Deciphering Coach-speak 101 at OBD
Bills head coach Chan Gailey helped introduce and reintroduce some coaches into Buffalo football on Thursday at One Bills Drive. Nick Mendola was there to delve through the discussions between the media and offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins, defensive coordinator George Edwards and special teams coach Bruce DeHaven.
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Did Super Sunday Say Anything About Bills?
Nick Mendola was asked to react to Gregg Williams winning a Super Bowl, and took it in an entirely different direction. How do some players the Bills undervalued work for other teams, and what can an almost brand new front office do to not let good players leave town?
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Hardware, Not Hat Tricks
After two substandard Sabres losses and a stirring Sunday third period between the Capitals and Penguins, Nick Mendola thinks Buffalo needs to make a big move to get right for April and/or May.
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Thought Kovalchuk would return more??
(WGR 550) -- My first thought when I heard that Atlanta had shipped Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey for Niclas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier and a first-round pick was that the Thrashers had either gotten just enough for their star, or perhaps a little too much.
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Lost Spoiler Alert: Final Season, Ep One
I have a love/hate relationship with "Lost." If you watch the show, please help me hate it a little less.
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MENDOLA: Sabres' Second-third report card
Unfortunately, 82 isn't divisible by three, so 55 games is as close to two-thirds of the way through the Sabres season as you can get (besides 54). Even after back-to-back losses to Pittsburgh and Ottawa, should we be having a positive discussion about this team?
Yes, but not without it's share of negatives. Nick Mendola gives the Sabres grades on games 28-55, and looks ahead to what's next on the plate for the blue-and-gold.
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SIGNING DAY: One of nation's top RBs on UB list
(WGR 550) -- While four local players in Jeff Quinn's first UB recruiting class jump out at first glance, the Bulls list of 2010 recruits goes even deeper.
Running back James Potts was rated by Rivals the No. 24 incoming running back in the country, and is headed to Buffalo after being pursued by Oregon, Rutgers, Vanderbilt and...
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MENDOLA: Leafs awake, but Sabres weren't sleeping
(WGR 550) -- If you're on any sort of message board or radio talk box today, chances are you're reading/hearing a lot about how Brian Burke acquired two key pieces to the Maple Leafs' rebuilding puzzle. Dion Phaneuf and J.S. Giguere are massive stabilizing blocks in the wobbly tower that is Toronto.
But if you're one of those thinking/writing that the Sabres and other teams were sleeping on the deal, you're sorely mistaken.
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MENDOLA: First look at Bills picks Nos. 1-3
(WGR 550) -- As an ancillary piece for my "3-4" column, I thought I'd give my guts a shot at where the Bills first three picks are going.
Assuming New England doesn't go for my much-desired trade offer -- which works out on the value chart...
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Another nod to the 3-4?
(WGR 550) -- Two things to glean from the Bills' reported hiring of Giff Smith as outside linebackers coach, and I think both are entirely reasonable.
1) They are going to a 3-4.
2) There's a good chance they'll take Derrick Morgan with the No. 9 over all pick if he's available.
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TRADE GATE: 37 Days
With five-plus weeks until the trade deadline, it's close enough to evaluate which teams might be buyers and sellers. Instead of just giving you five players who would help the Sabres -- like Nick Mendola did last year -- how about he looks at some deals that could behoove not just the Sabres, but the rest of the league (Hint: Obviously, he's made some calls around the league's media markets to see what might work for Buffalo).
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Immediate Reactions: Gailey Press Conference
They were here after the draft, every game and the firing of Dick Jauron, so why not another edition of Nick Mendola's "Immediate Reactions," this time listening to Bills general manager Buddy Nix and new head coach Chan Gailey wax over the WGR airwaves as the author drives to Ohio?
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Sabres' first-rounder Zack Kassian traded, suspended
In case you missed it, it's been a whirlwind week for Canadian tough guy/Sabres first-round pick Zack Kassian, a week that culminated with a suspension after a vicious hit you can view inside.
