Bob Ryan鈥檚 enthusiasm for writing earned him the nickname 鈥淪cribe鈥� in high school for his work on the school newspaper. In his memoir, he looks back over his 46-year career as a sportswriter and sports columnist with The Boston Globe and his regular appearances on ESPN.
鈥淪portswriters are always being asked, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 your favorite sport to cover?鈥� What the questioners usually mean is 鈥榃hat鈥檚 your favorite sport?鈥� because they assume the answer will be the same. Not in my case. My answer always surprises them. That鈥檚 because my favorite sport to cover is golf.
鈥淭he reason is simple: Golf is the last sport television scheduling can鈥檛 mess up, because it has to be played during the day. Thus, golf is the only sport that enables you to cover it properly, allowing you to write what you want without rigorous deadlines that force the story to be contrived. This would not be true for me if I didn鈥檛 understand golf 鈥� if, say, it was NASCAR or UFC. Daylight or no daylight, I wouldn鈥檛 enjoy it. But I happen to really like covering golf.鈥�
