By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

Perhaps I’m looking for double-standards in all the wrong places, but it did strike us as peculiar when Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson took it upon himself earlier this week to assess the flip-flop by no-longer-Teflon Jason Wolfe’s employers at Entercom. The radio behemoth – after backlash and threats of protests – decided against giving Bernard McGuirk a test-run at the Sox flagship of WRKO 680 AM.

Jackson – and by default, the Globe – appear to have no problem telling other media entities how to go about their business, but we can’t even get a statement from the paper’s editor (Martin Baron) on the squirrelly “retirement” of Ron Borges, the former Globe sportswriter who Baron had strongly insinuated had committed at least one act of plagiarism when he suspended Borges in early March.

For the folks reading between the lines of the whole sordid Borges mess, the buried, late Friday afternoon announcement and stark silence thereafter indicate just one thing: The parties separated on bad terms and everyone has been required to zip it up tight under terms of the separation.

Neither Borges, Baron nor Union President Dan Totten has returned emails in the past week from Shots requesting some clarification on the end of Borges’ Globe career. (Last we communicated with Totten, he informed us that Borges was awaiting an arbitration hearing in June, likely over back pay and the way he was suspended.) Even our usually reliable Globe moles have had little to say other than the business-side confidant who said, “I can read between the lines the same way everyone else can.”

But the question is, ‘Why should an already distrustful readership be forced to read between those lines?’ Couldn’t sports editor, Joe Sullivan go a long way in closing the Borges chapter with a little transparency in the form of an editor’s letter or an on-line chat? Shouldn’t a paper that gave us Mike Barnicle and Patricia Smith – from a company that brought us Jayson Blair – shouldn’t that company be ultra-sensitive about backdoor buyouts and hints of impropriety? Even if it is “just the Sports section?”

And where, I have to ask again, has the Herald been on all of this and does their lukewarm interest have anything to do with the strong Union involvement of Borges?

• Welcome to Blog Land, Basketball Bob – but you do need to get a name for the blog. Our top suggestions as your friendly South Shore neighbor:

1. Ryan’s Hope (For those too young, here’s a summary of one of the most underrated soap opera’s of all time.
2. Bloggin’ Bob
3. Rhymin’ Ryan
4. Scott’s Shots, Part Deux!
5. Basketball Bob on It All
6. Bob Derek (in homage the original “10.0,” Bo Derek)

In fact, Ryan’s first post does give us the first confirmation that NESN’s “Globe 10.0” will make its long-awaited (and delayed) debut on June 26, having missed the benefit of almost three months of Red Sox programming to pump its thrice-weekly schedule (Tues., Wed., Thurs. at 5:30 p.m.). Ryan, from the start, has been acutely aware of his slot opposite the best sports show on TV, “Pardon the Interruption.” Again, in his initial blog he mentions the competition. However, Bloggin’ Bob needs to understand that with the advent of TiVo and DVRing, the time slot is less and less important. I very rarely watch “PTI” in its original broadcast window, preferring instead to grab it before nighty-night off the recorder.

Interestingly enough, Ryan’s getting in some prep work for NESN on the ESPN dime, as he gets “PTI” fill-in duties this Friday and then three of the next four week-enders as well.

• Speaking of fledgling bloggers: Hacks With Haggs is up and running at the site of the guy who pulled a rare daily double on Wednesday, Joe Haggerty of Places Many. Haggs did dinner time with the Fox Sports New England duo of Tanguay and Dickerson and finished his night with a dose of Carchedi and Burton on CN8’s 11 p.m. “Out of Bounds.”

• Of the many things that caught my eye during the course of regular Rob Bradford reading, this week’s mention of an ailment involving the Hartford Courant’s diligent and gifted Jeff Goldberg. Fortunately, Goldberg reports that he won’t miss a full week and the Return of David Heuschkel is going to be short-lived (to the relief of many in the Sox press corps).

