Boston Sports Then and Now

Yours Truly Raffling Off Prizes.

The much publicized Boston Sports Then & Now and Red’s Army Celtics Viewing Party took place yesterday afternoon. While the Celtics could not take down the hated Lakers, it was a great back and forth match-up that featured much fan fair.

Despite just 51 Facebook event commitments on the day of the event, 115 people packed The Place in Boston. It was a remarkable crowd, but there were plenty of reasons for people to make the party their destination. In addition to the great weather, free food, drink specials, and an un-matched raffle were the draw. Celtics/Heat tickets, Celtics/Jazz tickets, Magic/Bird Broadway show tickets, an Antoine Walker autographed basketball, Fanatics.com gift cards, Muze t-shirts, Supah Fan t-shirts, and a gift card to The Place brought a hush to the crowd on every ticket draw.

The halftime entertainment was complements of Comcast Sports Net New England’s Jessica Camerato. A Q&A featured questions about the availability (or lack there of) of Rajon Rondo, the team’s desire to make a deal to mortgage the future, and the possible needs for a deep playoff run.

It was not the quantity of people at the event, but rather the quality. As the second half got intense, chants of “DE-FENSE” and “Beat L-A” bursted out. Each call against the team was followed by a “boo” and each great play was followed by a resounding cheer. Frankly, the people there wanted to be there.

John Karralis from Red's Army emceeing the halftime Q&A with Jessica Camerato.

The Place also was a wonderful and gracious host. Willing to work with us along the way, the venue was ultra-accommodating and receptive to any challenge we threw their way. Despite the smaller number of attendees we reported to them, they adjusted and took care of the large crowd that did indeed show up.

Fun was certainly had by all and the only thing truly missing was a Celtics victory. A similar Celtics event will surely follow this fall, as it was too much fun to not bring this group of Celtics die-hards together again.

A sincere thank you to those who did come and a plee to those who did not make it to come out to the next BST&N party!

I got to chime in on the panel talk with Giardi, Curran, and Paoletti.

Comcast Sports Net New England continued their run of Boston sports get togethers. In the fall they hosted a Patriots event featuring Jerod Mayo, a Bruins event featuring Shawn Thornton, and a Celtics event with Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn. Last night they hosted bloggers at the Renaissance Hotel at Patriot Place for a Patriots gathering with a playoff twist.

It was a grand party thrown by the folks at CSNNE and it featured a live shoot for their 6 o’clock Sports Tonight segment, panel discussions, great food, and even some Patriots cheerleaders.

CSNNE host Mike Giardi and CSNNE.com insider Tom E. Curran taped a segment outside of the hotel as they typically do. It was interesting to see it in person and their analysis was spot on.

The panels included one featuring CSNNE’s Gary Tanguay along with former Patriots Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie. Smerlas and DeOssie, normally flanked by Glen Ordway on the New England Tailgate show, gave great “X’s and O’s” analysis on the upcoming match-up with the Denver Broncos. There was, of course, some Tim Tebow talk.

Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie broke things down with Gary Tanguay.

The second panel featured Giardi, Curran, and Mary Paoletti from the Thursday night show Quick Slants. This was a more laid back segment which featured numerous questions from the engaged audience.

Not to be lost in the Patriots talk was the wonderful spread of food put out by the Renaissance Hotel. Two chefs prepared freshly made scallops and cut beef sirloin at a carving station. There were also gourmet hors d’oeurves and dessert that followed.

CSNNE Director of Marketing Skip Perham was sure to remind the audience that gathered of their unmatched coverage throughout the week, and playoffs. With their three shows on Thursday comprising  ”New England Football Night” and their hour and a half pre and post game shows Saturday night, Comcast Sports Net has ensured they are the local go-to network.

Listen for great Boston sports talk.

Last night Marisa Ingemi and I hosted the 29th episode of the BST&N Beantown Breakdown. The Breakdown is our weekly sports radio show that airs on Tuesdays at 6:30PM on Blogtalkradio.com.

Dan Alper (Patriots), Will Woodward (Red Sox), and Matthew Jacob (Bruins) joined us. Dan touched on the Patriots bye week and their daunting task of heading to Pittsburgh this weekend to face the Steelers. Will speaks about the John Lackey injury, the introduction of Ben Cherington, and possible offseason targets. Matt downplays the Bruins’ struggles and discusses the personnel. We also recapped the Comcast Sports Net New England Bruins event Monday night at West End Johnnies. Marisa and I even capped the show off with a heated NBA lockout discussion, while answering the question why NBA players will continue to make a lot money.

If you’ve got a free forty minutes give the show a listen!

Bruins forward #22 Shawn Thornton and CSNNE Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty at a press event at West End Johnnies last night

Last night many Bruins bloggers and writers throughout New England had the pleasure of attending a Bruins press event sponsored by Comcast Sports Net New England. Held at Boston’s West End Johnnies, the night was filled with great hockey minds coming together with a special focus on Bruins’ enforcer Shawn Thornton. Comcast Sports Net feel they offer some of the best unbiased coverage in professional sports, this event’s purpose was to promote their excellent coverage as well as thanking various bloggers and writers from around the area for their own contributions.

Comcast Marketing Director Skip Perham was the master of ceremonies beginning the festivities by thanking us for all coming and helping promote Comcast by giving us a chance to experience their coverage first hand. After the thankful introduction Perham turned the microphone over to Comcast’s Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty. After Haggerty introduced himself, thanked us for being there, and shared a few jeers with fellow Comcast Analyst Mike Felger he invited Shawn Thornton up on stage. The interview with Thornton was very entertaining considering how much of a character the Bruins enforcer is. Thornton himself was not without his own jeers for Felger.

