Joe Keiley’s column, “Remembering Boston’s legacy,” is the kind of column I have been waiting to read from a Daily Free Press sports columnist for a long time (Dec. 3, pg. 12). The column is well- written, well-researched, informative and, most importantly, relevant to Boston University.
This column accurately represents what a professional writer should submit. Unlike many other Daily Free Press columnists, both in the sports section and in other sections, Mr. Keiley appears to have done more than just rant on for 800 words about how bad life is. Mr. Keiley obviously did some research about the Boston Braves and about Braves Field. He then artfully blended this factual material with his creative writing skills. Ultimately, the final product is probably worthy of publication in any major newspaper in the Boston area. That cannot be said about a majority of columns that appear in The Daily Free Press.
The majority of student who work for The Daily Free Press or who write for The Daily Free Press are doing so to get hands-on training for a possible career in journalism. At the very least, this is true of College of Communication students, of which Mr. Keiley is one. The professionalism demonstrated by Mr. Keiley’s recent column has long been lacking from Daily Free Press columnists.
As an alumnus, it is a welcome relief to read an informative sports column such as this, as opposed to the ramblings of some past columnists. The Daily Free Press is BU’s paper. Sure, it is in the city of Boston, but it should focus on BU. I don’t go to The Daily Free Press to get an analysis of the National Football League or the National Hockey League. The students who write the sports columns here are simply not qualified to write such a column. They have the right to write about these things if they wish, but is that really the purpose of writing a sports column for The Daily Free Press?
I am sure it is much easier for a Daily Free Press sports columnist to just write about the Red Sox-Yankees game or about who his pick for the Super Bowl is, but Mr. Keiley bypasses these simple topics and chooses to actually write about something interesting. In the past, Mr. Keiley has compiled a top 10 list of BU athletes, dissected BU rivalries and traditions and now he writes about a professional baseball team that used to call BU home. This is what a sports columnist writing for The Daily Free Press should be doing. Thank you, Joe, for finally being the one to do it.
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