What is Ralph Opinion

[plenzmd1]

I am not one who likes his owner to font and center, but damn, I'd like to know what Ralph is thinking. Loved it last year when he blasted the O as being boring, seemed to me the team got the message the owner was not pleased.

 

Would just love for him to come out and say one way or the other how he feels about TD. Now, it may to early in the year, really don't want a lame duck GM and coach, but just want to him say either:

 

"TD is my man, and he is going to be here no matter what happens the rest of the year. I have full faith and confidence in him, and by golly he will get us out of this mess"

 

or

 

taking a page from TD "Everybody will be evaluated at the end of the year. Including management."

[RochBillsFan]

heres the deal:

1. It won't happen during the season. But Ralph can not be happy

2. Ralph does like, however, a full stadium. So, from a Marketing perspective, the Bills are clicking on all cylinders...so, he does not want to upset that part of the business.

3. At the end of the season, I bet what happens is something like this:

- Donahoe moves to become more Presidential and gives up GM responsibilities

- Modrak (maybe, maybe not) or someone of significance is hired to run the GM part

- It's up for grabs on the coaching aspect. I like Mularkey, but Ralph will want to win now. The next coach, if they do make a change will be a very experienced head coach who will bring in a very experienced staff

[Billsjunkie]

As long as TD is here, he will be in full control. Even if he isnt GM, he will still call the shots unfortuanatley.

[Guest BackInDaDay]

I am not one who likes his owner to font and center, but damn, I'd like to know what Ralph is thinking. Loved it last year when he blasted the O as being boring, seemed to me the team got the message the owner was not pleased.

 

Would just love for him to come out and say one way or the other how he feels about TD. Now, it may to early in the year, really don't want a lame duck GM and coach, but just want to him say either:

 

"TD is my man, and he is going to be here no matter what happens the rest of the year. I have full faith and confidence in him, and by golly he will get us out of this mess"

 

or

 

taking a page from TD  "Everybody will be evaluated at the end of the year. Including management."

515259[/snapback]

 

or

 

"Tennis, anyone?"

[sweet baboo]

i'm picturing Ralph as the old king of rohan from LOTR while TD aka Wormtongue keeps feeding him lies

 

 

omg i'm such a dork

[Guest BackInDaDay]

i'm picturing Ralph as the old king of rohan from LOTR while TD aka Wormtongue keeps feeding him lies

omg i'm such a dork

515517[/snapback]

 

or perhaps you've been SPYING!!!

 

[AJ1]

i'm picturing Ralph as the old king of rohan from LOTR while TD aka Wormtongue keeps feeding him lies

omg i'm such a dork

515517[/snapback]

 

I picture him as asking his daughter (while she is adjusting his dribble bib): 'Anything wrong with the team?'

'No and quit spilling your oatmeal'

[Dan Gross]

Sorry, you're in the Hall-of-Fame voting period. You won't hear squat from Ralph until he's officially in/out.

[Sound_n_Fury]

Sorry, you're in the Hall-of-Fame voting period.  You won't hear squat from Ralph until he's officially in/out.

515589[/snapback]

 

Bupkis. Ralph's being quite because that's his modus operandi when he's pissed. Personally, I hope he stays quiet and lets the pressure build on TD.

[Bflojohn]

My only hope is that Ralphy hasn't fallen into his 1970's mode of operation. The franchise back then was horrid and it seemed that he just didn't care! In the 1980's he woke up one day to attendance being, what 15,000 to 20,000.. and hired Football Men to rescue his ailing team! I'm NOT saying that Tom Donahoe isn't a "Football man" who doesn't knows his way around, but the general malaise this team produces nearly EVERY WEEK is getting harder and harder to take!!

[Dan Gross]

Bupkis.  Ralph's being quite because that's his modus operandi when he's pissed.  Personally, I hope he stays quiet and lets the pressure build on TD.

515615[/snapback]

 

How soon they forget... (search on "Ralph Wilson")

 

The team's ongoing struggles have owner Ralph Wilson is publicly criticizing the effort of what was supposed to be an improved team.

 

"We sleepwalked," Wilson told the News outside the Bills locker room after Sunday's loss. "We didn't have any emotion. We just haven't shown any enthusiasm, not today, not for the last three weeks."

[finknottle]

Ralph may very well be dead within 5 years. He doesn't have time to fire TD and start fresh with somebody who could be just as bad. He knows that it's this belching rattling clunker or nothing for him, so he's gritting his teeth, gassing her up, and praying that it makes it to where he wants to go.