Some of the most entertaining highlights of the night came from the audience asking Thornton questions of their own. Comcast Television Broadcaster Kevin Walsh was on hand to take the microphone around the audience. One person in attendance asked Shawn if he had any plans about getting into broadcasting and becoming a radio or television analyst, Shawn looked at him and said very dryly “I wouldn’t be doing this for nothing” and had everyone laughing. Another great moment had Thornton expressing his desire to retire a Bruin and quickly laughing about how he forced his hand and hopes Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli isn’t watching.

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Site Director Joe Gill, Vince Wilfork, and I.

Jerod Mayo and Blue Sky Sports and Entertainment hosted the second annual Mayo Bowl last night at Kings Bowling Alley in Dedham. The event benefited two great Boston causes, Pitching in for Kids and the Boston Medical Center.

Over thirty current and former Patriots players made the trek up Route 1 from Gillette Stadium to help each of these causes that provide care and solutions for children who cannot provide for themselves. There were also well over 150 attendees who came to Kings not only to see their beloved New England Patriots players, but to bid on live and silent auction items, as well as participate in the raffle with all proceeds going to charity.

A cocktail hour kicked off the event while site director Joe Gill and I enjoyed meeting fellow media in attendance including Brian Lowe from Patriots.com and Chris Gasper from The Boston Globe. As bloggers, this was exciting for us because our hobby and labor of love is their profession. Each were very nice and we will have them on our weekly radio show The BST&N Beantown Breakdown.

The event had a friendly aura to it, as the players were more than willing to stop and take pictures with their adoring fans. Comcast Sports Net New England, one of the official sponsors, also provided a great service by taking and printing the pictures on site for people to take home (as seen above).

Kevin Karlson and Pete McKenzie from Karlson and McKenzie on Classic Rock 100.7 WZLX introduced each player in attendance as they headed to their bowling lanes. The players were in great spirits just twenty-four hours from their hard fought victory over the San Diego Chargers. It was evident they didn’t have to be there, but that they wanted to. Whether it was veterans Matt Light and Vince Wilfork, newcomers Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth, or youngsters Rob Gronkowski and Sergio Brown, each were enjoying their themselves.

Following the bowling portion of the event, a live auction took place with some great items including Patriots, Celtics, Red Sox, and Bruins tickets. Troy Brown and Zoltan Mesko added some humor as the auctioneers; they certainly assisted in helping drive the prices up for the charities.

As is obvious by our account of the evening, Joe and I had a fantastic time at the Mayo Bowl. Great causes, great company, great fun. We look forward to the event next year and you should too!

Jerod Mayo was friendly and funny all night long.

A group of bloggers, TV personalities, and Patriots players met at Waxy O’Connor’s Irish Pub last night on Main Street in Foxborough. Current Patriot Jerod Mayo was there, as well as former Pat Troy Brown. Not to mention TV personalities Tom E. Curran, Gary Tanguay, Mary Paoletti, Fred Kirsch, Paul Perillo and Andy Hart were all in attendance. How did this meeting come to be?

Comcast Sports Net New England took a very unique approach with this blogger event. In an effort to get the word out about their top rated local Patriots coverage, CSNNE Director of Marketing Skip Perham came to the microphone and thanked us, the bloggers for attending their Patriots season kickoff.

Why was he thanking us? With Jerod Mayo and Troy Brown as listed attendees, coupled with free drinks and food, there was no question bloggers wold be there. However, CSNNE and Skip looked at this as an opportunity.

CSNNE features unmatched coverage on Thursday nights, highlighted by their shows, New England Tailgate (with Glenn Ordway, Fred Smerlas, and Steve DeOssie), Quick Slants (with Tom Curran and Marry Paoletti), and Patriots Football Weekly (with Fred Kirsch, Paul Perillo and Andy Hart). Not to mention, the new Wednesday coverage weekly at noon of Bill Belichick’s and Tom Brady’s press conferences.

By hosting Patriots bloggers from around the area, they hoped to have us help ramp up hype about their coverage.

It worked. It was a first class event with an open bar for an hour, great bar finger foods, and more. Jerod Mayo and Troy Brown were more than willing to take pictures with their loyal followers and CSNNE even had a photographer there taking pictures and printing them at free of charge for people on site.

Tom E. Curran did a short interview on stage with Jerod Mayo, the Patriots Football Weekly guys did another segment, followed by Tanguay and Troy Brown. Each segment took questions from the crowd from myself and the fellow bloggers in attendance. Before and after these on stage interviews everyone was more than accessible and willing to chat. I had s great, in-depth conversations with PFW’s Andy Hart and even Jerod Mayo talked to me for a few minutes. Mayo had a smile on his face the entire time and was truly a delight.

Many participants from Blogapalooza comprised the crowd of roughly 40 people. BST&N writers Andy Deossa and Brendan Tyman made the trip, as did Bleacher Report’s Erik Frenz, Necessary Roughness’s Kisha Tapangan, PatsFans.com’s Russ Goldman, Noontime Sports’ Matt Noonan, The Sports Blast’s Joey Murr. It was indeed a mini Blogapalooza and a wonderful time for us like-minded individuals.

CSNNE continues to do a fine job with their coverage of Boston sports. More so, it is a delight to see what they do with events like these and the sponsorship they provide for Blogapalooza because they realize the crowd they’re targeting. By pleasing the bloggers who carry a voice, they know we will pass along the word. It’s a win, win and as long as they keep providing excellent coverage, it’s going to work out great for everyone involved.