According to his blog on AL.com, The Rap Sheet , Ian R. Rapoport, who has covered the University of Alabama athletic program (including Nick Saban’s football squad) for The Birmingham News for the last three years, is leaving the paper for become the lead Patriots beat reporter for the Boston Herald.

Recently, I accepted the job of lead Patriots beat reporter for The Boston Herald.
Ian R Rapoport
I’ve made it pretty clear how much I love this place — the paper, the people, the job, the South. And obviously, I’ll miss all you guys who come here day after day in the tens (and sometimes hundreds) of thousands and say what you think.

But moving to Boston, with such a large media market, in the city where I was born, to cover an NFL team… it’s an opportunity I could not pass up.

I would have hated to leave this intensely loyal fan base and readership for one that pales by comparison. Thankfully, New Englanders clearly hang with Alabama fans in terms of devotion.

In a few weeks, I’ll be trading Nick Saban for his buddy Bill Belichick, and it should be an experience In the meantime, I’ll continue to work extremely hard to bring you the Crimson Tide-related news you crave.

From his bio at the site, Rapoport appears to be an up-and-coming young writer:

Previously, Ian spent two years as The Jackson Clarion-Ledger’s Mississippi State beat reporter. He has also worked for The (Westchester, N.Y) Journal News and served as an intern for ESPN Classic. As an undergrad at Columbia University, he divvied up his time between rowing and toiling at the Columbia Daily Spectator.

When he’s not writing, Ian hones his mediocre golf game, refines his proficiency at grilling, and collects Pez dispensers.

Recently, he earned first place for best game story in the Football Writers Association of America writing contest, along with several other local awards.

I’m assuming (dangerous word) that this spells the end of John Tomase covering the Patriots, that is of course, unless Karen Guregian’s days covering the team are over. Maybe they’re both done. They’ll probably both continue to do at least some work on the beat, along with columnist Ron Borges. I’ll try to nail down the details of what the Herald has planned here.

Rapoport apparently already has quite a following on Twitter: @RapSheet

In the meantime, welcome to Boston, Ian. Enjoy the ride.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

6 thoughts on “Herald Hires Rapoport For Patriots Beat”

  3. While Tomase has baggage I always found Guregian pretty weak. Lots of fluff pieces my teenage daughter would be expected to do better on in her high school journalism class. Good to get new blood in town, but given the Globe’s troubles who knows for how long. Look at Marc Spears who just jumped from that sinking ship.

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  4. As long as it’s not Howie “Haha Brady is injured” Carr or Gregg “Here’s 90 paragraphs of the history of Bulgaria” Easterbrook, I’m okay with this.

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  5. I applaud the Herald for what was probably a well-thought-out search. Clearly it was a national one, and haste makes waste: The bigger sin would have been to scoff up some local hack who, with a pretty good degree of certainty, would have committed the same sins Tomase did. They all seem to fall into the same sewer over time.

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  6. So, the new guy should do well as he moves from covering one well-paid football team to another.

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