Will McDonough Checks Out

KCBOOMER · 01-10-2003, 12:01 PM

Noted Boston sports columnist, Will McDonough, passed away.

http://espn.go.com/classic/obit/s/20...0/1490265.html

rcartman28 · 01-10-2003, 12:35 PM

Sorry to see him go.....didn't seem to me like someone who was a total butt-kisser to the jocks, either....

RichG · 01-10-2003, 01:01 PM

I heard him on a radio interview over the last couple of weeks and he was really laying it into Lucchino.

Craig S. · 01-10-2003, 03:11 PM

While I respect his talent, especially for writing about football, my feelings about McDonough as a person are mostly negative.

For years, he stuck up for Yawkey and the Red Sox' organization, claiming that there was no racial prejudice. This, despite the owner yelling, "Get those ni----s off the field" during black players' tryouts with the team. And he kept a close friendship with Joe Cronin, the man who as recently as the late '70s admitted that he'd always thought the races should have their own leagues.

The Globe has had an incredible number of talented people in the past 30 years - Peter Gammons, Leigh Montville, Bob Ryan, Lesley Visser, Dave Smith, Dan Shaughnessy - and McDonough deserves to be included in that group. He knew his sports, but his old-fashioned, Boston Irish-Catholic, anti-everything else attitudes won't be missed.

pwdennis · 01-10-2003, 11:03 PM

Good grief, Craig S. - that's a bit of overkill

As we go through life we make (I would hope) many friends and acquaintances. Some of them may have some beliefs and attitudes that we may not agree with.

Not to mention our families - my Dad's family came from a part of the country where there was a considerable amount of prejudice against Blacks, foreignors, Catholics, etc - some of them still harbor those attitudes. That does not make them any less my family, even if I don't agree with them.

If all your friends agree with you on everything you must live in a very insular world. Hell, I even have a few friends who are Marxists, in addition to a few Clintonites and a couple of unrepentant New Dealers. One friend, a Russian Orthodox, feels that the ideal form of government is a theocracy !

I didn't see him much, or read his columns that often but I don't recall that "his sports, but his old-fashioned, Boston Irish-Catholic, anti-everything else attitudes" ever manifesting itself in what I read or heard.

Craig S. · 01-11-2003, 10:14 AM

PW, sorry if it seemed like overkill. I just never cared for the man, and I did notice those overtones creeping into his writing at times. I'm all for differences, but I'm not going to praise someone I disliked simply because they've died. Best thing would have been for me to simply hold my tongue. Or I should have just said that he did some wonderful writing, which is true.

pathogan · 01-11-2003, 04:04 PM

...being an Irish catholic, i found that he DID have that narrow southie attitude in his columns. I agree with Craig here...

pwdennis · 01-13-2003, 12:33 AM

While he wasn't my favorite writer, I certainly didn't dislike him like I did Dick Young.

I'm pretty tolerant of most sports commentary as long as it is reasonably informed. I occasionally even listen to Jim Rome, although I far prefer Tony Kornheiser (you've got to like a guy whose e-mail address is thisshowstinks@espnradio.com)

pathogan · 01-13-2003, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by pwdennis
While he wasn't my favorite writer, I certainly didn't dislike him like I did Dick Young.

I'm pretty tolerant of most sports commentary as long as it is reasonably informed. I occasionally even listen to Jim Rome, although I far prefer Tony Kornheiser (you've got to like a guy whose e-mail address is thisshowstinks@espnradio.com)

well, he didnt hide the fact that he was,let's say, intolerant...I grew up reading his clubhouse confidential. Wmc Dwas not nearly as good a writer as Young

01-10-2003, 12:01 PM	#1
KCBOOMER NetShrine All-Century Team Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Home of the T-Bones Posts: 11,116	Will McDonough Checks Out Noted Boston sports columnist, Will McDonough, passed away. http://espn.go.com/classic/obit/s/20...0/1490265.html __________________ KCBOOMER *Buck O'Neil: The Monarch of Baseball*

