Lori

When Simon went to WGR last November, Brinson picked up the 97Rock gig. (Remember, he had the EMoulds Show taping on Monday nights, so it was probably just a matter of getting into Buffalo a little earlier.) Not sure about the other, at this point. Maybe I'll see what I can find out....

re: Jabari Greer, frogger, perhaps that's a subject for a different thread. How do folks explain HIM going undrafted?

Yeah, but I have a two-hour drive home after the game. SportsTalk Sunday wouldn't have helped much there.....

What kind of schedule the other top flight defenses in the league played has nothing to do with whether or not the Buffalo D can stop the other team when it counts. And in quite a few games last season, they couldn't. We had quite the argument about this last October, or thereabouts. (Just before the winning streak started, IIRC.) Petrino skewered the offense for wasting an all-time-great effort by the D; I think it was CentralVA who listed the breakdowns at the end of the Jax game... and the end of the first Jets game... and Brady beating the blitz whenever he damn well pleased... (And, of course, the Pittsburgh debacle was yet to come.) Here's Sully's 'hook', the core of his argument: Think of a few truly great defenses. 2000 Ravens? Won the Super Bowl, dragging a mediocre offense along for the ride. 1985 Bears? One game from a perfect season, and a Super Bowl beatdown of the Pats. "Doomsday"? Super Bowl 12. "Steel Curtain"? Four rings in six years. So if Sullivan isn't ready to consider the current Bills defense "great" - not just "very good", but "great" - until they prove it against playoff-caliber competition, I can buy that. No need for me to question my own opinion in this case, because I already agree with him. I've taken my share of potshots at Sully over the years; heck, I think I'm the one who originally dubbed him "Mr. Negativity" here. But once I stopped judging the quality of his work solely by whether or not I agreed with the point he was trying to make, I started to gain a measure of respect for his writing. I don't think Rick Reilly's in any danger of having to ship that 'Sportswriter of the Year' trophy to Buffalo any time soon... but there are much, MUCH worse columnists than Sullivan out there.

One coach's 'attitude problem' might run through walls for a different coach. Wonder if something like that happened here?

All you have to know about Sullivan is this quote from last season: "Tom Donahoe gets paid to run the Bills. I get paid to be his biggest critic." Sometimes he agrees with a decision Donahoe made (as with dumping Bledsoe for Losman); more often he disagrees. Either way, he's doing what he was hired to do - tell you what he thinks. And let's be honest - by the time you pick up the Monday morning paper after a game (or click on the newspaper's website, in this day and age), you've probably already watched the game, caught the highlights on ESPN or the 11 o'clock news, and maybe even spent some time here on the Wall. You've already got the facts... so if you open up the paper to the sports section, you're most likely LOOKING for an opinion you can agree or disagree with. "Yeah, that's exactly how I saw it," or maybe, "WHAT?!? What game was HE watching?" And if his column elicits a reaction from you - which it has, since you posted about it on a fan message board - then Sullivan has earned his paycheck. To today's column: Many of the points he made have also been made here in the past. Some are more valid than others. And in regards to his list of mediocre QBs the Bills faced last year? I made one of those, too, and for the same reasons he did. Congrats, Mr. Sullivan, looks like you earned your paycheck today.

...but from the sounds of things, that knock on his attitude may have been off the mark. I understand he racked up almost as many visits to the fieldhouse for offseason workouts/film sessions as JP did.

That's a stock letter; WNSA got one last year, too. I remember Brinson poking fun at it on the air, calling the Bills the "Professional Football Team of Orchard Park" or something like that. While you're at it, everyone, check out THIS website. How many Bills logos do you see here? Ever wonder why? You don't pay the rights fees to use NFL logos, you don't get to use NFL logos. That's how it's always been, for those of you too young to remember the mid-1970s Topps football cards with the team logos airbrushed off the helmets. (Made for some gawdawful-ugly cards, let me tell you.) Here, check out this link to an Entercom-owned sportstalker in Milwaukee: http://www.1250sportsradio.com/ Take a close look at the football players in their banner - the W has been brushed off the helmet of the University of Wisconsin player, and while you might happen to know that the guy in the yellow helmet is Packers FB Najeh Davenport, there's no visible logo.

Kinda wondered about that myself; didn't expect to hear baseball updates when I turned on the radio. Wonder if that will also apply to the Detroit game. Ah well, there are other choices - 97 Rock had roughly an hour's worth of postgame (which ended about the time I got to Salamanca, just as the signal was fading out anyhoo). I'm hoping my local stations on the BillsRadioNetwork will carry at least some of the postgame show, as they did last regular season. Oh, but waitaminute - Jim Brinson is hosting the WGRF postgame again this year. For those of you who don't like him either - and based on some of the potshots at him I've seen here over the years, I know you're out there - guess you're STILL out of luck.....

Agreed. I actually applauded one of those throwaways, the one that landed in about the fourth or fifth row of section 109. A Bills QB of the recent past spent four YEARS here without figuring out how to do that....

Your recollection is perfect, Bill. No way, nohow did I want that scum anywhere near "our" Bills.

