TimGraham
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Posts posted by TimGraham
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I want to send my condolences to you for losing your Father. I just lost mine a 2 years ago. I hope you have found peace within yourself to know he is in a better place. I am only 27, but I have been struggling since I lost my Dad.
Now...as far as Mort goes, I understand YOUR stance. However, what do you expect us to do, or how do you expect us to act, when ALL the guy does is bash our beloved, hometown NFL football team??? I have NEVER heard him say ONE good thing about the Buffalo Bills, the owner Ralph Wilson, the players, the city, and certainly the front office (well since they got rid of his little buddy Tommy D.)...he has NEVER said anything positive about us.
So, because you have an allegiance to him and he is so nice to you, and you come here to offer us your opinions and information...that means we have to be nice to Mort and love the guy?
I appreciate everything you do and I would love to have your job...but I just don't get this!?
My father still is around. He pulled through, but still is in rough shape. Either way, I appreciate your regards.
I didn't say you have to love Mort or have warm and fuzzy thoughts about his coverage because he was nice to me. I wrote that he's a human being who doesn't deserve to have his personal character disparaged because of the way he covers your team.
You've totally misconstrued my point, which reinforces it. Some people can't separate the reporter from the human being.
And to say Mort "has NEVER said anything positive about us" shows you view him through blinders. You don't have to like him. Hate him all you want. But don't throw out lines you know aren't true to try to emphasize your point. It undermines
your message.
On Google, I typed in "Chris Mortensen" and "Buffalo Bills." The very first item:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp...&id=4400294
Sure looks like an optimistic story to me.
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TG was doing us a favor, but he was also doing personal advertising, by coming on here he keeps himself relevant in the Buffalo market, with his not so favorable NE point of view. His presence on here was just as self serving as it was a service to us.
Just for the record, Two Bills Drive hasn't linked my stories regularly for months. And I haven't shared a link to one of my own since Marshawn Lynch's plea bargain last year.
ESPN is able to track where traffic comes from. This site increased my traffic by an average of about 150 clicks a month. My total traffic is anywhere from 1.5 million to 3 million clicks a month, depending on the time of year.
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I guess Leonidas might have gone a little overboard, but Tim seems more than a little on edge about it all. If anyone here has ever read / participated in one of his ESPN Insider chats on ESPN, they'd see it's riddled with people trashing him / fighting with him. He seems to enjoy the fight, or at least bring it out of people with his occasional wise*** statements. I don't know why he'd expect things to go that much different on TSW. To quote Rex Ryan, we're not here to kiss his rings.
As an aside, I found his defending of ESPN Boston based on comercial success to be ridiculous. I was born in Boston and am a Sox fan from the age of 5, and ESPN Boston is an abortion, to put it politely. It's a great site if you want to find out what happened a week ago, but it is horridly maintained and always out of date. "Scoops" or Insider / Local info usually runs on ESPN Boston about 2-3 days after the Globe (Boston.com) or the herald report on it, and often 1-2 days AFTER OTHER PAGES ON ESPN.COM report on it.
As proof: the headline RIGHT NOW on ESPN Boston is about Lackey pitching on Patriots' Day. (Which was April 19) The second lead is about the ramifications of the Garnett suspension and whether or not it will hurt the Celtics ability to move on. For those who don't know that series wrapped up LAST WEEK and KG had a pretty decent night last night as the Celts took game one of their series against the Cavs.
You might want to empty your cache and hit the refresh button. Looks like your computer is drawing an old page from a stuffed cache.
The headlines on ESPNBoston right now are Bruins-Flyers and Celtics-Cavs from last night's games and today's coverage, a Red Sox story from last night's game and a Patriots story from this afternoon.
The stories you mention were archived long ago.
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I read the last couple pages of that thread. Boy did TG get his panties in a bunch. That seemed to be honest criticism about ESPN playing to a handful of markets and neglecting the rest of the sport cities. so what he said stfu, maybe not the most polite thing in the entire world, but this is also not the most formal setting, note the naked woman avatars, cartoon heads, and explitives. Leonidas was fine Tim needs to grow a pair.
He says anonymously ...
I'm not pointing that out as a challenge. But my reputation doesn't get put on a shelf when I log onto this site. Nor should it.
I've learned that it is pointless to engage with people who are anonymous because we're not playing by the same rules and I can't win. If I take exception, then I'm thin-skinned or a whiner or a baby or need to grow a pair. If I don't say anything, ignore the post and don't stick up for my friends/coworkers, then I lose respect for myself. On the other hand, you don't have to own up to anything you write.
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I'm not going to belabor the situation because it's really pointless, but for my own peace of mind and so that people know where I'm coming from, I will respond to a few points being made here.
