We’ll be kind and refrain from any Professor Dickweed references.

Today’s journey takes us up to see the Blue Jays play the Cleveland Indians in the final game of the three game set. Mike Harrington and David Briggs from the Buffnews are up here as well covering the games, and Mike already pointed out one of his famed useless stats when he indicated the the Tribe is playing their 9th game in a row in an indoor venue (three at Minn, three at TB and now here). But for the record, the roof was open here on Friday night. Unfortunately it’s closed today, which is a shame because it is a crisp almost fall like day outside and an outdoor game would have been nice.

The “Bills in Toronto” thingy is fast coming upon us, and a large banner draped across an overpass when heading into the city just portends the excitement that is to come. Not for this week’s preseason game, which has all the makings of a flop at the turnstiles, but the December conntest, the first regular season NFL game on Canadian soil, promises to be a big deal.

Cliff Lee is on the mound for Cleveland today, and with a 15-2 record is the big spark plug on the team in what has otherwise been a disappointing season. Earlier this week we were checking out the rotation and was hoping Toronto would have Roy Halladay pitching for the Jays, but that alignment of the planets did not happen.

Uh oh… we had a big credentials snafu on the way in today. Our editor Geoff Kelly never faxed in our attendance, and to make a long story short, Pete’s credential was nowhere to be found. Jay Stenhouse, the head PR honcho here came down and was very nice and wrote Pete up, but had no clue who were were, even though we’ve covered a Jays game or two for each of the past five seasons. As for the “uh-oh” we’ve got a big thick black line on the cred covering the word “clubhouse”… looks like our postgame will be yet another media adventure. *Sigh* We weeklies get NO respect!

We are at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine, and mission one once we arrived was to seek out Dan Hickling, our friend and fellow media guy.

Dan is a Buffalo born and bred guy who now calls Portland home and works for a number of print media outlets. His freelance travels across the northeast have been curtailed somewhat, what with the price of gas and all.

It didn’t take long… Sea Dogs Media Guru Chris Cameron pointed him out on the field, and a few minutes later Dan was up in the pressbox, and we were catching up on all the Buffalo talk, all the hype about the Sabres farm team coming here to Portland, and what’s new with the Bisons.

Dan sends his best to the pressbox posse at Dunn Tire Park, and says sorry he hasn’t made it to Buffalo this season. As for us, Dan was an early and ardent supporter of the USRT and reconnecting with him is always something we eagerly look forward to.

Rest in Peace, Jim McKay.

Most people know him as the ABC sportscaster known for hosting the longrunning “Wide World of Sports” series, and for being the prime voice of the Olympic Games while they were covered by ABC.

We here at the USRT tend to see things a little differently, on terms that we know best. Hence the title of this post.

McKay was the first widely traveled sportscaster in history as his career began to rise as the use of television broadcasts via satellites became common. Week in and week out, one would tune into “Wide World of Sports” to see McKay broadcasting from some part of the world covering just about any sport in existence from just about anywhere on the planet. Whether it be an Olympic Games in Austria, being one of the first sportscasters let into Communist China, or covering a mainstream event like the Indy 500 it would be a real treat to find out exactly where on Earth McKay would be that week.

McKay traveled about five million miles in the quest to bring sports from around the globe home to the average person who would never get to see such places or in some cases, such sports. And did so with an enormous amount of class and dignity. In the words of Jeremy Schaap “Unfailingly, he treated the barrel jumpers and cliff divers and bicycle polo players with the same respect he afforded Mario Andretti and Mark Spitz and Bill Shoemaker. ”

And he was, and always will be for folks of my generation and up the defining voice of the Olympic Games, as it seemed like he was there calling every big event that occured on a quadrennial basis. And his finest moment as a broadcaster took place in 1972 with his eloquent handling of the horrible hostage tragedy at Munich.

Thank You, Jim. Happy travels where ever you may be now.

Dear Bucky,

You finally got to me.

