Talking Buffalo

This episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast is taped at a spot where Patrick Moran demands credit for unearthing what he considers the best chicken wing hidden gem in Western New York— The Audubon North in Amherst. There, Moran is joined by New York Upstate Buffalo Bills beat reporter Matt Parrino for a lengthy chat about the Bills—after they rave about the wings and chicken fingers.

Parrino just completed his first year covering the Bills beat after spending the past handful of years working in the UFC and living in Las Vegas. Moran asks him how things went during his ‘rookie” season and the two discuss some of the challenges that came with 2018, relationships formed with his colleagues and his favorite road trip of the season.

From there they transition into a Bills 2018 season review and Parrino offers his take on many topics, including the surprising emergence of both Robert Foster and Levi Wallace, the failures of Kelvin Benjamin and Nate Peterman, Lesean McCoy’s future, the changes coming on offense and of course plenty of Josh Allen talk.

You can follow Matt on Twitter at @MattParrino and check out his work at newyorkupstate.com.

Be SURE to go check out The Audubon North (3025 Sweet Home Drive) and try their wings. We went with 10 Hot Cajun Double Dipped and 10 Hot wings and they were amazing.  Seriously and you have my word this is no paid endorsement— Audubon North literally may be the most underrated place in all of Western New York for wings, and that’s not even what they’re known for!  The chicken fingers are even better.   Trust me, you won’t be sorry and I don’t recommend spots lightly— this is easily a top five chicken wing joint in the area.

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On this very different episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran hooks up with his buddy, Tone Pucks for their semi-recurring “Pat with Pucks.”  Typically the segment is taped via Skype with the two 1,300 miles away, but with Moran being in Buffalo for the holidays they hook up at a North Buffalo Starbucks with Moran’s mobile podcasting gear, and mediocre audio ensues!

After a little small talk they get into the Buffalo Bills, starting by reflecting on the great career of retiring defensive tackle Kyle Williams before turning their attention to Sunday’s big 42-17 season finale victory over Miami.  Pat and Pucks go over performances from Josh Allen, Tremaine Edmunds and Shaq Lawson—all of who may have played their best game of the season.

They also select the 2018 Bills MVP and LVP, and neither select the same guys.

Some time is spent discussing the Buffalo Sabres, who are somewhat reeling following that record-setting 10-game winning streak earlier this season.  Pucks (@tonepucks) is concerned about Jason Botterill’s willingness to pay the price to acquire another top six forward and is flat-out pissed off after Jack Eichel was given a “maintenance day” from practice by Phil Housley on Sunday.

Of course, there’s “This Week in 80’s Music”, which this time highlights the top 10 songs from 31 years ago this week in 1987. Both are merely lukewarm to the selections, sans a one-hit wonder that gets Pucks excited.

Before leaving, Tone uses his Puck Drop on people celebrating a vicious block on a defenseless player while Moran has Notre Dame haters for his Pat Peeve of the Week.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran has some of the guys on from the 716 Sports Podcast for a chat.  Justen, Jeff, Mike and Steve join to talk about their tremendously underrated sports podcast.

The guys talk about how the podcast came to be and some of the strengths that make their show pleasing for fans. One of their biggest strengths is the professional sounding audio they produce, an art often taken for granted in today’s world where many hobby podcasts are so hastily recorded and thrown together that the audio can be unlistenable.   The other thing that makes the 716 Sports Podcast a great show is their willingness to engage in topics beyond just the Buffalo Bills and Sabres. Sure, there’s plenty of conversation on both teams, but the guys go out of their way to include discussion on the Bandits, Beauts and many other Western New York matters that rarely get on-air time elsewhere.

There’s also a cool story about how FIFA for EA Sports and beer (of course) get them through the lean times. It’s a podcast all Buffalo sports fans should have in their podcast rotation.

You can follow the 716 Sports Podcast on Twitter @716SportsPodcast and check out their website/podcast at www.716sportspodcast.com.

Before the interview Moran has an extended monologue, where he tells listeners how much he hates Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook for screwing him out of a Moran vs. Moran fantasy football championship matchup, and gives everyone an update of how the Knowledge McDaniel story (go back to episode No. 59 for full context) ended up playing out down in Florida.

