• As is often the case, USA Today’s Kevin Maney gave me the best thing I’ve read all week.

This particular Wednesday column offers some ideas for re-inventing the “newspaper” with ideas from a borad range of techie types. My favorite approach comes late in the copy, but you’ll know it when you read it. Put simply, one gentleperson suggested newspapers buy up the local blogs of merit and build its new readership (and retain its old) through an upsizing, not downsizing.

(That of course is based on the assumption that the Old Media realizes and comprehends that it will need to spend money in the short term in order to make money down the road.)

There isn’t a true sports link, but the Maney column truly applies to the sports folks just the same. It seems especially relevant in our media market, in light of the recent maneuverings by GateHouse Media. While the business side details are mostly explained within this Adam Reilly post, Shots has been told that the true editorial switch over from Herald Interactive to GateHouse is another six months away.

Hopefully, the Herald will still be able to cull stories and “use” guys like, for example, Albert Breer, Douglas Flynn and Scott Souza for the time being. Breer, especially, would be a big loss in the heart of the Patriots playoff push.

Whenever that Herald/GateHouse relationship entirely dissolves, we’ll need to find the Wicked sites if we’re going to continue get our information from those go-getters.

It will be at that point, where we see just how thin the Herald sports staff is and get a glimpse at whether Hank Herald can continue to do it with mirrors.

. . . The Wicked Local concept has a nice foundation and many of the aspects translate nicely for the sports side.

• Basketball Bob Ryan “had himself a week,” as the old folks say. A feisty Ryan took on two of Boston sport’s most beloved 30-somethings over the past five days. On Sunday (as Shots discussed earlier this week, please scroll down) Ryan called out ESPN.com’s Boston Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, for his trashing of Doc Rivers. Then, during a no-information, informational teleconference Ryan turned into the People’s Voice when, according to this account from Alex Speier, “In a moment in conference call history with little precedent, Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan informed a somewhat stunned Epstein: “On behalf of an eager constituency, I hope the rumor (of a Drew deal) isn’t true.”)

Thing is, Ryan went 2-0 in the match-ups with Kids half his age. Throw win the Jared Dudley/Tom Izzo combo package in Thursday’s paper and you have the media equivalent of a three-game sweep in a best-of-five. [Tune in to “Around the Horn” this afternoon (Friday), when Ryan will be sitting in. Ryan could perhaps end with a dismantling of some other Gen-Xer (Stat Boy, perhaps?), for the four-game sweep. Then, maybe on Sunday he’ll get the Yankee Five Game Sweep on “Sports Reporters”!]

Despite what I’ve been told is heavy abuse of the Ryan clip on WEEI (what else would expect from those low-browers?), Ryan’s frustration with a waste-of-time “presser” by the Sox GM was legitimate. All the information we read could have been sent on a release with canned quotes from Theo. An evasive, close-to-the-vest GM on a useless teleconference doesn’t do anyone any good, epsecially if it’s only being donw to appease some beat folk.

As for Simmons, he is arguably the modern-day Ryan for a generation of Boston sports Internet users. This week he graciously praised Ryan as a huge influence and steered clear of starting a pissing match with a man of Basketball Bob’s stature. Simmons may be proven correct and Rivers may indeed become the fall guy, but Ryan remains the region’s Sports Media King and the Sports Guy was smart enough to realize that.

. . . We have been told that the two, Ryan and Simmons, had an email exchange this week, which was initiated by Ryan.

. . . Part 2 of the Sports Media Guide interview with Ryan is posted. Be sure to check it out.

. . . Shots asked in our updated Monday post for you to choose between Ryan or Simmons if you were forced to pick one. The majority of the responses I heard were Ryan “in a heartbeat” and “by a mile.” I tend to agree, of course.

But it has more to do with Ryan’s deadline ability and historic perspective than a lack of Simmon’s skill. Simmons can write very well, if you’ve never noticed. His conversational tone has been copied – to varying degrees and with varying blatancy – by a whole host of writers, bloggers and pundits. But he still rules the genre for the most part. He has a style that resonates.

Ryan, too, is a craftsman and a commander of the engaging narrative style. His style, in myriad ways, also resonates.

So if it came down to a write-off, on an old newspaper deadline with a major event having just been contested, we’d take Ryan, every time.

. . . That concludes my Ryan-Simmons I assessment for the year. After all, some may claim that I already got “enough mileage out of it.”

• Through two NFL Network Thursday Night games, I’m convinced that the combo of Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth thinks they’re doing a golf match. The crowd noise dominates the audio and neither Gumby nor Collie raise their voices above a low hum.

It doesn’t look, feel or sound like a true NFL game and we’re a bit shocked about that. It’s almost as if they rushed it on without having all the bells and whistles in place – something that is very un-NFL like.

• Shots is learning of some more movement in the ongoing makeover of the Boston entry in CN8’s “Out of Bounds” franchise ( the 11 p.m. show hosted by John Carchedi and Phil Burton). The network announced this week that they have hired Rhode Island native, Bill Walsh, as “OOB’s” producer.

“Prior to joining CN8, Walsh worked at WJAR-TV in Providence (where) he produced sportscasts on the evening news, a (New England) Patriots show, (Tim Welsh’s) Providence College coach’s show and more,” according to an announcement from CN8. “Walsh also worked in television in Laredo, Texas (and) is a graduate of Syracuse University. . .”

Walsh, or “Coach,” as he’s called in the CN8 newsroom, was working one of his first shows when Shots got face time on “OOB” last Friday. Hope we didn’t scare the guy into re-thinking his decision.

