CONTACT: Dominic Amenta, Regan Communications
(O) 617/488-2892
(M) 781/789-5074 BOSTON, MA (January 12, 2006) – Boston’s Weekly Dig announced today that it will be running an opinion piece by the Honorable Ray Flynn, former mayor of Boston, U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and local sports legend, in its Jan. 18 edition.

The column, drawing from Flynn’s experience growing up in Southie, addresses the growing gap between pro sports organizations and inner-city kids.

“The players were not just names or faces in the newspapers,” Flynn writes, “but actually part of us and the city. The players were happy to fulfill childhood dreams of playing Major League Baseball, and Boston fans were proud of their teams. When a Celtics or Bruins player showed up at a youth awards banquet, he would bring several tickets for the door prize. Walter Brown, the owner of the Boston Garden, one of the greatest legends in Boston sports history, would personally send over tickets to neighborhood poor kids he knew would love to see a game.”

Asked whether he agreed that the partnership between Flynn and the Dig is highly unusual, to say the least, Editor Joe Keohane just shrugged.

“He’s very conservative nowadays, very Catholic,” Keohane said. “And, yeah, I run a paper some seem to think is virtually Satanic, but I think our political differences are bridged by the fact that we both have pretty good Boston accents.”