01-10-2003, 12:35 PM	#2
rcartman28 NetShrine All-Century Team Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Hudson, WI Posts: 1,408	Sorry to see him go.....didn't seem to me like someone who was a total butt-kisser to the jocks, either.... __________________ I would have looked out for the water main. But that's just me..... Brett Favre

01-10-2003, 11:03 PM	#5
pwdennis NetShrine All-Century Team Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Winter Springs, FL Posts: 2,503	Good grief, Craig S. - that's a bit of overkill As we go through life we make (I would hope) many friends and acquaintances. Some of them may have some beliefs and attitudes that we may not agree with. Not to mention our families - my Dad's family came from a part of the country where there was a considerable amount of prejudice against Blacks, foreignors, Catholics, etc - some of them still harbor those attitudes. That does not make them any less my family, even if I don't agree with them. If all your friends agree with you on everything you must live in a very insular world. Hell, I even have a few friends who are Marxists, in addition to a few Clintonites and a couple of unrepentant New Dealers. One friend, a Russian Orthodox, feels that the ideal form of government is a theocracy ! I didn't see him much, or read his columns that often but I don't recall that "his sports, but his old-fashioned, Boston Irish-Catholic, anti-everything else attitudes" ever manifesting itself in what I read or heard. __________________ "I would submit that if the world survives for a million years, perhaps its finest hour may be that in the last half of the 20th century, when the power to blow up the world rested in the hands of a few men in two very unsophisticated and suspicious countries, we didn't do it, and one American, Richard Nixon, moved the cold war away from permanent confrontation toward victory. How could any wrong that he did compare with that?" - John Sears

01-11-2003, 04:04 PM	#7
pathogan william Blake's Innkeeper Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Brooklyn Posts: 2,828	Actually ...being an Irish catholic, i found that he DID have that narrow southie attitude in his columns. I agree with Craig here...

01-13-2003, 12:33 AM	#8
pwdennis NetShrine All-Century Team Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Winter Springs, FL Posts: 2,503	While he wasn't my favorite writer, I certainly didn't dislike him like I did Dick Young. I'm pretty tolerant of most sports commentary as long as it is reasonably informed. I occasionally even listen to Jim Rome, although I far prefer Tony Kornheiser (you've got to like a guy whose e-mail address is thisshowstinks@espnradio.com) __________________ "I would submit that if the world survives for a million years, perhaps its finest hour may be that in the last half of the 20th century, when the power to blow up the world rested in the hands of a few men in two very unsophisticated and suspicious countries, we didn't do it, and one American, Richard Nixon, moved the cold war away from permanent confrontation toward victory. How could any wrong that he did compare with that?" - John Sears

01-10-2003, 01:01 PM	#3
RichG Inducted Into The NetShrine Assembly of Fame Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 569	I heard him on a radio interview over the last couple of weeks and he was really laying it into Lucchino.

01-10-2003, 03:11 PM	#4
Craig S. Guest Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 6,330	While I respect his talent, especially for writing about football, my feelings about McDonough as a person are mostly negative. For years, he stuck up for Yawkey and the Red Sox' organization, claiming that there was no racial prejudice. This, despite the owner yelling, "Get those ni----s off the field" during black players' tryouts with the team. And he kept a close friendship with Joe Cronin, the man who as recently as the late '70s admitted that he'd always thought the races should have their own leagues. The Globe has had an incredible number of talented people in the past 30 years - Peter Gammons, Leigh Montville, Bob Ryan, Lesley Visser, Dave Smith, Dan Shaughnessy - and McDonough deserves to be included in that group. He knew his sports, but his old-fashioned, Boston Irish-Catholic, anti-everything else attitudes won't be missed.

01-11-2003, 10:14 AM	#6
Craig S. Guest Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 6,330	PW, sorry if it seemed like overkill. I just never cared for the man, and I did notice those overtones creeping into his writing at times. I'm all for differences, but I'm not going to praise someone I disliked simply because they've died. Best thing would have been for me to simply hold my tongue. Or I should have just said that he did some wonderful writing, which is true.

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