[jboyst62]

I am always intrigued by sources for news stories in the sports world. The latest info on Steve Johnson and the Bills being far apart on his contract has me wondering a few things.

Why do sources talk? If they are going to be anonymous what is the benefit of leaking the info at all? If it is an agent it can be for hype to get his player more attention and if it is a team it can be to say hey we really want to do XYZ. But, why does a team comment that contracts are not going well? What does it help? What is the posturing that happens with this info?

John, obviously I would never call you out. You are a known person in an unknown forum that has a profession which makes your opinion more valuable then others...at least often! :nana: Regardless, I do not want you to risk anything in your career or sources by speaking about this. Thank you!

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

jboyst62, on 20 February 2012 - 02:37 PM, said:

I am always intrigued by sources for news stories in the sports world. The latest info on Steve Johnson and the Bills being far apart on his contract has me wondering a few things.

Why do sources talk? If they are going to be anonymous what is the benefit of leaking the info at all? If it is an agent it can be for hype to get his player more attention and if it is a team it can be to say hey we really want to do XYZ. But, why does a team comment that contracts are not going well? What does it help? What is the posturing that happens with this info?

John, obviously I would never call you out. You are a known person in an unknown forum that has a profession which makes your opinion more valuable then others...at least often! :nana: Regardless, I do not want you to risk anything in your career or sources by speaking about this. Thank you!

Screw that. I DEMAND that jw reveal his sources.

[spartacus]

jboyst62, on 20 February 2012 - 02:37 PM, said:

I am always intrigued by sources for news stories in the sports world. The latest info on Steve Johnson and the Bills being far apart on his contract has me wondering a few things.

Why do sources talk? If they are going to be anonymous what is the benefit of leaking the info at all? If it is an agent it can be for hype to get his player more attention and if it is a team it can be to say hey we really want to do XYZ. But, why does a team comment that contracts are not going well? What does it help? What is the posturing that happens with this info?

John, obviously I would never call you out. You are a known person in an unknown forum that has a profession which makes your opinion more valuable then others...at least often! :nana: Regardless, I do not want you to risk anything in your career or sources by speaking about this. Thank you!

the Bills use the media to play the fan base.


by leaking reports, OBD mold the fan;s viewpoint to support upcoming player moves

case in point - is all of the crap the Bills leaked about how terrible a person Peters was- thus justifying the salary dump in getting rid of him

happens pretty much to all Bills when they are dumped

For whatever reason, media typically report the leaks without a whole lot of probing followup

[Erik]

spartacus, on 20 February 2012 - 05:04 PM, said:

the Bills use the media to play the fan base.


by leaking reports, OBD mold the fan;s viewpoint to support upcoming player moves

case in point - is all of the crap the Bills leaked about how terrible a person Peters was- thus justifying the salary dump in getting rid of him

happens pretty much to all Bills when they are dumped

For whatever reason, media typically report the leaks without a whole lot of probing followup

A lot of times also agents have relationships with certain writers and they leak stuff to help try to get leverage for their clients. Scott Boras has several MLB writers in different cities do this for him. Not saying this is what Wawrow is doing but it's one of the things that go on.

Truth is there are dozens of reasons and ways for agents, players, teams, executives, coaches, etc. to leak things.

This post has been edited by Erik: 20 February 2012 - 05:15 PM

[JR In Ann Arbor]

I've got to think 9 times out of 10 it's the players' agent leaking the news, simply for posturing purposes. I'd bet the farm that SJ's agent or someone close to SJ "leaked" the news.

[papazoid]

jboyst62, on 20 February 2012 - 02:37 PM, said:

I am always intrigued by sources for news stories in the sports world. The latest info on Steve Johnson and the Bills being far apart on his contract has me wondering a few things.

Why do sources talk? If they are going to be anonymous what is the benefit of leaking the info at all? If it is an agent it can be for hype to get his player more attention and if it is a team it can be to say hey we really want to do XYZ. But, why does a team comment that contracts are not going well? What does it help? What is the posturing that happens with this info?

John, obviously I would never call you out. You are a known person in an unknown forum that has a profession which makes your opinion more valuable then others...at least often! :nana: Regardless, I do not want you to risk anything in your career or sources by speaking about this. Thank you!

it's all about PR...Public Relations......each side wants to paint themselves as being on the correct side of the disagreement. they want to prepare the public by assigning blame to the other when it goes badly....or to force the other to move from their previous position via public outcry.

using the stevie johnson example....his agent wants to suggest the bills are low balling his client. athletes almost always want to be liked, if stevie leaves he wants to put the blame on the bills....even though he may have his own greedy self interest at heart by taking the highest offer. Athletes have a very short window, i dont blame them either way....taking less by giving a home town discount or taking the highest offer. athletes are an expendable piece of meat who get discarded as soon as they underperform their pay, they need to get it while they can.

management wants to sugggest athlete is asking more than they feel he is worth. stevie is popular and they at least want the fan base to think they tried, when in fact, they may or may not be genuinely interested in keeping him. they need their fans supporting those decisions as expressed through ticket sales. good PR equals Hope equals ticket sales.

only Winning trumps PR.

[Nanker]

I dunno jboyst62 every beat writer has a job to do. I think the process is driven by their need to find and write a story, and is fueled by the personal needs, desires and ego of the athlete and the needs of the employer or potential employer(s). It's an interesting mix.

