The Owner's Box, Ep. 51.

John Leahy, play-by-play voice of Merrimack College hockey, joins the podcast.

We're back with a new podcast, and as befits Thanksgiving week, it's chock-full of information about the holiday football rivalries.

My guest is John Leahy, a very busy play-by-play announcer for college hockey (mostly at Merrimack College) and other sports, including Minor League Baseball. He's a native of Stoughton (just up the road) and that's where he started his broadcasting career with local cable, and he came back to his alma mater this week to do the call for the annual Canton-Stoughton football game.

John had gotten in touch last week and asked me to guest on his podcast, called "Airing It Out: Files from Leahy's Broadcast Booth" on which we could discuss a lot of topics related to high school football, which was one of his first broadcasting loves and something that I do for a living these days. I quickly agreed, but I asked him if I could record parts of it to share with the audience of The Owner's Box as well. He graciously agreed, so I throw in some excerpts of our conversation -- and during those, I make a point of repaying a huge debt to him.

Years ago, John compiled a list of the all-time records of all Hockomock League football teams in competition with each other, some dating back as far as the 1920s. He bequeathed them to me when his broadcasting career took off, and despite some procrastination, I have updated them all and I use that information during my own telecasts of King Philip football for North TV. It's invaluable.

For the whole podcast with me and John, be sure to check out his podcasting site at leahystorytelling.com, or follow the directions he offers during our segment together.

Then after that, I talk about all the holiday games of the schools I used to cover for the local paper that were played on three different days this week.

I hope you enjoy it.