BRH Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I didn't hear the questions so well, but I did hear Ralph's answers. The prozac thing cracked me up! Ralph starts... Happy new year...i'm here today to announce that tom donahoe is leaving the buffalo bills as president and gm. his replacement will be announced shortly and we will do so for you folks at a press conference. this is diffciult for me bc tom and i are very good friends. when tom came here and john butler departed, he took over a franchise that was literally in a financial mess under the cap. the bills were way over the cap and tom had to release many of our old veteran players and to get under the cap he did a great job. i don't know if i've ever seen anyone work as hard as td. he was here at five in the morning. took scouting trips on saturdays during the fall, flew back to buffalo or wherever we were playing in time for games on sunday. worked very very hard and i thank him for it. his wife margaret is a lovely lady and has been very instrumental with the players and coaches' wives in the community. and td himself has done a great job in the community. most people don't know how much he does in the community bc he doesn't want to advertise it. wouldn't even put a bio up on the website for him. however, during my 46 years with the franchise. i just don't feel we've made enough progress during the last five years. i take responsibility for this organization and if any bullets to be fired, fire them at me. however in tom's leaving it's my feeling we need a fresh start. need a restructuring of the bills operation on both the football and administration sides of the club. i think we have a good future and i do think we need a fresh start and that's why this change is being made. there is one thing i want to clear up. i want to apologize to the fans of buffalo who are great fans, we haven't given them a very good product in the last five years and i apologize for that. but i want to apologize for an incident a week ago monday where i read some letters to the editor where the stadium personnel were going around picking up protest signs. i just want to apologize. that is NOT the policy of the buffalo bills. protest signs and so forth do not fall under that category of signs that should be removed and i want to apologize to the fans who had them taken away. do i know who did it? not me. i was **infuriated** that it happened. so i will be happy to invite any questions -- interrupt -- just a second please. q. mike? a. mm and i had a visit and we talked over what's best for the team and we will continue to do so and a decision will be made very soon. a. we will improve the product on the field for the fans of buffalo and wny. a. we have not yet decided who will be the next gm but we will announce it in the next day or so. a. coach levy -- we're going to announce who the next gm will be and i can't tell you right now. have i talked to mr. levy? no no not in the words you're using here. a. we are going to try to make that decision in the next few days. a. the new gm and myself will be talking, yes, but i'm going to be talking with mm, i talked to him yesterday and i'll talk to him this afternoon, and we're going to resolve his status. a. the assistant coaches being released? that would be mike's call, not mine. i don't hire them and i don't release them. a. eric moulds had nothing to do with it. pardon me? i just thought that we were not going in the right direction, uh, and, um, needed a fresh start. and td talked to me because he wanted the best thing for the bills. and he came to my house and we talked about it. uh a week or ten days ago. a. tom told me that he thought it was best for the franchise that we have a fresh start. tom modrak is going to continue to be the assistant gm and will be in charge of scouting and probably more involved in the operation of the club. a. there was not any one game that made me arrive at this decision. but i can tell you candidly that the loss in miami was _____ to me but it was not the only thing. a. i'll let you all know that answer when we decide on mm. q. are you staying with the coach? a. we are still talking. a. it's just a combination of the last five years. i don't see any progression in five years. and it's my responsibility. and as i say, i'll take the brunt of everything. for the fans' sake we've got to TRY to improve this franchise and give the fans of buffalo a better product? a. well, i was not as involved. i'm glad you asked because i am going to take back the presidency. the new gm will not be the president. i am going to be the president and will be much more active than in the last five years. a. tom modrak at this point is not a candidate to become gm. he is going to retain his title as assistant gm but he will spend more time here in buffalo than he has in the past. a. i will be more actively involved in really knowing everything that's taking place. i don't mean calling plays on sunday because then i'm afraid i might lose my prozac. i started out this year my doctor said wilson you don't look so good. you look depressed. wait (laughs) i'm trying to tell a story and you're interrupting me. i said what do you suggest? he suggested that i take 20 mg of prozac every day. now i'm up to a HUNDRED mg of prozac. a. yeah, you can have a field day here today jerry. huh? i can see why you're in the front seat (laughs) a. i think that will probably be in the hands of the head coach. the gm. i won't be involved. i talked to eric moulds in my office a couple weeks ago. a. uh, yeah, mm has done as good a job with what we had -- new qb -- as possible but there are some things i want to talk over with him. a. oh no no no. you can go home and sleep tonight (laughs) i didn't sleep much last night. you can get a couple hours that i didn't get. a. things haven't progressed longer than "hours." it goes back more than a few hours. a. we're doing the best job we can in the time frame. it's very complex as you know. we're trying to do the best job for you people and definitely for the fans. a. tom is a very qualified individual a. i can't judge jp losman. rookie qb only played three or four games. a. the prozac? 