Hello, everybody. Tim Graham from ESPN.com here. I hope you don't view this as self promotion by posting a link to one of my blogs, but the comment section has totally floored me and I'd like your opinion.

When I covered the Sabres I became a member of the SabresFans message boards and got quite familiar with the general displeasure diehards have when it comes to local media coverage of the Bills and Sabres. And I don't disagree in general (although I did find the Buffalo News bashing sometimes unfair because it's the only outlet that spends money to cover every game home and road).

So I was troubled that when I made my usual rounds of newspaper sites for my daily AFC East roundup, the WNY papers had a grand total of one story from Indianapolis on the game. It was a comprehensive story by Mark Gaughan, but as somebody who follows NFL coverage at dozens upon dozens of newspaper sites, one story was shocking to me. This is, after all, the NFL. And coverage from local media plays a role in how the league views a market.

I also have to say that there were zero blogs on the game as of 11 a.m. this morning. The Rochester D&C used an Associated Press report, which remains the lead story on the D&C site as I write this early Tuesday.

I must point out this is not a reflection of the reporters, who are disgusted at the constant layoffs and belt-tightening, particularly with travel. They want to be at the games and reporting the news for their readers. They take immense pride in their jobs. It's more a testament to the sad state of the newspaper industry and mismangement. The Buffalo News just offered 108 buyouts. The Palm Beach Post, where I most recently worked before joining ESPN.com, cut 135 of 299 editorial jobs a couple weeks ago.

The way I view it, the reader is getting screwed.

So I made a comment on my AFC East roundup today that it was disconcerting to see such a lack of coverage on the most important preseason game of the year (and the scariest injury of preseason).

And the response pretty much was to go screw myself.

Please tell me I haven't totally misread Buffalo after spending eight years there. You really do want more coverage, right?

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afceast/0-2-133....html?post=true

I would say of course we want more coverage. As much as possible. Personally, I was shocked I couldn't find a D&C article on the game on the front page of TBD. I thought we had a slacker at the controls who simply didn't link the stories when they were put on the site.

Hey Tim-

To be fair, you did throw in a jab about the Toronto media in there, and most bills fans are extremely paranoid about the potential of the bills moving/not happy about the bills playing in Toronto/not happy about any media outlet questioning the long term viability of a football team in buffalo, so any small mention of it is going to make people a little cranky.

Also, I think the media coverage may have had a slight lull surrounding this game because Studwards didn't play. He's the big question mark of the season, and I would have been much more into what happened in the game if he played.

Don't worry about a few nasty comments from a couple cranky Bills fans though. You'll have that; see: The Stadium Wall.

I think people need to realize the NFL looks at this stuff. Media coverage will play a role in whether the NFL stands up for a market. Do you think they would rather be covered full-time by 10 newspaper reporters in Toronto or what has become three (Mark Gaughan/Allen Wilson/Sal Maiorana) in WNY? While the WNY media is scaling back, the Toronto papers are taking reporters off other beats and putting them on the NFL full-time to get ready.

And that's not intended as a shot. It's happening.

And to make one thing clear ... my point in all this is not about the Bills and their viability.

My point is that your local newspapers are giving you less and less as time goes on and unless you demand more they'll continue to cut back.

You haven't misread Buffao and I'd say we would ALWAYS love more coverage of our sports teams.

If anything, you overestimated the fans who post on espn.com. The message boards and article comments there have been ridiculous and pathetic for years now. I don't know if it's a lack of moderators, but most of what is posted is "My team is awesome, your team sucks, blah blah blah!!!"

Thanks for your work in Buffalo while you were here. I hope you don't hesitate to spend more time on this board, especially after the season starts.

I plan on hanging around the message boards. I might lurk more than I post, but I've been checking in about twice a day for the past couple weeks to see what everybody's talking about.

SilverNRed, you're right that I probably should've just ignored the comments. The person called "msjohns" deleted his first post to me, which was "Why don't you go vote for Bush you looser." That should've told me all I needed to know right there.

Thanks for the input so far. I look forward to reading more of your opinions on this.

I understand your point of view and I realize that you're just commenting on the situation, but I wouldn't have unless I had read your other comments on this thread and in the thread on the ESPN page. It's really just a question of how people will take it.

The extremely loyal fans of Buffalo are really really scorned by that situation. I'm actually writing this from Charlotte, NC, visiting my brother, and I was talking to him today about how the fan support around here for the Panthers seems a little lacking, and I commented that the Panthers should move to Toronto (not thinking that would or should ever happen, just making conversation). Charlotte has a lot of subplants, including a lot from WNY (my brother), so the town identity isn't that strong, and college sports are king here...BUT... Here's the thing.... There's a lot of rich people here! There's huge businesses buying corporate suites in bunches, the economy and population are booming, and it doesn't matter if the people that are going to the game are die hards, it matters if they have money.

