July 8, 2013
Last time now-former Boston Bruin Tyler Seguin got all homophobic on his Twitter feed, the Boston Herald beat the Globe on the story. This time it’s the other way around.
From Christopher Gasper’s column today:
Bruins gave up on Tyler Seguin too soon
If Tyler Seguin is as good at shutting down his Twitter account as he was at getting shut out on the scoresheet in the playoffs then his days of 140-character missives are — like his days donning the Spoked-B — done.
Both the Bruins and Twitter being Seguin-free seem like good ideas right now, quick fixes to aggravating problems. But they might prove rash overreactions in the end. Professional athletes have to learn how to deal with the consequences of celebrity in the social media age and patience has to be shown with a potential franchise player whose talent level far exceeds his maturity level.
The Bruins gave up on Seguin too soon, trading him July 4 to the Dallas Stars and confining him to the dustbin of failed face-of-the-franchise forwards along with Joe Thornton and Phil Kessel after just three seasons . . .
And then, this: “For a player who never liked to take a lot of hits on the ice, Seguin is sure absorbing them off it. The latest one came Saturday night when a tweet from his Twitter account said, ‘Only steers and queers in Texas, and I’m not a cow.'”
The Stars, of course, immediately shifted into damage control while Seguin claimed his Twitter feed was hacked. Either way, he’s gone social-media silent.
As was today’s Herald on the topic. Stephen Harris looks at Seguin’s exit, but without the tweet heat.
Suffice to say, teams don’t quit on 21-year-old No. 2 overall draft choices with the brilliant skills of Seguin unless they have very good reasons. The team deserves some blame for not doing a better job of supervising Seguin. In times past, teenagers like Stephane Quintal, Joe Thornton and Patrice Bergeron were placed with area families who offered them the same sort of stability and control they used with their own children.
It sure sounds like the Seguin-Bruins story could have had a happier ending if that had been done with this kid when he first came to Boston at age 18. But it was not. So you get the reports of underage partying, the online photos of dancing on the bar, the fast cars, the messy apartment, etc., and you get a ticket on the next plane to Dallas.
The feisty local tabloid does have an AP story on its website now, but that only counts in horseshoes.
3 Comments | 
Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Bruins, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Christopher Gasper, Dallas Stars, steers and queers, Stephen Harris, Texas, Tyler Seguin | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 6, 2013
For two days now the Boston Herald has been on Nantucket John Kerry like Brown on Williamson over his paddling while Egypt burns.
Yesterday’s front page:
Today Kerry just got the top of Page One:
But the feisty local tabloid gave Long Jawn a good working-over on page two.
Experts: John Kerry’s credibility could sink with boat flap
John F. Kerry’s credibility took on more water on the second day of his Nantucket vacation flap, as the State Department backed off its initial denial the embattled secretary of state was yachting during the Egyptian military coup — and President Obama tweeted a photo of himself kayaking in a hat, sunglasses and polo shirt.
The Herald reported yesterday that Kerry spent the Fourth of July cavorting on his island getaway even as chaos from the military’s ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi rocked Egypt.
The State Department also conceded that yes, Kerry “was ‘briefly’ aboard his $7 million luxury craft, the Isabel, on the day of the coup, after previously insisting the yacht sighting was ‘completely inaccurate.'”
Gotcha!
Crosstown at Boston Globe the only thing Kerry got was let off the hook. Page One:
Jump:
But here’s the best – and most lenient – part of the piece (note the choice of “on a yacht” vs. “on his yacht”):
Meanwhile, the Kerry camp was sidetracked by a self-inflicted wound after a State Department spokeswoman initially denied that Kerry had been on a yacht in Nantucket while Egypt was undergoing its latest revolution. The spokeswoman on Friday retracted her denial, which led to the image of Kerry on his yacht getting even more attention. The criticism came from predictably partisan quarters, but still it was a distraction at a critical time.
Hey, Heraldniks: You gonna take that lying down?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Egypt, John F. Kerry, Mohammed Morsi, Nantucket, Secretary of State, State Department, yacht Isabel | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 6, 2013
From our Walt Whitman desk
You know that visit to Boston Pope John Paul II made in 1979? Turns out it was all the Boston Herald’s doing.
Page 6 of today’s feisty local tabloid:
Close-up:
So forever-orange-tinted George Regan says it was, well, George Regan who got it done back in ’79.
And orange we glad he did.