Unlike the rest of the B-lo sports blogosphere, I’ve never had much disagreement with your commentaries and opinions on the Sabres. Like you I ripped the Sabres a new one immediately when co-captains Drury and Briere left town, and have become a bit annoyed with the inability to retain some of the key players that made Buffalo a Stanley Cup contender. I suppose I can understand why some out there get upset with your constant referrals to the “Druriere” situation, yet by same token it has been seven years gone by now and I still see comments referring to Hasek’s nasty departure from Buffalo. Keep it up if you so desire.

That being said, here’s word of advice to you: Leave the NBA commentary at the News to Mssrs. Sullivan and McKissic.

“NBA Finals not worth staying up for.” Really? OK, then exactly what Finals scenario WOULD you stay up for? Spurs/Pistons? Cavs/Suns? Knicks/Grizzlies? Being the alleged “big Celtics fan” that you are/were after the Braves left town, one would think that you’d be waiting with baited breath to see your team in the Finals for the first time in a couple of decades. Nah…guess not. Then again, what former Braves fan hops on the wagon of the hated Celtics anyway? Like any Bills fan would become ‘Fins fans in a relocation scenario. Just sayin’.

And since were you THE source for the what defines a “true” Celtic or Laker? Paul Pierce not a true Celtic? What? Someone who spends his entire ten year career in Boston and represents them six times as an All Star is not a “true” Celtic?

Why? Is it because he hasn’t won a title like those “true” Celtic predecessors of his. There’s a solid reason for that and it’s not Paul Pierce. It’s having a front office that was run by the likes of M.L. Carr, Rick Pitino, and Chris Wallace that never put a title contending team on the court with him during or before his arrival in Boston.

And Kobe not a “true” Laker??? Hmmm. Spending an entire career with the Lakers, earning ten All-Star appearances, helping to bring home three NBA Titles and winning an MVP award must not qualify since he begged out when things got rough. Fair point, sort of.

Except that the reason why all of those “true” Lakers never wanted such was because they never had to deal with a stretch of mediocrity like the Lakers had in the past three seasons(avg 40 wins). Case in point: the worst record of a Laker team with Magic Johnson(pre HIV - 1979-91) on the roster was 54-28. And yet like Kobe, Magic helped to run a coach out of town (Paul Westhead) even with championship results.

Yet we look on Magic fondly in part because his replacement WAS better (Riley) and took the Lakers to greater heights.

And I gotta wonder. What did you mean by “distant delinquents”?? A hidden shot at the league’s totally unwarranted thug reputation?? With due respect, which league has brought us Pac-Man Jones, Michael Vick, Ray Carruth, and the Cincinnati Bengals?? Which sport has given us an embarassing steroid/HGH scandal filled with indictments, subpeonas, and other endless legalese? When was the last time that the NBA had to appear before Capitol Hill?

Outside of referee Tim Donaghy and the occasional Carmelo mugshot, how often have you seen NBA entities in the police blotter lately? Yep, not much at all. Darn those delinquents….

We’ve got the Celtics and the Lakers in the Finals. The two greatest franchises in the history of the sport, both having a future first ballot Hall of Famer on their team (KG and Kobe) and were the top seeds in their respective conferences heading into the playoffs. What in the world more could the NBA possibly give you? In what other sport would such a scenario make even a casual fan turn away from their sets and say: “Eh, not makin’ it through the first half. Why bother?”

I can think of one right away. It’s called “not being a fan of the game, period.” So please, Bucky. Save your opinions for sports you actually know and/or care about.

Much appreciated,

Peter Farrell

Nathan Strang’s entire photo collection from Saturday’s Bandits championship game is now up on Flickr.

Click RIGHT HERE for the link. Enjoy!

Our buddy and fellow free lance sportswriter Mike Haim was covering the Bisons/PawSox game for the Providence Journal on Pawtucket’s recent visit to Dunn Tire Park. Wednesday night’s game, got rained out, and and the headline and byline got mashed together in their paper the next day.

