to it. We'll do another Where Are They Now issue, and we're already starting to prepare our big story on the Boston sports media, including our fans poll of favorites and least favorites. Look for that poll on our web site in another week or two, and please contribute your opinion.
