Kirby Jackson

I saw a Char Broil electric smoker on clearance the other day for $140. I wasn’t looking for one but felt that I had to pick it up at that price. Now, I am sitting here trying to figure out what to do with it. This is ALWAYS a good place for conversation on stuff like that. I was hoping for some recipes and ideas of things that I can do on this smoker.

I hope that you are right and don’t necessarily disagree that Beane and McDermott May be the right people. Any way you slice it though they have cycled through hockey people, football people and business people at a crazy rate. I hope that they get the right people in place and develop some stability. It’s going to be hard to recruit the top people into those roles knowing that the “average lifespan” at PSE is far less than the other places recruiting the same people. You don’t want that to be your reputation.

I said that RB absolutely needed to be fired. I believe that some of those others needed to go as well. That doesn’t change the fact that they are turning over senior level people at an unparalleled level. They are the ones that hired these people in many cases!! The last guy was there a month. I didn’t even name them all. The average pro sports franchise probably has 12 or so people at the “senior level” between on and off the field (maybe a little more). They have cycled through people at a rate that no other team has. The Pelicans/Saints are a similar structure. They have turned over 3 people at that level since 2012 (if my memory is correct). They fired the VP of sponsorship in like 2015, Monty Williams (HC Pelicans) around then and Dell Demps (GM Pelicans) this year. Every other department head remains and outside of Monty Williams the people were replaced internally. The Pegulas have been through 20 or so people at that level in a similar time frame. What is happening at PSE is not normal.

No one is arguing that they do. That isn’t the conversation taking place. The conversation is, “why is PSE cycling through senior level executives at a way higher rate than other pro sports organizations?”

If there are skeletons I am all for clearing them out. I’m actually hoping that there is more to the story than “we wanted change.” It would make me feel more comfortable. I want the Bills and Sabres to have superior management.

Without being a contrarian I feel the opposite. I know a lot of the people that Russ had in charge and they were talented. He was talented. The Bills obviously has no choice but to fire RB but it wasn’t wise to clear out veteran sports business people like Popko. Those people know WAY more about the business than Terry & Kim Pegula. You should be embracing people like that to learn from, not firing them.

They are okay but are they better than average? Are Kenyan Drake and Frank Gore a good backfield? Stills, Wilson, Amendola and Parker? I just don’t think that their talent is good.

That shouldn’t be the case though. These leagues are pretty consistent in the positions that they have. They all work together and share ideas. You have a counterpart with every other team that you work fairly closely with. You shouldn’t have a lot of “fat” on your staff if you are paying attention. In general you should have someone at the C level, someone (or a couple) at the VP level (SVP, EVP), directors of the departments, managers, and staff. Not to be boring or too much of a tangent but this is what our group looked like: President SVP of ticket Sales and Service Director of Ticket Ops, Director of Group Sales, Director of Retention, Director of Ticket Sales (packages), Director of Analytics Manager of each of those groups 30 - 40 sales and service reps in the various departments. There were also a couple of analytics and ticket ops people at this level. That would be roughly 50 people in that department.

It’s not winning and losing that we are talking about though. We are talking about business executives for PSE. They wear hats for both teams. Their job has nothing to do with winning and losing. It has to do with leading a sales team, service team, etc... That’s how I feel as well. If there is something that hasn’t come out yet (like the Russ situation) at least it will make sense. If this is just cleaning house it’s odd to do a month after appointing the guy.

I know that I’ll take heat for this but I don’t believe that the Pegula’s know what they are doing on that end. I don’t know the people that were fired (but know a little about Popko). The Pegula’s can’t continously turn over their senior level executives!! That’s crazy. There are A LOT of pro franchises that have had their senior leadership in place for 10 to 15 or even 20 years. This one guy didn’t make it a month!! What ends up happening is you spend all of your time trying to get someone up to speed to fill a role that is above their current pay grade. Think about out how many senior level executives have been let go by the Pegula’s since they started with the Sabres? Black, Brandon, Darcy, Ruff, Bylsma, Popko, Rex, Whaley, Rossi, Muhleman, those 2 guys last month, the guy at Harbor Center and so on... I hope that this is a part of a bigger issue. If these people are tied to a problem it at least makes sense. If this is just turnover for turnover’s sake it is a problem.