Finally, Moran-Alytics Podcast MVP to a Buffalo Bills great and LVP to Pro Bowl complainer awards are handed out before putting this episode to bed.

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Follow Patrick Moran on Twitter @patmorantweets and “like” the Moran-Alytics Facebook page.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran interviews Kevin Snow, co-host of the Half Hour Hockey Show on a variety of topics.  Along with Buffalo sports media mainstay Kevin Sylvester, Snow helps anchor one of the best Buffalo Sabres focused podcasts you’ll find anywhere.  Snow talks about how their podcast got started, the process he and Sylvester go through each episode with a heavy emphasis on producing professional sounding audio.  Their show recently featured Danny Briere, one of the most popular former Buffalo Sabres in team history as a guest and Snow let’s fans know what Briere’s up to.

The focus then shifts to hockey and Snow admits his surprise with how well the Sabres have played this season.  They discuss Jack Eichel’s ascension from potential franchise player to legitimate superstar as well as the steady rise of rookie Rasmus Dahlin before Snow drops a hot take on Jeff Skinner being far different than former Sabre Evander Kane.

They end by talking about the “Conquering New Ground” book on Ronda Rousey that Snow had published in 2017, including his personal thoughts on Rousey as a person and performer.

You can follow Kevin Snow on Twitter @kwsnow, catch the Half Hour Hockey Show on Soundcloud (as well as tons of other platforms) and order Snow’s Ronda Rousey book on Amazon.

After that Moran is joined by Michael Necci for their “Necci Digs It” segment.  Today they’re expressing frustration over some fans being upset that the Buffalo Bills victory over Detroit on Sunday meant dropping four slots in the NFL draft order.  They also comment on the continued rise of Robert Foster, the steady play of Lorenzo Alexander, the uselessness of Charles Clay and the absurdity over Josh Allen vs. Tyrod Taylor continuing to being a thing with social media.

They also premiere the Necci Interest Scale, where Necci measures his interest on several sports and pop culture topics. You can follow Mike Necci on Twitter at @manecci.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran indulges himself with WWE talk and in doing so enlists the assistance of one of the best wrestling minds around.  Jason Solomon of the Solomonster Sounds Off podcast joins for an extended interview.

The two discuss several topics, including Solomon’s podcast he’s been at since 2007. We find out how he got started on it more than a decade ago, what his process is, some of the incredible wrestlers he’s interviewed through the years and what’s been his key to longevity.

From there they transition into WWE talk and Solomon offers his insight as to why WWE is failing so miserably lately, evidenced by plummeting ratings. The two agree part of it is an abundance of heel and face turns, so much that it’s hard to keep tract of them.

They conclude by running down Sundays’ TLC pay-per-view card and Solomon offers insight and predictions for each match.  Well, most anyway as he saves a few for his own podcast airing the day of the show.  You can follow Jason on Twitter at @solomonster and check out his award-winning podcast at solomonster.podbean.com as well as all the standard podcasting platforms such as Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Sticher, etc.

Directly before the Solomon interview, Moran has the recurring “Run In With Joe” segment featuring his buddy Joe from New York City (@buffalowins).  The two quickly agree Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is essentially playing by himself on offense at this point, and Moran gives Joe a list of five Bills players that he thinks has the most to play for over their last three upcoming games.

The two also hit on the Buffalo Sabres bouncing back after a five-game winless streak and talk a little Buffalo sports media, as it appears the Buffalo Maven is no more, at least in regards to Bucky and Sully writing for it.

Finally, the Moran-Alytics Podcast MVP award is handed out to Tre’Davius White for non-football reasons.

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Follow Patrick Moran on Twitter @patmorantweets and “like” the Moran-Alytics Facebook page.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran interviews one of the driving forces behind the growing success of Trainwreck Sports.  Zach Sheldon AKA “Maniac” joins the podcast for an interview about a variety of topics.

The two spend time talking about Trainwreck Sports and the ways in which it’s grown over the past few years covering sports in Western New York.  Maniac discusses what prompted him to join Trainwreck and how collectively they’ve grown and transformed it into a brand an increasing amount of Buffalo sports fans are familiar with. He also talks about separate podcasts Trainwreck Sports puts out covering the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and the UB Bulls respectively, some of the guests they’ve landed on their shows and reveals what’s planned in the near future for one of the true growing outlets of Buffalo sports coverage.

