Talking Buffalo

On this unique episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran is joined by singer/songwriter and former finalist on Season 13 of The Voice, Addison Agen for a wide-ranging interview.

In 2017 at just 16 years old Addison auditioned for the voice and got chair turns from both Miley Cyrus and Adam Levine.  She originally went with Miley as her coach but after a loss in the battle rounds would up with Adam after both he and Jennifer Hudson used a steal on her. Choosing Adam paid off as she quickly became a show fan favorite and frontrunner, becoming the first contestant the entire season to hit the Top 10 on the iTunes charts with passionate vocals and girl-next-door personality that vaulted her all the way to the popular show’s finale, where she ultimately finished in second place.

They spend plenty of time talking about Addison’s journey on the show, including her taking listeners inside the long and arduous auditioning process that few fans know about.  Addison also discusses why she chose Miley initially but was thrilled to end up with Adam, dealing with nerves before hitting the stage, the relationships she developed on the show and more.

Every good story starts somewhere and Patrick gets Addison to open up about her upbringing in Fort Wayne, Indiana—the daughter of a music teacher and record store opener. Addison discusses her childhood as well as a teacher who had a great influence on her deciding to audition for The Voice.

They also spend a little time learning what Addison has been up to post-Voice, including new music she’s working on and opening up at some shows in Detroit for legendary iconic rock star Bob Segar before wrapping the interview with the podcast traditional Lightning Round, where we learn some Addison fun facts including her favorite non-music activity, place to visit and three musicians she’d love to have over for dinner.

You can follow Addison on Twitter at @AddisonAgen and be sure to check out her website at www.addisonagen.com for news, music, shows and plenty more.

After that Patrick’s joined by his buddy Joe (@buffalowins) for another installment of The Run-In With Joe.  After a little small talk on what Joe’s up to while visiting his hometown of Buffalo, the guys get down to business and discuss the severe overreaction of Josh Allen supporters on Twitter before, during and after the Buffalo Bills season opening victory at the New York Jets. As usual with Allen debate his performance varied, with supporters jumping on those critical of Allen’s play early on in the game despite him being at least partially responsible for four turnovers on Buffalo’s first six possessions. The guys agree that Allen turned things around in a fantastic second half and earned praise for the victory but it doesn’t put him above being criticized for a shaky opening two quarters.

Joe also has a strong take on if it’s at least plausible that injured Buffalo tight end Jason Croom is on the roster in part due to his relationship with the owners’ daughter before both offer a prediction on the Bills vs. New York Giants game this coming Sunday.

As usual, the segment concludes with Joe’s final take, called “The Finisher” and this time it’s regarding the term culture as it pertains to the Bills and football in general.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran’s longtime friend Tone Pucks (@Tonepucks) returns for a long overdue segment of “Pat with Pucks.”

The Buffalo Bills went into New Jersey on Sunday and defeated their division rival New York Jets to win their season opener, erasing a 16-point second half deficit en route to victory.

The guys break down the win, including a troubling first half that saw Bills quarterback Josh Allen responsible for four turnovers yet the Bills still went into the locker room for halftime down six points. The two debate how much of the turnovers fell on the shoulders of Allen and how much was simple unfortunate luck.

They also discuss the emergence of wide receiver John Brown as an immediate difference maker, the second half coming out party for rookie Devin Singletary and an extraordinary effort from the defense to stymie Sam Darnold and the Jets offense.

They also hand out game awards, find the best path to the Bills winning 10 games and take a stroll around the NFL with stops in New England, Cleveland, Green Bay, Miami, Kansas City and Tampa.

Tone finishes with a memorable final take/Puck Drop, where he praises the job general manager Brandon Beane has done building the franchise and lays out why he thinks Buffalo ends the season 11-5 and in the playoffs.

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On today’s milestone 150th episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran is joined by recurring guest Joe Marino from The Draft Network/Locked on Bills podcast for an extensive Buffalo Bills and NFL season preview/prediction show.

They start with the Bills and discuss the reasoning and fallout of Buffalo surprisingly releasing running back Lesean McCoy last week.  How much of the load Devin Singletary is ready to handle as a rookie is examined and while not a fan of McCoy personally, Moran acknowledges that he meant a lot to the franchise and gives credit where its due for Shady playing a huge role in helping end Buffalo’s 17-year playoff drought in 2017.

