Smooooooooooooth.

[zow2]

 

You may not think he is "smooth" - but he is certainly genuine. He also loves the same city and teams I love. I do not need him to deliver the Gettysburg Address.*

 

 

 

 

*Trivia: Lincoln's speech that day was not generally well received at the time. The substance lives on.

 

I agree. As i said..great guy. Love him. The Harbor Center is genius. He owns our teams and has my full respect. Just don't need to hear him speak at live press conferences. The media kills him for not hosting an owners PC at the end of the Sabres season. I for one think its a good move by him to stay behind the scenes or go on record through private interviews.

[xsoldier54]

I love Terry Pegula as the owner of the Sabres and Bills.

 

I think his interests and mine correspond nicely.

 

He is a horrible speaker, however, a P/R Manager's worst nightmare, and he comes across as moderately intelligent at best.

 

Is he genuine and down to earth? I would say most definitely.

So Jerry is "minor league" when he asks tough questions or tries to make a subject squirm a bit...but when the NYC media does the same thing, only better, they are major league.

OK, got it.

Both Jerry and most NY media are arse holes. Any questions?

[Rivermont Mike]

 

Sorry, Mrs. Sullivan. We don't mean to offend your son. He brings it upon himself.

LOL!

 

It was not a tough PC, Greggy T, but as the "ranking" columnist in Buffalo, don't you think Sully could have come up with a more complex question than trying to nail Rex about his game management? He had a golden opportunity to set the tone for that presser and whiffed.

[vorpma]

I love Terry Pegula as the owner of the Sabres and Bills.

 

I think his interests and mine correspond nicely.

 

He is a horrible speaker, however, a P/R Manager's worst nightmare, and he comes across as moderately intelligent at best.

 

Is he genuine and down to earth? I would say most definitely.

So Jerry is "minor league" when he asks tough questions or tries to make a subject squirm a bit...but when the NYC media does the same thing, only better, they are major league.

OK, got it.

Totally missed the point, it was merely in jest, the NY media though is far more intense in scrutiny and critics; they are competing in a large market with rival print, broadcast, and internet media. Due to the competition its natural!

[Rivermont Mike]

Both Jerry and most NY media are arse holes. Any questions?

EDIT: Whoops. Meant to reply to this remark--"He is a horrible speaker, however, a P/R Manager's worst nightmare, and he comes across as moderately intelligent at best."

 

Have you listened to many of the other NFL owners? Their public speaking skills range from sublime to...well, Jerry Jones, who always sounds like he's about to go wrangle a steer and then fire his six-shooters in the air. Even Bob Kraft isn't exactly Mr. Smooove.

 

Sorry for the newb misstep on the quoting.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Rivermont Mike

[Fadingpain]

I don't hate Jerry, I honestly enjoy reading his columns and most of the time agree with him. For 15 years I have watched many on this board get ruffled feathers when the Bills are criticized, however, the bottom line is 15 years of failure. The hatred for Sullivan is actually one the highlights of this board, quite amusing though irrational.

Thank you. You have re-instilled my sense of faith in this forum.

 

Oh I get it. You have 247 posts.

 

I always find the most sensible comments here come from those with like 67 posts.

The ones with 18,450 posts? Not so much.

[Ozymandius]

The official Bills site will probably have the entire presser up eventually for those that missed it.

 

But here is Rex's opening statement, courtesy of WIVB:

[Deranged Rhino]

LOL!

 

It was not a tough PC, Greggy T, but as the "ranking" columnist in Buffalo, don't you think Sully could have come up with a more complex question than trying to nail Rex about his game management? He had a golden opportunity to set the tone for that presser and whiffed.

 

That's who he is. Sully is comfortable, and has been for a decade. That's what makes him such a lousy journalist. He's lazy, uninspired and feels untouchable, so why would he put in effort?

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Indeed. That was not a "tough" PC in any way.

 

The WNY media is soft and they go along to get along.

 

Questions like "Are you anxious to beat the Jets next season?" are not "tough questions".

 

Jerry Sullivan definitely has a chip on his soldier, and he thinks his job is to make people squirm a little bit. OK...that's how he rolls.

 

I find the hatred of the guy on this forum laughable.

Half the time I feel like these reporters have already written the story and ask a leading question for the sound byte they need to get to press. I never thought that was how journalism was supposed to work, but it's obvious when you listen.

 

Speaking of obvious... Did Rex use the word at all?

 

One tidbit I took away that was a newsworthy item.... Rex will report directly to Terry, NOT Russ or Doug (who is absolutely the least comfortable in a presser of anyone I have seen)

Edited January 14, 2015 by over 20 years of fanhood

[vorpma]

Thank you. You have re-instilled my sense of faith in this forum.

 

Oh I get it. You have 247 posts.

 

I always find the most sensible comments here come from those with like 67 posts.

The ones with 18,450 posts? Not so much.

OooooK!

Half the time I feel like these reporters have already written the story and ask a leading question for the sound byte they need to get to press. I never thought that was how journalism was supposed to work, but it's obvious when you listen.

 

Speaking of obvious... Did Rex use the word at all?

 

One tidbit I took away that was a newsworthy item.... Rex will report directly to Terry, NOT Russ or Doug (who is absolutely the least comfortable in a presser of anyone I have seen)

Brandon definitely looked out of joint.