You can follow Maniac on Twitter @zachsheldon and check out all the audio, video and written content from Trainwreck Sports at www.trainwrecksports.com

Immediately after that Moran is joined by Michael Necci (@manecci) for a second consecutive week because hey—if it’s not broke don’t fix it, right?  The two discuss the Buffalo Bills loss to the New York Jets; a game the Bills were seemingly in control of throughout until the final minutes. They offer takes on Josh Allen perhaps already becoming the biggest riverboat gambler (apologies to Ron Rivera) in the NFL, Robert Foster emerging into a star, the defense playing well enough to win but again failing to close a game out, and dig a grave for soon-to-be former special teams coach, Danny Crossman.

They also hit on a few other items from the NFL, talk a little hoops, try to figure out if the New York Yankees are all-in for Manny Manchado, and marvel at how amazing Lady Gaga was in “A Star is Born.”

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Follow Patrick Moran on Twitter @patmorantweets and “like” the Moran-Alytics Facebook page.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran interviews the greatest kicker in Buffalo Bills history.  Steve Christie joins the podcast for an extended 40 minute interview.

The two discuss Christie growing up in Canada playing soccer before starting to kick for his high school football team. It ultimately led to a scholarship at William & Mary for college and Christie continued on to the NFL, signing with the Tampa Bay Bucs as a rookie in 1990.

After two losing seasons in Tampa, Christie’s career took a major arc when he signed with the Bills in 1992.  Christie recounts the call he got from Bill Polian that convinced him Buffalo was the right fit, and what it felt like competing with the very popular Scott Norwood during training camp. Not only did Christie win the job, he went on to become the Bills all-time leading scorer.

Christie spends considerable time talking about his nine-year Buffalo career, including the crazy, emotional 32 point comeback against Houston in the playoffs, of which Christie nailed the game-winning overtime field goal.  He also talks about his Super Bowl record 54-yard field goal against Dallas, the pain of losing to Tennessee in the playoffs and offers great insight into several former teammates, including Andre Reed and Jim Kelly.

Immediately after that Moran is joined by Joe (@BuffaloWins) for another “Run-In With Joe” segment.  Joe offers his thoughts on the Bills cutting Kelvin Benjamin, Josh Allen’s progress, the Buffalo Sabres recent mini-slide and closes with a take on WWE champion Daniel Bryan, who’s enjoying a nice heel run.

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Follow Patrick Moran on Twitter @patmorantweets and “like” the Moran-Alytics Facebook page.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran chats with KCTV5 Kansas City sportscaster, Tom Martin about a variety of topics.

The two talk about Martin growing up in Houston, Texas before choosing Missouri for college over Syracuse (among others) to pursue sports journalism.  Martin spent time honing his craft in Missouri and Louisiana before making his way to Buffalo in 2015 after landing a job at WIVB-TV.  Martin looks back on his time in Buffalo, speaking very highly of the city and its people while explaining the difficult decision he faced before ultimately moving on to a job at KCTV-5 in Kansas City in August of 2017.

Martin discusses the excitement that covering the Kansas City Chiefs has brought this season, including the unworldly emergence of Patrick Mahomes as a superstar quarterback. Of course, the Chiefs were rocked with scandal this past week when star running back Kareem Hunt was dramatically cut from the team just one day after video emerged on TMZ showing Hunt committing physical violence against a woman in a hotel hallway. Martin offers his perspective on Hunt and makes a prediction on if we’ll see him back in the NFL again.

Before heading out Martin goes through the Moran-Alytics Podcast traditional mini-lightning round, where among other things we learn of a romantic city to bring your lover and three unorthodox guests at his dream dinner table.

You can follow Tom Martin on Twitter at @TomKCTV5 and check out his work at KCTV5.com.

