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at camp in 2003, Lefty was standing on the sideline and was nearly bowled over by T Mike Williams. jw

i enjoyed the column. it mentioned someone i see most every day. ... jw

interesting. the Orange County Record is thriving after committing resources to more staff. other newspapers are devoting more resources to have an online presence. and even if the demise of newspapers is nigh ... something that has been repeated over and over and over again for the last 30 years ... does that mean there will no longer be news providers? somehow, i think not. jw

no, but Jack just difused my dysfunction. jw and that's likely my far more respected colleague Dennis Waszak's work. he's a far better man than i.

Jack, you are a prince. jw

oh, you're all jokesters. poking fun at the media asking questions. and yet you fail to notice how fans -- through the media -- have been getting more substantial updates ever since Tuesday. that's a credit to Marrone for coming forth and realizing that the answers he was providing before regarding high-profile players -- whether it's Mario, Stevie Johnson or today with Kolb -- required a few more specifics. but you're right, why should we in the media ask questions, when it's quite evident some of you here either have the answers or can simply make them up. jw

thanks. jw

what are you talking about? a professional interview? what exactly does that mean? are you suggesting we check the yellow pages and call up a professional interviewer or interviewee? interviews happen. they take on a life of their own. questions are asked. answers are provided. however professional or unprofessional you might regard them to be doesn't really matter. they happen. what exactly are you suggesting? that they follow some kind of rule? am i in fact asking professional questions here? because if that's the case, i suggest i should get paid. or, are you suggesting that these professional interviews meet some certain standard in which you've developed. and if that is the case, please inform us all so that we can all follow the guidelines, because lord knows, it's important to remain "professional." or whatever that means. jw oh, yes, i also hope everyone learns from this, whatever that learning part is, because we should all learn stuff, cause learning is important.

with all due respect, isn't always something with Mario. has his presence, since nearly the beginning, hijacked several story lines that would've been better served. from his 2-1/2 days of negotiating the deal, to his wrist, to his inconsistent performance on a porous defense, to his failed engagement, to his comments about Pettine's style, to his posting of the questionable Aaron Hernandez drawing, to this ... through it all, as much as anyone would like to write something positive about him -- and there are positives -- the storyline continues to get shifted back to the theme of: "What's Mario up to now?" i'd welcome that. unfortunately, i can only read and react to the latest thing. and i write this, even as i attempted to get off to a fresh start with Mario with the piece i wrote on reporting day, during which i led with Mario wearing a Superman hat and trying to put the past behind. two days later, and with no intention of wanting to write about Mario again, something happened. jw

i'll take this one. ... have you? jw

staged not the right word. the qb competition was going to take place no matter whom the Bills drafted, and Kolb was made aware of that in talks with the team before he signed. Kolb still signed despite being fully aware the Bills were going to take a QB at some point in the draft, and likely in the first two rounds. no need to read much more into that. Manuel wasn't, as Marrone has put it, the most "polished" guy coming out of the draft, and that was to be expected. what was also expected, is that Manuel would grow into the job. how long? who knows. the opinion was, coming out of minicamps, that Kolb had a pretty big edge on Manuel and that there was a very good likelihood he was going to be the starter come the start of the season. that opinion has now changed based on how well Manuel has looked in this first week of camp. of course, that opinion can change, again, based on how both look in preseason games. that said, should Manuel continue to show the progress he's made since June, there is a very good chance the job might be his to lose at this point. we'll see. either way, the decision to sign an experienced starter was a necessary move. it's better to have a fallback position and someone to provide competition than simply giving an untested rookie the job. this happened with JP Losman after the Bills cut Bledsoe, and that did not work out very well. jw

unsure. what answers did you want satisfied? jw

uhh, 17 other questions were asked during the near 13-minute briefing with the media. you seem to think this exchange was all that took place. in fact, the first Williams question came after Marrone's opening statement and following a question about how he takes a hands-on approach in working with the O-line. as well, there were two more questions regarding other topics that followed the final exchange. jw

funny. was hoping you'd pick up on that as i wrote that for your amusement. thanks, though. jw shilling for WEO.

