Robert P. Ryan (born February 21, 1946) is an American sportswriter, formerly with The Boston Globe, and author.

He has been described as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and a basketball guru,[1] and is well known for his coverage of the sport including his famous stories covering the Boston Celtics in the 1970s.

In early 2012, Ryan announced his retirement from sports writing after 44 years, effective at the conclusion of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

[2] Ryan sat at the press table eight seats from the Celtics' bench, where colleagues referred to him as the "Commissioner", not unlike Peter Gammons's nickname.

"[7] One night Hue Hollins, the referee, went to the press table to explain a call to Ryan during a time-out even though he was not obligated to.

Another time Ryan wrote a column about the Washington Bullets' Rick Mahorn and how he played dirty under the hoop.

In 1982, Ryan would hand the torch of the Globe Celtics beat to the not-yet well-known Dan Shaughnessy, and later Jackie MacMullan.

[11] Ryan ended up hating it and moved back to the Celtics beat in 1984 for two more seasons, before getting promoted to general sports columnist in 1989.

"[2] On February 14, 2012, during a podcast with Bill Simmons on Grantland.com, Ryan announced that he would retire after the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Ryan indicated that he would stay involved with sports in a part-time capacity after retirement, but is not interested in continuing at the pace he does now.

He also remains a regular on ESPN's Around The Horn and occasionally guest hosts Pardon the Interruption with Michael Wilbon or Tony Kornheiser.

[20] He has hosted many well-known former Boston athletes such as Larry Bird, Steve Grogan, Danny Ainge, Troy Brown, and Dave Cowens.

The show's host, Bob Lobel, asked Ryan to retract his statement immediately: The comments struck a chord because in 2001, Joumana Kidd had been the victim of domestic violence by then-husband Jason.

In November 2006, he had a small unfriendly exchange with Epstein saying "on behalf of an eager constituency, I hope the rumor (of a J. D. Drew deal) isn't true.

He had previously worked for the U.S. Border Patrol, LAPD and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, where he was assigned to the violent gang task force.

Keith was married to Kate and had three children, Conor, John, and Amelia, who live in Silver Spring, Maryland.