Badda-boom.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, Boston Herald American, Don Forst, George Regan, John Paul II, Kevin White, Walt Whitman | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 3, 2013
If you’re looking for the good dirt on Aaron Hernandez in the local dailies today, the Boston Herald is the place to go.
Page 2 of the feisty local tabloid:
Past run-ins paint image of big-headed Aaron Hernandez
Aaron Hernandez’s repeated high-handed brushes with the law — including one just last January when he allegedly dropped his own celebrity name in a bid to have a statie go easy on his pal — suggest a sense of entitlement dating to the murder defendant’s days as a Florida Gator.
“Trooper, I’m Aaron Hernandez. It’s OK,” State Trooper Eric Papkee reported he was told by the passenger after he pulled over an SUV that had been chasing a station wagon and weaving at speeds of up to 105 mph on Jan. 28 on the Southeast Expressway. Hernandez’s buddy Alexander Bradley — who is now suing Hernandez, claiming he shot him in the face a month later after a night of revelry at a Florida strip club — was at the wheel in the Massachusetts incident and was hit with a second offense drunken driving charge.
Good friend, yeah?
Then there was the 2007 rumpus when Hernandez punched a Florida restaurant manager (rupturing his eardrum) who had the nerve to ask Hernandez to pay for his drinks. Then-college teammate Testament Tim Tebow tried, but apparently failed, to keep Hernandez out of that jam.
More dish? Try the Track:
Hernandez ‘fans’ draw scorn
He may be charged with ruthlessly gunning down a pal in cold blood — and be under investigation for a double murder — but chicks still dig Aaron Hernandez!
Since his arrest, the Twitterverse has been flooded with missives from smitten ladies who still find the former Patriots tight end attractive, despite the heinous crime he is charged with committing. And a Facebook page called Free Aaron Hernandez with the tagline “Innocent Until Proven Guilty” had nearly 3,000 “Likes” yesterday.
“Aaron I pray for you every night & day. I hope everything works out in the end for you,” posted Krystale Anne, one of the scores of Facebook friends who sent out good wishes to the imprisoned ex-Patriot.
And etc.
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, it’s all pretty pedestrian:
Broken mirror sought in Aaron Hernandez case
They will not say why they want it, but investigators remain keenly interested in finding a side mirror from the Nissan Altima believed driven by former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez on the day prosecutors said he allegedly orchestrated the killing of Dorchester resident Odin Lloyd.
Police have been searching for the mirror since the early days of the investigation, after Lloyd was shot to death early on the morning of June 17 in an industrial park near Hernandez’s North Attleborough home.
Not exactly mirror images the Boston dailies, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Hernandez, Alexander Bradley, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, broken mirror, Free Aaron Hernandez, Inside Track, Testament Tim Tebow | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 2, 2013
As the hardworking staff at Campaign Outsider noted earlier, the Times-Industrial Complex rendered a split decision on Showtime’s new series Ray Donovan. New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley found it “grandiose, predictable and painfully slow,” while kissin’ cousin Boston Globe critic Matthew Gilbert considered it “fantastic.”
So the hardworking staff went to a tiebreaker: Wall Street Journal critic Dorothy Rabinowitz, who called it a “hard-bitten and buoyant tale.”
But then came Boston Herald critic Mark Perigard, who hated it.
So we needed another tiebreaker.
Which was me and the Missus.
Our verdict:
Meh.
The Missus wants to stipulate that we love Liev Schreiber, but the rest of the cast does a lot of scenery-chewing, and Jon Voight has had so much cosmetic surgery, it now qualifies as a head transplant.
Regardless, we’ll give it one more chance.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Alessandra Stanley, Boston Herald, Campaign Outsider, Dorothy Rabinowitz, Jon Voight, Liev Schreiber, Mark Perigard, Matthew Gilbert, Ray Donovan, Showtime, Times-Industrial Complex, Wall Street Journal | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 1, 2013
Monday coverage of the James “Whitey” Bulger trial is always challenging for the local dailies, there being no weekend court sessions. So enterprise stories are the order of the day for both papers.
Start with the Boston Globe, which features Page One portraits of the three sketch artists chronicling the trial.
The three freelancers – Jane Flavell Collins of Duxbury, Margaret Small of Cambridge, and Christine Cornell , a New Jersey artist drawing the Bulger trial for CNN – all use binoculars to get up close to their subjects for their pastel sketches. And all three have good stories to tell.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, it’s a different side of Bulger that’s on display.
