Journalist and TV personality Bob Ryan talks race, sexism and the Olympics during '90 Minutes' talk

Photographer: George E. Mauzy Jr.Sports columnist Bob Ryan (left) chats with a student after his Feb. 7 90 Minutes talk in Schoonover Center.

Columnist Bob Ryan shared his thoughts on many sports topics, including racism, sexism, basketball and the Olympics, during his Feb. 7 E.W. Scripps School of Journalism-sponsored “90 Minutes Series” talk in the Schoonover Center.  

Ryan, a retired sports columnist and current TV personality, is famous for his appearances on popular ESPN shows like “The Sports Reporters,” “Pardon the Interruption” and “Around the Horn.”

Born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, the 1968 Boston College graduate said he grew up attending sports events because his father worked in sports marketing and administration.

"I don't ever remember a time we were not going to a game or about to go to a game," Ryan said. "It's in my DNA."

When he was 7 years old, Ryan remembers how much he loved reading newspaper stories about the high school basketball games he had watched the previous night. He said he always had an affinity for reading and writing about sports, penning his first sports story when he was 11 years old.

As proof of his sports fandom, Ryan said he made sure the Bobcats had a home basketball game to coincide with his visit. By his own count, his attendance at Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game against the University of Akron inside the Convocation Center marked the 196th basketball arena he has visited.

As far as career advice, Ryan told the students in the audience that, "there is no substitute for being in the right place at the right time. You never know when your big break is coming," he said.

Ryan said he received his big break as a senior when his college roommate was offered a sports writing internship at The Boston Globe but didn’t accept it because he wanted to pursue a career in the public relations field.

Ryan said he was then offered the internship, despite the fact that he was graduating later that spring.

After the internship ended, Ryan did a short stint in the Army Reserves before being hired full time at the newspaper. In February 1969, he was asked to cover the Boston Celtics, despite being only 23 years old. After covering the team for nearly 20 years, he was promoted to a general sports columnist position.  

Ryan pointed out that he started at The Boston Globe the same day as legendary baseball writer Peter Gammons, and on June 10, it will be 50 years since they began their legendary careers at the newspaper.

Ryan said the NBA game has drastically changed over the last 50 years. “The game is built around the three-point shot now more than ever since the shot was first implemented in the NBA in 1979,” Ryan said.

He said inside play is not emphasized as much as it was in the past.

"If you don't shoot three's, good luck," Ryan said. "The game isn't going back, that's the way it's going to be."

He said it’s difficult to compare the different NBA eras because the game is so different, but he admitted that today’s players are much bigger, faster and stronger than their predecessors. He compared the games of current great LeBron James and retired great Michael Jordan.

He said the main difference in the players is personality. He said Jordan would cut your heart out to win a game, but James is more team natured and wants to win with the help of his friends.

"I would take Michael if I was playing a game for my life, but I like watching LeBron better," Ryan said.

Ryan said he was lucky to get assigned to basketball at The Boston Globe as a young reporter because it was a sport he had played and that was familiar to him. He said it would have been a struggle for him to cover a sport like ice hockey because of his unfamiliarity with the sport.

"I tell people that I've been on skates and I've had a hockey stick in my hand, but never at the same time," he joked.

One person who enjoyed talking about hockey was Ryan’s colleague on “The Sports Reporters,” host John Saunders. The Canadian-born African-American broadcaster had played college hockey at Western Michigan University.

Ryan said Saunders brought his own brand of classiness to the hit ESPN TV program and saved it after the sudden death of the show's popular host Dick Schaap in 2001. He said he remembers walking off the set for the last time with Saunders in August 2016. They had agreed to have dinner together with their wives in New York City in the coming days, but Ryan said he found out later in the week that Saunders had died unexpectedly.

Less than a year later, “The Sports Reporters” was cancelled and aired for the last time in May 2017. Beginning September 2017, the show was restarted as an online podcast that is offered twice a week (Mondays and Fridays). 

"We didn't yell at each other like the new sports talk shows where conflict drives them,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the internet has changed the media landscape and is leading to the slow death of newspapers as we know them.

“The new generation doesn't read them like we did,” he said.

Ryan said classified, real estate and automobile ads were always the biggest advertisers in newspapers and, unfortunately, these types of ads are now more effective online.

“Newspapers never recovered that lost revenue,” he said.

Racism was another topic Ryan addressed during his talk. When asked whether African-American NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was blackballed this past season after taking a knee during the national anthem the previous season, Ryan said he believes that is exactly what happened.

"How can anybody look us in the eye and say Kaepernick is the 97th best quarterback in the world or even the 33rd or the even the 20th," Ryan said. "He is being blackballed and everyone is afraid to say it. He did something for a reason and it had nothing to do with the military or the anthem."

Ryan said the kneeling for the national anthem issue was tamping down until U.S. President Donald Trump “put a lit match in the gas tank” while he was speaking in Alabama and ignited everything.

"Meanwhile, Kaepernick is out of a job and clearly he should have a job," Ryan said. "I don't know if he will ever get a job. We're waiting for an owner to have some guts and say, ‘I'll do it and I'll stand by him.’"

Ryan also addressed the racist reputation of the city of Boston. He said the city has earned the reputation over the years and is stuck with it, but things are getting better. He said there are some professional players who refuse to play for a Boston team and have put a no trade to Boston clause in their contract.

"It's a tainted stain that is hard to overcome," Ryan said. 

Ryan said he has also witnessed sexism toward women throughout his career, especially in the locker room. He said Jackie McMullen, his former colleague at The Boston Globe, is one of the women who has been affected by it over the years. He said McMullen is the blueprint for how to carry yourself as a professional.

"Women are not allowed to age gracefully like men," Ryan said.

He said it's often OK for them in the media business while they are in their 20s and 30s, but by the time they get in the 40s and 50s, it's not comfortable for them to work anymore.

Ryan said one of his favorite events to cover is the Olympics.

He said he has reported on 11 Olympic Games since 1992, starting when he traveled to Barcelona, Spain, to cover the USA’s Dream Team, which was composed of NBA players for the first time. He has now covered six summer and five winter Olympics.

"I was a columnist with a basketball background, and once I got over to Barcelona I fell in love with the whole idea of the Olympics," Ryan said.

He also reminisced about being at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where U.S. figure skater Tonya Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly famously attacked the knee of her U.S. rival, Nancy Kerrigan.

"There will never be an Olympics as fondly remembered as Lillehammer,” Ryan said. “They were in the right city, right country where winter sports are king and they (Norway) were winning. When they weren't winning, Sweden was winning. They are the Duke and North Carolina of the Winter Games. It was a festive two weeks."

Erik Threet II, a senior journalism major who serves as the host of the 90 Minutes Series this spring, said he enjoyed Ryan's talk.

"When you see someone you watch and idolize, it's great," Threet said. "People like him have done what we young journalists want to do on the biggest scale. It was an honor for me to introduce someone like him. It was humbling for me."

Andrew Hohman, a senior journalism major and vice president for Ohio University's Associated Press of Sports Editors, said Ryan’s visit was absolutely phenomenal.

“I remember watching him on ‘Around the Horn’ when I was 6 years old, and to be able to shake hands with him and spend some time with him is awesome," Hohman said. "He's a really good role model."

Jerry Kirven, a sophomore journalism major, said Ryan’s “90 Minutes” talk was memorable.

"It's great to pick the mind of someone with so much experience in sports journalism," Kirven said. "This is another reason I came here for school – because we can attract people like Bob Ryan. I hope everyone got a lot out of it. The people who didn't show up tonight missed out."