It's extremely insulting to the fans of the buffalo bills to think that a team like this can survive with a fan base that is a tenth of what buffalo's fan base is because their community is rich, or because other cities have 10 reporters on a game instead of 3. It's a slap in the face. The NFL I'm sure would say the most important thing is their fans, but it's not, it's the dollars.

Getting back to the issue...I'd say that if what you intended to do was make a comment about how there's something the fans should be doing to get more media coverage, to make it a little clearer, that's all.

Exactly, You have a bunch of people who root for different teams taking cheap shots at each other with very few moderators. After a few days of that, any good poster is going to leave. What you're left with is a bunch of immature (and quite frankly, dumb) people trying to get on each others nerves.

I wouldn't take anything you read in the comments section there too seriously. Take a look at the comments on Youtube once in a while, you'll see the same thing. A bunch of people posting with few rules in place, and almost nothing in common.

BTW, keep up the good work on the blog. It's good to get a few Bills pieces on ESPN.

Tim,

I was very surprised and disappointed when I went to TBD earlier today expecting to find an update on L. Walker's injury. Nothing. I had to hunt through the Bills official site to find any information at all.

It wasn't really all that long ago that Bills fans had media coverage that pretty much anyone would envy. Adelphia Cable had a channel it called Empire Sports Network, a "regional sports channel". From the first day of training camp to the last day of the season, ESN had Bills coverage from 4:30-6:00 each afternoon, including but not limited to highlights from training camp, player/coach interviews, and the like. They also had a great postgame show that ran from as soon as the network stopped their telecast until 6:00 for typical 1:00 games. On top of that, Adelphia owned an FM sports radio channel, competing with WGR, in many ways "keeping them honest".

Unfortunately, John Rigas was a crook and Adelphia went bankrupt. Time Warner purchased the local Adelphia cable, and ESN shut down. The company that owns WGR purchased Adelphia's FM sports station and changed it's format. All of the local sports coverage went way, way, downhill. WGR doesn't even have local sports until 3:00 in the afternoon, and most of their 3-6 show, with supposedly their "best" broadcast team, (I call them Schmuck and The BullFrog) contains so little legitimate sports talk it's not worth the bother of listening to for any length of time.

Local TV isn't much better. WKBW, "The Official Bills Station", is owned by a company trying to break the union. Pretty much every legitimate sportscaster left that station, with them hiring nobodies with very limited experience in small town markets as replacements. The other local channels aren't much better.

The Buffalo News? It's owned by Warren Buffett, who I understand is a very rich (and cheap) man. It was one of the last newspapers in the country to even offer any news at all on it's website. He couldn't give a rat's ass about what people here think about the sports coverage or lack thereof.

Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to give you a little bit of historical perspective. Locals now generally expect the local media coverage to be so pathetic that they'll have to go to national outlets more often than not to get pertinent information.

Tim,

Thanks for asking this question. I have never seen anyone of the media dare post in one of these type of boards before. I am sure people look but to actually post and possibly open the floodgates takes some guts if you ask me.

The lack of outcry for more coverage of the Bills has occurred because of the dislike for most media outlets. I know there is a general dislike for the media from people on this board. I count myself as one of them. My main reason for the dislike is the lack of accountablity the media seems to have. It seems nowadays the Media in general not just football will print anything to make a dollar. If they are wrong you rarely seem a retraction. I realize that with the Internet Newspapers are dying so people are reaching to keep a job but it does more damage in the eyes of the consumer then anything if you ask me.

If you need an example i can give you a good one of what i am talking about in regards of accountability. Ralph Wilson voted against the CBA a few years ago. When he did that he was called a senial old fool by numerous media outlets. I heard it on the radio, on websites, and read it in the newspapers. Ralph Wilson dared to vote no against the CBA where people like Dan Snyder, Jerry Jones, and Robert Kraft voted YES. The so called great owners of our time who will be first ballot HOF'r someday voted YES so it must have been a good decision right? It turns out it wasn't and I have yet to see anyone of the media outlets retract their "senile old fool" comments. It's just wrong if you ask me.

ON top of all that I also dislike the Media for not making a push to get Ralph Wilson into the HOF. He deserves it considering back in the day he loaned money to financially troubled teams so they could make payroll for the week. Al Davis was one of these people and i believe he is in the HOF. The media has a large say in the HOF voting but they turn Ralph Wilson down. I don't know why and i assume it's due to him making waves in Large Market Club Pools.

So no you won't see me doing any dances to get the media to print more items about the Bills. I have no reason to believe that they would print anything good about our football team. Why would i want to read negative things about a team that I love no matter who gets the W on Sunday?