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Nick Mendola's 2010 Whiney Recap
When your boss asks you to type about a night that involved good food, great friends, evening gowns, hockey jerseys, various aged beverages, locker room tales, bar room humour, music, memorabilia and the sport of iced hockey, you say, "Yes."
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States upset Canadians to win WJC Gold
(WGR 550) -- For the second time in a week, the United States coughed up a two-goal lead to the host nation Canadian squad. To quote Dennis Green, it appeared that Canada was who they thought they were, and the U.S. let them off the hook.
Luckily for America, appearances can be deceiving. John Carlson's overtime winner took the shine off a two-point performance from Canadian player and Sabres prospect Luke Adam, and the States emerged with a 6-5 victory and the gold medal.
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Should the NFL stop teams from sitting starters?
Before you read this, Nick Mendola wants you to know that he hates the Jets more than any team in the NFL, and that it pains him to type this column.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 1
(WGR 550) -- We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. The hope was to create a Top Ten, and Moment No. 1 is unquestionably the best Buffalo sporting event in the decade that was.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 2
(WGR 550) -- We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. The hope was to create a Top Ten. Moment No. 2 isn't an emotional one, but it made a major impact on the landscape of Buffalo sports.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 3
(WGR 550) -- We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. The hope was to create a Top Ten. Sadly, there are more bad moments than good, and No. 3 kicked off this decade with the force of a cannonball to the ribs.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 4 (tie)
(WGR 550) -- We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. The hope was to create a Top Ten. So, thriving on hope, we did. The second of our moments tied for No. 4 was not very hopeful at all.
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Immediate Reactions, Wk 16
Nick Mendola could use some flowery language to talk about Week 16 and pretend there was some sort of stage set for the start of something special, but the truth is far from it. The Buffalo Bills are a subpar football team ravaged by injury that's in great need of leaders and a quarterback, especially the latter.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 4 (tie)
(WGR 550) -- We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. The hope was to create a Top Ten. As far as actual days in Western New York, it's hard to imagine any would be better than Moment No. 4, which is another tie in our countdown.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 6
(WGR 550) -- We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. The hope was to create a Top Ten, so we did. Moment No. 6 came at a time when Buffalo was a favorite, and in danger of choking it all away.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 7 (tie)
(WGR 550) -- We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. The hope was to create a Top Ten. The first of two moments that tied for the honor of being No. 7 is Buffalo's acquisition of a man who would have to be considered the signal caller of a sad, sad decade.
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Immediate Reactions, Wk15
Nick Mendola really thought about trading his Sabres/Leafs tickets for admission to the Pats/Bills game. He didn't, and now feels bad for the folks, like the gentleman-at-left (that's not Nick), who didn't stop with delicious tailgate chili, instead opting to watch the Bills waste another glorious chance to beat New England.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 9
We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. Friday morning brings a day frigid in both weather and sentiment, and it's just as sunny and peachy as Moment No. 10.
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The 2000s so far: Moment No. 10
We here at WGR Sports Radio 550 have asked each of our staff members to submit their opinions on their five most memorable events or moments in this decade of Buffalo sports history. After collection and analysis, we have a Top Ten, and will post one each workday morning for the rest of the year. We hope you enjoy Moment No. 10, even if it isn't all that enjoyable...
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Immediate Reactions, Wk14
The Bills may be bad, but they aren't Chiefs bad. Yeesh. Kansas City deserves a better pick than Buffalo, and Nick Mendola thinks "Operation 7-9" just may be on. Check out his thoughts before he takes the on-air reins from Mike Schopp and The Bulldog at 6:25 p.m.
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US drawn with England, two underdogs
Who will the 14th-ranked United States take on in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa? Here are the groupings, announced in Cape Town this afternoon (FIFA ranking in parenthesis) with the aid of actress and South African native Charlize Theron.
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Immediate Reactions, Wk13
Why go to sleep when you can type about another horrible example of professional football? Nick Mendola breaks down a game that any team could've won, but the Buffalo Bills most certainly did not. Nice offense, guys!
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