Some are saying it's because I'm thin-skinned, but the fact of the matter is I'm walking away not because of attacks made on me. I can handle those. As pointed out previously, I like to engage with readers who disagree with me in my chats or the comments section. But that's not the case here. This was an attack on a friend and a coworker, and by extension, my employer. And this wasn't the first time.
Chris Mortensen, for instance, is another friend -- a man who went out of his way at a time when my father was near death to call me regularly to see how he was doing. I remember one of the first times he called and asked what my father's name was. I didn't know why he wanted to know, but I told him. He said "OK, because I want to mention him in my prayers tonight." That's the kind of guy Mort is. You may disagree with what he writes or how he covers the team, but the venom I read on here about him being a piece of [insert expletive here] makes my blood boil. The same goes with Jerry Sullivan, another close friend. People here can't or won't separate the reporter from the person, coverage from character. It's juvenile and gets to be too much.
Would you remain a member of an organization that trashes your friends? I wouldn't either.
I can handle myself, but I'm not going to implicitly approve of what goes on here by not only being a member, but also being active in it. If you see that as thin-skinned, then I can't help you. I see it as pretty logical.
Here's what I wrote on my "Ask Tim" thread a while back when people here were demanding I out a source and trashing my credentials:
The difference between what I face in my job and what I do here is that I don't get paid to come here. ESPN pays me to deal with the comments I receive at the bottom of my blogs and in my mailbag and wherever else.When I come here it's because I enjoy it. When I stop enjoying it, then I will find something else to do.If your wife nags you at home and you decide to go out with the boys to have some fun, do you feel compelled to walk up to a table full of women and ask them to yell at you because, after all, that is what's waiting for you at home?Now, I'll address a few notes on here. But I think you'll notice I wouldn't be refuting opinions of my work or my role on this site. That's because those are your opinions, and you're entitled to them. I don't take offense if you don't like what I do.
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So is that a 'no' then on the Mike Reiss/STFU question?
Maybe Mike Reiss is a 'fine' journalist. Maybe he just got stuck with a ****ty job. Or maybe it's considered a dream job for some since all he has to do is report on what the Patriots do, allowing him to tweet about an uninspiring signing and golf the rest of the day away. The weather in Massachusetts is nice this time of year, I should know.
But I know I'm not the only one sick of the front page flooded with his crap. Look under the "FOLLOW THE NFL ON TWITTER" section sometime. I'll give you a quick rundown of an average day:
@MikeReiss: Patriots sign kicker off the street. Belichick likes his work ethic.
@MikeReiss: Welker unable to practice but reads playbook during physical therapy.
@espncowboysblog: Dez Bryant's mother wasn't a prostitute. Who knew?
@wingoz: <says something stupid, without fail> can't believe how much hot sauce they put on my hot dog!
@NFLRumorCentral: <insert completely baseless rumor here> Favre to sign with Atlanta? It's possible.
@Adam_Shefter: <insert real, but effectively irrelevant signing here> OG Roberto Garza to sign 1-year deal for league minimum with Cleveland
@MikeReiss: Hoyer goes 15 for 20 in Brady's absence in mini-camp. Belichick looked impressed.
@espncowboysblog: Jerry Jones apologizes to Bill Parcells...again.
@NFLRumorCentral: T.O. to sign with St. Louis? It's possible.
@MikeReiss: Moss says injury is all healed up and ready to go.
@wingoz: I haven't worn a dress since high school!
@espncowboysblog: Herm Edwards likes Dez Bryant.
@MikeReiss: Patriots added more practice squad fodder. Stay tuned.
@Adam_Shefter: WR David Tyree signs 1-year incentive-laden deal with Kansas City.
@NFLRumorCentral: Jerry Rice to sign with Green Bay? It's possible.
See where I'm going with this? ESPN has taken a stupid idea in Twitter and brought the stupidity into their sports world to compound the problem. But I wouldn't expect you to bash your employer. I guess the rest of us will just have to wait and hope that someday we'll see an ESPNMiami or an ESPNBuffalo or an ESPNBaltimore or an ESPNCincinatti or an ESPNCleveland or an ESPNPittsburgh or an ESPNHouston or an ESPNIndianapolis or an ESPNJacksonville or an ESPNNashville or an ESPNDenver or an ESPNKansasCity or an ESPNOakland or an ESPNSanDiego or an ESPNPhiladelphia or an ESPNWashington or an ESPNDetroit or an ESPNGreenBay or an ESPNMinneapolis or an ESPNAtlanta or an ESPNRaleigh or an ESPNNewOrleans or an ESPNTampaBay or an ESPNPhoenix or an ESPNSanFrancisco or an ESPNSt.Louis or an ESPNSeattle.
