Lurker

Only four career playoff games (all losses, with a 3.9 YPC and 1 TD) will make it hard for him to get in, IMO. OTOH, if LaDainian Tomlinson can get in (10 playoff games, 5-5 record, 3.6 YPC, 6 TDs), Shady should as well. He'll have to play at least 3 more years and hopefully get a few more playoff games to pad the the resume... OJ's talent was generational and transcended statistical norms. He didn't need playoff games to make his HOF case like Shady will...

Here's the most likely driver, from today's Viewpoints section. Mike Connelly (BN Editor) writes: http://buffalonews.com/2018/06/03/mike-connelly-what-you-read-its-good-news-for-journalism/ "The digital world gives us readership data we couldn't have imagined in print days. At The News, we pay the most attention to readership scores generated by Metrics for News, a program built by the American Press Institute. The Metrics for News index includes page views and number of users, the most common digital metrics. But it also measures how many readers are local, how often stories are shared and how much time readers spend with stories. We have used Metrics for News for a year, and it consistently shows that the best journalism draws the biggest readership. Consider the top BuffaloNews.com stories so far this year: Lack of clicks, not tin foil hats, is likely the biggest contributor to Bucky and Sully's buyout offers...

Mirror, mirror on TSW, who's got the most legitimate POV of them all.

Like all first round pics pan out? Sammy Watkins says hello...

What a shame. CLE could have taken this if JR Smith knew the score...

Always liked Bob's columns and articles. Kuddos and best wishes for the future,,,

First to Market: News Second to Market: Old News It's a sad but true equation in a 24/7 media world...

smh...

Indeed. Snark away, but be entertaining and motivated. Not much to ask...

Same here. I don't mind columnists being critical. Lord knows, both franchises deserve it. But don't be boring. Don't just go after the easy, low hanging fruit. Don't continually "set 'em up to knock 'em down." Don't avoid being accountable for past positions. Don't (in the case of Buckster) take personal, abusive shots at management. Don't just be a drunk on the bar stool. Don't write for the lowest common denominator. Rather, mix it up by educating and illuminating. Provide context and knowledgeable analysis. Tap into a network of experts (GMs, coaches, players, etc.) from outside WNY. Be entertaining. Act like a professional, not a message board flame thrower. Make me want to open the sports page each day, rather than skip it and wish for better content. That's not a particularly high bar to surmount...

Not at all. The BN saves money from a 2-for-1 hire, so there's nothing the Guild can grieve...

Satire is not racism. What part of the Planet of the Apes reference is close to anything said about Trump by the nightly shows?

I suspect they'll add one columnist to replace two...

I thought it was funny and apropos. You seem intent on being combative for the sake of being combative...

LOL.... https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/Theres-One-Less-Writer-In-Chicago-To-Hate.html "Which is why I didn't like Downey all that much. His writing and opinions always came off as an attempt to rile people up or make them wonder what Mike was smoking when he wrote it. It's as though he never realized that in a town like this, filled with millions of smart sports fans with differing opinions, all he had to do was express his actual thoughts and he'd have gotten all the attention he needed. He didn't, though, and that's why in a few years I don't think many people will even remember who he was."

Nope. Not everyone. Just the talented risk takers....

I know Elmer a bit and he's a great guy. And while I agree with 90% of his thoughts on the Big Picture, I do differ on two things: "After a Bills game, in particular, the audience may not have agreed with them, but it wanted to know what they thought." "Negativity also happened to be honesty." First, it appears a growing number of readers did NOT want to know what they thought, despite the heightened media presence on WGRZ and the BN video links. Web clicks and other metrics were likely trending downward, hence the "bad for business" comment (despite the innuendo of the Pegula's involvement, which is a bit of tin foil haberdashery to me). Second, honesty happens to be honesty, whether its positive or negative. Too often, Sully and Buckster set up straw men to knock down, excluded other valid arguments or, worst of all, blew in the wind by not owning up to positions they advocated for previously when those same positions later did not pan out. That's not honest, it's lazy and contemptuous of the readers who did remember the positions they took...

Frankly, what's that have to do with their ability to write interesting, informative and entertaining columns on a weekly basis? A talented writer doesn't need to have the 1949-64 Yankees or 1984-90 Edmonton Oilers as subject matter. Felser wrote about the Bills during some god-awful years and never had contempt for his subject or readers like Sully. Same with Jim Kelley during the Sabres early years. What was different? Talent was a biggie. Consider Kelley's accomplishments vs. Jerry's: Jim Kelley Kelley was a three-time president of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. He also won the 1994–95 New York State Publisher's Award for Sports Writing Excellence, and was named one of the top five hockey writers in North America by ESPN. He was chosen as a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Media Selection Committee, and a Staff Consultant to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. In 2004, Kelley earned one of hockey's highest honors, receiving the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, and induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. One year later, he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.He will also be inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame on January 1, 2011 Jerry Sullivan

A Jeff Simon review today is 25% about the film and 75% on what he had for lunch. He's another guy who was once very good who petered out waiting for the retirement check. OTOH, Miers is passionate about the music and it shows in his writing. I'd much rather read that kind of columnist that a guy playing out the string...

Sincerely doubt it. If anything, I expect them to double down on opinion and go lighter on the daily beat, which frankly adds very little. Who really cares what Charles Clay eats or if Shaq Lawson thinks he's going to the Pro Bowl? Good columnists, while hard to find, can differentiate the BN from other media outlets and develop a following unto themselves. Peter King and his MMQB was the best example, although it will be interesting to see how that site goes now that he's at NBC. The BN definitely upgraded other sections of the paper when Sean Kirst took over for Donn Esmonde and Jeff Miers replaced Jeff Simon. I'd expect a similar upgrade on the sports desk, although it may be one guy replacing Sully and Buckster in an effort to contain cost...

Which, in the end is what got them canned. As thread attests to, many people no longer read their work and the BN realized this. Many of those you seem befuddled by were not buying what Sully and Gleason were selling. They were being ignored, based on their decline in quality output--and the disappointment that fans of good writing had toward their continued employment... Then put them on ignore and focus on the the people who want to have a discussion. Oh wait, isn't that what happened to Sully and Bucky?

You're lumping criticism of Heckle and Jeckle into one bucket--they were critics of the Bills and Sabres. That's far too simplistic, especially if you had any experience reading great local columnists from the past (Felser, Kelley, Ranallo) or out-of-town guys in other major cities. People who could criticize with the best of them, but also brought more to the reader. Good criticism needs to inform, entertain and stimulate thought--not just B&M. It needs to be accurate and truthful, not a mental fart in the wind. It needs to cut to the heart of the matter, not smash the china on the floor and act like a spoiled toddler. It needs to include other knowledgeable opinions, local and national, rather than just the voices in the writers head or half-baked nattering from local nabobs. In other words, more clear-eyed illumination, less torches and pitchforks. IMO, both guys failed that test and ultimately lost their gigs. People applauding that move are looking for better writers, full stop...

"On the other hand if the BN wanted to fire Jerry Sullivan they could have done it any time they wanted to do." Yeah, that's a tad bit unclear with respect to usage of the underlined term. Jerry, is that you???...