Meanwhile Joe offers takes on Cody Ford, the offensive line, a potentially elite defense flying under the radar and Josh Allen’s realistic ceiling as a second-year quarterback.

From there they go into Bills season superlatives, with the guys offering predictions on this year’s team MVP, Rookie of the Year, breakout player, dud and how many games the team will win in 2019.

The Bills portion of the podcast ends with Patrick reading off some “interesting” bold prediction takes from fans on Twitter, including Cole Beasley catching 100 passes, the Bills having six Pro Bowlers and defense and Josh Allen taking the reigns as the NFL’s leading fantasy football scorer.  Uhh, sure.

If you’re not a Bills fan there’s plenty of NFL talk as well.  The guys discuss how Josh Rosen is being set up to fail, Jared Goff having 134 million reasons to be happy, running back holdouts becoming an annual thing and a boring Hard Knocks with the Oakland Raiders on HBO summer.

To conclude, just like with the Bills segment Patrick and Joe offer several NFL predictions, including what teams will make the playoffs, conference championship games and Super Bowl picks as well as MVP, Rookie of the Year on both sides of the ball, breakout players and fantasy dud selections.

You can follow Joe on Twitter @TheJoeMarino and check out his written work at The Draft Network as well as his Buffalo Bills podcast, Locked on Bills.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran interviews Mary Margaret Johnson of WIVB-TV Buffalo on a variety of topics that’ll give sports fans in Western New York an opportunity to know more about Channel 4 in Buffalo’s brand new digital sports reporter.

They spend time talking Johnson’s childhood in Dallas where she was born and raised a Cowboys fan. She explains how sports have always been deeply rooted in her and that her dream had long been to attend the University of Texas, a goal she’d ultimately accomplish.

While in college Johnson had a few internships that helped prepare her for the sports reporter and weekend anchor job she earned at a TV station in Abilene, Texas after college.  She talks about some of her duties and fun times she had on that job.

After three years there the recently took her job at WIVB-TV in Buffalo and discusses how that opportunity came out.

They also discuss her role at Channel 4, her initial impresses of Buffalo, chicken wings and social media philosophies before finishing with the Mini-Lightning Round, where we learn several fun facts including her favorite sports movie, a game show she can dominate, what Queen song she’d slay at karaoke and three historical figures she’d most like to have over for dinner.

You can follow Mary Margaret on Twitter @mmj5838 and of course check out her work at wivb.com and on the air at News 4 Buffalo.

After that Moran has a solo segment discussing his recent post power ranking all 60 spots in Western New York he’s had chicken wings at. He talks about his methods for ranking wing spots, the huge reaction he’s received since publishing the post and reads off several questions and comments from followers on his Twitter page.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran is joined by NYup.com Buffalo Bills writer and recurring guest Ryan Talbot to discuss the Bills exciting preseason finale win over Minnesota, put a wrap on the preseason, project the 53-man roster Buffalo will take into the regular season and much more.

The two discuss happenings leading to Thursday night’s preseason finale, including Zay Jones’ mother’s incredibly bizarre tweets and guard Wyatt Teller being traded to Cleveland along with a seventh-round pick for fifth and six round picks.

Attention then turns to Thursday night where despite being a meaningless preseason finale the game turned into a legitimate nail biter in the fourth quarter as Buffalo scored 21 unanswered points late to finish the preseason a perfect 4-0 for the first time in franchise history.

After a game recap Patrick and Ryan go through the Bills by position and project who’ll make the final 53-man roster, specifically focusing on potential tough decisions coming for the final spots at wide receiver and the offensive line.

They finish by trying to figure out why the Bills over/under win total in Vegas has remained at 6.5 and Ryan gives his prediction on what Buffalo’s final record will be.

You can follow Ryan on Twitter @RyanTalbotBills and check out his Bills coverage at NYup.com.

After that Sean Chandler from the popular Sean Chandler Talks About channel on YouTube provides a movie review of Angel Has Fallen, the third film in the “Has Fallen” trilogy starring Gerard Butler as a secret service agent who’s framed for an assassination attempt on the President.

