26 good things about 2025 in the sports media scene

Sports News

National and local people, places, and things that were enjoyed or appreciated from the past year on the sports media beat.

By Chad Finn

January 3, 2026 | 11:24 AM

4 minutes to read

The calendars have been flipped for a few days now, but before we dive headlong into the 2026 sports media scene, your semiloyal scribe (that’s me) wanted to jot down a few national and local people, places, and things that I enjoyed or appreciated from the past year on this beat.

Twenty-six of them, in fact …

· NBC Sports Boston’s “Quick Slants,” especially Tom E. Curran’s good-natured “Irrelevant Questions” segments with Patriots players.

· Phil Perry’s knack for good-naturedly shutting down Felger-generated Patriots hot takes with facts and insight.

· Lou Merloni’s #walkthedog social media clips that never fail to offer clear-eyed assessments of the state of the Red Sox.

· The “30 for 30” on late ESPN personality Stuart Scott, which offered a candid look at his professional and personal perseverance.

· Mike Reiss’s institutional knowledge and trustworthy Patriots coverage for ESPN.

· Sean McDonough, the most underrated multisport national broadcaster of his time, winning the 2025 National Sportscaster of the Year from the National Sports Media Association.

· McDonough’s humor and frank assessments on the 30 or so Red Sox games he called on WEEI.

· Reporters that ask short, straightforward questions in press conferences.

· The Ringer’s “Fantasy Football Podcast,” which is a riot whether you’re a casual or obsessive fantasy football participant.

· Tom Caron’s ability to bring the best out of NESN Red Sox analysts of various personalities and strengths.

· The realization that struck after the superb finale of “Stranger Things” (spoiler alert, sort of?): Nancy Wheeler would have been an intern at the Herald at roughly the same time as Bill Simmons, Tony Massarotti, and Michael Felger.

· The rabbit holes that a subscription to newspapers.com will lead you down. Somehow for me they always bring me around to Peter Gammons’s old Sunday Baseball notes columns.

· The growing chemistry among Drew Carter, Brian Scalabrine, and sideline reporter Abby Chin on NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics broadcasts in their second season together. Carter is from a different generation and has a different play-by-play style than the legendary Mike Gorman, but he is an excellent successor.

· Mike Tirico shaking off his supposed rust calling basketball last March by subbing in on an NBC Sports Boston Celtics broadcast and expertly calling the dual 40-point performances by Derrick White and Payton Pritchard.

· Joe Buck, who has always nailed the biggest calls when our Boston teams are involved, winning the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting from the Hall of Fame.

· Troy Aikman’s affable, direct approach alongside Buck on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” broadcasts. He’s become matter-of-factly blunt, and it’s made him the best NFL color analyst there is.

· Bob Socci’s poise in soldiering through a touchdown call on The Sports Hub’s Patriots game broadcasts despite the excited blurts and bursts of syllables often coming from analyst Scott Zolak.

· Tom Brady’s decision to stop referring to every other player as a stud. His improvement as a broadcaster is modest but legitimate.

· Anything Kevin Harlan calls, but especially the NBA.

· Doris Burke remaining ESPN/ABC’s best NBA color analyst despite a demotion from its top team.

· Any network or streaming service that did not end up in a carriage dispute at one point or another.

· Authors such as Seth Wickersham who make a habit of touting others’ books and projects.

· The detailed insight found on SoxProspects.com. Sometimes I think that crew knows the Red Sox farm system as well as those that run it.

· Anyone who says “You’re absolutely wrong, Mike” to Felger.

· Any journalist that summoned the conscience to abandon the Twitter/X septic tank.

· Chris Curtis’s days off.

The Sports Hub’s scores ratings rout

The Sports Hub routed sports radio competitor WEEI in the fall Nielsen Audio ratings, finishing first overall and across all weekday programs in the men 25-54 age demographic.

In the three-month period from Sept. 18 to Dec. 10, The Sports Hub earned a 15.0 share overall, nearly doubling the second-place finisher, classic-rock station WZLX (7.6). WEEI tied WBQT for ninth (3.5).

The Sports Hub’s overall share was down slightly from last fall (15.8, first) but up from the previous ratings book in the summer (11.1 first). WEEI’s ratings were way down from last fall (6.2, fourth) and roughly the same as the spring (3.4, ninth).

From this fall:

· Morning drive (6-10 a.m.): “Toucher and Hardy” rated a 19.4, the highest share for any show in the Boston market. WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” finished tied for fourth (5.2).

· Middays (10 a.m.-2 p.m.): The Sports Hub’s “Zolak and Bertrand” show led the way with a 15.8. WEEI’s “Jones and Keefe” tied for ninth (3.2).

· Afternoon drive (2-6 p.m.): “Felger and Mazz” remained in its longstanding perch at the top of the ratings with a 16.7 share. That’s up from an 11.1 in the summer, but down a bit from last fall’s 17.6. “WEEI Afternoons” finished tied with WCCM (1490 AM) for 14th (2.0).

· Evenings (6-11 p.m.): The Sports Hub, which features Bruins and Celtics broadcasts along with the “Joe Murray” show, led the way with an 8.4. WEEI tied for 11th overall with a 4.0 share.

Patriots fans still affected by Verizon Fios

The Patriots’ regular-season finale vs. the Dolphins is a Fox broadcast, which means that Verizon Fios subscribers in Boston and Providence will, barring a last-minute agreement, again have to find a different way to watch the game.

As explained here last week, the carriage dispute between Verizon and Cox Media resulted in Boston 25 and other Fox channels being dropped by Verizon on Dec. 15. That left Patriots fans seeking a way to watch the rout of the Jets last Sunday. The dispute hasn’t been resolved, so it’s the same situation yet again.

From what I heard from a few readers, the LocalTV+ app that can be downloaded from iTunes worked well as an alternative.

Chad Finn

Sports columnist

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.