I got a sniff of this down at the arena last weekend, but I was asked to keep this under my hat until it became official.

There will be big changes in the sports department lineup come this fall. Buffalo Sabres beat reporter Tim Graham is leaving the News to take a new job with the Palm Beach County Post in Florida, where he will be covering the Miami Dolphins. John Vogl moves into the #1 Sabres slot, and Mike Harrington will take Vogl’s old position in the #2 slot.

Rodney McKissic will assume the #1 chair covering college hoops.

Really the guy at the center of all this is Mike Harrington. Mike has been a very thorough and capable journalist for the News covering not only college basketball but also baseball, both at the Major League level and here with the Buffalo Bisons. The paper regularly sends him to represent Buffalo as part of the media corps at the LCS’s and the World Series, and the men’s basketball Final Four. Last fall Mike eagerly awaited our report and profile on University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, projecting that a Final Four was inevitable for that venue, and how he couldn’t wait to do that one. Ain’t happenin’ anymore Mike!

We are sorry to see Tim Graham go, he really is one of the Buffnews’ “cool guys”. My signature moment with Tim was when we first started covering the Sabres after the lockout; he approached me and invited me and Pete to join the Professional Hockey Writers Association (Tim is the Buffalo chapter president). I was awed and humbled that I would even be asked, but I did sign up and by December he presented us our official laminated membership cards.

Knowing Mike as we do, he will be an excellent addition to the media roster on the hockey side and we can all look forward to his good work. It will be great rubbing shoulders with him not only at Bisons games, but at Sabres games as well.

RSS 2.0 Respond Trackback