By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

****UPDATED THURSDAY 11/10/05 at 2:35 p.m.****

In the course of a routine teleconference on Wednesday, discussing college basketball’s upcoming season on ESPN, Boston Globe media critic, Bill Griffith, alluded to the notion that he might soon be leaving the paper he has been at for some 40 years.

Griffith, who two weeks ago told Shots he was not interested in the buyout being offered by parent company, the New York Times, seemed to be suggesting, on the 3 p.m. conference call, that he was being gently nudged off the sports desk.

After former Vermont coach, Tom Brennan (ESPN’s newest in-studio, college hoops, analyst) answered a question pertaining to Boston College’s ACC debut, the gregarious coach said: “I love your stuff Bill, read you every Sunday.”

To which Griffith replied: “Well, thanks, there’s five more before I get pushed out the door here.”

Griffith, on Thursday, emailed Shots the following to help clarify his remarks: “It’d be five more columns if I go. It’ll be official, one way or the other (go or stay) the week of Nov. 28, and I’d be glad to chat then; before that, it’s premature,” Griffith said, adding, “It’s my decision to make and I’ll use all the time on the clock.”

Griffith, who has penned the Globe’s “SporTView” column for several years (following in the footsteps of Howard Manly and Jack Craig) is a former assistant sports editor for the paper, who began as a co-op at the Globe in the 1960s.

Up until now, the only sports name confirmed to be taking the Globe’s buyout package was Marvin Pave. Whether Griffith accepts the package or is ‘forced out,’ the result would be the same: the Globe’s sports roster is probably getting thinner - but nowhere near as thin as the Herald’s.