By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

An emailer, early last week, took offense with my (seemingly) constant “vitriol.” That struck a chord.

Then, on Sunday night, just before I was to light an honorary cigar for Red Auerbach at the Shots-sponsored Foxboro Terminals tailgate, a respected Friend of the Space, lashed out at us for a considerable lack of “sugar” as of late.

“You slash for the sake of slashing,” was that sage man’s message.

That too, struck a chord.

So, it is, with deep gratitude to both of those fine Shots Citizens, that I present a commingled list of things that I really, truly do like.

They are, The Things I Am A Big Fan Of (Even though, at my core, I’m vitriolic and salty):

• I am a big fan of the way Hank Hryniewicz has managed to keep the Herald’s sports department alive and well during a time of unprecedented cutbacks, reductions and tinkering. But I fear that if the rumblings are correct, Hank Herald (and his cohorts across the editorial side) are on the verge of further staff reductions. There’s no telling how deep the next round of cuts will go, but the takeaway on all of this is that those cuts are assuredly coming.

  • Let’s just see if we get any fallout that includes the rolling of heads.

    • I am a big fan of college sports, and a bigger fan of college hoops. So I was happy to see the Boston Globe add a regular hoops feature to its (slowly) evolving College Sports blog.

    Sports editor Joe Sullivan is an unabashed fan of the college roundball, even taking a few of the print package’s writing assignments for his own.

    (Since we’re using “sugar” this week, in favor of “vinegar,” we’ll ignore the obvious observation that Sully’s time might be better spent saving the sports section, instead of writing for it.)

    . . . Therefore, I’m a big fan of college football and a NOT a big fan of the BCS system. So, when something like Rutgers’ ridiculous win occurs, I’m a big fan of the Scarlet Knights. “A fitting ending for Rutgers biggest win ever,” explained the always-on Chris Fowler as time expired.

    • I’m a big fan of creative folks like XM’s Chris Eno, the Executive Producer for MLB Home Plate at XM 175.

    Eno – the ex-Entercommer of Boston – checked in this week to tip us off to an XM program called “Baseball Confidential,” a series of one-on-one interviews (ala “Artist Confidential”), according to the publicity material.

    “. . . Held in front of a live studio audience with players, managers, and legendary broadcasters who will share their stories off the field and outside the broadcast booth. Baseball Confidential will feature a new guest every week: David Ortiz, Ernie Harwell, Cal Ripken Jr., Tommy Lasorda, Jon Miller, and more. Listen to the stories you won’t want to miss on Baseball Confidential!

    This week, meet David Ortiz. From his roots in the Dominican Republic to his career in the Majors, Ortiz recalls the first game he went to with his uncle as well as the time he won the 2004 World Series. (Debuted on Thursday, encores as follows):

    Friday, 11/10 - 9 PM ET on MLB Home Plate - XM 175

    Saturday 11/11 - 9 AM ET on MLB Home Plate - XM 175

    Sunday, 11/12 - 11 AM ET on MLB Home Plate - XM 175

    Sunday, 11/12 - 8 AM and 11 PM ET on XM Sports Nation - XM 143

    Monday, 11/13 - 3 PM and 7 PM ET on XM Sports Nation - XM 143.”

    That Sunday 11 a.m. replay is certainly a better alternative than the droning pre-Pats shows that populate the radio dial each Sunday.

    • I am a big fan of Charlie Pierce’s Boston.com Chat from earlier this week where he was asked: “. . .were you granted any special access to the Patriots while writing this book?”

    Pierce responded: “None. This was my being around for the season and researching the other stuff on my own. The Patriots were accommodating and I didn’t ask them to be anything more than that.”

    Paging Seth Mnookin. Mr. Mnookin. Mr. Seth Mnookin.

    (That’s just a Red Sox fan like Shots being “annoying!”)

    •I’m a big fan of NESN’s “Be A Bruin” in-rink announcer, John Horrigan. He could very well have the best hockey voice in Boston that we’ve heard (admittedly that’s a small sample pool.) Talented bunch, the Horrigan Boys, eh?

    . . . I’m also a big fan of the “Hot Stove” show NESN has launched for its use of a “PTI”-style story rundown along the right-hand side of the screen. It is called “9 Innings” and features a basic Q&A between separate studio partners, Tom Caron and Gordon Edes.

    • I am a big fan of this nice little gimmick from nbcsports.com.

    [Although they’ve got to make it easier to find Tom Curran’s emerging "Bump n Run" blog, as well. Not sure if they have been pubbing it during the broadcast (they should be), but it also needs a place on the home page as well, which we couldn’t readily find.]

    • I’m a big fan of the recently deceased Ed Bradley - and hopefully you were too.

    • I’m a big fan of Little Feat (as was Bradley, according to the precious Bob Schieffer quote in this story, ergo, I’m a fan of the January 7, 2007 Hot Stove, Cool Music event which has tickets available (for a brief time anyway) at www.thedise.com. According to a release, the event “features performances by a host of sports, music and entertainment all-stars including members of Little Feat; The Hot Stove All-Stars featuring ESPN commentator and event co-organizer Peter Gammons & Red Sox Executive Vice President/General Manager Theo Epstein; Joe Pernice; and Kay Hanley. Last year’s concert sold out in less than 48 hours.”

    Secret tip: there’s an acoustic evening the night before that we’re guessing is going to very special. It’s billed as “. . . an exclusive, invitation-only preview night has been added to this year’s event program. The preview night will feature acoustic performances by a number of artists that are participating in (the) concert.”

    Shots is angling for the invite to that one, and we’re not above groveling.

    • I’m a Big Fan of West Coast Shaughnasty – he’s been hanging with the pretty people in LA and chilling (or Burning) with Seth Joyner and Jim Rome.

    Tell you what we’ll do, Left Coasters: You send Bill Plaschke across the country and we’ll call it even. If you liked Nomar, you’ll love Danny Boy.

    • I am a big fan of the sane-minded folks who chose not to boo Adam Vinatieri on Sunday night – at any time, but especially when he was allowed to run out by himself in advance of his Colts teammates. The Boston Booers who derided Adam are the most miserable lot of pseudo-fans ever – and are what give Boston its well-deserved fickle fan image.

    • I am a big fan of Wright Thompson at ESPN.com.

    • I’m a big fan of Borat.

    • I am a big fan of Election Night Coverage the way I’m a big fan of the NBA and NFL Drafts. You start to see the future and the players who will be part of it – and there’s a car crash element as well, what with all those live shots, audio difficulties and costume malfunction possibilities.

    • I’m a big fan of Jim Braude at NECN. I think he might be able to kick O’Reilly’s ass. Once, at least.

    • I’m a big fan of those of you who will check in to share in the live-blogging I will be providing this evening (Friday) for CSTV.com and its (soon to be) world-renown Glass Sneaker Blog, direct from the Agganis Arena and the BU-George Washington tilt. We’ll be doing the same for a Tom Penders Ocean State redux during Monday night’s URI-Houston tussle.

    The BU game, by the way, is on CN8 locally at 7 p.m. and on radio in Boston at WTTT 1150-AM with with Doug Brown on PBP and ex-Herald writer, Mike Shalin on color.

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

    Shots welcomes recorded messages – up to two minutes – by clicking below. Go ahead – you know you want to try it!