Lori

Hardly. Here's the entire graph, the fourth bullet point (sorry) in a list. (It's in a password protected .pdf file that can't be copy/pasted, so I'm retyping just the pertinent info.) SJBF, thanks for the kind words. And while I don't cover the Bills -- you'll have to talk to our man Graham for that -- I do draw a paycheck from a newspaper, and my cards do have "sports" printed under my name, so I guess I can officially call myself a journalist. I'm far from the only person here that applies to, of course ...

Actually, if the gun is indeed unlicensed, he'll probably get in more trouble for that. The weed allegations might -- might -- put him into Step 1 of the treatment program, but "unlawful possession of a gun outside the workplace" is directly mentioned as cause for discipline in the Personal Conduct Policy.

Goodell, from last summer's press conference at training camp: Or perhaps not, and Goodell may not look quite so kindly on Strike 2.

And it only took three years of non-winning football to reach that level of determination. Super Bowl, here we come!

The linked stories were from June 12 and 13, 2008. In fact, I'm surprised the one from the BuffNews isn't long gone off their Web site. And for those who might be wondering, following page upon page of steroids accusations here and elsewhere, the truth came out shortly after his death: Frerotte's family has a history of early-onset heart disease.

Here's the kicker from Sully's column, which didn't seem all that incendiary to me: Is he calling Lynch a punk? No. He's suggesting that if the kid doesn't change his behavior, the people of Buffalo will be the ones applying that label. Based on the reaction both here and on the BuffNews sports blogs, some already are -- and worse -- and I don't think it's because Sully told them to. Heck, that's not even the harshest analysis I've seen. Sal Maiorana is the one REALLY taking some batting-practice swings over at Three-Point Stance, saying that Lynch is "clearly an idiot" and following with this: What do *I* think? I think Lynch is a hard-working player, and I'm not surprised his teammates love him. I also think he's still a 22-year-old kid who doesn't have anyone -- or has the wrong people, perhaps -- advising him. Don't care whether smoking a little weed or carrying an unregistered gun should or shouldn't be illegal. Fact is, they are, and his actions created a bad situation. His fault, nobody else's. Not the cops for arresting him, not the media for reporting or analyzing the news. Just like the Chippewa "incident," this one's on him ... and if he wants to keep playing in the NFL, he'd best make some adjustments to his lifestyle. And for what it's worth, here's what Chuck had to say last summer: Lynch fiasco only getting worse I saw the first take, and that was cleaned up for the paper, believe me. Chuck has been under the weather lately and hasn't yet weighed in on the latest incident, but I can't imagine his opinion of Lynch has improved since he wrote that ...

If you're where I think you are, I know one of the people who got laid off from that smaller paper.

Tex and GBID, this one might interest you. Supposedly, the DMN is ending its sports-swapping with the Startlegram. Dallas folks apparently don't care for the early deadlines in Fort Worth -- which, rumor has it, are about to get even earlier. Of course, that probably won't stop either paper from making more cuts ...

I don't know if it'll go that high ... but I *do* wonder if this means no more NYC road trips for Bills or Sabres games there, and vice-versa when a New Yawk team visits Buffalo. On a smaller scale, Olean Times Herald Bonnies beat writer J.P. Butler has pulled double duty for several home games this year -- he strings a short recap for a paper that covers the visiting school but won't make the trip to SBU, then writes his longer gamer/sidebar/notebook for his own gig. Lucky for him, the OTH is still a p.m. paper. In fact, I've even had a couple of calls from people who know I live in the area, including one for last Saturday's Bona-UMass game. (I had to work at my real job that night, though, so no dice.)

I was going to ask you if you were in Naptown yet. But since the combine started today, it's a little late for that question, I suppose. Agree completely about the Florida summer, and that's without the hurricanes. The only hurricane I want anything to do with comes in a glass.

Checked our weather forecast lately? If you have, and you're still coming back, your friends in the Sunshine State can probably supply a few choice sobriquets.

Ooh, if I weren't such a nice person ... 1st writethru: Good edit, kid.

I think you were one of the ones who made a name for yourself and moved on. Not sure I remember the ridiculous garbage, though.