Revenge Factor: yeah, it's only a preseason game. Seems, though, that the Packers are a wee bit annoyed about all the blitzing the Bills did in the scrimmage. *NEWSFLASH* : this IS the Bills' base defense. They've been blitzing Losman ever since OTAs, they blitzed on over half of the passing plays in certain games last season, and I don't expect those percentages to change any this season. SO if the Packers don't like it, maybe they should learn to block it better? J.P. Factor: first home start, under the lights, in front of a sellout crowd. Think he'll be geeked for this game? Let's see how that affects his early-game performance... i.e., will he be TOO fired up and come out throwing 10 feet over the WR's head on the first couple of passes? Deep breaths, J.P. Calm down. You'll do just fine .... Ongoing battles: Shaud Williams vs. Lionel Gates vs. ReShard Lee for #2 RB. Advantage, Williams. Jabari Greer vs. Eric King for #3 CB. I'm really starting to have my doubts we'll see Kevin Thomas play any time soon. Constantin Ritzmann vs. George Gause for #4 DE.... assuming the Bills KEEP four DEs on the active roster. Justin Bannan vs. Lauvale Sape for #4 DT. Sape's been getting the ink lately - after the punt block, Indy's punter called him "really big and really fast and really scary". Backup O-linemen: what exactly DO the Bills have, once you get past Tucker and Preston? I'll be watching big #71, Jason Peters, for continued progression. Seeya in Lot 1 in about 2 hours.......

I like it. Schopp going off about "what about the people who play fantasy football?!?" was what really started getting to me. Yeah. That really matters. (And yes, I do play fantasy football.) Newsflash: if Roscoe Parrish was going to be one of the starting WRs on your FFL team, you've got deeper problems than what the Bills are telling you or not telling you about his wrist. I won't attack WGR en masse like some people have been doing, but I will say this: Mike, when you start going after WKBW (saying their sponsorship of the team was the only reason they got a one-on-one interview with Losman), and then follow it up with the statement that you can't get people from the Bills on the air with you because "we don't pay for interviews", do you realize how stupid you sound? Suggestion: ask Howard how much he was "paying for interviews" last season. That didn't stop Tom Donahoe from going on the Simoncast the day after HS suggested another non-playoff season might be TD's last in Buffalo....

You are correct. But I just wanted to be sure the behind-the-scenes stuff was brought up. Broadcasting only seems easy. It's been my career for going on 30 years now. I'm all too aware how tough it can be. PTR 410632[/snapback] Actually, thanks for that informative post. Your expertise on the subject is appreciated by those of us who are interested in radio/TV, but aren't actually in the biz.... Guess I was just trying to back up your point about how difficult it would be to pull off, by pointing out that two professionals, WITH great name recognition in the market and with the support of their former colleagues at Empire, still had beaucoup problems trying to make a go of it....

Yup, that was Reilly. When that show - then titled "A Team, A Town, A Dream" - first aired on ESPN, I cordially invited RR to visit Buffalo.... and try going over Niagara Falls, sans barrel...... Reilly's a hell of a writer; he's got a stranglehold on the National Sportswriter of the Year award voted on by his peers. But while he's entitled to his opinion, he's dead wrong on this one. For the record (and thanks to DML for already bringing this up): the Bills' regular season record against NFC teams from 1990-1993 was 14-2. The only two losses were at Washington (1990) and vs. Detroit (1991), when Marv Levy was resting starters for the playoffs.

You're STILL b*tching about that?

Thanks for the quick answer, and for digging the question out from amidst the attendant silliness.....

Hey, I was just trying to make a helpful suggestion. For me to know, and everyone else to wonder about. (Actually, it's Frank. And quite Frankly, I'm getting sick of this Stephen A. character taking my name in vain...... )

The pertinent info: 3 PM - start handing out line numbers, 1 per person 4 PM - start forming line according to line numbers 5 PM - signing begins -No memorabilia will be signed; no memorabilia will be permitted in the signing line. -Only copies of Where Would You Rather Be? may be signed. Each individual may have up to four books signed. -Customers may have one photo taken with Coach Levy as he signs their book. Please have your camera ready to hand to a Barnes & Noble representative who will snap the picture as you stand next to Coach Levy signing the book. -There is no videotaping or recording of the event. -Customers must be in line for the book signing by 7:00 pm, however due to possible time constraints, receiving a line number does not guarantee you will be able to meet Coach Levy. Good luck with your mission, should you choose to accept it. This post will self-destruct in fiv.......... (OK, I made the last bit up. Everything else is from the flyer I picked up at the store last week, though.)

Well said. Might want to schedule that for before the bowling ball shots this year..... Ahem. Seriously. Brad, will the pregame shows be done from the studio or onsite this season? I'm sure that although we no longer share the same parking lot, some here would enjoy getting another chance to verbally abuse Sully at the opener ....

You mean, like this? TheState.com: Holtz leaves fingerprints at scene of crime Or this? Chicago Sun-Times: Teflon Lou always escapes the NCAA's grasp Or this? Toledo Blade: Holtz leaves his mark - as con man Just wanted to clear up the topic of discussion....

Quite frankly, that amuses me.

The Cliff-Notes version of Promo's post: Sounds suspiciously like what Howard and Jim tried to do last summer....

This is what you're missing: http://www.wgr550.com/onair/bradriter/index.php Now stop being such a doofus.

Though '67 is one of the media guides I'm still looking for, Relentless confirms that "Gillon" should instead read "Carlton". A few other errors in the new book, too - for one, they continue the now-yearly tradition of insisting Billy Shaw was put on the Wall of Fame in 1999 (the year he was enshrined in the Hall of Fame) instead of the year it actually happened, 1988. I do like the fact that they finally put in season-by-season individual/team stats, though. Long overdue.....