Is it possible we overlook Bob Ryan?

His columns earn acclaim and he shows up on Pardon The Interruption (but, man, is he awkward on television). He’s respected and well-known, but he doesn’t seem to be part of the national conversation in the way that some other (less talented) journalists are. And it’s a shame, because he’s really quite good.

We’ll do our part to give him some love. A few nuggets of wisdom from the Boston Globe scribe’s latest “It Occurs to me That…” column, which is about a hundred times better than Bill Reynolds’ “For What Its Worth” column we grew up reading in the Providence Journal (and somehow still manages to find a weekly spot). Read more

In GQ‘s September issue (yes, the Lebron one), Chuck Klosterman writes a short piece about the National Football League called “Five brilliant ideas to make America’s best game even better.”

It’s a classic Klosterman-y (Klosterman-esque?) list, full of incremental changes that would make a difference such as “Tweak the enforcement of pass interference” and “Microscopically increase the success of the onside kicks.” (And stop talking about Brett Farve, which is completely supported from this quarter.)

It’s also a return to the pages of the men’s magazine and something of a coup for Jim Nelson and the Conde Nast crew. Klosterman, an Esquire columnist until last year, wrote about the band Pavement for GQ in March. His latest appearance could signal a continued switch of allegiance.

Then again, it might mean GQ got him on the phone, said they needed 500 words about the future of the NFL, and they were paying $3 per word. Two hours later, viola.

Regardless, welcome back, Chuck. Now go fix baseball.

NBC Sports & Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol was seen taking a tour of Golf Channel’s headquarters last week, according to Sports Business Journal‘s John Ourand.

Why is that important? It seems to signal that once Comcast (which owns Golf Channel) completes its acquisition of NBC, that Ebersol will be the one leading the new company’s sports division, which would include NBC Sports, Golf, and Versus.

Ourand also writes about a somewhat surprising development: the regional sports networks will probably not fall under Ebersol’s jurisdiction:

It appears unlikely that Comcast’s regional sports networks would be grouped with the national sports networks. Rather, sources say, Comcast seems to be leaning toward grouping the RSNs with NBC’s owned-and-operated stations.

That is a surprising decision, but one that will liklely make the NBC local stations much happier.

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