Zona Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Besides, isn't Mort a Miami guy? As in, he lives there, and covers that team, and has been a fan for a long time. It would be like hiring Lori at ESPN and expecting her to remain impartial when she reports on the Dolphins after they hire and fire AussieW. It's not going to happen. i expect Mort to hate us. just hate him back.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Besides, isn't Mort a Miami guy? As in, he lives there, and covers that team, and has been a fan for a long time. It would be like hiring Lori at ESPN and expecting her to remain impartial when she reports on the Dolphins after they hire and fire AussieW. It's not going to happen. i expect Mort to hate us. just hate him back.... Far as I know, he's from California, and the only NFL team he ever covered as a beat writer was the pre-Deion Sanders Falcons (while he was with the AJC). Believe he currently calls Arkansas home, and has a son playing for the Razorbacks. And he's been a national writer for so long that he's certainly suppressed any fanboi instincts by now. (Yeah, Berman plays favorites, but broadcast guys are different that way.) I cover the same high school I graduated from. In the back of my mind, do I hope they win every game? Sure. But I do not cheer in the press box, or sing along with the alma mater, or interview opposing coaches with a we/you mentality, or take it easy on "my" team ... and I hope my copy never reads that way, because if it does, I suck at my job. The Bills stuff is different, because I know I've got a better chance of witnessing the Second Coming than of scoring credentials to RWS any time soon. (And I'll be honest -- after spending so many years out in the stands, I'd probably have a tough time with the "no cheering" edict. Old dogs, new tricks, and all that.) I do still try to keep the previews as impartial as possible, although I have let some opinions filter through this season ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralonzo Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 What's even funnier is that the bastard is sitting at an overall 69-33 record for picks so far Dammit, I'm 68-34 despite picking the Bills to win every week except one... @ Arizona Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 No need to wait, here's what Mort's answer would be:Tom Donahoe was a real visionary. He drafted Willis McGahee knowing that when McGahee would be in the last year of his contract, the Bills could trade him for a franchise quarterback. Marv Levy was just lucky to reap the benefits of Tom Donahoe's brilliant plan. Now you might ask: Why did Donahoe's Bills trade three picks for draft JP Losman? Well, the guy started 31 games and if he wasn't behind center during those 31 games the snaps would have continuously hit the ground and resulted in a lot of turnovers. You can't play NFL football without a quarterback, Tom Donahoe knew that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 While Donahoe screwed the pooch on some key moves, he did bring in the current Bills, some hits, some misses, but they're still on this year's roster: Evans, Peters, Moorman, Lindell, Parrish, McGee, Schobel, Greer, Reed, Kelsay, Denney, Preston, & Losman. That's almost 25% of the roster. His main problems were he bombed on 1st round picks Losman, & Mike Williams and sent a 1st rounder to NE for 3 mediocre seasons of Drew Bledsoe, wasting three 1st round picks in 5 years and he picked two horrible head coaches. He also gambled & lost on the McGahee pick, but remember, he stole that pick from Atlanta for Price and Marv & Brandon cleaned that one up, resulting in Edwards & Stroud on the current team. Overall, Donahoe's bad use of 1st rounders & poor coaching hires, combined with his gestapo management of stadium behavior (I once wrote "Fire Mularkey" in the snow on the roof of the end zone boxes & security made me erase it) made his firing necessary, but he was not as bad as some other GMs in the same timeframe, like the guys who ran the Dolphins totally into the ground. Your right, whiffing on all of those 1st round picks has really hurt us. Hopefully the current FO will nail the 1st round picks with superstars for years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemhoff Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Regardless, he has a right to choose against Buffalo even if it goes against all common logic. That being said, F-him and his mother. Sure and...no that's gross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 The most consistent player TD brought in was punter Brian Moorman. That tells you something. Um ... Lee Evans? Aaron Schobel? Nate Clements? Terrence McGee? I am a very harsh critic of Donohoe, but come on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOKBILLS Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Regardless, he has a right to choose against Buffalo even if it goes against all common logic. That being said, F-him and his mother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zona Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Far as I know, he's from California, and the only NFL team he ever covered as a beat writer was the pre-Deion Sanders Falcons (while he was with the AJC). Believe he currently calls Arkansas home, and has a son playing for the Razorbacks. And he's been a national writer for so long that he's certainly suppressed any fanboi instincts by now. (Yeah, Berman plays favorites, but broadcast guys are different that way.) I cover the same high school I graduated from. In the back of my mind, do I hope they win every