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.