One last note. Don't get discouraged by the comments sections on blogs. It's a internet toughguy playpen. If you want an extreme example go to http://www.break.com Pick one video and read the comments. I am willing to bet you willl see somekind of racist comment within the first page.

Thanks for reading this response.

Dear Tim,

Sadly the Bills like the newspapers that cover them are on life support. When Ralph passes the plug will be pulled on a proud franchise and our print media will be able to devote more time to Paris and Brittany as it circles the bowl.

Vic Carucci/Milt Northrup/Larry Felser or Mark Gaughan/Allen Wilson/Jerry Sullivan? There's some large boots to fill, and for whatever reason, they are not. I guess my feeling is that the first trio were reporters first, commentators second, and radio talk show personalities occasionally. Jerry Sullivan just seems to look for something controversial to write about. Larry always seemed to be fair imho. It gets wearying after a while. The other guys are mostly fine, but they are lumped in with the editorial staff.

PS- I actively look for Chuck Pollock's stuff. He most reminds me of what I used to get with the News.

I know that fans want more coverage for their team, but the problem is that the coverage we get is pretty bad. I am a football historian. As a result, I am constantly looking through old newspapers for game accounts and coverage of the teams for the books and articles I write. There is just no comparison. The quality was far superior. Don't get me wrong. There are a few quality beat reporters out there, but they are becoming more rare. I am not sure if I can put my finger on a single reason for this.

Tim,

I certainly can understand your sentiments, as being an old timer of 45 I still like the feel of newsprint in my hands in the morning. However, as you well know, many folks are just as happy to consume their local news in electronic format. And, until the publications can figure out a way to make money on that side of the house, layoofs, buyouts, etc are going to continue to happen.

But, i do not blame the Buffalo News for that, nor do I blame the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun etc. Does the News have an obligation to lose money while covering the Bills? Would everyone here(well here yes), but the more casual fan be willing to pay $10/month for access to the News online? No, we want our content for free(ask the New York Times) and ad sales are just not paying the bills right now. However, at some point we will, when the local newsprint operations shut down, and our only choice will be to pay.

Like I said, I think it sucks for guys like you who made their living in print journalism, and like I, will miss newsprint as it fades to oblivion. But I also believe it is a bit disingenious to lay the blame on the News, or scare the bejuses out of folks by saying your team is leaving without more beat writers from the local rags. Times change, and we must change with them. Look at yourself, Vic, Jim Kelly, all of who have seen the writing on the wall.

Keep up the great work on the blog, I enjoy it every day!!

Hello Tim,

I check the D&C every day, and look forward to coverage by Maiorana and Roth. Bob Matthews, not so much. I was surprised to see zero coverage of a very solid-looking offensive performance at Indy the other night. Understand that the reason I visit TBD (and occasionally post) is BECAUSE of the compendium of Bills information herein. I don't have the time or patience to listen to/watch/read about every snippet of information from a multitude of sources. Although much of the information presented on TSW is...well....inane, this is usually the best place to get the latest breaking news, because many people here DO watch national media outlets, and post instantaneously.

Let me make a gratuitous statement - Lori Chase's gameday summaries are about the best thing going. Chuck Pollock is also well worth reading, and Scott Pitoniak's articles in the D&C are a must-read. I guess I don't take the time to tune into the national outlets because - God almighty - places like ESPN and the like are virtually unwatchable any more. I'm proud to say that I don't even know where ESPN resides on my cable channel array.

As for the cutbacks in the local papers, this is sadly inevitable. The only reason my brother and I occasionally purchase the local paper (The Watertown Daily Times) is so that we can use the newsprint in the charcoal chimney to start the barbecue. That's not being said to be funny, it's reality. And it's a reality to which the Toronto Sun, The Toronto Star, and the National Post are not immune. You certainly know better than I do that the local papers are pulling people from other beats to cover the NFL north of the border. Fair enough. I think you'll see a high-water effect at the beginning of coverage, followed by a steady ebbing of interest. Toronto is a big, beautiful, self-absorbed city with hockey, followed by hockey, complimented by hockey, basketball, baseball, and a couple of other things to do besides sports. My gut call - and it's only a hunch, nothing more - is that the NFL is going to find it a MUCH harder slog to get the faithful to buy into the product north of the border. The league does appear to be a juggernaut at times, and it seems that they can put $%*#-in-a-box and make it sell, but keep in mind that they have failed on occasion, and have failed significantly. Witness two failed attempts at placing a team in Los Angeles, and witness the NFL Europe. The NFL Channel's ongoing struggle with Time Warner leaves THAT venture in the "jury's still out" phase.

Thanks for dropping by. It's nice to know we're being included.

