Proposal: Sabres(buffalo) media personality rankings.

[Cirris]

The whole Harrington doing his terrible journalism thing again, (which reached the main HF board ) It made me think. Buffalo's sports journalism is terrible. I know some Buffalo HF posters even said this in that Harrington thread.

But here's the thing. There's got to be some diamonds in the coal mine that is western new york sports media.

How about a brain storming session where we just nominate a bunch of media personalities and then rank them.

THEN we promote them whenever WNY journalism comes up various threads.

I don't want to be like some self-righteous twit and lead protests against personalities TBN, WGR, or whomever.

But I'd rather do something positive. I want to promote and follow good honest WNY journalists who should deserve promotion for good sound sports journalism.

The thing is I only know of Bill Hoppe and Joe Yerdon as my go to guys for Sabres news. I'd like some suggestions on others, for Sabres, or Bills.

I know Nick Mendola still works in town with NBCsports and BuffaloFC. He's mainly soccer.

Any others??

Click to read more...

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Some dude named Kris Baker is alright.

 

[Gabrielor]

I loathe Harrington, and most of the buffalo news. That said, his strategy is clear. He's paid by buffalo news to write contentious, misinformed articles because they usually end up generating buzz. If people ignored him, he'd go away, since there's little substance.

 

[Tyler2829]

I like Baker, Yerdon, Hoppe. I don't mind Vogl, he seems to be the most level-headed of BN writers.

 

[Disengage]

Top level: Hoppe, Baker, Yerdon, Vogl
Mid: Coller
Low level: none
Lower level: Schopp & Bulldog
7th Circle of Hell: Harrington, Bucky, Sullivan

 

[AustonsNostrils]

I like Baker for the exhaustive work he does, only issue with him is that he's loathe to be critical of any prospect, it's a given that some hockey players aren't developed until 22-23 but that doesn't mean you can't be critical and doubtful about a prospect.

Who doesn't like RJ? He's a treasure. I like Rob Ray, he's no Ray Ferraro but I like him. I don't mind Andrew Peters. Mike Robitaille is still pretty insightful and not afraid to be critical. Brad May's ok.

Brian Duff is absolutely top notch as a host - Sabres are very fortunate to have him, he could host the Olympics for NBC or CBC or MSNBC or Sportsnet's NHL broadcasts and be as good as any host in those jobs. He did a handful of Sabres games on radio doing play-by-play, he wasn't great, not terrible but pretty average.

Koziel on WGR's Sabres radio broadcasts, sounds like high school radio to me.

I hope RJ continues to do at least some Sabres games as long as he breathes, like Bob Cole, do not care if they get names wrong more frequently or a bit confused, the living history of the voices means a lot to me.

Not a fan of Dunleavy, he's a pro but just doesn't add much flavor or excitement. There surely are guys out there doing minor pro, junior and college that would be better than him as RJ's successor.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Hoppe and Yerdon are ok, informative but they don't have much to offer beyond the expected, I like journalists to be more opinionated and offer some humor and insight. No edge at all to their work.

The worst thing about the local hockey media is how unconnected they are, most of the rumors about the Sabres come from Toronto based guys. Part of being a good journalist is developing contacts/sources - these people appear to have none.

 

[Dingo44]

I am the last person you could call a Harrington fan but his article about Vesey seemed pretty fair to me.

 

[ZemgusWho]

Hoppe is the gold standard in Sabres journalism-- he's more of a journalist than any other name on here. Sometimes I just want to know what's up without having to sift through hot take after hot take.

Duff has greatly elevated the quality of the Sabres gameday presentations.

And Baker's work has elevated the discourse among casual fans; now some of them actually know who's coming up and what they bring to the table. I think it's encouraged a bit of a hype thing, but he, among all, has done more to make Sabres fans more knowledgable over the last ten years than everyone else combined. To the point above, I think he's more of an attempt at journalism, with fewer takes and more just trying to report on who's up and coming. Hence why the lack of critique at times doesn't quite bother me, though I hear what you're saying.

 

[Megaera]

I like Baker, Yerdon, Hoppe. I don't mind Vogl, he seems to be the most level-headed of BN writers.

I agree on all those and would also add Amy Moritz from the Buffalo News to the good list although she seems to primarily cover college hockey, as opposed to the Sabres, during the season.

 

[Eram]

Hoppe is the gold standard in Sabres journalism-- he's more of a journalist than any other name on here. Sometimes I just want to know what's up without having to sift through hot take after hot take.

Takes aside, I find Hoppe to be pretty dull. Some more opinion in the writing would be nice.

Yerdon is a fun follow, gives some deeper thoughts but doesn't claim to be all knowing.

 

[Moncton man]

Can we yearn for the good old Jim Kelley? Got to follow him mostly when he worked with Bob McCown in Toronto, but always liked his take on stuff even if I didn't agree. he's probably still doing better work than some of the clowns in Buffalo and he's been gone 5+ years.

 

[Dunkster19]

Could not agree more. He was the very best. These guys all have a chip on their shoulder or an ax to grind. He could critique players and organizations without being a bully. He was a special journalist. The hockey writing has been lame since he departed.