How is the page "flooded with this crap"?
ESPN.com's "Follow the NFL on Twitter" function is in a small window, shows three tweets at a time and you need to hit "page down" twice to get to it.
It looks to me like you're going out of your way to find a reason to get upset.
As for me, I refuse to go out of my way for aggravation. That's why this will be my last post here. If you want to take shots at my employer, my friends, my coworkers and my profession, feel free to carry on and tell them to"STFU" (classy) without my involvement.
Thanks for including me on Two Bills Drive for as long as you did.
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Tim,
Can you please tell Mike Reiss to STFU? I'm so sick of hearing about the Patriots practice squad additions on the ESPN NFL main page. In fact, can we just get rid of the ESPNBostons and ESPNNewYorks already? I know it's not your call, but...still. Thanks.
Mike Reiss is a good friend of mine and is one of the finest journalists in the country.
Those sites are huge moneymakers. Not counting ESPNNewYork because it's too new, but every other ESPN regional site has the highest traffic of any sports site in that market. In other words, ESPNChicago outdraws the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Comcast SportsNet, etc. ESPNBoston outdraws the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. ESPNDallas outdraws the Dallas Morning News. If ESPN started an ESPNBuffalo, it would throttle the Buffalo News and WGR combined.
As I'm sure you know, ESPN.com has unlimited bandwidth. If you don't like what's on the main page, I'd suggest investing four more seconds and making another click or two to find other NFL stories in a number of different places such as the Blogs index or the Draft page or the Rumors page or the Teams page or the Videos page or the columnists index.
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Tim,
I was wondering if there was any word on Tom Modrak's status with the Bills. With Guy being let go and talk at the time Tom could be next (after the draft), I assume we should know something either way pretty quickly.
Thanks.
If Modrak wasn't going to be with the team and they were just using his scouting department's reports for this draft (which seems highly illogical to me), then I doubt the Bills would have put him on the podium three days in a row to talk about the draft picks. They would have put only Nix out there to speak for the team.
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just wondering, how does adding the most explosive offensive player in the draft, at one of the easiest positions of transition not help the Bills this year?
The Bills are in a state where their fourth-round pick helps them this year.
The Bills are missing players that make guys like Spiller work, namely tackles to help him get outside.
There were better picks for 2010. The Bills are not drafting for 2010. They are drafting with their eye farther into the future.
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Any chance we could have some knowledgeable ESPN people give their take on who among Edwards, Fitzpatrick and Brohm has the best chance to succeed?
I guess I don't count.
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Are you insinuating that this regime is actually trying to build a franchise properly? You must be loving the weather up there now. It started getting pretty steamy down here already.
I like the way the Bills are doing it so far. They'll take their lumps, but be better for it.
I'm guessing one or two rough seasons of rebuilding would have gone over much better had the Bills done it in, say, 2004 and 2005. Better to get it over with now than continue the path they were on.
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Hey Tim! I've said it before, and I am sure I'll say it again, thanks for giving us that extra insight in to the Bills! Hope all is well with that new house, and I can't wait until some of the OTA's and mini camps start!
Thanks much. Everything is great with the house aside from having to mow a yard for the first time in three years. Tiny lawns down there in Florida.
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True. Takes at least three years to grade a draft.
How do you feel about Spiller? He's certainly a talented football player but was this a luxury pick? A luxury we couldn't afford given the needs at QB and LT. I guess it really speaks to how Nix felt about the QBs available in the draft. Any thoughts about this? Thanks.
Love the player, mildly dislike the pick. I don't think it helps the Bills for 2010, but they're not putting together a team to compete this year. Spiller will look much better in 2011 or 2012 when other pieces have been added.
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Please grade our draft Tim.
I give it a B-
I'm not going to grade a draft now. The Bills drafted a lot of players from smaller conferences I didn't see playing on my television. Neither you nor I have any clue how well they're going to perform on Sunday afternoons.
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Tim,
d you know if there has been any talks about the bills making a play for big ben?
Sorry I didn't get to answer this one before it was rendered moot. The thread disappeared during the draft. But based on everything I've heard, the Bills were not interested in Roethlisberger.
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You mean like Jerry Sullivan?
Quite the opposite. Jerry isn't a chatty guy when he's in the office.
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When I used to watch Lynch on the sidelines during preseason games he seemed to be chatting it up with everyone. He and Jackson seemed to be close based on reports. Perhaps, though, he is that guy who won't stop annoying people.
I wouldn't put much weight into the fact people talk to him on the sidelines. Everybody has worked with the guy who walks from desk to desk in the office, chatting away and not getting his assignments done.