Track Gal Gayle Fee has the inside story on two letters purportedly written by Bulger to a South Boston man last year.
Whitey Bulger’s mail from jail
Alleged letters up for sale by dealer
In letters purportedly written by accused crime lord James “Whitey” Bulger to a man in South Boston, Bulger gave fatherly advice, waxed nostalgic about his days in Alcatraz and insisted that he offered to plead guilty to all charges — including 19 murders — if the feds would only free his ladylove Catherine Greig.
“I offered since day one to plead guilty to all crimes I’m accused of if they free Catherine but answer is ‘No.’ They want their ‘Big Circus Trial,’” Bulger wrote in a pair of letters that are currently being offered for sale by Saugus memorabilia dealer Phil Castinetti.
Our favorite part: Bulger pining away for the good old days in Alcatraz:
“The healthy salt air,” he wrote, “open front 9 by 5 foot barred cells and eating in a mess hall — yard with weights to work out with and lots of good convicts. None of that here [in the Plymouth jail].”
Yeah – just can’t find good convicts around here anymore.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Alcatraz, Anthony Cardinale, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Catherine Greig, Gayle Fee, James "Whitey" Bulger, Jane Flavell Collins, Margaret Small. Christine Cornell, Phil Castinetti, Track Gal | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
June 29, 2013
It’s no secret that Red Sox owner John Henry is one on the bidders lining up to buy the Boston Globe. Here’s how the Globe itself addressed Henry’s bid yesterday:
At least six groups submit bids to buy The Boston Globe
At least six groups are believed to have submitted bids to buy The Boston Globe, according to several people involved in or briefed on the offers.
The bidders, whose offers were due Thursday at 5 p.m., include several of the names previously reported to have been exploring bids, as well as Red Sox owner John Henry and his Fenway Sports Group . . .
Henry made his bid along with his New England Sports Network co-owner, Delaware North Cos. Delaware is owned by Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs.
The New York Times Co., which is selling the Globe, previously owned a stake in the Red Sox.
Leave it to the Boston Herald, however, to expose the dark underbelly of the potential deal.
John Henry’s Globe bid raises fears
Sports coverage could be affected
Sports-savvy readers could be crying foul if Red Sox owner John Henry’s bid to team up with the owner of the Bruins to buy the Globe wins out, fearing the beleaguered broadsheet would shy away from hard-hitting coverage, according to media experts.
“If he owns the paper, he can give good coverage to the team,” said Edward Atorino, a media analyst with The Benchmark Company. “I know what I would do if it were my paper. I’d certainly want a bias to the positive of covering my team — come on.”
A bias to the positive of covering my team? Smooth analysis.
Of course, it’s a perfectly reasonable concern that the Herald raises, given hard times in the news industry and Henry’s past prickliness. It’ll be fun to see how far the feisty local tabloid can stretch it.
Like taffy, we’re betting.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Benchmark Company, Boston Bruins, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Red Sox, Boston Sports Media Watch, Deleware North, Edward Atorino, Fenway Sports Group, Jeremy Jacobs, John Henry, New York Times | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
June 28, 2013
Why do advertisers keep snubbing Boston Herald readers?
Today this open letter to the Boston Bruins and the City of Boston appeared in the Boston Globe.
Here’s the text of the letter, which is signed by Rocky Wirtz, Chairman of the Wirtz Corporation and Owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Blackhawks President & CEO John McDonough:
Hockey is a tough game. As impressed as we were by the strength, talent, and competitive spirit of the Boston Bruins on the ice, we were deeply touched by what happened off the ice. Rarely have we experienced the hospitality you afforded us throughout the playoff series between two incredibly gifted teams.
On behalf of the Chicago Blackhawks organization and the entire Wirtz Corporation, we want to personally express our heartfelt appreciation to your city, the Bruins organization, and especially the citizens of Boston for the remarkable welcome you showed our team and the many Chicagoans who visited.
From Boston’s political leadership to every member of the Bruins organization; from the players to the people on the streets, you demonstrated respect, good sportsmanship, and a genuine love for the great game of hockey.
Like the rest of the world, Chicagoans have been reminded in recent days of Boston’s strength. Please know we tip our hat to your city’s big heart and gracious spirit. You lead by example and have set the bar very high for others to follow.
So – all those hockey fans/readers of the feisty local tabloid got the same message, eh?
Nope. The message they got was, well, nuthin’. You get nuthin’.