“I slipped and fell on Lansdowne St. on my way into the first game last Saturday [the Atlanta afternoon blowout with Daisuke pitching],” emailed Goldberg, who took over Heuschkel’s beat after last season. “I tore the meniscus in my left knee. Spent the whole Dice-K game in the ER at Beth Israel Deaconess. Good times!”

Goldberg, who expected to “join the team” in Texas for the weekend series, didn’t let his bum knee prevent him from suiting up for Game 2 on Saturday night.

“I did cover the second game, Willis Reed-style,” he joked. “Worst part is, I was supposed to play in the media game (on Tuesday), so that (stinks).”

The media game, as we have been told, was won by New York, as was the post-game blogging by our guy, Peter Abraham (the comments are fairly precious and Abraham does a good thing by adding in answers within the comments. The Herald’s newbie, Rob Blogford was disappointingly absent from some fair and balanced coverage of the 11th straight loss in the series by the Boston press corps, after having teased it earlier in the week.

He got caught up in real baseball stories, which is, of course, forgivable – however, in the future, we would expect at least three innings of dueling banjo, live-blogging between either two non-playing beat writers OR someone like Shots and someone like the ex-Post sports media critic Andrew Marchand, for live-blog bragging rights.

If we can’t beat ‘em on the field, we’ll beat ‘em on the blog.

Go team!

• We had no clue Marchand went to 1050 ESPN in New York, but we applaud the move in a big, bad way. Marchand was as sharp and insightful as any national-level media critic but he clearly saw the future of newspapers and was frightened. Not to mention, he’s able to use his writing and nose for news skill to pump his station at a national level with national support.

As the station’s strategically-named title suggests, Marchand is a managing editor who is quite clearly managing well in his the early months of his “dark side” switch. And his stable includes a big fave of Shots, the attitudinal and entertaining Brandon Tierney. (It’s also got Stephen A. for better or worse.)

• Not surprisingly, ESPN.com still rates high with national web-users. The competition, however, is getting a lot stiffer.

• This weekend’s Boston Sports Review show on ESPN 890 AM will feature the sizzling Jeff Goodman of FOXsports.com (and the Herald) at 10:05 a.m. In addition to the above-linked “Big Lead” interview, Goodman had a star turn with WEEI 850 AM’s Planet Mikey Adams in the ensuing minutes after the Celtics received their bad news on Tuesday night.

Adams pumped Goodman for great info, and closed by asking – the way only Mikey can – if this disappointment means “naked Celtics dancers next season?”

Wouldn’t that be a nice upshot?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

UPDATE, Friday Afternoon, 3 p.m. EST: A late add to the line-up on Saturday’s BSR show is a 10:30 interview we’ll be conducting with Kason Gabbard, the star of last weekend’s series-clincher against the Atlanta Braves. Gabbard was not widely quoted after the Sunday win, so this will be a chance for everyone to hear what it’s like to step onto the big stage and perform the way Gabbard did - and then have to go right back down to Pawtucket. Should be a good glimpse into the role of an up-and-comer.

• Shots is on hiatus next week, but you’re welcome to join us on a Trip to Disney for the NBA pre-Draft camp, which we’ll be live-blogging for the kind and generous folks at CSTV.com. Check in at “Hang Time” on Wednesday afternoon for the start of three days with the non-lottery guys scrapping to become lottery guys. Or, at least mid-first rounders. We’ll actually have the added advantage of being able to share a good deal of the week’s action form the perspective of Herbert Hill, the Providence big man who some have started calling the “next Ryan Gomes.”

Should be fun, and let’s face it. The Celts are trading No. 5 and they’ll probably wind up with a late first-rounder/early second-rounder, so you might as well learn some of the names. And support the Shots cause in the process.

See ya then – and remember to wear the sun block this weekend.

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

You can listen to Scott every Saturday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. as he co-hosts the Boston Sports Review Show on ESPN Radio 890 AM with Mike Salk.