 

From his point of view, dramatic rebuilding begins after he's gone.

[bdelma]

He is letting the fans of the Bills vent, because he knows that's how there are. No changes unless blowouts are on the way.

[Sound_n_Fury]

How soon they forget... (search on "Ralph Wilson")

515647[/snapback]

 

I'm not talking about those kind of quotes, where RW's referring to a specific game. I'm talking about his "quiet before the storm" approach to front office personnel when he begins to lose confidence in the GMs ability to field a competitive team. Saw it with Polian, and somewhat with Butler.

[SDS]

Saw it with Polian, and somewhat with Butler.

515978[/snapback]

 

You saw WHAT with Polian?

[Sound_n_Fury]

You saw WHAT with Polian?     

515981[/snapback]

 

Ralph simmered over Bill's "arrogance" throughout the entire 1992 season before pulling the trigger on him.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

HE WON SOME BATTLES, BUT POLIAN LOST THE WAR

 

BY: Larry Felser, Sports Editor

 

What did in Bill Polian is the same thing that did in George Bush: He was a success at foreign affairs but a failure on the domestic front.

 

A few days before Super Bowl XXVII, Marv Levy went out of his way to tell an audience of national media that Polian "was the architect of the Buffalo Bills' three Super Bowl teams." No argument there. Polian is a first-rate football man.

 

Once he stepped away from football, however, Polian could escalate a medium-sized difference of opinion into the Normandy invasion, and frequently did.

 

Time after time he met the enemy, and it was him. The safest thing would have been to lock him in a film room and have him deal only with football, allowing him only minimal contact with the public. Instead there were continual blowups with fans and the media. The last was as recent as Sunday night, outside the Bills' "win or lose" party at their Los Angeles hotel when he attacked WGRZ-TV's Ed Kilgore over a mere misunderstanding.

 

Polian could have gone on abusing the fans and media indefinitely, but he made the mistake of going beyond them. "Polian didn't discriminate between press, fans and owners," says an NFL associate of the former Bills' general manager. "Ralph Wilson is at a point in his life where he doesn't want to put up with being screamed at by an employee of his."

 

This was not a recent complaint of Wilson's. At least four years ago he was telling his close friends that he was upset at the manner in which Polian treated him and his daughters, two of whom work on the Bills' staff.

 

Polian also went to war, once physically, with Wilson's money man in Detroit, Jeff Littmann. But all NFL teams have a Littmann sort, difficult moneymen, in their organizations. It is part of the GM's job to co-exist with them, even when they make wrong-headed decisions as Littmann did in the case of releasing injured fullback Jamie Mueller.

 

In Polian's case, it wasn't co-existence, it was hand-to-hand combat. It recalled a comment from the late Dan Reeves, owner of the Los Angeles Rams, when he employed George Allen as his coach in the '60s: "I've never won so much, nor enjoyed it so little."

 

All owners love to win, but they want it to be a joyous experience, too.

 

Obviously, Polian knew what was coming. There have been stories going around the NFL for months that he was looking for a soft spot to land, that he was one step ahead of the posse. In fact there have been Polian rumors cropping up for years: That he was a candidate for the Jets' general manager's job before Dick Steinberg was hired; that he was going to go to Washington when Bobby Beathard quit as GM of the Redskins. The most persistent involved a phantom job in the NFL office.

 

Some of those stories were plants, but when Polian was appointed to the prestigious NFL Competition Committee it seemed that his marketability was sure to soar.

 

"His marketability went down after he got on the competition committee," says a powerful NFL coach. "He blew his stack so many times that he ended up with a reputation as an off-the-wall guy."

 

As for any job in the NFL office, he was supposed to be close to Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, but listen to a comment from an NFL official just before the Super Bowl. "I want to pull for Buffalo to win this game," he said, "but Polian makes it really hard for me to do it."

 

With Polian gone, the major question is what happens now? Will the Bills, as the doomsayers predict, plummet to the depths of 2-14 where they dwelt before Polian was handed the GM's job?

 

It is not an idle worry. The organization traveled that route three times before. Much depends upon the moves Wilson has made to fill the vacancy caused by Polian's firing. Friday afternoon, he promoted John Butler, the popular director of college scouting, into Polian's position.

 

But Polian's press release concerning his departure mentioned Wilson's year-long desire to restructure the front office. Promoted along with Butler was Jerry Foran, the director of marketing and sales for whom Wilson has high regard, has been promoted to handle non-football operations.

