I remember like it was yesterday. I was a senior at Buffalo State College running the sports department at WBNY (college radio station). I was still in my "wanting to be a sports anchor/host when I grow up" phase and, what better way to do that than by calling Buffalo State games. It is pretty much the same formula every sports guy you see on TV has probably gone through when getting their degree.
As the sports director, I made myself the play-by-play man for the football team. Yeah, to hell with open auditions. For the next 10 games, I watched the sorriest bunch of football players on God's green earth perform. The Bengals went something like 1-9 and lost by like 30 points in almost all of their losses.
For every game, I tried desperately to find any sort of positives about the team. It was extremely difficult and frustrating.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. At the season finale, where the Bengals lost by like 40 after I had driven five hours to work it for free, I completely killed them. I may have even called for the firing of their coach or the benching of the cheerleaders at that point.
Afterward, I get a nice little heart-to-heart with one of the SID guys (the PR Version of the campus), who pretty much lectured me about being so upset on the air. I'm sure you could imagine the conversation.
Was he saying all of this as a combination of me working for the college or trying to not be too hard on amateurs? I'm not so sure. Anyhow, my opinion was a bit jaded when I started the gig and obviously so was the SID guy.
I know to compare calling Buffalo State games to possibly being jaded if you are working for the Sabres in regards to covering the team a bit of a stretch, but I think there's some of that here.
I think there is a purpose for media outlets that are paid for by teams. Are there instances where I think there's PR spin? Of course. When Kevin Sylvester opens up his first ever Hockey Hotline radio show with how he won't talk about firing Lindy Ruff because he's a co-worker, that's some BS.
However, agenda or no agenda, people want to hear about their teams. It's Buffalo. There's not much to do there besides drink and go to sporting events. It may be silly that folks talk hockey in July or act like OTAs are entertaining, but that's the world we live in.
The thirst for sports takes is what ultimately leads to media outlets trying to make a buck, and with that, the competition for those listeners or readers ensues.
I'm sure we have all seen a bunch of tweets from Mike Harrington and Tim Graham taking shots at either Bills.com, Sabres.com or the paid-for radio shows on WGR. It ranges from complaints about exclusivity with player/coach interviews to calling out the message from their hosts as being a PR spin.
In some instances, I agree with them, but there are a few other cases that I don't. Let's take the two latest examples of it:
On Twitter this past Friday, Tim Graham had issues with the Bills not calling a press conference in regards to EJ Manuel signing his contract.
The Bills decided to trot out John Murphy for a one-on-one interview with EJ, which offered about zero substance in terms of your standard "It is good to get the contract done before training camp starts" rhetoric. The interview ran for less than three minutes and was duller than paint drying.
Now, I did a quick Google search and looked through other team websites of first-round picks who signed deals (seven, to be exact), and zero had press conferences. Not even player quotes or interviews with anyone, team or MSM, after the ink on the contract was dry. So, any MSM member reading this can spare me of the "In other cities, editors would be storming the team complex with pitch forks and torches."
To put it mildly, I think Graham is in the wrong because it stopped being a big deal for rookie contracts being signed because when the last CBA was signed it pretty much put a halt on holdouts lasting late into training camp because of the rookie wage scale.
Yet, Graham had an issue with this mostly out of spite with the team getting an exclusive and not sharing it. Frankly, nothing can be offered out of Manuel's mouth that is either breaking or new, especially since he's talked in a press conference forum 5 different times since he was drafted. In fact, the guy spoke last week!
What exactly were going to be the astute questions and answers we'd get from EJ about his contract signing? What pen he used? What does he plan on buying with his signing bonus? Does he understand the playbook better because he's now rich? Will he finally buy JP Losman's townhouse?
In other words, we aren't going to learn anything new. This has zero to do with journalism, but more about being pissed off that the Bills got the exclusive and TBN or any other outlet didn't.
Do you think if any other MSM outlet got an exclusive with a player or coach and the team didn't they would be saying "Hey, you better call Chris Brown after this conversation?" Of course not. Exclusives are a giant attention grabber in any form of media and it is all fair game if you get one and the other outlet doesn't.
What always seems to get lost in the shuffle when it comes to team-oriented outlets is that they are in this to make money. Sometimes folks in the MSM, fans and myself get caught up in the cynical approach of them trying to control the message. That may be true in most regards, but the bottom line is they want to make money off their media platforms.
That's the name of the game. That's why the YES Network exists. That's why John Rigas and his sons launched WNSA. That's why the Sabres charge WGR to broadcast their games.
You think Terry Pegula was on Hockey Hotline today because they were trying to sell the company line? Pleeease. We know he's terrible at public speaking and he's in over his head when it comes to hockey operations ("What has Darcy done wrong?" Kill me!). He was on because it was the anniversary of the show and they wanted to get as many listeners as possible.
It was their version of sweeps.
Although Kevin Sylvester asked decent questions, albeit, he was very timid in not asking follow-ups or about Lindy's firing, this interview should set off local media folks. When the owner is ducking the MSM for as long as he has and isn't talking while pretty much being served as the only person who makes the call on Darcy and possibly firing Lindy, he should be made available.
Now if he goes on the record tomorrow or later this week with MSM, then I have no problem with him showing up on the team station first. However, I'm not holding my breath in that regard.
Final word:
The purpose of this post is to tell you that there's not an overall generalized statement of when a player should be made available to the MSM. It is no different than me telling bloggers we shouldn't call out the local press corp. every time they are negative towards the teams. You just have to pick your shots.
It is unbecoming to complain about a draft pick signing his deal when it really doesn't register anymore. As I said, EJ has talked more than anyone at the Bills' podium. Complaining about Pegula availability? I can buy that because he's been MIA for the most part.
But that's the thing: It is a double-edged sword because you have to factor in competition. Sure, you can play the company line stuff and the "do fans want to get their info from PR folks?" spiel. But I can't blame the Sabres or Bills for trying to corner the market.
Yes, it is good to have a press corp. that keeps teams accountable, but at the end of the day the fans' dollars that go into the product are the ultimate judge in accountability.
Love it or hate it, competition between EVERY outlet is the name of the game and that's the game teams are playing now.
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