michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

[trapezeus]

I never see Silver's name bandied about on here. recently he had two articles. One on Favre and how the trade smacks of desperation for the Jets. It was kind of a refreshing article since some people on this board think Favre is the thing that transforms a 4-12 team into a playoff contender.

His second article was on ralph being one of the worst owners. while his defense in the actual article was kind of weak. People wrote in to rip him for ripping ralph. He defended his position with a story from last year's draft. The story was that in the fourth round, ralph causally asked about D. Wright. The rest of the guys were confused because they took marshawn in the 1st round. but none the less, the team took wright who ended up sucking YTD.

Anyways, any thoughts on Silver?

[OpIv37]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

you're forgetting that the Jets had more upgrades than just Favre. They were easily 2-3 wins ahead of last year before Favre. People aren't saying that Favre alone is taking a 4-12 team to the playoffs. People are saying that Favre is taking what was probably a 6 or 7 win team into the playoff hunt, which is much more reasonable.

[patmoran2006]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

This is what he said about Ralph, on yahoo sports..

27. Buffalo Bills – Ralph Wilson: A few months shy of his 90th birthday, Wilson should be in a celebratory mood. Largely because of his *****ing, moaning and general grumpiness, Wilson was essentially handed the keys to a monster market, in the form of a deal to play eight games in Toronto over the next five years – one which guarantees his franchise $78 million. “We’ll see if the guy stops whining and complaining now,” one owner says. “Toronto, if you put it in the U.S., would be the fourth-largest city. If Jerry Jones staked a claim to Mexico City, or Robert Kraft did it with Montreal, or Paul Allen wanted to play one game a year in Vancouver, we’d never approve it. Ralph was given a special accommodation because we’re sick of hearing him cry about being in a small market.” Back when he co-founded the AFL, Wilson was considered an innovator. Now he comes off as selfish and stodgy and looking for handouts. It’s also telling that, rather than selling the naming rights, he continues to play his non-Toronto home games in Ralph Wilson Stadium. What a team player.

[DrGraves]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

Ralph has done a lot of great things for this franchise, but its time for him to step aside.

[OpIv37]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

The naming rights thing really bothers me. I'm not a big fan of corporate names for stadiums and from that standpoint, I like it. And there's some truth to the argument that Buffalo will never make the kind of money off of naming rights that NE, Dallas or Washington make. But realistically, it's free revenue. Ralph looks like a complete jackass when he complains about revenue while basically turning down an easy, unexploited revenue stream.

What the hell kind of businessman turns down money in the name of vanity?

[THATHURMANATOR]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

you're forgetting that the Jets had more upgrades than just Favre. They were easily 2-3 wins ahead of last year before Favre. People aren't saying that Favre alone is taking a 4-12 team to the playoffs. People are saying that Favre is taking what was probably a 6 or 7 win team into the playoff hunt, which is much more reasonable.

You are something else. You act like everyone else's teams move are godsends but poo poo anything the Bills do. Then you wonder why people question if you even like the team...

[trapezeus]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

Here is his story on taking wright.

You want Goofy? Here’s a little story about Wilson, from sources who were in the draft room: In 2007, the Bills were on the clock in the fourth round and deciding which player to take, when the owner suddenly blurted out, “What about the running back from Fresno State? Is he available?” The team’s personnel men looked at one another; they had already used their first-round pick on a halfback, Cal’s Marshawn Lynch. One of them bit his tongue and informed Wilson that, yes, Dwayne Wright was still on the board. “We’re taking him,” Wilson said, and that was that. He’s currently third on the team’s depth chart, behind Lynch and fellow second-year back Fred Jackson.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-trippintuesday080508&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Silver dinged ralph for all the wrong things. it also doesn't help that silver says that the best owners are the guys who made the most money. in the top five is Dan Synder. i think most fans would agree synder is worse than Jones. At least jones made a winner out of his team. Synder just pushes the salaries through the roof on marginal players.

But you see stories of Ralph trying to be the football guy instead of the deep pocket owner who is a business guy and it infuriates you. This goes back to letting polian go. he obviously thought he had enough football knowledge to find another one.

[Gunzlingr]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

The naming rights thing really bothers me. I'm not a big fan of corporate names for stadiums and from that standpoint, I like it. And there's some truth to the argument that Buffalo will never make the kind of money off of naming rights that NE, Dallas or Washington make. But realistically, it's free revenue. Ralph looks like a complete jackass when he complains about revenue while basically turning down an easy, unexploited revenue stream.

What the hell kind of businessman turns down money in the name of vanity?

Ever think that it is named after his father? As far as I know it is Ralph Wilson Stadium, not Ralph Wilson, Jr. Stadium. Maybe it means more to him to have his Dad's name on the building than have a couple hundred thousand bucks.

[ddaryl]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

C'mon OP just once find a positve for your team...

I know I am not alone when I say most of us are very confused about why you follow the Bills at all.

[Dr. Lecter]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

The naming rights thing really bothers me. I'm not a big fan of corporate names for stadiums and from that standpoint, I like it. And there's some truth to the argument that Buffalo will never make the kind of money off of naming rights that NE, Dallas or Washington make. But realistically, it's free revenue. Ralph looks like a complete jackass when he complains about revenue while basically turning down an easy, unexploited revenue stream.

What the hell kind of businessman turns down money in the name of vanity?

What business offerred a deal for the naming rights? Or are you assuming one has made an offer?

Remember that many of the small markets do not have naming rights sold, like Cleveland and Jacksonville. I think you are over-estimating the ease with which naming rights are sold and the demand for them.

[OpIv37]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

You are something else. You act like everyone else's teams move are godsends but poo poo anything the Bills do. Then you wonder why people question if you even like the team...

What moves did the Bills make to improve the #30 overall offense? None.

[OpIv37]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

C'mon OP just once find a positve for your team...

I know I am not alone when I say most of us are very confused about why you follow the Bills at all.

Please tell me you're smarter than this.

I want the Bills to win. The Bills don't win. I'm pissed off about it. Rather than make excuses for guys just because they're on the Bills, I call them out for not doing their jobs and helping the Bills win.

I can't believe fellow Bills fans have such a hard time understanding this.

[Dr. Lecter]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

What moves did the Bills make to improve the #30 overall offense? None.

While they did not make any veteran moves or FA moves to say they made none is wrong and you know it. I am not saying Hardy is a magic elixir, but it was a move to improve the offense.

So was letting Fairchild go without a fight.

Neither might help, but both are attempts to improve the offense.

[trapezeus]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

i'm always confused that a small market team doesn't get the same revenues on naming rights of the stadium. the stadium still gets on national TV 8 times a year like the rest of the teams. Every fan knows the name of the stadium. It's surprising that location lowers the price when the exposure is relatively the same.

[OpIv37]

Re: michael silver Articles: Favre and Ralph

While they did not make any veteran moves or FA moves to say they made none is wrong and you know it. I am not saying Hardy is a magic elixir, but it was a move to improve the offense.

So was letting Fairchild go without a fight.

Neither might help, but both are attempts to improve the offense.

and neither is nearly enough. Thurm suggested that I'm somehow biased to suggest that the Jets improved their team but the Bills didn't. However, he neglected to mention that the Jets made solid moves on both sides of the ball whereas the Bills did nothing (ok fine, next to nothing) to improve their horrid offense. The quality and quantity of attempted improvements are not equal.