Do we really want to read any more of Sullivan, Gleason , and DiCesare?

It's possible that the D&C guys had cable and were unable (or grudgingly unwilling) to sufficiently cover the game...thus relying on the national story instead.

After all, why should they expect to be able to watch a preseason game that was sold out and completely out of the Rochester market?

Seems like the suggestion here is that as Bills fans interested in keeping the team in Buffalo, we'd be wise to start lobbying and urging the local print media for more coverage of the Bills.

I'm sure there are a multitude of factors, but the national and, now it appears, local coverage of the Bills has been pretty miserable over the last decade. I'm sure much of that would change with a winning product on the field. But, it does seem reasonable that in addition to trying to sell out games, we fans should be trying to urge the local media to expand their coverage of the team.

Maybe the local guys don't have NFL Network. Therefore, they didn't see the game. Consequently... little to no write ups about it.

I, too, was surprized and bummed to see virtually nothing about the game -print or electronic. Even the Bills websites only posted the same story -FROM THE MIAMI HERALD!! Yeesh!

Frankly, I'm disgusted overall with Bills beat writers as they seem aimed at shock value over substance and team updates. Even if there were still writers like Jim Peters from the Courier Express, it's unlikely their format would be appreciated today.

BTW, will Langston be ready for the opener?

Maybe the reporters did what I do when there's a late starting preseason game on ....they fell asleep. ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

If there's still a glaring lack of coverage when the games start for real, I'll be concerned, but until then, just keep reminding yourself the band is still just tuning up.

As far as the change in print coverage, time to put away your buggy whip Clark Kent. Lifestyle changes and Al Gore's incredible invention have changed the way people access information. At one point in time, journalists had newspapers and magazines as their sole outlet for their talents. Lifestyles have changed as well.

With the multitude of TV outlets (local as well as cable-style channels), internet, etc., that local newspaper talent pool has been thinned out at the same time competition has increased. Working people in America just don't have time to sit at the breakfast table and read their morning paper front to back as they did in the days when June was serving coffee and getting Wally and Beaver off to school. They're no longer sitting fireside with the evening paper at 6:30 after consuming a roast, peas, and potatoes. They're still trying to get home from work so they can rush the kids off to some organized activity and cruise through the Mickey D's drive-through.

Before you start getting too high and mighty about the poor Buffalo News coverage, take a look a little closer to home. Start with your employer, ESPN. My god, watching Sportscenter is like babysitting a kid with ADD. If I want to hear the NFL news, I have to sit through 45 minutes of other crap as NFL info is fed piecemeal in 20 second increments throughout the telecast. No continuity in the formatting. And that World Series of Poker - who couldn't get excited about that?

Thanks a lot Al Gore, you bastard.

Tim, I'm wondering if you can shed more light about how the NFL views a market...

I know you are a mainstream media guy, but this is 2008. Where do I get my bills coverage? Right here! I don't go to the Buffalo News first, or ESPN, or anything like that. I go to the Stadium Wall to see what my fellow fans are talking about, not what the media talks about. If someone posts a link here, I'll probably follow it, but the discussion happens here. This is where we go Monday morning to talk about the game, we don't sit around the break room looking at a dead-tree copy of TBN.

I hope the NFL is wise enough to know that most of the content generated about their product comes from places like this, not places like the News. Yes, people voice their opinions louder here, the content is not polished or professional, but there are quite a few posters on the board who I give a lot more respect to than certain people in the mainstream media.

I hope the NFL has people who follow fan sites like this one, to gauge the general sentiments of its fans. It doesn't come from comments on ESPN.com, it comes from real online communities like this one.

hell yes we want more coverage

Sullivan is good. And when I mean good I mean relatively fair and accurate. DiCesare is a talking head as is Gleason. Gaughan is decent although irregular. Bob Matthews in Rochester for the D&C tries to be fair but has also been way off in past seasons.

The problem Tim with asking in places like this is you draw from people that largely only want to hear positives and little else.

The truth is that it's been pretty obvious that these guys are just filling print media with opinions that at the end of the season are rarely validated. Sure, they can change their positions as the season rolls on, but who needs to be told after the fact what happened when we can all see that for ourselves. Occasionally the odd interesting bit comes out, but that's about it.

Who wants to read much from people that are so wrong so often. We have been told for years how this team was turning things around and haven't seen any of it come to pass. The media fawned over Donahoe and all of his hirees. They fawned over Levy, Jauron, Fairchild even. At some point you just say who cares what they think.

I know that doesn't address your question Tim as to why they don't write more, but it could very well be that no one cares what they think anymore. You get much better commentary from the small handful of people in places like this that actually know something about football here. Unfortunately their opinions are often and usually drowned out by childish like tantrums making reading interesting threads more work than fun.

