Hirly5 Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 I find it funny how Davis and Wilson are meddlesome owners (which they are) but couldn't the staff remove there names and insert Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones name into the article and the article could read the same way. Where are the pieces trashing the way Dallas and Washington run their front offices? If you look around the NFL, the teams that remain good have owners who step back and let football guys run the team. I think every Bills fan understands that the only way the team is going to get back to its winning ways of the past is a new owner.
trolls_r_us Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 it's because the NFL is a mutual admiration society of good ole boys who talk each other up NO MATTER WHAT because part of the deal is that you get that in return NFL people have NOTHING BAD to say about Dick Jauron even to this day. He is almost universally called a GREAT (not even just good) coach and a great football guy by NFL types (when they are ON RECORD).
HelloNewman Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 Still this may be sour grapes from some "personnel director" that wanted to be considered for the GM spot. How much you wanna bet this person is a GM in SanDiego
dave mcbride Posted January 25, 2010 Author Posted January 25, 2010 I'm sure the sources believe in what they said. But as I showed, they contradicted each other for the most part. And IIRC, PFW ran an article after Nix was hired that railed on the Bills for not giving the job to one of the young up-and-comers on other teams, who seemed to be friends of the "source." So take that FWIW. It was PFT, not PFW, that ran that earlier report with a quote from an unnamed source.
dave mcbride Posted January 25, 2010 Author Posted January 25, 2010 I find it funny how Davis and Wilson are meddlesome owners (which they are) but couldn't the staff remove there names and insert Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones name into the article and the article could read the same way. Where are the pieces trashing the way Dallas and Washington run their front offices? If you look around the NFL, the teams that remain good have owners who step back and let football guys run the team. I think every Bills fan understands that the only way the team is going to get back to its winning ways of the past is a new owner. Don't be myopic. There have been far, far more articles in this decade trashing Snyder than trashing Wilson.
Lori Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 It's amazing how that works, isn't it? Indeed. I was chatting with a HS hoops coach last month, right after his team won a holiday tourney. Nonchalantly set my recorder on the corner of the scorer's table so I'd have a hand free to page through the scorebook, and when he saw it, his whole demeanor changed. "That isn't on, is it?" he asked. (It wasn't; I wanted to double-check a couple of their stats against mine before starting the interview.) "I hate those things -- I always end up saying something that sounds stupid when they write it." So, I just took notes while we talked instead ... but I still got the impression that he was more guarded than he would have been without the earlier exchange.
KRC Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 Indeed. I was chatting with a HS hoops coach last month, right after his team won a holiday tourney. Nonchalantly set my recorder on the corner of the scorer's table so I'd have a hand free to page through the scorebook, and when he saw it, his whole demeanor changed. "That isn't on, is it?" he asked. (It wasn't; I wanted to double-check a couple of their stats against mine before starting the interview.) "I hate those things -- I always end up saying something that sounds stupid when they write it." So, I just took notes while we talked instead ... but I still got the impression that he was more guarded than he would have been without the earlier exchange. I have had times when I go back to get the necessary permissions to quote people and they change their mind and now want everything that was recorded to be off the record. You build up a trust with them as you are talking. They end up forgetting that the recorder is on and start blasting away. With certain people, I have an unwritten "off the record" whenever we talk and they know that. Therefore, they trust me and they say things they normally would not say. I would never betray that trust.
jr1 Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 Ralph wanted Lynch because Ralph's a closet weed smoker and needed a hookup
Kelly the Dog Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 Why do you say this? Is it because you disagree with the piece? They didn't even postulate on what, to me, is obvious. That Russ Brandon has the marketing and frontman organizational skills that a successful GM needs, but is woefully short on the talent evaluation and scouting skills, so he was stripped of them. Buddy Nix has enormous talent evaluation, scouting and drafting skills, but he is woefully short on charisma and the frontman of a franchise that most good GMs have. And that is highly likely the only reason that Nix hasn't been hired as a GM before. There is really no reason to think of that this two-headed model cannot succeed*, as long as Nix really does have final say over all football decisions and not Brandon. *There is every reason to believe that this model will not succeed if Ralph meddles too much, if Overdorf stays and still is the final say on money, and if Gailey turns out to be a crappy coach. But that is not the point. PFW and the people they were talking to were complaining about mostly cosmetic problems. Outside of Ralph, of course.