So if Mike can order up rainouts, can locusts and other plagues of Egypt be far behind?

I’ve got to admit that I was really entertained watching Channel 2 sports reporter Matt Pearl and Niagara Gazette Sports Editor Tim Schmitt go at it making their picks and prognostications for the first round of the NHL playoffs.

It wasn’t so much what actual picks they made, but the witty sarcasm and trash talk that surrounded this epic battle.

Schmitt:

(In best Cosell) “Down goes Pearl!”

Pearl:

Now I refuse to be bullied by a man whose profile photo shows him leaning against an imaginary chair.

Funny stuff!

Round 1 is in the books, and looks like Matt is the clear winner. Which I knew was gonna happen… “Sens in 6″… sorry Tim but what were you thinking?!

Now the boys move on to Round 2 and have posted their picks just in time for play to begin tonight. Here are Matt’s picks. Read on then, because Tim makes his selections here. Sprinkled in are a good dose of snarky comments, and they are clearly in disagreement over the eventual winners.

Good luck guys!

Umm…media credential that is.

Our good friend Nathan Strang is the tech heart and soul at WNYMedia; he was one of the guys from their posse who put the full court press on us a little over a year ago to bring USRT under the WNYMedia umbrella, and facilitated all the mechanics and tech support for us once we made that move.

He also has his own blog which is titled “Buffawhat”. (Disclosure time here about Buffawhat… “Some material may be inappropriate for younger viewers”. Actually, some material would get you beheaded in a few Islamic countries, but I digress.)

This past Saturday, Nate did his first sports assignment for WNYMedia, accompanying me to the Bandits game to shoot photos and video. Today Nate posted a whole bunch of photos and video clips on Buffawhat. It’s all good stuff! More poignant to me was that he shared in detail his sights and sounds of the whole experience as seen through his eyes.

It got me thinking of my media debut, when I attended a game as a member of the “credentialed media”. It was May of 2000, a Buffalo Destroyers arena football game at HSBC Arena. John Augustine, Quarterback of the Buffalo Gladiators and co-host of the Sportsblast public access TV show, was season credentialed by the team and invited Pete and to come along and attend the game as “reporters” to help him cover the game.

Nate’s story today brought back those memories of my “first time”… what i remember most was being able to stand on the field in the end zone and watch the game from that vantage point, and how cool it was to be able to do that. Bob Trimble of the defunct Empire Sports Network was down there with us, making us feel very welcome and at home. I also recall a miserable jackass by the name of Josh Gregory, the team’s media relations person who went out of his way to treat us like pieces of crap. Gratefully he was gone after that season, replaced by a very cool guy named Brendan McDaniels, who is still very much part of our sports media scene to this day. Being able to walk into the locker room to talk to players and attend the post game press conference made us absolutely giddy on that day.

Eight years later and we have graduated from silly Sportsblast to “real” media… but the media experience still does not get old. Walking into the media entrance at the Bell Centre, or Madison Square Garden… and there is a cool looking tag with your name on it waiting for you… and you walk through corridors off limits to regular folk… and there are murals and photos of moments from those teams and buildings and all of a sudden the ghosts come to life. Yeah it’s all good!

Postscript… after Saturday’s game Nate said “Well you brought me into your world so now allow me to bring you into mine.” So I accompanied him to his weekend job at Club Marcella’s, a nightclub in the Theatre District where he D.J.s and barbacks, the first time I had ever been to that place. On this night, they had a charity fund raiser going on… a full blown drag queen show. So I did what any good journalist on deadline would do… I ordered me up a Grand Marnier on the rocks, headed up to the sound and light booth above the dance floor, pulled put the laptop, and did my game story and posted photos (the club was wi-fied), all while watching fabulously dressed and sequined chix with dix strut their stuff onstage. I’ll bet the Buffalo News’ reporter Tom Borrelli, who covers the Bandits, had a far less eventful night!

