LifetimeBillsFan
03-09-2009, 07:44 AM
Just sent the following email to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN a few minutes before Mortensen appeared to discuss the Terrell Owens signing and a funny thing happened (see below email):
"For Mike and Mike:
Please don't let Mortensen continue to perpetrate his bogus story that Buffalo Bills HC was not happy with the Terrell Owens signing and that it was forced on him by owner Ralph Wilson.
Sal Cappacio who broke the story of Owens visiting the Bills and Pat Moran of Scout.com both have reported that it was Jauron who first expressed interest in signing Owens within the Bills organization. On Sat. evening, Russ Brandon, Bills COO, told Jim Miller of Sirius Radio that Jauron was a major proponent of making the move to get Owens.
According to Vic Carruci, who has as many contacts in the Bills organization as anyone in the media--something that Mort hasn't been able to say since T.Donahoe left--said on NFLN that when D.Rosenhaus called Brandon to inform him that K.Jones was going to re-sign with Chicago rather than sign with Buffalo, he mentioned that Owens would be interested in joining the Bills. Carruci said that Brandon then took the proposal back to the rest of the members of the organization responsible for personnel and, after some discussion, they decided that it might be worth pursuing and, then, took the idea to Ralph Wilson.
If Mort tries to say that this was Wilson's idea and was foisted on Jauron and the coaching staff, there is plenty of evidence unearthed by people who follow the Bills more closely than Mortensen and with more contacts within the organization that this is untrue and that, while he may not have initiated the idea of signing Owens, HC Jauron was on-board with the idea very early on and was a proponent of it.
Mortensen has hated the Bills ever since they fired his buddy Donahoe and has been unprofessionally biased in his coverage of the team ever since. His coverage of the team is simply not to be trusted and should be double-checked before it is aired."
What was interesting and amusing was how Mortensen, when he appeared live in the studio, went out of his way to compliment the Bills fans and backed off on his earlier comments that Ralph Wilson was responsible for the signing and that Dick Jauron and the coaching staff were not on board with the move.
Instead of repeating that blanket statement that he had made in the teaser and on previous appearances and trying to support it, he said that, since Jauron was not at the press conference where TO was introduced in Buffalo, that "it would appear" that maybe Jauron wasn't that enthusiastic about the signing. Basically, all Mort had was an inference that he had drawn from the fact that Jauron wasn't at the presser and, knowing that there were people who were on to him and that there was evidence contradicting his point, he knew that he couldn't present the report that he had intended as absolute fact as he had previously.
When it comes to the Bills, Mortensen is worthless. And, now that he has lost the biggest story that he had in Dallas to Buffalo, I expect his bias to be even worse. But, he wasn't able to get away with it this time thanks to Coach Sal, Pat Moran and Saratoga Slim, whose posts here on the BZ (along with what I heard Carruci report on NFLN) gave me the ammunition to let Mort's colleagues at ESPN know what a fraud his purported inside scoop was going to be. Too bad Mort doesn't have the contacts that Coach Sal and Pat have!
"For Mike and Mike:
Please don't let Mortensen continue to perpetrate his bogus story that Buffalo Bills HC was not happy with the Terrell Owens signing and that it was forced on him by owner Ralph Wilson.
Sal Cappacio who broke the story of Owens visiting the Bills and Pat Moran of Scout.com both have reported that it was Jauron who first expressed interest in signing Owens within the Bills organization. On Sat. evening, Russ Brandon, Bills COO, told Jim Miller of Sirius Radio that Jauron was a major proponent of making the move to get Owens.
According to Vic Carruci, who has as many contacts in the Bills organization as anyone in the media--something that Mort hasn't been able to say since T.Donahoe left--said on NFLN that when D.Rosenhaus called Brandon to inform him that K.Jones was going to re-sign with Chicago rather than sign with Buffalo, he mentioned that Owens would be interested in joining the Bills. Carruci said that Brandon then took the proposal back to the rest of the members of the organization responsible for personnel and, after some discussion, they decided that it might be worth pursuing and, then, took the idea to Ralph Wilson.
If Mort tries to say that this was Wilson's idea and was foisted on Jauron and the coaching staff, there is plenty of evidence unearthed by people who follow the Bills more closely than Mortensen and with more contacts within the organization that this is untrue and that, while he may not have initiated the idea of signing Owens, HC Jauron was on-board with the idea very early on and was a proponent of it.
Mortensen has hated the Bills ever since they fired his buddy Donahoe and has been unprofessionally biased in his coverage of the team ever since. His coverage of the team is simply not to be trusted and should be double-checked before it is aired."
What was interesting and amusing was how Mortensen, when he appeared live in the studio, went out of his way to compliment the Bills fans and backed off on his earlier comments that Ralph Wilson was responsible for the signing and that Dick Jauron and the coaching staff were not on board with the move.
Instead of repeating that blanket statement that he had made in the teaser and on previous appearances and trying to support it, he said that, since Jauron was not at the press conference where TO was introduced in Buffalo, that "it would appear" that maybe Jauron wasn't that enthusiastic about the signing. Basically, all Mort had was an inference that he had drawn from the fact that Jauron wasn't at the presser and, knowing that there were people who were on to him and that there was evidence contradicting his point, he knew that he couldn't present the report that he had intended as absolute fact as he had previously.
When it comes to the Bills, Mortensen is worthless. And, now that he has lost the biggest story that he had in Dallas to Buffalo, I expect his bias to be even worse. But, he wasn't able to get away with it this time thanks to Coach Sal, Pat Moran and Saratoga Slim, whose posts here on the BZ (along with what I heard Carruci report on NFLN) gave me the ammunition to let Mort's colleagues at ESPN know what a fraud his purported inside scoop was going to be. Too bad Mort doesn't have the contacts that Coach Sal and Pat have!