From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ron Borges
Ron Borges
Ron Borges is currently a sportswriter for the Boston Her- pearing on WEEI’s afternoon ’The Big Show’ after Borges
ald. He previously wrote for The Boston Globe, and was a appeared on it and allegedly used a racial slur to describe
regular guest on Michael Felger’s radio show The Mike Fel- New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu. Glenn Ordway,
ger Show, which aired on 890 ESPN until July 2008. Borges host of the show defended Borges stating that he was on-
also was a regular contributor to the HBO.com’s Boxing ly trying to ’recall Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s
website until 2008. Ron Borges also writes for The Sweet infamous description of Irabu as a "fat, pussy toad."[2]
Science, a boxing website. Ordway claims he corrected Borges on the air and was
surprised when the ban was announced. Two weeks later,
Awards Skwar banned Globe sportswriters from appearing on
WEEI’s morning Dennis and Callahan Show because of its
Borges has been named Massachusetts Sportswriter of perceived lowbrow humor. After this ban, WEEI retali-
the Year by the National Association of Sportswriters and ated by banning Globe sportswriters from all WEEI pro-
Sports Broadcasters five times since 1999. He also holds grams.[3]
the record for most first prizes and overall awards in the
annual competition of the Professional Boxing Writers Altercation with Michael Katz
Association. He has also been awarded a half dozen writ- In June 2004, Borges was involved in a physical alterca-
ing awards in the Associated Press Sports Editors’ annu- tion with New York Times and MaxBoxing.com reporter
al competition and his work has been included in the an- Michael Katz at a press conference in Las Vegas. Reports
nual anthology "Best Sports Stories" eight times. He has state that Katz was in the process of interviewing boxing
been awarded either a first or second prize 20 times in promoter Bob Arum when Borges interrupted to ask
writing competitions held by the Professional Football Arum a question. Katz objected to the interruption and
Writers Association as well, including multiple awards in allegedly accused Borges of "being a shill for" boxing pro-
the same year three times. In 1995, he was the recipient moter Don King. In a column earlier in the year Katz
of the Nat Fleischer Award for boxing journalism from had called Borges "a vomit-smelling sleaze" and criti-
the Boxing Writers Association of America. He is one of cized Borges for "writing about a fight without revealing
less than 25 boxing writers to ever receive that honor. he was being paid by King to provide television commen-
tary". Borges responded by striking Katz, who responded
Criticism by striking at Borges with his cane. Katz was described as
"a short, fat man in his 60s who walks with a cane and
Borges’ hostile opinions have frequently earned him crit-
wears a neck brace because of chronic back problems".
icism. He has severely criticized Bill Belichick; some me-
The fight between the two was broken up by Arum and
dia figures, including Bill Simmons, have asserted that
his aide.[4][5]
this is because Borges relied on former quarterback Drew
Bledsoe, benched and traded by Belichick, as his primary
Plagiarism allegations
source of Patriots information. Borges also wrote a con-
troversial column asserting that Lance Armstrong is not On March 4, 2007, Borges was caught in plagiarism alle-
an athlete. gations after an online reader on ESPN.com’s New Eng-
“In person, most people have been very kind to me, land Patriots message board revealed that there were ex-
A few people haven’t, usually when they’re under the in- tensive similarities between a March 4 article by Borges
fluence of some stimulants or depressants. It’s not nice. in the Boston Globe and a February 25 article written by
I don’t like it. It happened to me once in a mall with my sportswriter Mike Sando of the Tacoma News Tribune.[6]
daughter when she was about 10 years old. Some guy was On March 5, Borges was suspended for plagiarism by the
cursing and yelling. I tried to use it as a learning experi- Globe, without pay, and barred from broadcast appearan-
ence for her on how not to behave. I’d be lying if I said I ces for two months.[7]
thought it was cool. But I accept it. I’m not complaining. I
know what this is.”[1] Other Globe columnists on Borges
Ron Borges also played a part in starting the long run- • “Borges doesn’t care, I think he fires away and
ning feud between the Boston Globe and Boston sports doesn’t think about the fans or anyone else. I think
talk radio station WEEI. In 1999, the Boston Globe’s exec- he fires away with honesty and candor with no other
utive sports editor banned Globe sportswriters from ap-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ron Borges
objective but to tell people what he really thinks. [2] APRIL, 1999 | BaseballLibrary.com
And if people don’t like it, fuck ’em.” -Bob Ryan [3] Don’t Quote Me |
• “He’s always expressed his opinions, Bluntly.” - [4] David, Weber (2004-06-05). "Heavyweight Times
former Globe sports editor Don Skwar. Co. scribes go a couple of rounds in Vegas". Boston
• “We should have one of those Globe polls—‘Who do Herald. http://news.bostonherald.com/
you hate more?’ I’ve challenged Borges to see who localRegional...articleid=30667.
could get out the vote. It would be close. And it [5] Cote, John (2004-06-08). "Winners emerge from no-
would be a lot more interesting than who’s going to decision". ST. Petersburg Times.
win the MVP.” -Dan Shaughnessy http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/08/Sports/
Winners_emerge_from_n.shtml. Retrieved
Boston Magazine Feature [6]
2007-05-04.
Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: A cyberspace
In the November 2006 issue of Boston Magazine there episode of “24”
was a feature on Borges.[1] [7] Globe suspends Borges.
[8] Borges retires from Globe.
Retirement from The Boston
Globe External links
• Ron Borges at the Internet Movie Database
Less than two weeks after returning from his 2-month
• Why Ron Borges Should be Fired
suspension, Borges announced his retirement from the
• Back and Forth with Ron Borges - His Personal Blog
Boston Globe on May 18, 2007.[8]
Persondata
Name Borges, Ron
Boston Herald Alternative names
In October 2008, Borges resumed his role as a Boston
Short description
sportswriter, this time with the Boston Herald. The time
between writing stints may have been related to a non- Date of birth
compete clause in his Globe contract. Place of birth
Date of death
References Place of death
[1] ^ Mr. Popularity - Boston Magazine
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ron_Borges&oldid=469191327"
Categories:
• Sportswriters from Massachusetts
• The Boston Globe people
• Living people
• American people of Portuguese descent
• Boston, Massachusetts sportscasters
This page was last modified on 2 January 2012 at 20:45. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
2