My friend and colleague, Channel 2 sports reporter Matt Pearl and I were sitting side by side in the pressbox at a Sabres game earlier this month, and Matt shared with me his upcoming plans for his exciting vacation - he and his old high school bud were traveling to Spain for a week of adventure and sightseeing. Part of that journey would involve attending a real live professional soccer game, a match between RCD Espanol and FC Mallorca to take place in Barcelona.

So I gave Matt the challenge - could he “profile” the experience, USRT style. Describe the venue, the event, the sights the sounds and the smells. Matt was eager to answer the call.

Matt and his friend saw an unbelievable game - won by Espanol 2-1 with both goals scored late by a guy named Luis Garcia, the winner coming on a penalty kick.

Matt is back home from his trip. Here is his story on the game and his experiences there, complete with pictures and even a video clip.

Check it out. Good stuff!

A shout out to Dave Davis and his partners at the “Lets Go Sabres” website for inviting the Ultimate Sports Road Trip onto their radio show “Sabres Weekly”.

Pete was a guest on the show last night. If you’d like, you can listen to the archived broadcast by going to their site here. Click on the audio tab on the 1-11-08 broadcast.

You know I’m really liking being out here on the West Coast for a few days, and last night’s Pats/Ravens game currently sits as the biggest reason why.

I had the opportunity to watch a great game with tons of compelling drama last night. Saw it all unfold on TV as Baltimore and New England battled it out in a sixty minute slugfest. Right down to the Hail Mary pass that was caught at the two yard line to end the game.

Why is this a big deal? Because out here in San Diego I was actually able watch this game all the way until its conclusion!! Better yet, I wasn’t even remotely tired at game’s end, nor did I fight like the dickens to keep my eyes open for the majority of the second half. To top it all off, I actually got to see Tom Brady’s arrogance in full form as he basically bit the heads off of reporters who dared question him too harshly during the postgame press conferences.

I can’t remember the last time I was able to do this….wait, yes I can. Silly me, I certainly can’t remember the last time I saw a MNF game in full in the comfort of my living room.

I realize that these games will always start way too late for us folk on the East Coast to watch the full game comfortably and in its entirety, but would it be too much to ask for the NFL to do for the entire season what they do in Week 1 for MNF(doubleheader @ 7/10:30)?? It’s the one time of year where seeing an entire NFL prime time game is feasible.

Buffalo News Sabres beat reporter Tim Graham covers his final game tonight - the season opener of the Buffalo Sabres against the New York Islanders.

He now heads down to South Florida to assume the job of Miami Dolphins beat reporter for the Palm Beach County Post.

Pete and I both wish him the best. A solid reporter and a class act.

In Tim’s honor, the logo accompanying this post is most fitting!

Longtime CBC Hockey Night In Canada announcer HARRY NEALE will be joining Rick Jeanneret in the Buffalo Sabres broadcast booth, according to this report in today’s Toronto Star. The story is also being confirmed on CBC’s website and an official announcement will be coming from the Sabres sometime today.

The 70 year old Neale has been a mainstay on the Hockey Night in Canada telecasts for over 20 years, often pairing up with play by play announcer Bob Cole and has participated in the Stanley Cup broadcasts during his entire tenure. Neale actually lives in the Buffalo area. The Sabres have scored a real coup in bringing Neale to Buffalo from a national media outlet and should make for a great pairing with Rick Jeanneret.

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.

The Buffalo Bisons were making a desperate push for a wild card playoff berth all weekend long, needing to win at Rochester and get help from Norfolk, who was playing Richmond.

Buffalo News beat writer Mike Harrington was at Frontier Field this weekend covering the showdown series, yet he took the time and trouble to send us regular text messages of all the relevant IL action, keeping us in the loop in real time.

The good friendships and close associations among the Buffalo Bisons media corps is something Peter and I truly treasure. There is no better sports writer at the Buffalo News than our MH!