120, not 100. okay, thanks fellas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyDingo Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Great post. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeG Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I watched and listened to it... very disappointed with this PC... all it was for was to say TD was OUT... nothing more. We all thought we were getting more than this. Ralph knows more but for some reason he didn't want to say... he screwed up several times, he called Donahoe, Marv, once among other slip ups. Why make everyone wait another day or whenever he decides to tell us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003Contenders Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Maybe he and Marv haven't had a chance to touch base on MM's future -- and he wants to iron that our prior to introducing Marv as GM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRH Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 Did anyone notice that at one point he referred to "Coach Levy"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyDingo Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Did anyone notice that at one point he referred to "Coach Levy"? 553295[/snapback] yeah, i think thats a title that stays with you no matter what else you do in life. Like "felon" or "stalker", the usual stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRH Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 yeah, i think thats a title that stays with you no matter what else you do in life. Like "felon" or "stalker", the usual stuff... 553311[/snapback] Well, think of it this way. How many times have you seen a GM fire the coach and take over the team himself in midseason? Hell, it's happened in pro sports twice in the last month with Pat Riley and Lou Lamoriello. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keander Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Did anyone notice that at one point he referred to "Coach Levy"? 553295[/snapback] A reported called him coach Levy first, I think. And anyway don't all ex-coaches get called coach out of respect? Maybe Ralph was a little confused, he did get flustered a few times by the Hyena reporters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drnykterstein Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Did anyone notice that at one point he referred to "Coach Levy"? 553295[/snapback] Isn't that what everyone calls him? Maybe Ralphs brain is stuck in 1991. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orton's Arm Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I watched and listened to it... very disappointed with this PC... all it was for was to say TD was OUT... nothing more. We all thought we were getting more than this. Ralph knows more but for some reason he didn't want to say... he screwed up several times, he called Donahoe, Marv, once among other slip ups. Why make everyone wait another day or whenever he decides to tell us? 553225[/snapback] There was more than just TD being fired: - Tom Modrak isn't a candidate for GM - Protest signs shouldn't have been removed from the stadium - Levy will be involved in setting a new direction for this franchise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOKBILLS Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 I didn't hear the questions so well, but I did hear Ralph's answers. The prozac thing cracked me up!Ralph starts... Happy new year...i'm here today to announce that tom donahoe is leaving the buffalo bills as president and gm. his replacement will be announced shortly and we will do so for you folks at a press conference. this is diffciult for me bc tom and i are very good friends. when tom came here and john butler departed, he took over a franchise that was literally in a financial mess under the cap. the bills were way over the cap and tom had to release many of our old veteran players and to get under the cap he did a great job. i don't know if i've ever seen anyone work as hard as td. he was here at five in the morning. took scouting trips on saturdays during the fall, flew back to buffalo or wherever we were playing in time for games on sunday. worked very very hard and i thank him for it. his wife margaret is a lovely lady and has been very instrumental with the players and coaches' wives in the community. and td himself has done a great job in the community. most people don't know how much he does in the community bc he doesn't want to advertise it. wouldn't even put a bio up on the website for him. however, during my 46 years with the franchise. i just don't feel we've made enough progress during the last five years. i take responsibility for this organization and if any bullets to be