[mattsox]

 

He's definitely not used to being in the forefront. Strikes me as the sort who'd rather lead from behind and let others get the public adulation.

 

 

Nothing wrong with that, as long as he keeps his wallet open...

Edited January 14, 2015 by mattsox

[Beef Jerky]

they were really laying into Rex. the one guy from the NY Post saying the Bills were getting a mediocre coach, sully's question, etc. i don't remember a press conference to announce a coach ever going in that direction before. they certainly didn't ask Gailey or Marrone about them being mediocre coaches. for as open and entertaining and honest Rex is with the media, he seems to take a lot more shots than other guys it seems

They knew Gailey and Marrone were mediocre. Since Rex isn't that is why they ask him the question.

[Homey D. Clown]

Indeed. That was not a "tough" PC in any way.

 

The WNY media is soft and they go along to get along.

 

Questions like "Are you anxious to beat the Jets next season?" are not "tough questions".

 

Jerry Sullivan definitely has a chip on his soldier, and he thinks his job is to make people squirm a little bit. OK...that's how he rolls.

 

I find the hatred of the guy on this forum laughable.

 

You must enjoy the Jerry springer show, since sullivan is the literary version of that fodder. The guy is a classless douche, and you find people who dislike that type of moron laughable? sorry I don't like reading 5th grade hack journalism. He's not intelligent enough to make anyone squirm, hack journalists, by and large are an embarassment to those with the ability to actually write articles, and report the news. Freedom of speech is all that Springer.... errr... sullivan has going for him, and whatever crime he witnessed, or information he knows about The Buffalo News executives that he uses as leverage to keep his job has got to be the only thing keeping the guy employed there.

 

So get off your pedestal thinking you're better than us who choose not to like a hack.

[Not at the table Karlos]

Indeed. That was not a "tough" PC in any way.

 

The WNY media is soft and they go along to get along.

 

Questions like "Are you anxious to beat the Jets next season?" are not "tough questions".

 

Jerry Sullivan definitely has a chip on his soldier, and he thinks his job is to make people squirm a little bit. OK...that's how he rolls.

 

I find the hatred of the guy on this forum laughable.

are you jerry? Or his wife?

[Deranged Rhino]

are you jerry? Or his wife?

 

Gotta be his mother. Only a mother can love so blindly.

[DC Tom]

So Jerry is "minor league" when he asks tough questions or tries to make a subject squirm a bit...but when the NYC media does the same thing, only better, they are major league.

OK, got it.

 

No, he's minor league because he asks questions he thinks are tough, but are in fact shallow and stupid, and - more importantly - he's woefully unprofessional.

 

 

He asked a question which began, "I didn't watch the games, but I talked to friends who watched a lot of Jets games and they said..." and expected Ryan to answer. That's the definition of LAZY.

 

 

A real reporter would have prefaced the question with something like "When you were with the Jets, it was reported that..."

 

It's less of an indictment of his lack of research (who would expect him to watch every Jets game?) than his professionalism. Sullivan's very phrasing was and amateurish in the extreme. He's simply not a real reporter by any stretch of the imagination.

He is kind of stiff. What did you think about him making a point to say that he believes in competition at every position when Rex was asked a ? about EJ? Seemed that Doug went out of his way to make that point. Maybe a not so subtle shot at Doug II?

 

I think I missed that part. Must have been when I was in the head, taking a Marrone.

[MTBill]

Rex Ryan > Doug Marrone. Obviously.

 

(I won't miss 18 "obviously" statements in 3 questions.)

[CodeMonkey]

Half the time I feel like these reporters have already written the story and ask a leading question for the sound byte they need to get to press. I never thought that was how journalism was supposed to work, but it's obvious when you listen.

 

Speaking of obvious... Did Rex use the word at all?

 

One tidbit I took away that was a newsworthy item.... Rex will report directly to Terry, NOT Russ or Doug (who is absolutely the least comfortable in a presser of anyone I have seen)

Yeah that was mentioned prior to hiring Rex, but I never heard why. Does anyone know why the HC would not report to the GM or even the president, but instead right to the owner? What would be the purpose of circumventing the normal chain of command in this case?

[DC Tom]

Yeah that was mentioned prior to hiring Rex, but I never heard why. Does anyone know why the HC would not report to the GM or even the president, but instead right to the owner? What would be the purpose of circumventing the normal chain of command in this case?

 

"Normal chain of command" isn't necessarily all that normal. It's what we're used to seeing, because Wilson delegated quite a bit of executive responsibility to Brandon and Overdork (he had to, as his health was failing), so it was a more linear organization.

 

In this case, it could be that the Pegulas want the authority more distributed and a more collaborative team - president, GM, and coach are roughly equals, responsible for their own aspects of managing the franchise (business, player personnel, and play, respectively), but each "reports" to the Pegulas. As such, the Pegulas act less as authority and more as coordinators for the team. It can work well...IF you have the right people for the team, who can get along and not be acrimonious when conflicts arise (which they will).

 

But I'm just guessing - the only evidence I have is how many candidates they interviewed, which indicates quite a bit of effort to find the "right" fit for the management team (and some very thin anecdotal evidence of the Sabres being run in similar fashion.) It could just be that it was a condition of Ryan's coming on board, and they REALLY wanted Ryan, and no one thought it through completely.

[Magox]

Yeah, Terry aint smooth.