Immediately following that, with “Pat with Pucks” segment partner Tone Pucks on the injured (sick list) Moran has a chat with buddy Michael Necci (@manecci) about the Buffalo Bills in his Moran-Alytics Podcast debut. They discuss how much Josh Allen won them over following his performance on Sunday, the special teams gaffes and penalties that frequently make watching the Bills insufferable, and Necci has a take on rookie linebacker Tremaine Edmunds before a quick preview of what to expect in future segments between the two.

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Follow Patrick Moran on Twitter @patmorantweets and “like” the Moran-Alytics Facebook page.

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On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran has an interview with Rochester based sports reporter (13WHAM-ABC) Jenna Cottrell on wide variety of topics both heavy and light.

Only in her mid-20’s as the time, Jenna was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma cancer a few years ago.  She discusses first feeling sick late in 2016, being diagnosed and her initial reaction, the support that’s helped through her battle and for the time being, defeating the deadly disease.  Amazingly, her brother also had cancer at just 15-years old.

On a more lighter note, they discuss last year’s NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Jenna, while shooting video for her station on the sideline was in the wrong place at the wrong time as Mike Evans and Tre’Davius White got caught up near the end zone and Evans was sent barreling into Cottrell, who literally went flying with camera in hand.  The video went viral and because she wasn’t injured was able to laugh about it afterwards.

There’s plenty of other ground covered, including Cottrell growing up in Saratoga Springs, how a basketball game between Syracuse and UConn decided her college fate, how the opportunity at 13WHAM came about as well as her takes on sports/social media issues and of course, Cottrell does the mini-lightning round at the end of the interview and Moran learns they have something in common when it comes to favorite movies.

You can follow Jenna Cottrell on Twitter at @jennacottrell and check out some of her work at 13Wham Sports in Rochester.

Immediately after that Moran is joined by his buddy Joe from New York City for his recurring “The Run-in With Joe” segment.  Joe (@buffalowins) is pretty annoyed when Bills fans get mad over Josh Allen to Tyrod Taylor comparison from last week, talks about the amazing job Jason Botterill has done building the Buffalo Sabres into a (current) winner, weighs in on the Washington Redskins claiming Ruben Foster off waivers and is disgusted with WWE programming of late, particularly Monday Night Raw.  He also gives a Netlix recommendation for fans to watch.

Before signing off on this episode, Moran hands out “Terrible Tweets’ hardware to Piers Morgan.

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Follow Patrick Moran on Twitter @patmorantweets and “like” the Moran-Alytics Facebook page.

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This episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast features another installment of “Pat with Pucks” as Tone Pucks (@tonepucks) joins Patrick Moran to discuss Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and 80’s chart topping music from 1982.

The two begin by discussing the Bills 24-21 victory on Sunday over the severely underachieving Jacksonville Jaguars, a game that turned the Bills way after Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette was ejected in the third quarter for fighting with Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson.  They discuss that series of events as well as the job rookie quarterback Josh Allen did in perhaps the best performance of his young career.  Also, Kyle Williams may literally be ageless and Tone Pucks, an official himself, explains how bad he thinks the officiating crew was in this game.

After that they talk about the red hot Buffalo Sabres, who find themselves riding a nine-game winning streak as of Tuesday. Pat and Pucks compare the excitement of Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner playing together to the days of Pat LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny while singing the praise of head coach Phil Housley for the way he’s brought along Rasmus Dahlin on the blue line. They also examine if Jason Botterill may end up a buyer at the NHL trade deadline a few months down the road.

In “This Week in 80’s Music” Moran runs down the Top 10 songs on the billboard charts from 36 years ago, the week ending November 27, 1982.  Featured on the charts were songs from Don Henley, Ton Basil and Lionel Richie among others.  We also find out Moran’s first crush during this rundown while Pucks plays sing-a-long to Hall & Oates and Neil Diamond tunes.

Before getting out Tone Pucks gives the Pegula’s a little love in his Puck Drop, while Moran berates fans and the media for the #PayJeffSkinner hashtag.

Finally, a trio of early Moran-Alytics Podcast segments return: A Buffalo columnist earning “Terrible Tweets”, The Jaguars decision-makers receiving LVP and Moran’s daughter capturing MVP honors.

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Follow Patrick Moran on Twitter @patmorantweets and “like” the Moran-Alytics Facebook page.

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