Chandler was a guest on the Moran-Alytics Podcast back in February and at the time he had roughly 87,000  YouTube subscribers to his channel.  Today it’s hovering around 135,000 and growing because he produces entertaining content almost daily, ranging from movie reviews to trailer reactions and franchise countdowns.  Be sure to check out his page and hit the subscribe button.

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On today’s episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran meets up with Michelle Girardi Zumwalt, Senior Producer for Pegula Sports & Entertainment at one of the Western New York’s most well-known franchises, Tim Hortons for a wide-ranging conversation.

From growing up in Western New York a Buffalo Bills fan to Nardin High School and eventually St. John’s Fisher College we learn about Michelle’s formative years, including her love for journalism and what made her decide to get into the storytelling business.

After moving to New York City following college, Michelle eventually landed a job at NFL Films and over the next decade would become a three-time Sports Emmy Award winning producer.  They discuss some of her personal accolades as well as what led her back to her roots in Buffalo when the opportunity to join Pegula Sports and Entertainment came out—a professional marriage made in heaven.

Of course, no feature interview on the Moran-Alytics Podcast is complete without the Mini-Lightning Round and we learn several fun facts about Michelle, including what career she may have pursued if producing didn’t work out, what her karaoke jam is, what her three all-time celebrity dinner guests would be and much more.

You can follow Michelle on Twitter @chellegz and of course be sure to check out many of the Bills and Sabres projects and recurring series she puts together, including the Bills Embedded Series on YouTube.

Before the interview with Michelle, Patrick opens up the podcast by elaborating on a horrifying moment during his son’s high school football game in Florida last weekend.

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On this episode of the Moran-Aytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran sits down with Buffalo News Executive Sports Editor Josh Barnett for a conversation recently taped in a conference room inside News’ sports department.

The two discuss several topics over the course of roughly a half hour, including steadying the ship at TBN after a tumultuous 2018 that saw massive changes to the sports department. In particular they discuss the job Lance Lyswocki did in his first season covering the Buffalo Sabres beat after transforming from a MLB beat writer in Pittsburgh.

They also geek out a little and talk wrestling, including thoughts on Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, Elias and Lacey Evans, which prompts Barnett to share a few stories from his wrestling journalism background.

The conversation concludes with Moran bringing up Barnett’s appearance at a recent blogger/podcaster meetup in downtown Buffalo and how Barnett’s relationship with people in sports media sails beyond just the mainstream men and women.

You can follow Josh on Twitter at @ByJoshBarnett and of course continue to support local journalism by subscribing to The Buffalo News.

After that Moran hooks up with Joe from NYC (@BuffaloWins) for another recurring installment of The Run-in With Joe.  Today the guys dissect a Buffalo Bills Top 100 Player of All-Time list recently compiled by Sal Maiorana of the Democrat & Chronicle, highlighting areas they agree with while each compiling a list of players they feel are ranked either too high, low or not on the list at all.

Joe also brings typical strong takes on how much he hates NFL preseason and oversensitive Bills fans on Twitter hurt over negative articles written about Josh Allen.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran finishes his “Wings With” series by sitting down with Buffalo News veteran reporter and columnist Mike Harrington at the Amherst Pizza and Ale House for a chat on a variety of topics.

After devouring pit charred Crown Royal BBQ wings on the back patio of the bar, the two had a discussion about wings including Moran’s absurd wing consumption count during his Buffalo trip while explaining how it went from a joke to at least semi-serious now that people are placing stock into his wing reviews and rankings.

From there they discuss some of Mike’s summer, including a trip to Lambeau Field with sites and scenery that left him envious and longing for Buffalo to do more visually with sports presentation.  They also talk about how Mike has gotten to enjoy more of the summer – a far cry from this time last year when he was essentially on an island covering the Buffalo Sabres mostly himself after an exodus of Buffalo News veteran writers that included his Sabres beat partner John Vogl.

Both praise the great job Lance Lysoscki did his first season with The News  covering not just the Sabres beat but hockey for his first time ever after previously covering the Pittsburgh Pirates in MLB.

Of course they spend considerable time talking Sabres and as you’d expect Mike comes with strong takes on several matters—a clear must-listen for any hockey fan.

