Tim Graham Defends Mike Rodak. Says Bills Fans Treat Him Unfairly

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

42 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

BBMC = BBMB buffalo bills message board, when the poster mistypes one letter

 

Yes, Tim posted here.  Had some cleverly disguising username like, TimGraham.  Last seen in, 2010 or so.  He was (IMHO) kind of thin-skinnedly defending himself by snarking at people who were raising reasonable points and announced loudly he was gonna take his ball and go.  Led to several other long-term posters departing because they felt he should have been treated with more courtesy. 

 

Others felt that "courtesy is as courtesy does" - media members such as John Wawrow who snark at times, but will respond reasonably to reasonable points and just snark when it's pretty much return fire.

 

The whole episode was quite humorous to many of us who were here LONG before Timmy showed up.

 

Oh, precious Timmy.

 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

10 hours ago, BillyWhiteShows said:

http://moranalytics.com/ep-100-tim-graham-the-athletic/

 

Listened to a great interview with Tim Graham of The Athletic.  He speaks openly about his departure from the BN, WGR, and of course his current work at the Athletic.  But I feel the most interesting quote was about his friend and co-host Mike Rodak.  Rodak famously gets a ton of backlash from Bills fans.  I never got the Rodak hatred, but many times I thought that this tweets were phrased very poorly, as to take the piss out of Bills fans.  Graham basically confirms that's the case.

 

I know that very few will listen to the his comments but you can find them at the 35 minute mark.  But here is what Timmy said:

 

Pat Moran:  "You mention MIke Rodak.  I like that dude.  I feel like Bills fans gave him such a bum rap his first couple years in Buffalo because where he came from, but that kind of has turned now.  

I sense now fans consider him one of their own." 

 

Tim Graham:  "Not quite Pat.   I still see and hear about the grief that he gets.  He'll tweet something along the lines of 'Buffalo Bills sign Jordan Phillips to a contract extension.'  Just a tweet.  Just an update.  And within 5 minutes someone will say 'kill yourself,' 'move back,' 'get out of town,' 'please leave."  And he does play the bit of the troll, a little bit, but I think part of it is, and I'm speaking for Mike here and he's been on your podcast, so this isn't anything that I haven't discussed with him over beers but....I get it because it's got to be a bit of a defense mechanism.  Because if you were just to sit there and take it, I think it would be a miserable depressing existence...just to constantly told that you suck, when you know that you're doing good work, which he does.  If it comes time for him to leave at some point, I think the quality of work that he does in terms of breaking down the Bills, the transactions and the data, the position battles and covering the hard stories....like he's all over the LeSean McCoy legal stuff when a lot of others haven't (myself included).  But he's taken the bull by the horns there, and he's done great work.  But if he had just absorbed all the punishment and never gotten to a point where he's got to have a little "FU" in him, then I think that he'd be in a fetal position somewhere."  

[ALF]

I think Rodak evolved as he got to know the Bills and it's fans. At the start Roadhack was deserved but he has since done a good job  imo

[Southern Bills Fan]

My opinion of Rodak is that even when he's just trying to report Bills news on ESPN, he seems to constantly put a negative spin on it. I don't ever agree with telling anyone to kill themselves because some people actually end up doing it. I also don't do twitter, it's poison.

[buffaloaggie]

8 minutes ago, Southern Bills Fan said:

My opinion of Rodak is that even when he's just trying to report Bills news on ESPN, he seems to constantly put a negative spin on it. I don't ever agree with telling anyone to kill themselves because some people actually end up doing it. I also don't do twitter, it's poison.

Agree that Rodak always spins things negatively. That has always been my comment on his articles. I'm sure someone, sometime, has really bad-mouthed Rodak, but my worst comment is he's a hack. Nothing personal, just he brings nothing special through his writing, and, especially as a Patriots fan, he does seem to resent having to write for the Bills, as does Graham, who I believe is a Dolphins fan. Graham just has more writing talent than Rodak.

[TC in St. Louis]

His editors may be too disinterested to dig into his articles.  The Bills seem to have been irrelevant so long that this assignment sucks to most writers.  It's sort of like that scene in Animal House when they kept putting the pledges into the corner with Jugdish and his friends.  Once we start winning again, it will be a fun assignment and they'll put somebody else on it.  Even when we made the playoffs a couple years ago all people wrote about was how lucky we were.  Which was true.  But we held Jacksonville to 10 points on the road....and a week later they rang up 40+ in Pittsburgh.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cSYNuEmHQk

[Pasaluki]

Tim Graham although whiney, was a decent writer. Being a good writer covers a multitude of sins.