ADD: thanks to those, GG and WEO among others, for their defense -- in this instance -- of me. i couldn't let them continue on without posting a note of my own. not entirely sure how to answer that. questions were asked, answers were provided. i wrote a story. jw

not sure how this became a pissing match? it seems to me some members of this board can be called out for being just as guilty of blowing this thing out of proportion and beyond perspective as they do the media. i was there. i wouldn't have referred to it as a pissing match. some words were exchanged and by the end it was essentially settled, with my question eventually answered. i find it amusing how those accusing the media of being amateurish can be accused of the same thing in making their sweeping generalizations. i get the feeling some critics here have not read or seen the entire exchange, from start of the news conference to its conclusion. instead, they are relying on the myths and whispers of others and providing mere kneejerk reactions to expose their biases. as for the suggestion the media move on and simply write an "op-ed" piece, not entirely sure what that means. i'm not in the business of inserting opinion in my stories. i'm in the business of writing facts and providing perspective. but of course, there is a semblance of posters here who have the belief that they could just as easily do my job equally or better than i. my response to that would be, please, do so. jw

uh, Mike, hate to tell you, but i tweeted about Mario's return twice today. once just after 6 a.m. when Mario poked his head into the radio tents at camp: John Wawrow ‏@john_wawrow 9h and, Mario Williams has just peeked his head in to radio tents at #bills camp to say hello. the second about a minute after he took the field: John Wawrow ‏@john_wawrow 6h and Mario Williams is here. he's the last to take the field, wearing pads and helmet. he heads straight for stationary bike. i also know that i was not the only member of the media present tweeting Mario's arrival. you should be better than this than to throw out these wild, wrong, accusations. jw

Still getting into his new album, "Southeastern." Going to give it a good hard listen on drive home from camp today. It's a little slow-moving, but has a great rocker, "Super 8" on it that really stuck out. I was really captivated with his previous release, "Here We Rest." It was one of the best to come out in 2011. He does fall into the Ryan Adams category, but his song-writing and turns of phrases are very good. Check out "Alabama Pines." jw

time for some Isbell -- show in Buffalo on Thursday night. can't wait. otherwise, my responses were in the other thread on this issue. figured i'd limit myself to one thread ... until now, of course. jw shilling for Isbell.

how sure are/were you of that 8 hours ago. and if Mario did indeed travel to get a second opinion on his foot, then how serious might it have been. after all, this was a player who last year was hamstrung by a mere "wrist" injury. but please, continue on. i did not turn the third presser of training camp into a pissing contest. just ask Chandler#81. he'll show you my picture. and with that, i'm done for the night. no offense taken. jw

oddly enough, there are those who would then proceed for villifying the media for being too soft on the Bills in failing to get answers in regards to Mario Williams. ... we just can't win, can't we. ... as for your suggestion of 30 other story lines going on in camp, i dare say that there are few story lines that involve a player who has a history of injury trouble and was hailed as a franchise saviour, essentially holding all of Western New York breathless for two-plus days before signing a 6-year, $100 million contract. you're right. the Crezdon Butler piece was more pressing here. jw you're back. cool. good timing. jw

i'll let you be the judge in regards to whether i was, as you put it, "ripping at Marrone" earlier in the day. i posted a Tweet on my Twitter account in reference to Marrone's comment from a day earlier that he was hesitant to reveal too much about Mario's injury in fear of breaking any FERPA regulations. I merely wrote, and I quote: "for those curious, coach Marrone's fear of violating FERPA laws in revealing Mario injury info applies only to colleges." that was all. in fact, an hour later, I tweeted this, which may come as a surprise to some in how positive it was: "#Bills QB EJ continues to show improvement in hitting throws he struggled with in minicamp. Nice out to Stevie." jw

who says i don't enjoy my job? where did i ever suggest that. I'll be there. can't wait to see you all back there again. jw

you think this was bad. should've heard us pepper Mularkey over whether he was going to suspend Eric Moulds. to Mularkey's credit, he never lost his cool. answered every question with an essential no comment. and we asked about 13 questions in regards to Moulds. jw

what's funny about all this, is some fans actually get it. the best tweet of today, i think, was this: Michael Necci ‏@Michael_Necci 8h Marrone doing his job protecting his player & team, and @john_wawrow doing his job in questioning. Keep it moving people. funny, how this person seems to get it, while some here are busy trying to establish blame, a winner, a loser(s), and parse agendas. geez, guess there's some people outside this board (i don't know if he is or not) who have a better perspective on how things work than here. but that's just my opinion. jw shillin for Michael Necci.