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So... I was just thinking about dropping you a line to ask if you'd picked up a Sabres playoff gig, and then I clicked on Riter's podcast and heard you talking about it. Fun to cover the pucks again? And did you ask for your old seat?
I loved being at the rink again. I was able to cover the Sabres angle for the Boston Globe. Didn't get my old seat, though, because I was in the visitor's press box.
I'll do it again if there's a Game 7. Can't cover Game 5 because it conflicts with the NFL draft.
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Tim,
What are your thoughts on the direction Buffalo goes in R1? We all have our thoughts an ideas but I am curious to see what someone who covers the AFC east and has a totally different vantage point thinks. Nix has been the king of double talk and subliminal messages for some time now and I do not think I can stand reading another mock from some guy who has never stepped foot on a field, or in a locker room and interviewed players. Thanks.
Purely my gut feeling based on my observations and not from any inside knowledge, but my prediction is Jimmy Clausen if three tackles are gone.
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Tim,
Maybe you can explain to me this obsession with unloading a pro-bowl RB in his prime for little more than third day draft fodder. He's under contract until 2013, he's certainly capable of shouldering the load (although would more likely split carries with Jackson), our cup isn't exactly runneth over with talent and have other holes to fill, and we play in a league where you need two solid RB's to compete, not to mention the fact that our other RB is nearly 30. He hasn't exactly been a model citizen, but I'm not sure how that really matters come game day. He hasn't been a cancer in the locker room, he hasn't **** on Buffalo for being a small town (but rather embraced it), and that whole $20 thing seems suspect (why would a millionaire on thin ice as it is steal $20?) to me (I'm not saying it didn't happen, it just seems weird, that's all). I'm not going to say he's the greatest guy ever, but he's no Rae Carruth, and I'm not sure the Bills are in a position to be jettisoning it's stars just yet. Do we really want guys like Ken Simonton and Shaud Williams taking a large number of snaps next year or waste a high draft pick on a RB when we have so many holes to fill just because the team is too proud to swallow some pride with Lynch?
Thoughts?
I wouldn't say it's an obsession. It's logical to speculate that a player with baggage, who has been suspended already and is one more mistake away from a long suspension, who has not shown up for offseason workouts a year after losing his job, who looked nothing like a Pro Bowl running back last year, who will be playing for a coach trying to establish a new culture and might be looking to make a statement in the locker room, is a prime candidate to be traded.
And you can't say Lynch isn't a cancer in the locker room. You don't know that, and neither do I. The only way you know for sure is when somebody confirms it. There are tons of instances where teammates or a coach didn't confirm a problem until the player was gone because they were trying to make the best of a situation. I covered one of those guys in Miroslav Satan. When a player is wearing your jersey, you remain diplomatic.
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Tim,
I'm currently taking a football scouting course through SMWW.com. I have to speak to someone involved w/ scouting or in a football front office and would love to track someone down from the Buffalo Bills. Any words of advice on the best way I could go about contacting someone who maybe willing to help? I called the Bills Customer Sevice already and I'm still awaiting a reply, but I'm not sure that is the best route to get a hold of somebody.
Thanks for any advice you can give me.
I sent you a personal message. Take a look and get back to me.
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Them's fightin' words, Ray ... but at least you didn't include Connolly.
Tebow ahead of Horton?
Wwwwwwooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww ...
What about Tim Kennedy?
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Tim,
What's the deal with Jered Gaither from Baltimore? He's a starter that is rumored to be had for a 2nd. This seems like the perfect scenario for the Bills.
Is there something that i'm missing?
There's all sorts of information we could be missing.
First off, being a starter doesn't mean he's worth the 41st overall draft pick. And if he's such an obvious pickup for the Bills, then he would be an obvious pickup for all of the other teams who could use a left tackle. It's not as simple as the Bills picking up the phone and putting dibs on him. There would be competition and plenty of haggling all the way around.
That said, there's talk in Baltimore that he's not really on the trade block. A report from the Baltimore Sun says the trade talk was a ploy to get Gaither to show up for the offseason program.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/...ens/Football%29
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Tim, how is the pre-season schedule done? We know Detroit and Buffalo will play each other every season, but what about the other games? Do the owners/team representative just say to each other "hey, wanna play?" or is there a committee that decides who plays who and where?
The league and teams work together with many recurring opponents (the Jets and Giants play every year, for instance) with geography playing a significant role. Most games are regional.
Thanks Leonidas
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
I want to thank everybody for the kind words on here. Most everyone was enjoyable to work with.
I'm glad I had the chance to meet several of you out at the stadium. Dozens of people on this site know how to get ahold of me. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything, and I hope to see you at the first tailgate.
Take care, and have a fun 2010 season.