game? Sure. But I do not cheer in the press box, or sing along with the alma mater, or interview opposing coaches with a we/you mentality, or take it easy on "my" team ... and I hope my copy never reads that way, because if it does, I suck at my job. The Bills stuff is different, because I know I've got a better chance of witnessing the Second Coming than of scoring credentials to RWS any time soon. (And I'll be honest -- after spending so many years out in the stands, I'd probably have a tough time with the "no cheering" edict. Old dogs, new tricks, and all that.) I do still try to keep the previews as impartial as possible, although I have let some opinions filter through this season ... My apologies Lori. I wasn't trying to say you were doing what Mort does. It was a bad analogy i guess. Sorry. I just picked a name at random from the Board. I just thought that Mort sounded like a fan of one team, who hates another, and lets his feelings show through. That's all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsfaninFl Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 This is a good overall view. I'll take a further step back and say this: If the Bills' record was even decent, say 9-7 to 10-6, during the Donahoe era, he'd probably still be here. But the ultimate test of a GM, head coach or coaching staff's success is wins and losses. Win and you're all set. Lose......... You're right. That's a scary thought. If the Bills had won a couple more games, it might have been five more years before we got rid of Donahoe. Actually, he was a fair judge of talent, but that doesn't trump a good judge of talent (Levy) who works with his staff to come up with the best choices. No one is right all the time, but Donahoe's success rate was impaired because he was such a dictator. And he compounded the problem by hiring coaches who would never be strong enough to challenge him, like Bill Cowher did. When Cowher won the power struggle between them, Donahoe became "damaged goods" that would never be as effective again. Unfortunately, Wilson did not realize that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsfaninFl Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 All of those so called "nfl insiders" from ESPN are now obsolete. They may break a story, but its not 100% official until Adam Schefter(nfl network) reports it, becuase when he gets the story, he gets it from the top. I've heard Mort Clayton, Sal P, and Werder all break stories only to hear "i've got new information involving...." an hour later. I don't dislike Mort. But he is kind of like third string to guys like Boomer, Jackson, Jaworski, Schefter and a few others. Then there is the second eschelon of analysts (mostly former stars). Mort's comments appear to be unresearched and therefore loaded with errors. It's like he's just trying to hold onto the job, but his heart really isn't into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 My apologies Lori. I wasn't trying to say you were doing what Mort does. It was a bad analogy i guess. Sorry. I just picked a name at random from the Board. I just thought that Mort sounded like a fan of one team, who hates another, and lets his feelings show through. That's all. No apology necessary. I figured you mentioned me because of the writing gig; guess I overestimated my notoriety ... That said, perception can be a funny thing sometimes. In one of Tim Graham's early ESPN chats, I'm pretty sure he fielded "you're obviously a ____ fan" AND "why do you hate the ______?" comments regarding all four AFC East teams ... funny stuff for a guy who grew up a Browns fan in Ohio. He's not a Dolphins fan, he just happened to cover that team last season. There is a difference. Now, if someone has a really good relationship with a source -- Peter King with Brett Favre, say -- do they lose a little of that objectivity? Yeah, although it doesn't happen often, I think they can. And in my fact-free opinion, I do think Mort's relationship with Donahoe (and his perception that Ralph did TD wrong) still colors his reporting on the Bills. I'm sure he'd disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffOrange Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 I've seen a lot of fascination on here about how Bills fans think Mort hates the bills because they fired his butt buddy TD. Take a lot at the "experts" picks. He's the only guy that thinks the Dolfags are going to win this week. Amazing. Looking closer at his week to week picks...the only games he said we were going to win were Oakland and Saint Louis. Incredible. According to Mort's predictions, we should have been 2-4 right now. AND get beat by the Dolfags and drop to 2-5! Hilarious. What's even funnier is that the bastard is sitting at an overall 69-33 record for picks so far...leading his peers. With the of those losses attributable to his bad bills picks. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/features/tal...mp;seasontype=2 I was kind of on the fence on this idea that he hates the Bills, but after looking at this and the Stroud comment he made a month ago, I was smacked in the face by his biased reporting. Sorry if this was already reported beforehand, or if some of you think this is a non-story subject, but I thought it was pretty funny. But I guess I'd rather have the guy say we're gonna lose if its been working so far. We weren't favored to beat anyone but Oak/Stl by more than a point. OMG the horror. There is plenty of evidence that Mort is a TD ballwashing fool. This is not it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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