This is the second time this week Herald readers got that message. As the hardreading staff noted, this memorial ad for Lt. Stephen F. Minehan, the Boston firefighter who died in a Charlestown warehouse blaze 19 years ago – this ad ran twice in Monday’s Globe, and no times in the Herald.
We asked the folks at Pyramid Hotel Group, which owns that Marriott at Tudor Wharf, why it ran twice in the Globe but not in the Herald. No one addressed the latter part, but regarding the double play in the Globe one executive said, “It wasn’t intentional.” So the Globe made a mistake? “We’ll have to wait and see when the bill comes in. But I don’t think it was on purpose.”
An advertising executive at the Globe failed to answer our calls. We’re not holding our breath.
5 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, John McCain, Lt. Stephen F. Minehan, Pyramid Hotel Group, Residence Inn Marriott, Rocky Wirtz, Stanley Cup Final, Tudor Wharf, Wirtz Corporation | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
June 28, 2013
The Boston Herald gets the Murder Ink award today with this front page:
The feisty local tabloid draws a more detailed picture in its lead story on the increasingly lurid Aaron Hernandez investigation.
Police investigating Hernandez in unsolved double slaying
Fallen Patriots star Aaron Hernandez is at the center of a probe into an unsolved 2012 double slaying in Boston while Dartmouth jail officials are scouring the troubled tight end’s wild array of tattoos for any gang ink links, the Herald has learned.
“We’ll be looking at his tattoos to see if there are any symbols that affiliate with gangs,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who met with Hernandez yesterday after his bail was denied by a Fall River judge. “We have to always be vigilant around security and not place him somewhere where there are rival gang members.”
That would be Media Whisperer Thomas Hodgson, described this way by one Herald commenter: “Biggest self-promoter out there. Wants to [be] Little Joe Arpaio. What a blowhard.” (Watch his cringe-inducing interview with ESPN here.)
The Herald piece also includes this from a Los Angeles “gang expert” who says Hernandez’ tattoos “appear decorative.”
“It could also be a gang saying, like ‘smile now, pay later,’ ” [she] said, adding Hodgson’s team
will spot it if they see it.
They’ll spot it if they see it. Beautiful.
Crosstown, the Boston Globe ran this front-page piece:
Although Globe reporters also talked with law enforcement officials, there was no mention in the stately local broadsheet about tattoos.
Ink one up for the Herald today.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Hernandez, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Bristol County Sheriff, Jorja Leap, Murder Ink, tattoos, Thomas Hodgson | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
June 28, 2013
Police Commissioner Ed Davis has officially become a litmus test in Boston’s mayoral race.
It started with this piece in Wednesday’s Boston Herald:
Conley promises to retain top cop
Puts feud with Davis behind him
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley yesterday vowed to keep Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis if elected mayor, as a rift between the two men appears to have ended.
“Commissioner Davis and I have had a very close working relationship for many years now. We are in constant communication anytime there are issues involving the public safety in Boston,” Conley told the Herald.
In the past, the DA and Davis have clashed over jurisdictional issues and strategies for dealing with Boston’s homicide rate.
That triggered this piece in Thursday’s Boston Globe (which credited the Herald for raising the subject):
Half of hopefuls for mayor would retain Davis
Following the Boston Marathon bombings in April, Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis was praised for his steady presence during the ordeal and regaled with an honorary degree. His name was even bandied about as a possible candidate for mayor.
Davis decided to sit it out, but his name has remained part of the race, with questions arising about whether he would keep his post under a new leader at City Hall.
Half of the 12 mayoral candidates contacted by the Globe Wednesday said they would ask him to stay on. Five would not commit to keeping him. One did not respond to the question.
(Interesting foreground/background contrast in the photos, yeah?)
Related Globe piece on the mayoral candidate breakdown:
Yes: Felix Arroyo, John Barros, Bill Walczak, Robert Consalvo, Martin Walsh, Dan Conley.
Still deciding: Charles Clemons Jr., John Connolly, Charlotte Golar Richie, Michael Ross, David James Wyatt.
Did not respond: Charles Yancey.
Yet to comment: Ed Davis.
Stay tuned.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Bill Walczak, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Marathon bombings, Boston mayoral race, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, Charles Clemons Jr., Charles Yancey, Charlotte Golar Richie, Dan Conley., David James Wyatt, Felix Arroyo, John Barros, John Connolly, litmus test, Martin Walsh, Michael Ross, Robert Consalvo | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 