 

[SackTastic]

Can we yearn for the good old Jim Kelley? Got to follow him mostly when he worked with Bob McCown in Toronto, but always liked his take on stuff even if I didn't agree. he's probably still doing better work than some of the clowns in Buffalo and he's been gone 5+ years.

Jim Kelley was an amazing journo, and better person. I had the good fortune to spend some time with him and his family at his home when he was at Fox, cannot say enough about how gracious and kind a man he was.

And some of the stories he told...

 

[JThorne]

Can we yearn for the good old Jim Kelley? Got to follow him mostly when he worked with Bob McCown in Toronto, but always liked his take on stuff even if I didn't agree. he's probably still doing better work than some of the clowns in Buffalo and he's been gone 5+ years.

You are aware that Kelley has passed away, right?

 

[ZZamboni]

You are aware that Kelley has passed away, right?

He's well aware. Read the quote you quoted if you doubt it. Think about it. Kelley was damn good.



For those that hate Harrington ...

Why are you still following him on twitter?
Why do you read his articles?
Why do some post his tweets on HF?

Ignoring him, IMO is the best policy.

Even the "in game" comments/info he types ... There must be someone else who is giving the same or similar info... Share their comments on HF instead of Harringtons. Just a thought.

 

[missingmika]

If you guys haven't read much from him yet, Ben Tsujimoto. He covers primarily soccer for Buffalo News but does an awesome job.

Oh... and his last name is real! His grandfather was the origin of Taro Tsujimoto.

The guys needs to move to Bills and Sabres stuff, while continuing the soccer coverage.

http://soccer.buffalonews.com/author/btsujimoto/

 

[Zip15]

Like some of you soured on Coller after the Pysyk trade tantrum, Hoppe totally lost me due to his stance on McGinn, before and after the trade. His whole "Sabres aren't serious about competing if they don't try to re-sign McGinn" shtick was nonsense. He thought it was hilarious that I believed McGinn's production can be found in bargain bin forwards available late into UFA - see Stempniak in 2015, and, lo and behold, hey there Jiri Hudler and Brandon Pirri. Then he did a victory lap after every McGinn goal for the Ducks, and frequently alluded to my position on McGinn in an effort to rally support behind his opinion. Hoppe, however, became eerily silent as McGinn's TOI progressively dwindled, capped by his -2 in Game 7 (in a 2-1 loss, no less) and TOI lower than every Ducks forward. I asked him if he thought Anaheim was serious about competing for not playing him more in Game 7 and the rest of the playoffs, to which, predictably, I received no response. I would venture a guess that he and McGinn became pretty close friends and that colored his opinion on McGinn - less than professional, in my opinion. For that, he's in Harrington territory for me.

 

[Der Jaeger]

He's well aware. Read the quote you quoted if you doubt it. Think about it. Kelley was damn good.



For those that hate Harrington ...

Why are you still following him on twitter?
Why do you read his articles?
Why do some post his tweets on HF?

Ignoring him, IMO is the best policy.

Even the "in game" comments/info he types ... There must be someone else who is giving the same or similar info... Share their comments on HF instead of Harringtons. Just a thought.

Exactly. I don't have twitter, but if I did, I wouldn't follow these guys.

Harrington's "I've got a journalism degree" nonsense really turned me away. Stupid. I've got one too. Doesn't mean I understand hockey better than anyone.

 

[Moncton man]

You are aware that Kelley has passed away, right?

Yep, I just meant even though he's no longer among us and not filing a thing on the Sabres, doing nothing still stands above what some of the journos churn out these days.

Listened to McCown for years on his afternoon drive show and was always glad when Jim was on to share his insight.

 

[Jeremy2020]

I loathe Harrington, and most of the buffalo news. That said, his strategy is clear. He's paid by buffalo news to write contentious, misinformed articles because they usually end up generating buzz. If people ignored him, he'd go away, since there's little substance.

It constantly amazes me how little self control fans have that they can't help themselves and keep giving these "shock" reporters attention. Like seriously, get it together folks. Stop paying attention to them and they will go away.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

It constantly amazes me how little self control fans have that they can't help themselves and keep giving these "shock" reporters attention. Like seriously, get it together folks. Stop paying attention to them and they will go away.

The problem is that all we have are "shock" reporters. We don't also have the genuinely good ones to go with it.

Imagine if we had a guy like Portzline (Columbus) or Russo (Minnesota). That would make it a lot easier to ignore guys like Harrington and Gleason.

 

[SackTastic]

It constantly amazes me how little self control fans have that they can't help themselves and keep giving these "shock" reporters attention. Like seriously, get it together folks. Stop paying attention to them and they will go away.

Unfortunately, that's not really gonna happen.

There are enough people that get off on that stuff that they'll always exist.

 

[Burgmania]

In terms of Buffalo media & covering the other side of the coin (women's hockey), you can't go wrong with Melissa Burgess's work.

She writes for The Victory Press, a independent media organization that typically covers women's sports.

 

[NEcoli]

I'm enjoying Donald Jones so far.