R. Rich Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 I have had times when I go back to get the necessary permissions to quote people and they change their mind and now want everything that was recorded to be off the record. You build up a trust with them as you are talking. They end up forgetting that the recorder is on and start blasting away. With certain people, I have an unwritten "off the record" whenever we talk and they know that. Therefore, they trust me and they say things they normally would not say. I would never betray that trust. This is commonplace and not restricted to journalism and/or research. There are many people I work w/ who speak to their claimants one way and to the people in their everyday life another way. Heck, there's people who speak of their claimants one way in public and then another in private.
Doc Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 It was PFT, not PFW, that ran that earlier report with a quote from an unnamed source. PFW probably used the same source. The point of the article was to trash Wilson and the Bills, so asking for a "source" that had already done it would make sense.
Lori Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 This is commonplace and not restricted to journalism and/or research. There are many people I work w/ who speak to their claimants one way and to the people in their everyday life another way. Heck, there's people who speak of their claimants one way in public and then another in private. And if they were to go back through those conversations, how much of that stuff would they want to be off the record? Like you said, we all self-edit. Corresponded with someone in San Diego the day of the Nix announcement. That person praised Buddy, said how happy everyone out there was for him. Great guy, great eye for talent, etc. Nothing that could be even remotely controversial ... but at the end of the e-mail, they tacked on a note saying "feel free to share, but please don't attribute me." If someone from a front office doesn't want to go on the record for that, is anyone truly shocked that the snipers in the PFW piece chose to remain anonymous?
PromoTheRobot Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 A real hatchet piece that no one signed their name to. Forget about sources. Not saying it's untrue, just harsh and no one owns up to it. PTR
mob16151 Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 What a waste of 3 minutes. PFW should have closed-up shop when Joel Buschbaum died. I didn't even know they were still in business...........true story.
rpcolosi Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 Yawn. If nix wAs gm with Arthur blank wod they say the same things? We have anactual gm and scouting dept I'm not sure what raiders have
billsfan714 Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 Jeez were tied with the Lions for years of a playoff drought, I knew it was bad, just didnt realize we were in Detroit company.
Gavin in Va Beach Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 I find it funny how Davis and Wilson are meddlesome owners (which they are) but couldn't the staff remove there names and insert Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones name into the article and the article could read the same way. Where are the pieces trashing the way Dallas and Washington run their front offices? If you look around the NFL, the teams that remain good have owners who step back and let football guys run the team. I think every Bills fan understands that the only way the team is going to get back to its winning ways of the past is a new owner. The difference is that while Snyder and Jones may be meddling jackass owners their willingness to spend as much as it takes for talent hides their shortcomings. I don't know if Davis is as cheap but we all know Wilson's meddling, combined with his desire to spend the least amount possible on every aspect of the team, is a brutal combination.
BillsGuyInMalta Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 The difference is that while Snyder and Jones may be meddling jackass owners their willingness to spend as much as it takes for talent hides their shortcomings. I don't know if Davis is as cheap but we all know Wilson's meddling, combined with his desire to spend the least amount possible on every aspect of the team, is a brutal combination. Two years ago the Bills had the 4th highest payroll in the NFL. It's not that Ralph doesn't spend money, he just doesn't spend it wisely.
trolls_r_us Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 nobody wants to believe that the Bills truly are a joke... it didn't use to be this way Now we're right on par with Oakland... sad but true Ralph fired Polian. Other than when Polian was here, when were the "glory days?" 1960?
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted January 25, 2010 Posted January 25, 2010 In other words ... yes, people absolutely DO change when they see you turn on the recorder or start taking notes. Right. I just wanted to ensure that the rest of humanity were self-serving liars and cowards. Edit: I think this really points to the core lack of integrity in American society today. If you can't stand up and say: "I said that." without being off the record or parsing your statement through a lawyer, how much should ANYONE trust you for reliability? Say waht you will about Jose Canseco. The man had the balls to speak the truth, to name names and to do it all on the record and in the light of day.
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