Say More

If you ask Celtics lead owner Wyc Grousbeck why he wanted to buy a sports team, he has a hard time explaining why. Isn’t it just obvious? If you love your hometown team and you love to compete, what could be better? When he and his family engineered the purchase of the Celtics in 2002, Wyc vowed to “win Banner 17 or I will die trying.” The Celtics recently raised Banner 18, and he and his family are ready to sell the team. Shirley talks to Wyc about how to build a championship team and his legacy as the owner of the storied franchise. Email us at [email protected].

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If you ask Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy the best story he’s ever covered, the answer is easy: the 2004 Red Sox. After 86 years of losing, the team finally won the World Series - with a dramatic comeback over their rivals the New York Yankees. Dan was there for every game, and even played a role in reversing the curse when he wrote a scathing column that fired up the team. On the 20th anniversary of the historic win, Shirley talks to Dan about what makes Boston such a great sports town, and asks whether the city’s fans have changed since 2004. Are we spoiled? Email us at [email protected]. 

The principal owner of the Red Sox, John Henry, is also the owner of The Boston Globe, and his wife, Linda, is the CEO.

Next, listen to THE CURSE BREAKERS, a play-by-play retelling of the 2004 Red Sox victory, from the Globe newsroom. 

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Campus newspapers are not just a way to train a next generation of reporters and editors; they also provide great real time reporting about what’s going on in the hearts and minds of young people. The most controversial story on campus this past year has been protests against the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East. On Say More, Shirley talks to three student journalists from Northeastern, Emerson, and Harvard about covering the protests and the free speech crisis unfolding on campus. Email us at [email protected].

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MBTA General Manager Phil Eng says our train system in Boston is the “best in the world.” That might seem laughable, but he makes the case that the city’s transit system might not be the fastest or biggest, but what it lacks in modern amenities, it makes up for in “character.” This week on Say More, Phil talks to Shirley about his childhood working at his parents’ Chinese laundromat, where he learned the value of knowing your customers, something he brings to the job today. He also discusses why the T is so hard to fix, how his approach is different from previous leaders, and why he doesn’t want $24 billion right now. Email us at [email protected].

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We’ve all heard of the girldad, but what about the boymom? Parenting boys has always been a challenge, but in the age of #metoo, incels and the manosphere, navigating boyhood feels especially hard. Shirley has two sons and worries about raising them right. This week on Say More, she talks to fellow boymom, Ruth Whippman, who just wrote the book, “Boymom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity.” Email us at [email protected].

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You wrote in, and we read everything. Say More’s THE COMMENT SECTION will be a monthly exploration of the many forms of reader engagement found within the pages of Boston Globe Opinion. The spectrum begins with the lively, often passionate, and usually anonymous online comments on viral essays, and ends with the thoughtful signed letters to the editor, printed daily in the paper. Today’s guests are author and journalist Karen Stabiner, whose essay on dating after 50 drew hundreds of comments online, and Globe Letters editor Matthew Bernstein. Email us at [email protected].

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“A black pit opened underneath me… a void that was infinitely black.” This is what author Sebastian Junger saw while near death on an operating table in a Massachusetts hospital. Junger survived, but his brush with death would alter his life - and his attitude about the existence of an afterlife. Junger is best known for writing the book “The Perfect Storm” - which later was made into a blockbuster Hollywood movie. He has always focused on themes of death and danger in his books - but this latest book “In my Time of Dying” is his most personal yet. He sits down with The Globe’s editorial page editor Jim Dao to talk about his experience. Email us at [email protected]. 

To read Globe Opinion's special issue on aging, click here.

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Growing up in East Boston, Robert Lewis Jr. and Sal LaMattina have been best friends since they were in the first grade. They both received an education of a lifetime when, in 1974, a federal court order forced the city to bus kids to different schools in the name of racial integration. Forced busing resulted in a racist backlash that tore their East Boston neighborhood apart. They remember it like it was yesterday: stabbings at school, a firebomb in the kitchen, and a community fractured. Lewis Jr. is now the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston, and LaMattina served as a Boston city councilor for a decade in the 2000s. They discuss their memories on this 50th anniversary of busing - and their hopes for the next 50 years of public education in Boston. Email us at [email protected].

FOR PHOTOS OF SAL AND JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL AND NOW - Check out our instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/globeopinion/

For the Boston Globe’s newsroom audio documentary about busing, visit their show page: https://www.bostonglobe.com/multimedia/audio/podcast/globe-podcast/

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Would you let your kid play in traffic? Co-Founder and CEO of Boston’s Concussion Legacy Foundation Chris Nowinski has some tough questions for parents who sign their kids up for tackle football while their brains are still in vulnerable stages of development. Chris is a neuroscientist who played football at Harvard and wrestled in the WWE. He's had uncountable concussions and the terrible symptoms that go along with repeated hits to the head. Shirley has a dilemma about whether or not to let her 11-year-old son play tackle football and Chris gives his honest advice. Email us at [email protected].

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Glenn Loury is not your average economist, and his memoir is full of shocking details. You might enjoy the parts about policy and markets, and pay even closer attention to the parts about sex workers and an enduring addiction to crack cocaine. While he was working during the day in places like Harvard and Boston University, he was spending nights on the streets, getting into trouble. Shirley joins Glenn at his home in Providence, RI, to talk about his new book, “Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative.” Email us at [email protected].

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