 

Regardless of the changes, the temperature of the organization is going to be lowered by Polian's departure, which is a good thing. The tension and paranoia around One Bills Drive was getting unbearable. With Polian, it was a cult of personality. No other NFL general manager has his own television and radio shows. No other GM had such high visibility.

 

The main man in the Bills immediate future now, is going to be Marv Levy. Obviously Levy is going to miss Polian, who was his protege. Bob Sprenger, an NCAA official who worked as the Kansas City Chiefs' public relations director during Levy's tenure there, tells a story about the time he ran into Polian a few years ago while Marv was in Hawaii, coaching the AFC in the Pro Bowl.

 

"Polian was chuckling," says Sprenger. "He said he just got his third phone call of the day from Marv. I asked Bill why he was calling so often. Polian said "It's the parties. They want Marv to go to the social events and all he wants to do is the coaching. He's very upset."

 

Now Marv is in the most powerful situation of his career. After having taken the Bills to three consecutive Super Bowls, Levy has a deep pool of good will built up with the owner. Wilson likes him a great deal, anyway. They speak the same language.

 

Levy is in a position to direct the Bills on the proper course despite the departure of his old sidekick. Butler and Foran are old associates of his from their USFL Chicago Blitz days. They have great respect for him and likely would take his direction. Presumably, the same would be expected of any outsiders Wilson might hire.

 

Levy might have to make some concessions to Wilson, but this is the time to spend some of that good will he built up.

 

Meanwhile, Polian passes from the Buffalo sports scene. He must find it ironic. He got the job unexpectedly when another Bills' GM, Terry Bledsoe, was axed out of the blue.

 

At the 1985 press conference signaling the promotion of the obscure pro scout, Polian introduced himself by announcing "Hi! I'm Bill Who." By the time Polian left, everyone knew who he was.

[SDS]

Since we are having fun with bold type:

 

"I'm talking about his "quiet before the storm" approach to front office personnel when he begins to lose confidence in the GMs ability to field a competitive team."

 

errrr.... when did this happen with Polan as you suggest?

[krazykat]

heres the deal:

1. It won't happen during the season. But Ralph can not be happy

2. Ralph does like, however, a full stadium. So, from a Marketing perspective, the Bills are clicking on all cylinders...so, he does not want to upset that part of the business.

3. At the end of the season, I bet what happens is something like this:

- Donahoe moves to become more Presidential and gives up GM responsibilities

- Modrak (maybe, maybe not) or someone of significance is hired to run the GM part

- It's up for grabs on the coaching aspect.  I like Mularkey, but Ralph will want to win now. The next coach, if they do make a change will be a very experienced head coach who will bring in a very experienced staff

515265[/snapback]

It gets a little freakin' old hearin' about how TD is responsible for a full stadium. What the hell's he done to sell seats? What?

 

Hell, if this team could simply win four more games each season the stadium would be damned full.

 

It's the fans buying the tickets not damned Donadhoe puitting them on the market. He's added absolutely no value other than on paper. That sells for a while until people find out the truth, which is about......NOW!

 

After that anyone buying seasons or single game tickets next year in a season where we're expected to win five or six games can feel free to do so. Hell, wanna support the team, just send them a few thousand bucks for nothing. That'll do it too. That's all we're getting anyway. I think the negatives outweigh the positives.

 

This thing about Donahoe sellling out the stadium is hogwash. The fans do it, nto TD. We don't need him, he needs us!

[Sound_n_Fury]

Since we are having fun with bold type:

 

"I'm talking about his "quiet before the storm" approach to front office personnel when he begins to lose confidence in the GMs ability to field a competitive team."

 

errrr.... when did this happen with Polan as you suggest?

516038[/snapback]

 

Touche. But I'm sure RW wasn't happy with Polian for a number of reasons and thought Butler could do just as well and be less of a PITA. Ralph's pretty murcurial when he's pissed and tends to be quite as well. The next 5 games will be really interesting....

[Sound_n_Fury]

It gets a little freakin' old hearin' about how TD is responsible for a full stadium.  What the hell's he done to sell seats?  What? 

516041[/snapback]

 

You're not serious, are you?

 

Every off-season he's done something to create a buzz to drive season ticket sales. Trading for Bledsoe, landing TKO, signing Milloy on opening week, trading PP for a #1, drafting Willis, drafting JP, hiring MM, ditching DB and going with Losman...the list goes on.

 

The vast majority of tickets are sold before Game 1 and TD knows how to sell "hope" to get those $$$.