Lori

OK, nothing specific yet (beyond what he put in the story), but Sanders' name is in the mix in Knoxville. Probably in their top 3-4.

Wait. I thought Marty Schottenheimer was happily retired? Then who's that on the sideline?

Heh. I know Wes (who has been kicking some major butt on that beat lately); I'll ask him what's up. I do know that Dooley's spoken to Joe Barry a couple of times, though, so Sanders might not be their No. 1 option. And FWIW, I thought the Bills' DL improved under him last season. (As Lofton80 noted, he managed to get more out of McCargo than Kollar did, although that's not saying much ...)

Thanks for sharing your memories with us, PIA. For those of us who weren't fortunate enough to know Mr. Peters, The Buffalo News put together a neat little video last fall with him, Larry Felser, and Milt Northrup reminiscing about their days covering the Bills: http://video.buffalonews.com/player/?id=29...Buffalo%20Bills R.I.P., Jim.

The entire idea of hiring TD as team president/GM was so that Ralph didn't feel like he HAD to step in; he thought he could trust Donahoe to run the show. I'm not so sure he wanted to get rid of him when he did, to be honest, but the Moulds-v-Mularkey mess and TD's conduct against the fans in the weeks after that more or less forced his hand. As always, JMO.

Nah. Levy was needed to smooth the waters after the tumult which marked the end of Donahoe's reign. (I may have had a different reaction if I'd known his draft strategy.) And "nervous" wasn't quite the emotion I felt when I heard that DJ was coming back for 2009... I have to think that even if they did decide to look at CamCam, he was never anywhere near the top of their list.

Nah, he's talking about the guy who runs it. Used to be with Cleveland, I think. "Let's DO this thing!!!!"

Nope. I know baseball does it that way, not sure about hoops/hockey, but Canton is a media-only gig. The current list: http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/selectionprocess.aspx

Just the fact that he was allegedly on the list is enough to make me a little nervous about their judgment...

I'm not ridiculing Gailey, but I sure as heck would have blasted them if they'd picked CamCam.

He does not. The panel is selected by PFWA; one media member from each NFL city, plus several at-large voters (national guys like McCann Award winners King and Clayton). Rick Gosselin has the sole vote from Dallas.

Um. You realize this has absolutely no effect on the actual HOF vote, correct? Nice marketing tie-in, though.

FWIW, this is actually per John Murphy, as noted in the linked story: http://www.wivb.com/dpp/sports/bills_and_n...ls-coach-search

You mean the reported coaching candidate who "had some discussions" with said team (direct quote from him)? The same guy who said he was happily retired two years ago, at the same time his agent was actively promoting his interest in the Baltimore job? That guy?

Speaking of "perception of reality" ...

A perception shared by every beat guy I've talked to about it so far. (And that doesn't include Tim, who's been busy covering an actual playoff team today.)

1.) Boredom. 2.) I know that when I go to get up from my desk, my knee's going to hurt like hell as soon as I try to bend it, and I'm trying to put off that eventuality. But yeah, you have a point.

Third option: Harbaugh informed the Bills he wasn't interested in pursuing the matter before either side ever got serious enough to MAKE an offer. Ditto for Cowher, etc., etc.

Does that also extend to whoever in the PR department had to write that release, and the accompanying story on the team's own site? Aren't you the least bit curious why they didn't hold it until morning?

Or, y'know, save what was essentially a minor announcement -- and as Tim pointed out (and we've witnessed here), one most Bills fans highly approve of -- for normal business hours? Instead, guys like Gaughan and Wawrow were stuck feverishly writing and filing stories after midnight.

"We choked up yet another home playoff loss, but golly gee, we LIKE each other!"

Might want to fix your headline. That's SD U-T columnist Nick Canepa's opinion, not Spanos'. Edit: already done, I see. Never mind ...

FWIW, that's MY conspiracy theory, not TG's. He called the timing of the release "peculiar" when he spoke to Brad Riter tonight, but did NOT ascribe any ulterior motive to it: http://networkedblogs.com/p25144388 Unlike our friend Sal Maiorana: "Pretty funny that the Bills' two-sentence release on Guy's firing was issued at 11:37 p.m. Like they were going to sneak it by all of us." http://twitter.com/salmaiorana/statuses/8026832086

Because the local news goes off the air at 11:30, which he knows because he LIVES HERE. The release was sent out at 11:37 and posted on the media website at 11:39, and no story was filed to the public portion of bb.com until after midnight. The only variable was, someone obviously tipped Murph. I also notice that nobody's jumping all over Channel 2 or 7 for posting essentially the same thing: "BUFFALO, NY - The Buffalo Bills waited until after the 11pm local news to issue a short press release that they have fired Vice-President of Pro Personnel John Guy." http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?...779&catid=4 "ORCHARD PARK, NY (WKBW) -- The Buffalo Bills fired Vice President of Pro Personnel John Guy late Wednesday night. In a release sent after 11:30 p.m., the Bills said that Guy, who was in the final year of his contract, had been relieved of his duties as Pro Personnel VP." http://www.wkbw.com/sports/82249092.html Gee, why is that? At this point, I wouldn't blame him if he ever DID decide to walk away from here, because I'm starting to think about it myself.

Yup. The local affiliates were PISSED. Some even threatened to drop Leno's 10pm show.