I'd like your opinion

[SouthernMan]

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..............

 

 

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.

[agilen]

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.

 

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.

[shibuya]

hell yes we want more coverage

[krazykat]

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

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.

[Lurker]

It's happening.

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.

[krazykat]

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.

 

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.

[krazykat]

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.

Yep.

 

Money! It's all about the Benjamins.

[1gap2gap]

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.

[olivier in france]

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

[stuckincincy]

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.

 

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".

[BuffaloBud]

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

[Sisyphean 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.

[nucci]

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.

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.

[stuckincincy]

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

 

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.

[rockpile]

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?

 

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.

[Albany,n.y.]

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.

[The Big Cat]

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!

[BuffOrange]

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.

 

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.

[bananathumb]

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'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.

[LongLiveRalph]

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.