fired, fire them at me. however in tom's leaving it's my feeling we need a fresh start. need a restructuring of the bills operation on both the football and administration sides of the club. i think we have a good future and i do think we need a fresh start and that's why this change is being made. there is one thing i want to clear up. i want to apologize to the fans of buffalo who are great fans, we haven't given them a very good product in the last five years and i apologize for that. but i want to apologize for an incident a week ago monday where i read some letters to the editor where the stadium personnel were going around picking up protest signs. i just want to apologize. that is NOT the policy of the buffalo bills. protest signs and so forth do not fall under that category of signs that should be removed and i want to apologize to the fans who had them taken away. do i know who did it? not me. i was **infuriated** that it happened. so i will be happy to invite any questions -- interrupt -- just a second please. q. mike? a. mm and i had a visit and we talked over what's best for the team and we will continue to do so and a decision will be made very soon. a. we will improve the product on the field for the fans of buffalo and wny. a. we have not yet decided who will be the next gm but we will announce it in the next day or so. a. coach levy -- we're going to announce who the next gm will be and i can't tell you right now. have i talked to mr. levy? no no not in the words you're using here. a. we are going to try to make that decision in the next few days. a. the new gm and myself will be talking, yes, but i'm going to be talking with mm, i talked to him yesterday and i'll talk to him this afternoon, and we're going to resolve his status. a. the assistant coaches being released? that would be mike's call, not mine. i don't hire them and i don't release them. a. eric moulds had nothing to do with it. pardon me? i just thought that we were not going in the right direction, uh, and, um, needed a fresh start. and td talked to me because he wanted the best thing for the bills. and he came to my house and we talked about it. uh a week or ten days ago. a. tom told me that he thought it was best for the franchise that we have a fresh start. tom modrak is going to continue to be the assistant gm and will be in charge of scouting and probably more involved in the operation of the club. a. there was not any one game that made me arrive at this decision. but i can tell you candidly that the loss in miami was _____ to me but it was not the only thing. a. i'll let you all know that answer when we decide on mm. q. are you staying with the coach? a. we are still talking. a. it's just a combination of the last five years. i don't see any progression in five years. and it's my responsibility. and as i say, i'll take the brunt of everything. for the fans' sake we've got to TRY to improve this franchise and give the fans of buffalo a better product? a. well, i was not as involved. i'm glad you asked because i am going to take back the presidency. the new gm will not be the president. i am going to be the president and will be much more active than in the last five years. a. tom modrak at this point is not a candidate to become gm. he is going to retain his title as assistant gm but he will spend more time here in buffalo than he has in the past. a. i will be more actively involved in really knowing everything that's taking place. i don't mean calling plays on sunday because then i'm afraid i might lose my prozac. i started out this year my doctor said wilson you don't look so good. you look depressed. wait (laughs) i'm trying to tell a story and you're interrupting me. i said what do you suggest? he suggested that i take 20 mg of prozac every day. now i'm up to a HUNDRED mg of prozac. a. yeah, you can have a field day here today jerry. huh? i can see why you're in the front seat (laughs) a. i think that will probably be in the hands of the head coach. the gm. i won't be involved. i talked to eric moulds in my office a couple weeks ago. a. uh, yeah, mm has done as good a job with what we had -- new qb -- as possible but there are some things i want to talk over with him. a. oh no no no. you can go home and sleep tonight (laughs) i didn't sleep much last night. you can get a couple hours that i didn't get. a. things haven't progressed longer than "hours." it goes back more than a few hours. a. we're doing the best job we can in the time frame. it's very complex as you know. we're trying to do the best job for you people and definitely for the fans. a. tom is a very qualified individual a. i can't judge jp losman. rookie qb only played three or four games. a. the prozac? 120, not 100. okay, thanks fellas. 553178[/snapback] Thank for that Bro... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganesh Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 BRH, Thanks for the excellent update for folks who are behind a FW and can't run a real player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted January 4, 2006 Share Posted January 4, 2006 Thanks for posting the summary. I couldn't get audio from the feed unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inahaze Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 BRH, it's been a long hard day of work and I didn't quite find this information quick enough until I saw this; thanks for taking the time..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts