Have the Buffalo Sports media ever been worse?

[BCS]

@Schopptalk 5 Jul Neither am I going to freak out about Ryan. I heard the same thing when the Senators landed Jonathan Cheechoo.

^Knows nothing about hockey.

 

[matthew94]

I agree with SackTastic (above).

Schopp & the Bulldog are not paid to be well-informed. They are paid to get ratings. And there IS a market for the kind of show that they do. Their market is NOT the hard-core hockey fan... so it is absolutely no surprise that people that frequent this message board generally dislike their show.

Even still, pretty much everything that has been said in this thread is true. TBN and WGR are pretty terrible resources for hard-core, well-informed, intelligent fans.

 

[jBuds]

I agree with SackTastic (above).

Schopp & the Bulldog are not paid to be well-informed. They are paid to get ratings. And there IS a market for the kind of show that they do. Their market is NOT the hard-core hockey fan... so it is absolutely no surprise that people that frequent this message board generally dislike their show.

Even still, pretty much everything that has been said in this thread is true. TBN and WGR are pretty terrible resources for hard-core, well-informed, intelligent fans.

The line between competence and entertainment in the drive to get ratings need not be so blurred IMO

 

[Amerksonian]

Oklobzija's coverage of Amerks seems really good to me, I wish he was covering the Sabres. TBN's editorializing is just a bit too much for my taste.

 

[Shoey]

As bad as someone like Harrington is, it's not all bad.
Bill Hoppe, Mathew Coller, Joe Buscaglia, and John Vogl are all great.

I wish Brad Riter was still covering the local teams, but his ****-starting on Trending Buffalo seems like what he was born to do anyway.

I still have a soft spot for the morning show, but a lot of that probably is that I'm so rarely up at that time and I don't have time to get sick of those guys.

 

[Shoey]

protip: That podcast that Buscaglia and Coller have been doing together is really fantastic.

 

[Paxon]

I agree with SackTastic (above).

Schopp & the Bulldog are not paid to be well-informed. They are paid to get ratings. And there IS a market for the kind of show that they do. Their market is NOT the hard-core hockey fan... so it is absolutely no surprise that people that frequent this message board generally dislike their show.

Even still, pretty much everything that has been said in this thread is true. TBN and WGR are pretty terrible resources for hard-core, well-informed, intelligent fans.

Just because crap sells doesn't mean we can't judge it as crap. Even considered in this vein it's not like Schopp is particularly good or entertaining at it. He's boring so far as that goes, imo.

 

[jBuds]

Oklobzija's coverage of Amerks seems really good to me, I wish he was covering the Sabres. TBN's editorializing is just a bit too much for my taste.

I will second this. KevinO seems fairly legitimate, especially with the Amerks. ROC fans can mend this if I'm off, as my finger isn't perpetually on the Rochester pulse, but he seems to be one to call it as it is, good or bad, and do so professionally and without unnecessary drivel.

 

[HockeyH3aven]

I cannot stand WGR from 3-7 or whatever. John Murphy does an incredible job with the Bills talk, by far my favorite show on that channel. Schoop and the bulldog are absolutely atrocious. I get them confused sometimes but one of them there favorite sport is Baseball. Why in the world would they hire someone whose favorite sport is Baseball in a town where we have 2 professional teams that are not that...Makes no sense to me. Every single poster on HF knows more about the Sabres prospects and potential then they do. Words cannot express the lack of knowledge those have on the NHL and NFL in general.

These guys are paid money to get informed on everything that involves the Sabres and Bills yet every single one of my friends who is a Sabres fan knows more than them. Wish something could be done...

What infuriates me the most is that they do essentially no research on something as important as the NHL draft. They just have no idea who is ranked where and why outside of the top 10 or so. They openly admit to this and dismiss it as not important.

The morning guys outside of Jeremy White are completely useless and uninteresting. The people they had covering the draft didn't even know how to properly pronounce so many of the prospect names (Fucale and Nichuskin).

 

[Clock]

Between their paywall and awful writing (besides the aforementioned exceptions), I just avoid TBN's Sabres coverage. They're shamelessly bad and appeal to the uber-emotional "OMG THEY DIDN'T WIN THE CUP FIRE EVERYONE" crowd.

 

[McCauleyChirps]

I will second this. KevinO seems fairly legitimate, especially with the Amerks. ROC fans can mend this if I'm off, as my finger isn't perpetually on the Rochester pulse, but he seems to be one to call it as it is, good or bad, and do so professionally and without unnecessary drivel.

It's pretty good. He can go on his rants too though. Not bad, just here and there.

 

[jBuds]

I think the most embarrassing is the Kerouac-lite "spontaneous prose" that wgr puts out and labels as "articles"... One, large, unpunctuated, not proofread, disgust. The most colloquial, illegible bodies of text to hit the Internet. Sixth grade book reports are composed better - and are certainly more aesthetically pleasing.

 

[jBuds]

It's pretty good. He can go on his rants too though. Not bad, just here and there.

I guess it has to happen everywhere, on occasion at least

 

[Dunkster19]

I have just given up on WGR because of Schoop. Such an uninformed, interested sports personality. His interviews of the recent Sabres draft picks was embarrassing and these ridiculous "takes" on non sports related nonsense and "drafts" of different animals and foods was just too much. The 3 headed monster of Bucky, Harrington and Sullivan is just plain awful. Their unprofessionalism and lack of knowledge are so off-putting. I have no problems with the media taking the Sabres and Bills to task but these guys make you want to root for the Sabres and Bills all the more.

There are some good reporters in Buffalo, it is to bad that they are overshadowed by these buffoons.

This may be the best thread I have ever seen on this site. I no longer buy the Buffalo News or read it on line due to their writers. Their crappy attitudes astound me. Would they really prefer that Golisano or the Regis family still owned the Sabres? Darcy would not be my first choice to be GM either but so be it. Those that are Darcy haters can not even give him credit when deserved. The recent NHL draft was judged by many true knowledgable hockey people to be very strong by the Sabres. These local guys knew very little about the players, I knew more. Now that they have seen what the real hockey people think they are slowly changing their tune. It's time for WGR and TBN to do a thorough evaluation ofbheir staffs, many of these guys are down right bad. They are all entitled to their opinions but it would be nice if they actually knew what they were talking about. I am so tired of all the groaning and complaining.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

I think the most embarrassing is the Kerouac-lite "spontaneous prose" that wgr puts out and labels as "articles"... One, large, unpunctuated, not proofread, disgust. The most colloquial, illegible bodies of text to hit the Internet. Sixth grade book reports are composed better - and are certainly more aesthetically pleasing.

LOL. You nailed it. They could just hire a first year university kid to clean up the copy. I was looking at some of the threads in here and thinking Shlopp would have no idea what half of you are talking about and mock you for being so informed.
I get it is not supposed to appeal to the hardcore Sabres fan but I don't really understand the general appeal. They're not funny, their thoughts on life not illuminating.
I just don't listen and usually wait for interviews I want to hear to pop up on the audio vault.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

This may be the best thread I have ever seen on this site. I no longer buy the Buffalo News or read it on line due to their writers. Their crappy attitudes astound me. Would they really prefer that Golisano or the Regis family still owned the Sabres? Darcy would not be my first choice to be GM either but so be it. Those that are Darcy haters can not even give him credit when deserved. The recent NHL draft was judged by many true knowledgable hockey people to be very strong by the Sabres. These local guys knew very little about the players, I knew more. Now that they have seen what the real hockey people think they are slowly changing their tune. It's time for WGR and TBN to do a thorough evaluation ofbheir staffs, many of these guys are down right bad. They are all entitled to their opinions but it would be nice if they actually knew what they were talking about. I am so tired of all the groaning and complaining.

The end of year press conference was disgraceful.

 

[hizzoner]

The local Buffalo sports scene is to a large extent interested in football and hockey. Schopp and the Bulldog are more into movies, music, trading cards and baseball. I listen in the hopes of getting sports updates and commentary on the Sabres and Bills but usually turn it off after a few minutes because of the irrelevant uninformed verbiage they put out over the airwaves....