Generally speaking the traditional print media is dying out. Even the major papers in the country's biggest cities are laying off people in droves in all departments. That should come as no surprise to you.

But perhaps more directly relevant to your question, how many different takes on a game played by backups does a paper want to put out? There will be plenty of articles during the regular season.

Otherwise, it could be because interest in the Bills is waning as Wilson prepares to celebrate his 90th while leaving the fans in the lurch and with the big "T" now in the picture. Fans are in a state of flux regarding the disposition of this team. Few will follow it to Toronto regarding purchasing tickets nor will Toronto need it.

I would use the first couple of weeks of the season as the gage, not the preseason.

It's a sad state of affairs, then.

Football (or any other sports/entertainment option, for that matter) used to be a much more enjoyable passtime when it wasn't a 24/7 media feeding frenzy. I suppose I'll get flamed, but I don't need to read 10-11 versions of a post game report or 5-6 pregame buildup stories per day to be a 'with it' NFL fan. The three hours on Sunday are the 'product'...not the hype machine remora that feeds on it.

I realize the NFL's become the 'go to' partner for advertising cross-sales promotions for the 18-54 male demographic. But if it keeps going down this media rabbit hole, it runs the risk of becoming just another network television/Internet turnoff...sort of like MLB.

LMAO

Good post.

I would say though that the Buff News and D&C et al both have online presences. So it's not entirely print media. I know their money comes from print ads and subscriptions though, and those are dropping like flies in the era of the new media.

Everyone makes far too much of the preseason. It would do the players and fans much good to either eliminate it or reduce it to one or two games.

Yep.

Money! It's all about the Benjamins.

Tim,
IMO it's a combination of the internet and readers being forced to listen too and read people who- all they do is bash the teams. We like honesty but some columnist just do not show the other side no matter what the situation is. The Buffalo News does not care to give you two sides to a story. They promote one side and one side only. The NFL network is proof that the NFL is trying to control the product and now they are going over board with constant stories of how wonderful everything is in the NFL. Readers are smart and have their own opinions. Readers like feed back because the internet gives them that now. The papers do not.

TV is also only giving everyone one side of a story. In hiring only former players to the pre shows those players are giving opinions that only show one side of the story. The fans do not have a chance to tell their side any more. We no longer are represented in the papers or the pre game shows. We have been replaced by "experts" who are no more "experts" then we are because they only know one side of an issue.

Lets take pre season games for example. We hear from everybody, former players, coaches, TV announcers, but nobody cares what the fan wants. Our opinion is mute. It means nothing. We are not considered in the process and we are the ones affected as much as anybody else. Not one columnist has the balls to write other wise because they are afraid they will get cut off from "inside" information. There is nothing but conflict of interest all around us. The papers, ESPN etc are all falling into the trap because the NFL has gotten so big and is starting to be able to control their product.

So because of this conflict of interest, the fact that we the fan realize that we have no say in any issue , we turn to the internet. We do not buy papers and we slowly turn off the pre- game shows. The internet gives us our voice back. We can be told off or have a fight or be right but the fact is we will get feedback right a way. The fans made the NFL what it is. The fans made the draft what it is. The fans made Fan Football what it is. The columnist, announcers etc do not think that is true. They think they are the story. We the fans are the story and they all have lost site of that.

Serious Bills fans have only one way to get real good Bills coverage: They come here!

That is certainly the case here in Cincinnati. I'm not concerned about sports coverage - I am concerned about the reductions in the local print media staff. The local reporters who go out and attend the school board meetings, city council meetings, county government meetings, and bring dubious dealings into the light of day.

Blogs, electronic media, are not nearly as effective as - to use a popular phrase - "boots on the ground".

Has the News ever had more than 3 reporters cover the Bills?

Anybody mention the NFL Network? Now that the NFL is its own media outlet, I would guess that the playing field for getting information is most likely slanted. Further, since the NFL Network is strictly about self-promotion, the coverage can become non-stop heavy handed hype and even veer into the domain of suspect tripe. I miss the days of a truly good story (ESPN does these stories -- like the story about the SC fire captain / basketball coach -- but they are rare) and find filling time and space with more or less dumbed down pablum just isn't that interesting.

Decent post until this part. Most season tickets since SB years. Most think we have a shot at the playoffs so I don't we are losing interest.

NFL football is a four act play that's been running for about 90 years. Two ought to be enough...a "just the facts, Ma'am" chap and an "outrageous opinionated jacka**" joker.

Actually the game was in Indy, so it was NFL Network and their contract with the NFL that screwed 50% of the regional fans by defining Channel 7 in Buffalo as the entire local market.