 

Rodak has no insight about the team, has no sources on the team, and isn't a very good writer to make up the difference. He has a great job that many would be very passionate about, yet he is completely dispassionate. 

[C.Biscuit97]

There definitely some very sensitive Bills fans who feel personally attacked if you say something bad about the Bills (the cult of Josh Allen for instance).  Then they lash out and make it personal with the reporter.  Rodak looks like a weasel but some fans take it too far.  Face it.  We’ve been a bad franchise.  Why sugar coat it?

 

and I can’t stand TG.  Dude kills people (see that BS he did with EJ after his rookie year) and then cries when someone criticizes him.  Most sports media is a joke.  Dudes with no talent, criticizing people with real talent.

[Yav]

Tim Graham is a tool.

He tends to post ***** without any real knowledge of the subject and then will defend his BS as if he's an authority on the subject. 

 

I personally can't stand that jackass. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Yav

[oldmanfan]

8 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

There definitely some very sensitive Bills fans who feel personally attacked if you say something bad about the Bills (the cult of Josh Allen for instance).  Then they lash out and make it personal with the reporter.  Rodak looks like a weasel but some fans take it too far.  Face it.  We’ve been a bad franchise.  Why sugar coat it?

 

and I can’t stand TG.  Dude kills people (see that BS he did with EJ after his rookie year) and then cries when someone criticizes him.  Most sports media is a joke.  Dudes with no talent, criticizing people with real talent.

Agreed.  The incident with EJ prompted my email to him where he got all snarky.  I felt he made himself part of the story, and to me journalists should not do that.

[Mark80]

Tim Graham sucks too.

[BuffaloBillsGospel]

I'm not a fan of most social media, watching people write "go kill yourself" because of a sports team is pretty sick imo and most people hide behind a keyboard.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

3 hours ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

Not small enough 

 

[Lurker]

Yawn.....Big Whoop.

[purple haze]

4 hours ago, Ol Dirty B said:

 

I'm not sure what he has supposed to be positive about. This fanbase criticizes Murph but I really think that's all they can handle.

I don't expect journalists to be cheerleaders for the teams they cover.  That's not their job. However,  there have been many times over the years when the Bills won a game or signed a player or did something that was generally positive and Rodak comes along bringing up some statistic or makes some comment that he ties into the positive that just happened to intentionally lessen its impact among fans.  That's ass-holery in action.  I'm not a fan of it, therefore, I go to other sources who cover the team.  I don't harass him on social media or call him out of his name.  

 

He can do what he does and, in turn, I'll do what I do.

[Gugny]

59 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

There definitely some very sensitive Bills fans who feel personally attacked if you say something bad about the Bills (the cult of Josh Allen for instance).  Then they lash out and make it personal with the reporter.  Rodak looks like a weasel but some fans take it too far.  Face it.  We’ve been a bad franchise.  Why sugar coat it?

  

and I can’t stand TG.  Dude kills people (see that BS he did with EJ after his rookie year) and then cries when someone criticizes him.  Most sports media is a joke.  Dudes with no talent, criticizing people with real talent.

 

My knock on Rodak is that everything he writes is either garbage or "no ****, Sherlock," material.  He offers literally nothing.  Zero.

 

My knock on Timmy G., is that he's an arrogant a-hole who doesn't like to be challenged - even in a professional/respectful manner.  Classic douche, really.  The place is better without him and his ridiculous little cult who followed him like lost puppies.

[Bill from NYC]

11 hours ago, eball said:

 

Yeah, I think Lori is in love with him

I wish that she was still here.

[BillsVet]

Just now, Bill from NYC said:

I wish that she was still here.

 

Another outstanding member of the forum driven away.

 

I cannot believe the loss of civility that's taken place here where even simple debate is practically impossible. 

 

I really think the board serves as a microcosm for where society is going, and it's not good.  Incessant arguing, an inability to listen, or the ability to agree to disagree.

 

Some people ultimately decide to leave and replaced with those who have never heard the word decorum.

[Saint Doug]

People getting unduly criticized on the internet? Nope. Never happens. 

[Canadian Bills Fan]