About
Welcome Boston Sports Fans
Welcome to Boston Sports Then and Now, where fans can stay updated on the current happenings in Boston area sports while also regularly looking back at great moments, teams, players and games in Boston sports history. This site is for you, the fan, so please share your thoughts, memories and opinions.
What is Sports Then and Now?
The history of sports in America is long and glorious, but too often the athletes, moments and memories of the past are forgotten when analyzing the issues and events of the current sports world. Sports Then and Now takes the “hot button” issues of today’s sports world and looks at them in the context of sports history.
Sports Then and Now is intended to be a place where all sports fans can talk about what is happening today while also reminiscing about great players, teams, games and moments from the past. Suggestions for story ideas, links and other content are always welcome.
We are also always looking for good writers, so if you have a passion about a team, city, player or sport and want a chance to share your ideas with other sports fans, this is the perfect place for you.
Send any story ideas or comments on the site to: bostonsportsthenandnow@gmail.com.
Dean Hybl Biography
Dean Hybl has lived and breathed sports for more than 40 years and is excited about the opportunity to develop a sports site where fans can share a passion for sports history while also keeping up-to-date on current issues in the world of sports.
Dean learned to read so that he could read the stats on the back of his baseball cards and has been a passionate fan ever since.
After playing sports in high school and then writing about sports for the school newspaper and Sports Information Office while in college at James Madison University, Dean had the chance to live out every sports fans dream.
In the summer of 1989, Dean served as a public relations intern for the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles went 11-5 that season and made trips to London, San Diego, Miami and many other places that were new territory for a 21-year old from a small, rural community in Southern Virginia. The opportunity to meet and work with such greats as Buddy Ryan, Randall Cunningham, Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Jerome Brown, Matt Cavanaugh, Terry Hoage and Al Harris was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Dean then did an internship with the Richmond Braves, then the Triple-A affiliate for the Atlanta Braves, and got to see future stars including Dave Justice, Steve Avery and Kent Mercker on their way to the majors.
For the next 15 years, Dean served as a college sports information director first at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and then at Rollins College in Florida. These great experienced allowed Dean to meet and work with many great young student-athletes and to continue cultivating his passion for sports.
Dean now writes about sports and sports history and has a communications consulting business in Orlando.
His sports writing has recently been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal Daily Sports Fix and by Rob Neyer in his SweetSpot blog.
Joe Gill Biography
Joe Gill
Joe Gill is a long time Boston Sports fan. Growing up in the suburbs north of Boston, he is a devoted fan of the New England Patriots (season ticket holder for 18 years) and Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins (bleeds black and gold). He also follows the Red Sox and Celtics, but due to the heartbreak of the ’86 World Series and retirement of Larry Bird, not a die hard fan.
Joe is also the creator of the successful Boston Sports Blogapalooza networking event.
Contact Joe Gill at bostonsportsthenandnow@gmail.com.
Follow Joe on Twitter.
Carl Desberg Biography
Carl Desberg
Carl Desberg, who joined BSTN in May 2010, began blogging because his friends thought he should share his unique opinions on Boston sports. Ten months after starting his own blog, Carl joined the BSTN team in an effort to continue his day-to-day analysis of events, while also reminiscing on the recent rich championship history of the city.
With baseball as his first love, Carl’s house is a mini Cooperstown cluttered with old time player autographs and a specific section dedicated to his favorite player Ken Griffey Jr. A devoted Red Sox fan, Carl is proud to say he jumped on the Patriots and Celtics bandwagon well before their championship runs. He is a true Boston sports fan through and through.
Follow Carl on Twitter.
Matthew Jacob Biography
Matthew Jacob
Matthew is studying Interdisciplinary Studies at Fitchburg State University. He joined Boston Sports Then & Now in August of 2011 and has been the featured Boston Bruins writer since. Originally studying to become a history teacher, Matthew decided to focus on something he really loves with writing and the NHL. A Bruins fan since birth, he has studied and analyzed the team for years and years. One of Matthews happiest moments was finally seeing his Boston bruins bring home the Stanley Cup to its rightful place in Boston. A championship culminated on hard work and dedication making the Bruins a team in which New England fans can relate with. A true Bruins fan for life and an avid researcher of all things NHL.
Raj Prashad Biography
Raj Prashad
Raj Prashad is a Boston native who joined BST&N in December from his home near Atlanta. Raj wrote for a sports magazine in Atlanta for six months before jumping ship to write about his true passion, Boston sports.
From the dreadful Antoine Walker days and the repeated let downs the Red Sox provided, Raj has suffered through the same peaks and valleys every fan from the great city of Boston has dealt with. He has been lucky enough to have made treks up to the TD Garden and Fenway Park over the past few years and is proud to say he witnessed when the Celtics and Red Sox finally brought titles back to Boston. Raj hopes to eventually move back to Boston, but for now he lives through Boston sports.
Dan Flaherty Biography
Dan Flaherty is America’s foremost long-distance admirer of the city of Boston. He grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee and with each passing year came to admire Boston more and more, with its rich American-Irish background, being the home of Cheers and last, but not least, its extraordinary professional sports heritage.
It began when he was a young lad of seven during the 1977 AL East race, when he watched a September battle between the Yankees and Red Sox with a baseball-crazy great-aunt. They cursed the Yanks together as Mickey Rivers tripled and scored the winning run and Beantown’s heart was broken. A year later Dan was racing the six blocks between home and school on his bike to watch the last five innings of the epic 1978 playoff game with the Yanks.
Becoming a full-scale Boston sports fan took time though, and was not without its setbacks. During high school, Dan had the audacity to like the Lakers and Mets, the biggest proof there is of a troubled teen. It was the aftermath of the 1986 World Series and the heartbreak Beantown suffered, that he began the road back to respectability.
Over the next ten years his youthful love of the Red Sox was gradually rekindled and by the start of the 1997 season he was ready to come home. In the intervening time he also came on board to the Celtics and in recent years his passion for hockey has steadily increased and seeing the Bruins win the Stanley Cup has become a new holy grail. Dan still loves the Washington Redskins in the NFL–dating back to when his father was a big George Allen fan in the late 70s–and the ‘Skins after all, have their origins in 1930s Fenway Park. But the Pats are his secondary team without hesitation. He is glad to be a part of the BST&N team and be able to contribute to preserving a heritage that drew his attention from half a country away.
Andy Deossa Biography
Andy Deossa
Andy Deossa is an undergraduate student at Suffolk University majoring in Print Journalism. He first started writing his freshman year in college for the school’s online publication, The Suffolk Voice. Throughout his two years with the organization, he has written many different sports articles such as: game previews, game recaps, opinions, blog postings, predictions, and more. He is currently the features editor, assistant sports editor, and will be the managing editor next year.
Growing up in Rhode Island, he has always been a big sports fan of the Patriots and Red Sox. He was a fan of the Celtics way back when they had Jiri Welsch on their team but no since they are actually good, and there are so many bandwagon fans; he doesn’t specify a particular favorite team in the NBA. Recently Andy has become more invested in hockey and is a big Bruins fan.
Joining the BST&N team he began by writing a few Celtics article but has now taken on the role of: BST&N Sox Week in Review. The way he sees it is, the only way to get better at something is by practicing, so he intends to keep on writing!
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