 

[Takeo]

The amateur Buffalo media cover terrible sports franchises. It's a vicious cycle.

 

[SuperNintendoChalmrs]

This may be the best thread I have ever seen on this site. I no longer buy the Buffalo News or read it on line due to their writers. Their crappy attitudes astound me. Would they really prefer that Golisano or the Regis family still owned the Sabres? Darcy would not be my first choice to be GM either but so be it. Those that are Darcy haters can not even give him credit when deserved. The recent NHL draft was judged by many true knowledgable hockey people to be very strong by the Sabres. These local guys knew very little about the players, I knew more. Now that they have seen what the real hockey people think they are slowly changing their tune. It's time for WGR and TBN to do a thorough evaluation ofbheir staffs, many of these guys are down right bad. They are all entitled to their opinions but it would be nice if they actually knew what they were talking about. I am so tired of all the groaning and complaining.

The Buffalo News truly is some fantastic bird cage lining material. I'll have to get a bird, and then a subrscription to the Snooze.

 

[Slapshot85]

As bad as someone like Harrington is, it's not all bad.
Bill Hoppe, Mathew Coller, Joe Buscaglia, and John Vogl are all great.

I wish Brad Riter was still covering the local teams, but his ****-starting on Trending Buffalo seems like what he was born to do anyway.

I still have a soft spot for the morning show, but a lot of that probably is that I'm so rarely up at that time and I don't have time to get sick of those guys.

Don't forget Paul Hamilton.


Also, isn't Sully's favorite sport basketball? Seriously, why do the sports media around here hire guys who favorite sports lack professional teams in those sports?

 

[Slapshot85]

Between their paywall and awful writing (besides the aforementioned exceptions), I just avoid TBN's Sabres coverage. They're shamelessly bad and appeal to the uber-emotional "OMG THEY DIDN'T WIN THE CUP FIRE EVERYONE" crowd.

It's easy to get around TBN's paywall. Just clear your cookies and it resets.

 

[indigoo]

I've noticed Paul Hamilton being an overly belligerent ******* on WGR a lot more lately. He seems to be trying very hard to be that way, especially when taking calls from callers. Either way, yes, the Buffalo media is pretty terrible in terms of reporting and opinion.

I mean seriously, Paul is just awful, and not very bright.

Also It bugs me that people get pissed about radio hosts. They're entertainers. Don't listen if you don't like them. They're not journalists, or reporters. They offer opinions and a platform to discuss the things an "average" fan wants to talk about. I'd also like to see the people that claim a host doesn't "do any prep" for a show, do a show themselves. These threads are always spurned by the WGR hosts when they're not even close to as bad as the actual sports journalists in the area.

 

[Paxon]

I've noticed Paul Hamilton being an overly belligerent ******* on WGR a lot more lately. He seems to be trying very hard to be that way, especially when taking calls from callers. Either way, yes, the Buffalo media is pretty terrible in terms of reporting and opinion.

I mean seriously, Paul is just awful, and not very bright.

Also It bugs me that people get pissed about radio hosts. They're entertainers. Don't listen if you don't like them. They're not journalists, or reporters. They offer opinions and a platform to discuss the things an "average" fan wants to talk about. I'd also like to see the people that claim a host doesn't "do any prep" for a show, do a show themselves. These threads are always spurned by the WGR hosts when they're not even close to as bad as the actual sports journalists in the area.

Are you saying that someone here wouldn't be able to do better prep than Schopp does? He very clearly doesn't do any prep for his interviews. It's one thing not to already know things about players, even though it should be his job to, like, follow some hockey. He could at least read a Wikipedia entry or something.

 

[SackTastic]

It's easy to get around TBN's paywall. Just clear your cookies and it resets.

Or hit stop before the comments module loads and the warning never appears.

Or use a Javascript blocker.

Or any of the innumerable methods to get around site paywall technology from 2001.

 

[haseoke39]

Or hit stop before the comments module loads and the warning never appears.

Or use a Javascript blocker.

Or any of the innumerable methods to get around site paywall technology from 2001.

Hmm. I would do that, but....no, I'm probably just better off not reading it.