ronborges.jpgThe way we hear it, it's only a matter of time before citizens of the greater Boston area seize up torches and pitchforks and march en masse on the Globe building, demanding the head and/or various other stubby, dwarfish body parts of Ron Borges. If there is a sportswriter more despised in his own local area we know not who he is; there has not been this much indignation here since the Stamp Act of 1765. And even then there were a few who sided with the British. Let's go to the vital statistics:

Name: Ron Borges
Writes For: Boston Globe
Formerly Wrote For: Martha's Vineyard Grapevine, Sacramento Union, Oakland Tribune, Baltimore News American.
Attended: Brandeis University (Judges).
Others Who Attended Brandeis: Jack Abramoff, Mitch Albom.
Most Often Heard On: WHDH-TV, New England Sports Network, ESPN Radio.
Nicknames: The Broadsheet Bully, RonBog, Borges George, Tony Banta.
Most Resembles: Oswald, from "The Drew Carey Show."
Best Quotes On A Message Board: "Ron Borges is a puny, bitter little man who is quickly losing control." — Norm Siebern.
"Ron Borges is the five year old who fires off his squirt gun at you every five minutes so he can receive your attention." — varitekdotcom.
Binkie: Don King.

Our absolute favorite Ron Borges moment came in June of 2004, when the Globe's NFL/Boxing columnist tried to beat up a cripple. During a boxing press conference in Las Vegas, Borges got into it with former New York Daily News Boxing writer Michael Katz, who is over 60 and uses a cane. Our favorite part, which we can't stop reading over and over:

"This really sent Katz over the edge. In Zorro-like fashion, he began waving his cane menacingly, poking at Borges' chest. The Boston writer advanced on Katz. And then the melee broke out. HBO Sports executive Kery Davis, trying to break things up, grabbed Borges' head. Four other guys jumped Borges from behind, trying to pull him back. Bodies were seemingly flying everywhere, one of them landing on Arum, knocking him down. Adding to the chaos, one of Arum's PR men, thinking he had heard gunshots, dove on his boss to protect him. 'Get the (expletive deleted) off me,' Arum screamed."


Ah, those were the days. But Ron Borges is more than a senior abuser. The main charges against him are that he is overly critical of Boston area icons — exhibit A being Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Borges has it in for Belichick for some reason, saying this on ESPN Radio last January:

"This fellow (Belichick) has cornered the market on convincing people with the help of his friends that no one has ever worked harder than he does and he's out, uh, you know, when everyone else is sleeping, he's working, when everyone else is eating, he's working, uh, I could say something, but I won't ... about uh, how at least some of his time is being spent..."


When pressed by callers to elaborate, Borges refused. And when not engaged in unsubstantiated character assassination, Borges puts the "mock" in the mock draft. Sizing up the Patriots' 2001 selections, he ripped the team for choosing Georgia defensive tackle Richard Seymour, who, Borges said, "is too tall to play defensive tackle and too slow slow to play defensive end." Of course, Seymour went on to play in three straight Pro Bowls.

Leading the charge to have Borges expunged from the Greater Beantown Area has been Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media and Kerry Byrne of Cold Hard Football Facts, who can explain the transgressions better than we can. But we have also read the columns, having followed Borges for quite some time, even before the birth of Your Friendly Neighborhood Deadspin. We can say that the charges are not completely groundless. Borges can, in fact, be a bully, succumbing to that tactic that so many lazy writers fall back on — using shock value in place of insight. We have to admit that it's all kind of funny though, especially when the thin-skinned Borges fires back at his critics. Ha. Rock on, Ron. Every good story needs an evil antagonist, or at least some good comic relief. If you got canned, we'd actually kind of miss you.