Most of the “OOB” dudes (and dudettes) are better than Shots, Coach. I assure you.

. . . It appears Walsh’s first noticable change was to take the Boston guest away from the round, high-top table where the hosts sit and instead put the Boston participant in a different studio at Amory Street (with the ever-popular brick back-drop). Nothing says sports more than faux brick.

The switch does give a more uniform feel with everyone looking straight on at the camera and none of the side-profile, two-shot, discussions that looked awkward more often than not.

. . . Providence’s WJAR has been serving as the Pawtucket farm team to Boston’s big market club in recent months. Front-of-camera Kathryn Tappen of NESN was a recent ‘JARhead and now in-the-control-room Walsh has come North in his call-up.

Shots is going to go out on a limb and say that the Bridal Blogger for ‘JAR, Shawna Hassett, will be the next Ocean Stater called to the Bay State. Hassett, who we caught working the BC/PC game on Thanksgiving Eve for COX, would be a super fit for the new 10 p.m. WHDH-produced news show at CW56. Better yet, Hassett, a 2003 PC grad and the daughter of former Friar star, Joe Hassett could split time between the Mother Ship of NBC7 and the re-configuring CW56. (Don’t you just love when Shots plays fantasy football with local TV talent? Strange guy, that Shots. Strange indeed.)

Of course there should be no moves made until always-steady Mike Ratte is retained (if he hasn’t already been) for the new 10 p.m. news entry at WLVI. Ratte is the most-underrated sports talent in the city and provides nothing but solid coverage day in and day out.

. . . Let’s not forget Shots older woman crush, Meredith Vieira, was at WJAR, too.

Wonder if it’s too late to join the internship program over there?

. . . In even more CN8 news (it helps to poke around when we visit the Amory Street CN8 Nerve Center), the network will be, according to spokesperson Robin Moleux, airing live MIAA HS playoff football on Saturday, Dec. 2.

The Div. I championship (Everett vs. Brockton) airs at 1:00 p.m. and the Div. IA match-up (Marshfield vs. Wayland) broadcasts at 4 p.m.

Also, on CN8’s 7 p.m. “Out of Bounds”, the announcement of the best college quarterback in the nation will be made “(when) Host Gregg Murphy welcomes John Unitas Jr. for an exclusive unveiling of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner. . .

“Murphy. . . will “moderate” the one-on-one discussion with Unitas Jr., president of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, Inc., and son of the legendary quarterback, along with Out of Bounds’ Friday contributors Mike Missanelli, long-time Philadelphia sports radio personality; Andy Pollin of Washington D.C.’s SportsTalk 980 WTEM; Lenn Robbins of the New York Post; and Ron Borges of the Boston Globe.

“. . . (The winner is) chosen from a list of finalists including Troy Smith of Ohio State, Brady Quinn of Notre Dame, John Beck of BYU, Kevin Kob of Houston and Drew Stanton of Michigan State.”

. . .Lastly, on Saturday at 7 p.m., CN8 will air BC at BU hockey live. (The night before, Friday, CSTV has BU-BC hockey.)

• My Boss Bruce’s 5:30 Posts are quickly becoming must-read. The only foreseeable problem is that his head will blow up from all the WEEI 850 AM listening. I don’t say this to kiss the guy’s ass – and I’ve told him this recently – he really has built a destination site that delivers something every day, week and month. I don’t necessarily know what that means or what it will get MBB, but I know it’s quite an accomplishment, especially in this market.

• Shots received word this week that the Tilber Momma has, on occasion, visited this very space.

The honor is ours and we thank her for her support. Nice to have The Kid back in-state, ain’t it Momma T?

• The Pat Tillman jersey outsells the Matt Leinart jersey, but places six spots behind Reggie Bush.

No idea what that says, but it was also interesting to not see Tom Brady in the Top 10, which included four QBs.

• When Amanda Peet fainted this week, on my current, favorite show, Shots fainted too.

• Credit Disco Stew, the amiable Stewart Mandel, for living up to his word. We’re guessing the SI.com AMEX is going to get a workout. Can we get delivery on our dog, Stew? Spicy mustard and a large coke, too, please.

• Shots makes a (less than) triumphant return to Amherst and the Mullins Center this weekend on behalf of my best friends, at CSTV.com. I’ll be live-blogging at “Hang Time”, from the BC-UMass hoops game and I’ve gotta to say, I’m getting the hang of the medium. Even if you don’t follow along, you can check it out post-game and get a pretty good feel for what the game’s pace was. At the end I do an on-deadline-ish ‘columnette.’

It basically gives you a games story (running), a column and no fewer than three smart ass comments from the Shots’ college hoops division. Wednesday night’s BC-MSU group of entries was probably the finest outing I’ve had in my first month. The Dudley finale was aided greatly by the greatest quote in the Midwest, Tom Izzo.

In essence, by 10:30 p.m., you had a running game story and a column that was composed four-plus hours of “programming,” where users returned on a regular basis to follow along.

That, friends, is your Philosophy of Live-Blogging 101 discussion for today’s class at The Shots Institute.

. . . The BC-UMass game, by the way, is on CSTV at 7:30 p.m (don’t believe the time given by the Sports Media Embarassment that is the Globe’s Susan Bickelhaupt - the game time was switched earlier this week), with WWE participant (and Vince McMahon’s executive assistant if you can believe it), “The Voice of the People,” Jonathan Coachman on play-by-play and ex-UCLA Bruin Sean Farnham providing color and making his CSTV debut.

The wrasslin’ PBP man – how great is that? And he’s already the Voice of the People.

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. And can be reached at shotsATbostonsportsmedDOTcom