Not in any press box I've ever been in. (Of course, most of the ones around here also don't have heat, or glass in the windows ... )

Hey, I've taken a few runs at Sully in my time, too ... but it bothers me when people start talking about the "filth that infests Buffalo's media." Filth? Infests? Really, Ramius? This ain't the Weekly World News paparazzi chasing down celebutantes and photoshopping Batboy. (Full disclosure: while I do occasionally correspond with some of the people at the News, it's not like I'm close friends with anyone there. I'm not judging this on a personal level.) And DrDank, while I won't deny the fact that there's certainly some ego involved in writing -- yeah, it fuggin' rocked to see my first Page 1 byline, and you'd better believe I grabbed a few extra copies that week -- you might be overplaying that theme. Again, just my opinion. You'd BETTER have a ego if you put your words into column format and expect a couple hundred thousand people to give a crap what you think, but I still think the majority of writers get into the business simply because they enjoy telling stories for a living. Because it sure isn't for the easy hours and high pay ...

bull sh--. Mark Gaughan's been on the Bills beat since 1988, Allen Wilson since 1999, and Gaughan is so well respected among his peers that he's next in line to become president of the Pro Football Writers of America. I'm not sure about John Vogl because his bio isn't on the News site, but Rod McKissic is the only person of the 12 shown there who hasn't been at the paper for at least 10 years (he "only" has eight), and McKissic, Wilson, Sullivan, and Milt Northrup are the only ones who didn't either grow up in Buffalo, attend college here, or both. Northrup's been in Buffalo for 42 years, Wilson and McKissic used to work for papers in Rochester, and Sully was hired as a columnist after covering an NBA beat in NYC. So who came here from a bigger market besides Sully, who moved for a better job, and McKissic, whose paper in Cincy no longer exists? And who's looking to move to one? Especially in this climate, when writing for The News -- a Guild shop with no layoffs and only voluntary buyouts (which nobody in sports has taken, last I heard) -- might just be one of the safest newspaper jobs left in the entire country? Or do they stay in Buffalo for the same reason as so many people in other industries -- it's home, and believe it or not, they actually LIKE it here? Take your potshots at the columnists, if you like. If they're entitled to have opinions, then you're certainly entitled to disagree. But you're smearing some good people with that wide brush.

Your Lynch post was merged with the main lynch thread. I didn't realize it needed it's own thread. That's because it didn't. Nice Gestapo reference in the original post, though. Makes me remember why I've been staying away from here. Later ...

Asking for it, right? Okay, I'm done here.

I absolutely hated Carroll in the pros. Thought he was a good college coach, but still didn't have much respect for him. Until I read this: 23 Reasons Why a Profile of Pete Carroll Does Not Appear in This Space

Nah, I was kidding about that. While some writers/broadcasters do read the board on a regular basis, I don't think Jerry's one of them ...

Maybe he read your post.

This being USC, someone suggested that they should dock him a game check. You're right, of course; I'm not going to beat on the kid for it, either. I'm just hoping that in the future, he'll express his exuberance without using a working journalist in his dance routine ...

Pelvic thrusts, performed while standing a few inches behind someone of the opposite sex while she's trying to do her job, don't classify as inappropriate? Mmmmkay. Have to agree to disagree on that one, I guess.

WNBA locker rooms were open, last I knew. Never covered a college team, but I think most of them are now closed after games, with players brought into a separate interview room. (And that's a good thing, in my opinion, because you're still talking about a bunch of 17-18-19-year-old kids. I'd never dream of going into a high school locker room -- boys' or girls' -- for an interview.) If Bmwolf sees this thread, he can give you a better answer about the college level, though. Pretty sure the big four (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) are all open, with some teams adding their own additional rules. I won't belabor my initial point here. But while he didn't actually drop trou or anything that explicit, yeah, I thought his dance was a little inappropriate. So do most of the writers and broadcasters who are discussing this at my other hangout, regardless of their gender. My favorite line, from a female writer who used to cover an NHL team for a Canadian paper: "You know ... nightclub, football field, place of work, middle of the street ... some guy I don't know comes up behind me and does that? He's dropping Chiclets."

Yeah. I'm sure Lisa Olson, Paola Boivin, and every other female sports journalist who has been harassed while trying to do her job all think that's a great clip. http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3788