By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

A shocking end to a shocking run at the Boston Globe was whispered to the world late Friday afternoon, buried like bad news and under-explained in 119 words that left more question than answers.

Absent from the announcement was the suddenly silent editor of the Globe, Martin Baron, who had been the one who termed Borges early March infraction as “plagiarism” in meting out the two-month, without pay suspension after Borges was found to be using the words of another writer, Mike Sando.

Borges returned to work last week at the Globe, and has penned one story since his two month hiatus elapsed. Borges, in fact, has made more electronic media appearances at both CN8 and 890 ESPN Boston, than he has made appearances in print. It is not known whether Borges has anything slated to appear in the Globe in the coming days, but the retirement appears to take effect immediately.

At the tail end of his Globe suspension, Borges was discovered to have been writing for Golden Boy Promotions during the recent fight in Las Vegas. Borges claimed, in an radio interview on 890, that he was not paid for his work for the De La Hoya website.

Emails from Shots to Barons at the time of Borges return went unanswered, as did an email late Friday evening. Shots also reached out to, but has not yet heard back from, Dan Totten, President of the Boston Newspaper Guild of which Borges is an active member. Both a voice mail and an email message were left for Borges at his 617-number and at his AOL account.

If you’re smelling something a bit fishy emanating from the Borges Matter, we’d like to commend your sniffer. There is no way this is entirely Borges decision as the wording of the statement would ask that you believe. “. . . to pursue new projects in sports journalism” sounds an awful lot like “don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Ronny.”

Add into the mix that Borges, as recently as last week, was clamming up on the plagiarism allegations because of a pending legal matter (a Totten-confirmed arbitration hearing) and the resulting picture is one of dubious moves and public missteps and the sad end to a Globe writing career that had several highlights despite recent lowlights and attention-grabs by Borges.

Now, the Globe looks silly because a plagiarist just quit on them; Borges looks silly because he’s now got to overcome both plagiarism accussations and the perception that he’s sleeping with the enemy (or at least canoodling with a subject he “covers”); and the rest of the Globe’s reading public (and working cohorts) look silly because we can’t be sure of what exactly is going on at the once-proud sports desk.

. . . In the few ensuing hours after the Borges news broke on the Globe’s site (no time stamp, but believed to be after 5 p.m. on Friday) rumors were already swirling about not only Borges, but about who will “replace” the well-connected football and boxing writer.

To save face, the paper will likely have to perform a “national search,” but the same candidates from the Michael Smith replacement search will once again be bandied about. And while both Jim Trotter and Todd Archer are more than capable, the best available candidate is already on staff in the talented, pioneering, Mike Reiss. If Joe Sullivan (remember him? He’s the sports editor who has been made the fool of in all of this) wanted to serve his beancounting bosses best, he would slide Reiss up to the Borges columnist/featurist/national notes role and bump up Christopher Gasper into a full-time Pats No. 2.

Reiss’s “Pieces” blog would also need to be part of the newly created position for Reiss, but the logistics should not get in the way of a move that almost no one could argue with and one that would restore credibility to the Globe almost immediately.

If the paper needs a third for the Pats or a Pats/General Assignment guy, they need look no further than the bulldog Albert Breer, which would both kick a leg out of the Herald’s Pats coverage, but also lock up an emerging star.

As we’ve learned before in these matters, expect the unexpected and don’t be surprised to see Sully drag his feet for a while.

. . . Here’s the wackiest - but most intriguing - offshoot of the Borges news that filtered into Shots mailbox this evening: Borges gets a role at either WEEI (Dennis and Borges, anyone?) or ups his presence at 890 ESPN Boston (where he has been a recurring co-host for Mike Felger).

To be brutally honest, Borges has a long way to go before he’s ready for the long haul, everyday grind of sports talk radio. We’ve been watching his CN8 appearances with more frequency and he constantly has trouble expressing himself and putting his argument into succinct morsels. That makes for bad radio and Borges should be mindful of his electornic shortcomings.

(DISCLAIMER: Yes, we appear on CN8 regularly. Yes, we share many of the some problems that Borges experiences. But no, none of that will stop us from having an opinion on what’s next for Borges.)

. . . News of the Borges retirement got top of the headlines status at the CHFF site (where Borges had been a favorite target) and was given some thoughtful assessment at The Coffin Corner as well as at patsfans.com by Bob George. AP also picked up on the announcement. You would hope that now - after ignoring the Borges return and the De La Hoya connection - the Boston Herald would also pick up on the story. The Track Gals have been suspiciously silent on the whole thing.

. . . We’d expect that Borges will have no trouble filling his dance card with boxing responsibilities, but we have been told once again that Borges affiliation with MSNBC.com is over.

As we know, Borges has a little Don King in him, so let’s not rule out fight promotion work for The Broadsheet Bully.

. . . An earlier version of the announcement had reportedly included references to some recent also-ran honors bestowed upon Borges. We’re guessing next year, his De La Hoya workwill be eligible. There is also a prior (but undated) statement on the Borges case from the BWAA president that can be found here and one that indicates Borges is an officer for the organization.