I guess that we just disagree on this. I’m not a fan of the talent on the Dolphins (except the secondary).

Analytics guys are using numbers and data to group players. They are using data to predict future performance based on certain traits. The only thing that we know are the results. It was a disaster in the Dolphins case. You don’t know if he had a lot or a little involvement. You do know that the results were bad. If he had had a little involvement that is a problem to me. I haven’t been in sports in almost 7 years but our analytics people had a big say. I can’t possibly see that being less now than it was then. There is so much more information and training for the role. The point is that we don’t know if he is bad or good. We know the results of his previous situation were bad. It is VERY fair to assume that he played a role in that. We just don’t know how big of a role. This is fair.

That is actually a really fair point. Gase did drive off a lot of guys. I wasn’t thinking about that. Things may have been different if he didn’t create a toxic culture. I can’t wait for him to bring that to the Jets

I’m not trying to judge him too harshly and I’m sorry if it is coming across as that. I’m not trying to give the guy a free pass either. The only thing we have to formulate opinions at this point is the work with the Dolphins. I don’t think that any reasonable person can look at that situation and say that they did well. Maybe he was constantly overruled and would have been right? Maybe he was a big part of these bad decisions? We don’t know that. We just know that the results were bad.

If he had no say, that is a problem. If he had a say, he did a bad job. EVERY analytics person has a voice in today’s professional sports. Gase didn’t pick players. This guys likely had as much to do with that as Gase. Now they are talking about tearing it down.

No, they are a team in a bad cap situation with a lack of talent. I see that as an indictment on the numbers people. This guy absolutely had a say in all of these deals. He was either, a part of the problem, or didn’t have enough respect in the room to have his voice heard. Either way you slice it, that’s is not a good look IMO.

If there’s one team that has been masterful at their use of analytics it’s the Dolphins (sarcasm font).

I live there. I know how people feel about Byrd. At the time they signed Byrd they had very little cap space. That’s the point. I can’t think of any players that the Saints were forced to jettison because they were cash strapped? They made some bad decisions (ie Byrd) but the foundation of their team was always in tact. They are talking about trying to get Antonio Brown now. They are 28th in “cap space.” It’s not a real thing. You push your chips in when your window is open and then you take some lumps when it closes. If your window remains open (like the Saints) you just keep kicking the can down the road. In fact Mickey Loomis said exactly that earlier this week: https://www.nola.com/saints/2019/01/mickey-loomis-discusses-drew-brees-nfl-high-cap-hit-for-2019.html?outputType=amp The ONLY time that a team faces a serious cap issue is when they push in thinking that their window is open (see: Jaguars, Jacksonville). Other than that you just tweak as necessary (or desired). The Bills weren’t in any real cap trouble. The situation just wasn’t ideal for a clean slate rebuild. They took all of their lumps at once to clear the deck.

I don’t know Oldtimer. I have watched the Saints do it for YEARS. The NFL salary cap is designed to allow you to kick the can down the road. There is really no such thing as “cap trouble” unless you are inept. You can make any move that you want a reality. Every team has some places that they can “manipulate” if need be to get whomever. The Charles Clay release is a perfect example. If the Bills were strapped the Clay savings ($4.5M) could get them a competent starter(s) elsewhere. That savings alone could give the Bills something like Eiffert and Jordan Phillips. That is without ever touching the previous space. To take it a step further the Bills could release Shady and the savings from Shady and Clay could get you Le’Veon Bell (if you wanted). It is all about contract structure. That’s what the Saints have figured out. They just keep pushing everything into the future because their window is open. You keep it going as long as you can and then you hit the reset button. You are fine a year later. The capologists know EXACTLY how to work the cap.

This was a little much. I can’t believe that these guys would joke about it!! I kept thinking of Bob Ueker in Major League.

https://deadspin.com/rod-woodson-says-what-were-all-quietly-thinking-about-t-1832846438

I agree 1,000,000%

So sorry Gug!! Spend as much time with Chloe as you can and tell her you love her.

Ha ha, no woo.