Night games always get less coverage than day games because they are running up against printing deadlines & don't cover them as well. One time I was headed home the day after a night game & got a Rochester D & C in Rochester that had to go to print before the end of the game. I think because most preseason games are at night, they get less coverage.

I would just like to add that this one of the most insightful and respectful threads to comeby TSW in a long time. For once I can make it to page two without having to filter through mindless bickering over the same tired subjects. Thanks, Tim!

GO BILLS!

Shoot, I'll come to Buffalo and cover the Bills. 24/7. BCBN- Big Cat's Bills Network.

I don't even need a home, I'll just camp out in the front lawn of a different player/coach/trainer/executive each night just to give YOU, the insatiable fans of the Buffalo Bills the round the clock coverage you so desperately crave.

Move over Chris Brown, there's a bigger worm comin' to town!

Mostly agree w/ this.
Some say Sullivan is a flip-flopper, but that doesn't make him any different than Morinara & Roth of the D&C who in their weekly Tuesday chatter session are talking playoffs after every win. I guess the difference is Sully rubs people the wrong way with his tone & negativity. Meh, whatever.
I always find Bob Matthews weekly routine of picking the largest road favorite every week as his "best bet" ATS highly entertaining, but not in the way it is intended to be entertaining.
I guess at the end of the day nobody is going to value opinions of 4th down coaching decisions more than their own, so you'd like to have somebody who is inside the loop and can get an occasional scoop...I credit Gaughan for that in telling us TD was out the door before anyone else.

I've noticed that Western new York has become more of a hockey than football area. I used to listen to excelent coverage of the Bills traing camp, for example, on WGR before the current management took over. Now most of their on-air guys and reporters are hockey-first fellas. Same with Leo Roth of Rochester D&C; he used to write about football, but now it's mostly hockey. Maybe the Bills just need to be better to turn around the situation, but I have a feeling that these people just believe they will lose the Bills when Ralph dies, so what's the point in being a devoted NFL fan. Hope I'm wrong about this, but that's what I am sensing.

Sorry to hear that the print media is in such sad shape, with all the cut-backs.

Hey Tim, thanks for the ESPN blog and AFC East updates.

I think we would all love to see Bills coverage maxed out, and the decline of in-depth coverage in the long-standing newspapers is a shame. That said, there are more avenues than ever before to pursue coverage of one's favorite team. Personally, I can't say I've ever had an issue with getting my Bills news fix. It's possible that in the "On Demand" information age that we now live, the demands are greater than ever before . People see Langston Walker get injured in the 1st quarter, and they want updates by halftime. In the old days, you'd wait until the Thursday newspaper recapped the coach's Wednesday press conference. Now, if the information is not instantaneous and easily available, people are up in arms.

As for online fan posts, they can be very difficult to gauge. Most are emboldened by the anonymous nature of online posting, and will say things that would never be uttered in a conversation, or even in a signed "Letter to the Editor."

It's a strange era that is very young. People have opportunities to engage in the discourse that didn't exist a decade ago. Fan sites and the blog world have increased, while many columnists have been let go. Criticism of the traditional media can be scalding and is sometimes just fans making themselves feel better by anonymously tearing on others, without presenting alternative ideas for where media coverage can be improved.

It should also be considered that players, coaches, and franchise public relations people have become EXTREMELY careful in the news that is released, how it is released, and when. They know that any seemingly minor utterance is immediately picked up and splashed across the WWW for commentary, speculation, and criticism. The trust that perhaps once existed between the podium and the beat writers is no longer there.

Thanks again for your ESPN work, and your time in Buffalo. Looking forward to continued reading.

Tim, I'm glad you started this discussion ... but do you really think Sam Zell and Lean Dean Singleton are listening to their readers? They should be, but are they?

First, a programming note: if you plan on trying to have a serious discussion with ESPN.com commenters, well, good luck with that. We try to maintain at least some guidelines for posting on TSW. There? It's "Lord of the Flies." And unless you feel like spending your days moderating your own comments section instead of actually, you know, breaking news and writing stories ...

And "Toronto" has become a trigger word to Bills Nation. Not surprised it drew an (over)reaction.

Now, to your original point. Buffalo first. Obviously, we knew Sully was otherwise occupied, but I was surprised to see that Allen Wilson apparently didn't make the trip. Looks like he hasn't written since they broke camp? That's strange. But at least Mark was there.

I was flat-out shocked to see that Sal Maiorana didn't go ... until I started thinking about it. The D&C is a Gannett shop, and it's unfrickinbelievable what's happening in that chain these days. (Congrats to CEO Craig Dubow for raking in $7.5 million last year, while the company's stock price has crashed from $75.31 to $17.67 since he took over in May 2005. Nice job.) Did I mention that the new Gannett Web sites suck? Yeah, I think I have, once or thrice.

