BandB

Of Beantown and 'Boomtown' Neal McDonough wears his love
for the Red Sox on his heart.

By Miki Turner
September 8, 2004

Don't get Neal McDonough started.

The star of the new NBC drama "Medical Investigation" and the former star of "Boomtown," can wax on for hours about the roles he plays, but he can go on for days when it comes to sports -- especially when talking about his deep, abiding love for his hometown Boston Red Sox, and his deep hatred for the New York Yankees.

McDonough, who played baseball and hockey at Syracuse before becoming a working actor, talked baseball and more baseball during an exclusive interview with Page 3.

1. Your team is currently in second place behind the Yankees in the AL East. How are you feeling about their playoff chances?

Neal McDonough: There's two ways of thinking of it. If we do in fact beat the Yankees for the pennant and the Yankees don't make the playoffs, what an amazing thing that would be. But then there's the sick side of every Red Sox fan who would like to see us win the pennant but then the Yankees would get the wild card spot and we'd have to battle them one more time and go through the same misery we've always gone through.

It wouldn't be as sweet if we didn't play the Yankees in the playoffs. But you know what? I'll take it any way we can get it.

2. I know you have great disdain for the Yankees, but how about the Mets?

I actually like the Mets. It was just that one series and we lost that series. So I have nothing against the Mets. I'm a huge Mike Piazza fan and there are a lot of guys I love on the Mets. A very dear friend of mine, Joe McIlvaine, was the GM for the Mets for many, many years. He was kind of like my uncle. I spent a lot of time with him when I was a kid. I've always been a big Mets fan.

3. Are you one of those BoSox fans who cringes every time you hear the name Bill Buckner?

Yeah, that's pretty horrible. Here's what I'm like as a Red Sox fan: last year when Boone hit the home run, my wife had taped the game. There were about 20 guys from Boston and Cape Cod sitting around my house watching it and drinking a few beers. Then around 2 a.m. everyone goes to bed. I woke up at 7 a.m. and watched the whole game again. My wife comes down and says, 'Honey, you're truly sick.' That's how bad it is.

4. How often do you get to Fenway?

Not much. I'll watch the occasional game out here. I watched them play the Angels in Anaheim. My wife, bless her heart, got TiVo and she records the games for me so I can watch them when I get home after work.

5. How did you feel about the Nomar Garciaparra trade?

I think what they did to Nomar last year was truly despicable -- the way it was handled. Nomar is one of the top five, top three shortstops in baseball. He's one of the top five players in baseball, I think. That being said, with him sitting out so many games ... he obviously wasn't too happy with what was going on and I understand why he was kind of the way he was. So I think him being traded was kind of the best thing for everybody. Nomar's doing very well in Chicago and I hope he always does well because he's a superstar and a terrific guy.

6. HBO is getting ready to air a documentary called "Nine Innings to Ground Zero," about the role baseball played in the recovery of New York City from 9/11. There's a segment on the World Series between the Yanks and D-backs with people talking about how much it would have meant to New York if the Yankees had won. Even with your dislike of the Yankees, were you pulling for them to win one for the Apple?

No. I mean, there is definitely a piece of me that wanted to see New York win because of the horrible, tragic thing that went on with 9/11. But I don't think that I should root for George Steinbrenner's team because something truly horrible happened. If anything, I think it was great that the Yankees lost because it proved that the underdogs can always win. That's what America is all about. It's that underdog mentality that says we can achieve good things if we work hard enough and play as a team. That year, Arizona played as a team and was phenomenal. They both did. Those teams were on fire and there were some great things that happened in that series. There isn't a single Yankee that I actually dislike and my hat is off to George Steinbrenner for doing what he does.

7. You have four older brothers and a dad. Do they also hate the Yankees?

OK, here we go. My first movie I was Lou Gehrig in 'The Babe Ruth Story' on TV. There I was, away from home for six months, and I go back to Cape Cod with my '27 Yankees jacket and my '27 Yankees hat on. My four brothers and my dad are in the kitchen and they beat the snot out of me until I put a Red Sox hat on. That's just the way it is in my family! We love the Red Sox so much, it's crazy. My wife calls herself a Red Sox widow.

8. Who's your favorite Red Sox player of all time?

Oh jeepers. It's probably (Carlton) Fisk. It's him or Yaz when he was literally the patron saint of our family. It was the father, son and Carl Yaztrzemski. He was a little before my time. I loved George Scott -- 'The Boomer.' For some reason I just loved 'The Boomer.' But it was probably Fisk -- just the work ethic that he had and the no B.S. about him -- just get the job done and work as a team. I really enjoyed that.

9. What's been your proudest athletic achievement?

Um, it wasn't even baseball. It was during a celebrity game, shooting a slap shot in the Boston Garden at the buzzer to win a game against the old Boston Bruins. That was a pretty great day. I have the rights to the life story of Eddie Shore and after I made that goal that Jimmy Craig passed to me, I stopped and looked up and right above me was the Eddie Shore No. 2 flag. That was just really a neat moment in my life. My brothers were there. That was six years ago.

10. You were a pitcher at Syracuse, did you play any other sports as a kid?

I'm a sports junkie. I played every sport there is. Just give me a ball or something and I can keep myself preoccupied for a few hours. My brothers started playing baseball with me when I was about 4 or 5 years old. We were always playing sports -- with four older brothers you're always playing sports. Or you're being used as the ball or the bat or the puck.

Do you have a baseball fantasy?

Just for fun, I sure would love to go up against Roger Clemens. His pitches must look like an aspirin coming at you. Or Randy Johnson, that would be pretty damn great.