They wrap with Patrick asking a series of fun random questions before ending on a serious note as Mike passionately discusses the importance of people supporting local journalism.

You can follow Mike on Twitter @ByMikeHarrington and of course support local journalism by subscribing to The Buffalo News either online, print or both.

Immediately after Moran’s joined by Aaron Quinn (@AaronQuinn716) of Cover 1 for the first time in over three months.  They hit on several Buffalo Bills topics including the perceived progression of Josh Allen, how at least one of them may have underestimated the significance of Cole Beasley, the level of concern with offensive line injuries, Duke Williams, Tyree Jackson, Darryl Johnston and more.

Make sure to check out Cover 1 for some of the premiere Buffalo Bills content you’ll find anywhere.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, the summer “Wings With” series continues as Patrick Moran meets up with Jay Skurski, Buffalo Bills beat reporter for The Buffalo News at Snyder Bar & Grill in Amherst for wings and a discussion on a variety of topics.

Jay’s go-to neighborhood spot for wings, Moran had never heard of Snyder before this meet up and was blown away by their wings, especially the dry rub Cajun. Moran runs down all the spots he’s hit during his Buffalo podcasting trip (20 through 16 days as they taped this) and declares Snyder’s the best of all first-time places he’s tried. For the record, Snyder didn’t sponsor this episode nor give out complimentary wings to have nice things said about them—they’re simply legitimately very good.

After eats and obligatory wing talk the two settle into more prominent discussions including The Buffalo News, where Jay staunchly defends both himself and the paper when it comes to criticism with fan interactivity and a stronger presence on social media. By listening to Skurski you can tell their topics he’s  passionate about and occasionally bothered by him being lumped into any perceived generality. From there they dig into Buffalo Bills talk and as always Jay’s insightful on several Bills issues, including concerns over Mitch Morse and the offensive line, a defense that should be even better than last year and Josh Allen’s ability to become a better quarterback in year two. Jay  also sets a number of total touchdowns he thinks Allen needs to accumulate in order for him to have what would be a successful sophomore campaign.

They wrap with some fun Bills fantasy questions, where Moran runs off five groups of three former Bills players from Buffalo’s past and asks Jay to select one from each to put on the 2019 Bills roster.

You can follow Jay on Twitter @JaySkurski and of course check out his work at The Buffalo News.

Special thanks to Snyder Bar & Grill for not only good wings but also turning the jukebox off so the boys could tape the podcast inside the bar.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast presented by Pulse Cellular, Patrick Moran continues his “Wings With” series while visiting Buffalo, this time hooking up with hugely popular Buffalo Bills beat reporter at The Athletic, Joe Buscaglia for wings and a chat about several topics.

For a second straight episode Sonny Red’s in Lackawanna played gracious host and hooked Joe B, myself and his lovely girlfriend Sarah up with insanely delicious wings.

After finishing up feasting, Sarah headed to the bar for a few Sangrias while Patrick and Joe hit the record button and chatted through the bar noise on several things, including running down all the spots Moran’s banged out wings during this latest Buffalo stay.

Of course, the conversation turned to substance when Joe started revealing how the opportunity to join The Athletic came about and why he decided it was the right place for him, with opportunities to work on the football side with Tim Graham and Matt Fairburn chiefly among them.  Buscaglia also talks about how the friendship among his coworkers is not only fun personally but also bleeds well into their professional lives, as each are willing to help each other even when their name isn’t in a byline.

They also spent plenty of time talking about the Bills and as you’d suspect Joe has unmatched insight and thoughts on several key positional battles.

Before calling it a day Moran drops an impromptu “Ask Joe B.” segment, where he asks Joe a handful of random questions and we get some fun replies, including learning what karaoke songs both Joe and Sarah could totally rock out.  It’s a fun interview with perhaps the best Bills reporter in the industry today.

You can follow Joe on Twitter as he closes in on 100K followers, @JoeBuscaglia and of course check out his work at The Athletic.

Thank you yet again to Sonny Red’s for being an amazing host and even more importantly having some of the best wings in town. Seriously, if you live in the Southtowns or hell, even if you don’t the place is worth the ride for the wings alone—not to mention the nice dining and outdoor back patio.

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