Rochester has had it pretty good with both Sal and Leo covering the team, but honestly, I'm not sure we can expect that to continue much longer. Hope I'm wrong, for their sake as well as ours.

And nobody else is going to make a 10-hour trip for a preseason game, especially when it's also football tab time.


Chuck has two advantages over the metros: time and distance. Because the Times Herald is a p.m., he doesn't have to pound out his game stories on a tight deadline. And because he's at a relatively small newspaper 70 miles away, the coaches and players probably aren't searching out his work. That allows him to inject some opinion -- which is something beat writers are normally supposed to leave to the paper's columnist, but Chuck handles both jobs for the TH. Here's how he described his style to me: "I see my role, especially on Monday afternoon after Sunday games, as both analyst and critic. By then, people know the nuts and bolts of what happened and want to know why it happened and what I think. I don't mean that they thirst for my specific input, but rather just to verify that a journalist's impressions mirror their own."

And yeah, he's damn good at what he does, something I believed a long time before I ever met him.

Whites Bay:
But I'm just like any other fan, watching games from the stands or the couch -- and depending on the guys who DO have credentials for their first-hand reporting and writing. That's one thing the subsection of the blogging community which celebrates the demise of print journalism keeps forgetting. Former San Bernadino Sun SE/columnist Paul Oberjuerge, who covered his thirteenth Olympics as a freelancer after San Berdoo chopped him off their payroll back in March, talks about the print holocaust on his blog:



Unfortunately, that part isn't true. There have been over 8,000 layoffs in newsrooms across the country since Jan 1. Lot of talented writers out there looking for work right now, or getting discouraged and leaving the business entirely -- and a lot more who are currently employed, but fear every phone call from the HR department. It's a buyer's market, and the veterans with all the sources and institutional knowledge are being shoved out the door in favor of fresh-out-of-J-school kids who are willing to work cheap. (Unfortunately, that management style isn't confined to the newspaper industry ...)

The rest, I can't disagree with. I like what ESPN.com is doing, bringing in beat writers to improve their product. But except for Outside The Lines, the mothership is a steady dose of short-attention-span theater.

To get back to Tim's original question, this isn't just a Buffalo problem. Remember how Hartford was going to be the Patriots*' new home? Can you imagine how many season-ticket holders live there? Well, from the looks of their Web site, the Courant isn't even staffing the team any more. It's all about UConn and preps, and picking up Pats* stuff off the wire. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- once one of the best sports sections in the country, with Van McKenzie running the show and guys like Chris Mortensen kicking ass on their beats -- just gutted the sports department. Steve Wyche was the only full-timer on the Falcons, and he ***BREAKING NEWS*** reportedly just bailed out to go to the NFL Network. Will the last guy out of the newsroom please turn off the lights?

And if sports journalism ever becomes the sole provenance of broadcast media and team-supplied information, fans everywhere will be poorer for it.

Late add: LongLiveRalph, great post.

This is not an attack on you, as I consider you to be an excellent poster here. But I really have to disagree with this. I just don't think people are willing to take the bad with the good, and just do a little bit of weeding out the crap themselves. I wouldn't trade what is available to me right now about The Bills, and the NFL, and sports in particular and news in general for any time ever. It's not even close. Sure, the actual "sportswriting" is worse per capita, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages by 100-1 over the old model.

TBD is one of the greatest inventions ever. The discussion of The Bills and the NFL on TSW has taught me and informed me and engaged me and entertained me 100x more than the few Bills beat writers one article a day if we're lucky used to do.

The availability of it on my time, from my home or my laptop or iphone is extraordinary.

The ability to google stats and games and stories from 1-5-10-20 years back is extraordinary.

The ability to watch highlights of games or players or get combine results is amazing. Or to get interviews of Bills players on bills.com right after practice or the draft or the games is fabulous.

To be able to live in a city like LA and still get the Bills radio station online, however sucky it is, is awesome.

ESPN, however much people badmouth it, is FABULOUS compared to the sports coverage that we got 30 and 20 and 10 and even 5 years ago.

But you often have to lose some things to gain a lot of things, and the nostalgia for "the good ol' days", at least to me, is usually not really what the person wants. Because today is much, much, much better all around. You just have to weigh the bad with the good.

You may feel differently, as again, I wasn't really directing this to you.

Lori, excellent post. (Gee, there's a surprise.)

And a thanks to Tim for starting this discussion. (Who'd've thunk it? There is still room on this board for legitimate discussions. )

My concern in Tim's posts, and one which I hope he will come back and expound upon / clarify is what he meant by (paraphrasing here) "the NFL is taking note of the size of the local media presence"?

