Long before the NFL began to focus on the effects of injuries, Ryan railed against what he said was a “barbaric” sport he would not allow his son to play.

The Celtics earned a berth in the 1981 NBA Finals after a 91-90 win against Philadelphia, just days after the 76ers had them on the brink of elimination.

After watching Villanova win the title, Ryan said: “I have absolutely no conception what people who aren’t sports fans do for true excitement.”

Bird became judge, jury, and executioner to the Rockets as the Celtics won their 16th NBA title.

The message is clear. If you want to beat Larry Bird in a big game, you’ve got to play the full 48 minutes. Forty-seven minutes 56 seconds isn’t enough.

After Conigliaro’s funeral, Ryan wrote an open letter to the one-time Red Sox phenom discussing the joy he brought to lives around New England.

With the Pistons in the NBA Finals, Ryan marveled at Laimbeer’s ability to get under the skin of opponents and fans and gleefully enjoy his role “doing the dirty work.”

Unhappy with the way movie critics review the films, Ryan -- a movie buff -- set out to give his own analysis prior to the Academy Awards in 1993.

Ryan lamented the spectacle caused by a man who parachuted into the middle of the Riddick Bowe-Evander Holyfield heavyweight championship bout in 1993.

David Gordon earned notoriety when he kicked a winning field goal to beat the top-ranked Irish in 1993. Ryan noted he put his name into BC lore forever with the kick.

Ryan remembered the late Red Sox announcer as a unique character who was not interested in following anyone’s path but his own.

When the skaters took the ice together at the controversial 1994 Olympics, Ryan documented the intense media scrutiny on the events.

Used to the glamour of the spotlight, Jordan was in a B-list minor league game when Ryan traveled with the Red Sox to meet the White Sox in a spring training game in 1994.

As a former nonbeliever, Ryan declared the Olympics as truly the Greatest Show On Earth, and advocated Boston lining up with a bid to host the summer Games.

When the BU football team showed heart in winning its last-ever home football game in 1997, Ryan criticized the school for the manner in which it decided to shut down the program.

Some guys win 1-0 games with home runs. Some win 1-0 games with singles to center field. But Brian McRae won this 1-0 game by inducing a balk, and it was a marvel to Ryan.

Bob Ryan examined Russell’s meaning to the Celtics and to Boston when the team honored him in 1999.

It is the sober light of the Day After. You are David Cone. You have been quoted as speaking of the Friday night Pedro Martinez performance in apocalyptic terms.

In 2000, Ryan trekked to Fort Kent, Maine, an 8-hour car ride from Boston, to explore the basketball team at University of Maine-Fort Kent, one of the most remote colleges in the US.

After the Patriots’ controversial playoff win over the Raiders in 2002, Ryan said that while the interpretation of the Tuck Rule may have been correct, the meaning behind it was not.

With the Red Sox reeling amid an historic sweep by the Yankees, Ryan lamented the raging reaction of fans to the team’s poor play.

As the Red Sox’ season spiraled out of contention in 2006, Ryan lamented the blame-placing that many devolved into, and said it didn’t used to be that way in sports.

It was time to say goodbye to a truly great American icon, a man who, had he not channeled his talents into basketball, could have been a Speaker of the House or corporate CEO

In 2007, after the Patriots recorded a 16-0 regular season, Ryan checked in on a would-be conversation among Ted Williams, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, and Bobby Orr about Brady.

A college basketball aficionado, Ryan documented some of the superlatives he encountered through decades of following the sport.

The Boston Celtics did not just win franchise championship No. 17. They snatched it. They swallowed it. They demanded it.

Updike wrote the famous tribute to Ted Williams in 1960. And in 2008, Ryan decided to pay tribute to the author for his work about Williams and Fenway Park.

After Barack Obama became president in 2009, Ryan reflected on the history of race and sports and declared the NBA “the most egalitarian major institution in our society.”

Ryan criticized the team’s campaign for public dollars for a new spring home in Fort Myers during hard economic times in Florida in 2009.

Ryan, an admitted lover of baseball, loved chronicling how he spent time monitoring, but also never missing a beat, in a marathon Red Sox-Rays game in 2011.

Could anyone have concocted a more perfect fan scenario en route to winning the Stanley Cup? Ryan recounted the joy of the Bruins’ title quest in 2011.