Bob Ryan email exchange Part II

This is the second part of my email exchange with Bob Ryan. (Part I can be found here.) In this addition we wrap up the exchange as Bob touches on changes at the Globe, the place for bloggers and how BC will do this season.

ATL_eagle: You’ve seen and been a part of ESPN’s shift from coverage to heavy opinion. You’ve seen and been a part of sport talk radio’s growth. What is your take on the latest medium -- blogs? While I don’t have the platform that you do, some blogs clearly do. Yet with the blog I can reach a very specific audience, take angles, tones or topics that you and even Michael Vega [The Globe’s BC beat writer] cannot. And in something more closely related to your day-to-day, The Globe is consolidating its newsroom with Boston.com. So where do you think it is all heading and what role do you see bloggers playing?

Bob Ryan: With regard to the internet, blogs, etc., they are an unavoidable way of life. The instant communication represented by the internet has vastly altered the journalistic world and we are trying to find our way through all this. Joining forces more tightly with Boston.Com was inevitable. Now Boston.Com has an obligation to better itself. I find the site sloppy and annoying. It needs much better organization.

Jimmy Durante's famous line was "Everybody wants to get into the act." And now everybody can because anyone can blog. It's out there. Nothing we can do about it, except attempt to produce your material as best you can and write it better than any blogger could ever dream of in the hopes that some people care about good writing and, perhaps, insight that is unavailable to a blogger sitting in his cellar. All this extraneous stuff clouds the issues. It's all very different, and I'm glad I am far, far closer to the end of my career than the beginning, for many reasons.

ATL_eagle: One last question. Even though I’ve told myself I won’t get fooled again, I actually think BC will have a big year in football, win 10 games and play in a real Bowl. What is your prediction?

Bob Ryan: I haven't done any homework on BC football as of yet. About all I can say is that opening AT Central Michigan is ballsy and dangerous. That league is a menace to the big boys.