There have been several legitimate reasons given for why the WNY print media presence was small at this game (although it does appear that, as has been addressed, Tim overlooked your favorite Chuck Pollock). I see several legitimate reasons for the Toronto media to step up their NFL coverage including: it's the glamour sport in the US, and if Canada has a glamour city, TO is definitely it; they have had little to no 1st hand coverage of the NFL in the past; it probably is cheaper to cover a 5 month / year sport that only plays once / week rather than 7 month / year sports that play every day if they are looking to cut production costs. None of these reasons has anything to do with a diminished following of the Bills in WNY. They, for the most part, deal with the economics of running a printed newspaper.

I am troubled that the NFL would be bringing this into their determination on whether to support a small market's viability in anything more than a cursory manner. As you mentioned, this trimming back of expenses at newspapers is not limited to WNY, nor is it limited to small markets. E.g., NYC papers have trimmed back on their reporters' travel to cover other sports as well.

I haven't been one of the ones overly worried that the Bills will pack up and find the nearest Mayflower when Ralph passes on. Comments such as Tim's do make me a slight bit more nervous. Which again, is why I'd really like to read an expansion of Mr. Graham's thoughts on that.

I have been wondering why so little has been written myself.

The Rochester D&C has turned into a shambles. Their reporting if you want to call it hat is pure plagiarism. These guys use the wire service, copy and paste and change a sentance or two. Sal Maiorana is very guilty of that offense.

You know if Lynch has another DUI you can get 3 or 4 daily columns out of it that will last weeks.

Am I being too harsh on the D&C?

Taro, Chuck didn't go to this game. With his sportswriting class at SBU starting today and the TH's Football Edition hitting the stands later this week, not to mention putting out a paper every day, I knew he wouldn't. (In fact, I was a little surprised he made it to Toronto, even though it was technically a "home" game.)

Tim mentioned that fact in one of his responses on his blog -- Chuck's column in Monday's paper was written after watching the game at home. He does the same thing for West Coast trips during the regular season; much as he'd like to cover every road game, it just doesn't make financial sense.

Honestly? I doubt the NFL would take column inches of coverage into account when judging a franchise's sustainability in its market. At the very least, it would be far, far down the list from gate receipts and marketing issues. I also agree with several previous posts -- several factors (Olympics, late game, long trip) combined to make coverage of this game extraordinarily light. I fully expect to see three writers from the News and two from the D&C at all regular-season road games.

If you're accusing Maiorana (or anyone else in that newsroom) of plagiarism, you'd damn well better be prepared to show some proof. Otherwise, your post is libelous.

KFBD, I suppose from your perspective on the left coast--well away from the OBD crucible--the rise of 24/7 media access is a good thing. My brother in Orlando feels the same way.

But access is different than content, IMO. What passes for team coverage these days is simply white noise, regardless of the outlet or whether I can view it in my underwear at 3:00 am on my PC. Maybe my outlook's simply colored by still living in Buffalo, where interest in all things Bills-related remains a daily staple, much like Duffs wings, Schwabl's beef on weck, Ted's hot dogs....humm, must be lunch time.

Interesting thread. Too bad there are so few of them anymore...

Atlanta Journal and good Sports section in the same sentence?
I've lived here for over 20 years and don't remember ever seeing a sports section that could compare to a good New York or other northern paper. NFL news was practically absent with the exception of Falcons features and updates, which was typically stuck on page 2 behind any SEC/UGA topics.

And hockey? Fahget about it.

The Atlanta Journal & Contitution is commonly referred to in these parts as the Urinal & Constipation. They don't even attempt to mask their far left bias in their reporting and opinions.

A funny aside and observation I need to mention:
I think Buffalonians are married to their damn newspaper like nowhere else. It's amusing to me how WNYers still carry on the tradition of their daily delivery AND often get USA Today as well. Always looking in their local print media for that ray of hope that Adelphia, Bass Pro Shop, or some other savior is going to swoop in and revive the economy. Ah, the excitement generated when some company hires 75 new workers! They love their quaint little local yocal smalltown flavor. Who wouldn't? I guess it's easier to sit at the Cleaver breakfast table and read the whole thing back to front when there's no job to go to.

I have to think real hard to come up with anyone around here (in ATL) that gets daily home delivery. The paper has to have regular subscription drives just to get people to have the Sunday paper delivered. I doubt that anyone outside of some avid news junkie gets the USA Today paper delivered to their homes in the Metro Atlanta area.


BTW - great thread. We need more of these.
We now return to our regularly scheduled Jason Peters or Bills' uniforms discussion?

I'd love more coverage, here in Habana Norte if the sport doesnt involve a South Florida team it just doesnt get mentioned.

Dave, you realize the AJC I'm talking about hasn't existed since the late 1980s (before McKenzie left to start The National with Frank Deford, taking Mort with him), right?