I have every confidence that Jason Peters agent went shopping around for his services over a full year earlier than when the trade with Philly happened. He found a buyer and eventually got the deal done.

[PromoTheRobot]

spartacus, on 20 February 2012 - 05:04 PM, said:

the Bills use the media to play the fan base.


by leaking reports, OBD mold the fan;s viewpoint to support upcoming player moves

case in point - is all of the crap the Bills leaked about how terrible a person Peters was- thus justifying the salary dump in getting rid of him

happens pretty much to all Bills when they are dumped

For whatever reason, media typically report the leaks without a whole lot of probing followup

Peters didn't need a Bills leak to make him look bad.

PTR

[T master]

I think Stevie was letting all the hype over him last year go to his head hence the after score celebrations , even though the last one in the last game was BS to the inth degree !!

He knew last year when the coach sat him down & said he would like him back but with stipulations & then Stevie did that tweet with the Adele song on it & the fact that he stopped the negotiations during the year he wanted to check the waters of FA .

He talks a good game but i don't think in his heart he really wants to be here , I just hope the same happens to him as Pearless if he does what i think he will do , because it's not always about the money , well in todays world it is , but there are a lot of people that went for the money ...

[It's in My Blood]

T master, on 20 February 2012 - 07:34 PM, said:

He talks a good game but i don't think in his heart he really wants to be here , I just hope the same happens to him as Pearless if he does what i think he will do , because it's not always about the money , well in todays world it is , but there are a lot of people that went for the money ...

I think this is very likely to happen, depending on who Stevie signs with. Chan's offense relies upon a quick read/release from the quarterback. Stevie is unreal off the line but his game becomes diminished after the play develops simply because he lacks the speed to get behind the defense. That said, the Bills need to pony up and pay the man. He is a very good receiver when used properly and would continue to flourish in this offense.

[john wawrow]

good topic.
here's about as much as i can say on this: it's part of our profession to build relationships with people who are in the know to the point where we can gain their trust in which they allow us to quote them without printing their name.
from the AP's perspective, the people we use as sources must have direct knowledge to what they are speaking to, before they can be used as sources. we also do push those people in the know to allow us to publish their names. sometimes, we get clearance, sometimes we don't. the key to the process is getting the truth out to the public.

jw

[Fixxxer]

john wawrow, on 20 February 2012 - 11:44 PM, said:

good topic.
here's about as much as i can say on this: it's part of our profession to build relationships with people who are in the know to the point where we can gain their trust in which they allow us to quote them without printing their name.
from the AP's perspective, the people we use as sources must have direct knowledge to what they are speaking to, before they can be used as sources. we also do push those people in the know to allow us to publish their names. sometimes, we get clearance, sometimes we don't. the key to the process is getting the truth out to the public.

jw

But why deliver the thruth in such ambiguous way? As a consumer, this half thruths don't mean much to me because they're so open for different interpretations.

[nucci]

Fixxxer, on 21 February 2012 - 12:46 AM, said:

But why deliver the thruth in such ambiguous way? As a consumer, this half thruths don't mean much to me because they're so open for different interpretations.

He never mentioned half truths and if you compromise your sources they'll never speak to you again.

[Ray]

Great topic agreed. It's how the game is played and eventually the truth does come out. For me I believe the story but have to ask "what is far apart?"
That could be number of years in the contract, total money, guaranteed money, or money per year. If the Bills offered 5 years at 6.5M per year and Johnson wants 7 years at 7M per year maybe some would say they are over 15M apart on the deal but not really. So to me the big question is what's far apart??? Are the Bills offering 3M per year and he wants 7M per year?
The Bills need to get with the times....Routt was just cut by the Raiders (I know he's a CB) but just signed a deal for basically 7M per year. Costs for players are getting higher folks at One Bills Drive

[PromoTheRobot]

The credibility of the reporter is key as well. When a guy like John quotes an unnamed source it carries more weight than some wannabe hack with a website who flamed his rep trying to get a "scoop".

PTR

[papazoid]

tombstone56, on 21 February 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

here we go.....

start with the ol spell his name wrong trick......hmmm, lets see if i can get under his skin, followed by a few not so subtle cheapshots.....

John Wawrow is one of the crown jewels of TBD......

This post has been edited by Beerball: 21 February 2012 - 09:47 AM

[DanInUticaTampa]

tombstone56, on 21 February 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

Good lord, as soon as it seems like people stopped with this nonsense it picks up again. Way to be completly disrespectful and try to chase away the few remaining posters that actually have value in their posts.

This post has been edited by Beerball: 21 February 2012 - 09:47 AM

[Jim in Anchorage]

tombstone56, on 21 February 2012 - 08:22 AM, said:

Get a grip,man.

This post has been edited by Beerball: 21 February 2012 - 09:47 AM

[mead107]

Hope Tombstoner 56 was given a time out.

[shrader]

JR In Ann Arbor, on 20 February 2012 - 05:16 PM, said:

I've got to think 9 times out of 10 it's the players' agent leaking the news, simply for posturing purposes. I'd bet the farm that SJ's agent or someone close to SJ "leaked" the news.

It can't be that unbalanced of a number. If that were the case, nearly every story would be so obviously biased in the favor of the players. We all know there are plenty of crappy writers out there, but anyone who is even somewhat decent would quickly realize they're probably not getting the full story if they just keep reporting comments from agents.