The Bills were playing the Tim Tebow led Denver Broncos at 1pm on Christmas Eve. Even though the miracle Broncos had been snuffed by the New England Patriots the week before, the consensus was that the hopeless and injured Bills would lose.

On top of that, the game would be blacked out in the Buffalo and Rochester areas because Ralph Wilson Stadium did not sell out. In some markets, an owner will buy out the remainder of the tickets to ensure a sold out game, but Bills owner Ralph Wilson (or whomever is acting on his behalf these days) did not. To add to that, the Bills had squandered a successful first half of the season to fall to a 5-9 record, with no chance of the playoffs in sight. Add to that the general pessimism surrounding the Bills’ brass after they signed shaky starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to a long term contract but have yet to restructure key cog running back Fred Jackson’s deal (they have merely “assured” him of one, but haven’t inked anything official.)

Given all of that negativity, why would a social media manager ask such a question? You could expect at least eighty percent bitter responses. But the Bills’ asked, and here are some of the actual responses they received:

The Facebook comments section – several hundred deep – felt like a big group therapy session, or at least an extremely curmudgeonly family Christmas dinner. Surprisingly, the Bills pulled out the upset and used a strong day on defense to defeat the Broncos 40-14.

Was it harmless for the Bills to ask such a question via social media, or does it illustrate how out of touch they may be with their fan base?

BWB4 appropriately featured panelists from Grantland and an entire panel about Deadspin. I qualified that with “appropriately” because deep down inside, writers at both publications have all have achieved the pinnacle of every insomniac sports blogger – they make a living writing both ridiculous and serious sports nuggets. (Also, they can wear jeans and faux faded vintage sports tees to work.)

In the Deadspin panel, amongst the discussion of Brett Favre and his privates, there was a discussion of Deadspin‘s long form, non-sports specific work. And within that (all too brief) discussion, Deadspin editor AJ Daulerio mentioned that they want to find a place for that “men’s magazine” style of writing. He specifically called out “men’s magazines,” and didn’t just say “long-form.”

During the first week of October, Grantland announced a collaboration with humor publication McSweeney’s to offer a “best of” compilation entitled Grantland Quarterly. The topics covered will span sports, entertainment and social commentary. Readers will be able to subscribe to a year worth of the publication, or order individual copies for $19.95. Each issue will be edited by site founder Bill Simmons and former GQ editor Dan Fierman, and will include a few print-only exclusives. In a quote to the New York Observer, Fierman says,

“If our site has a problem it’s that we move so fast that readers miss stuff,” he said. The print journal serves up the site’s greatest hits in a medium better suited to long-form journalism.”

Here we have two sports heavy sites, founded and edited by sports journalists, who are trying mightily to carve out a niche as the online men’s magazine. And by men’s magazine, they mean they are striving to be the 21st century version of Playboy’s articles, GQ’s interviews and Details discussion of entertainment and social topics. They want to write long-form pieces for the sake of being wordy, which sometimes results in both sites taking topics deserving of brevity and drawing it out like taffy.

But wait – what’s so wrong about just writing about sports? And why is the only “respectable” journalism “long-form”? And why do the powers-that-be at both sites believe that men’s magazines are the only places where respectable sports and cultural journalism occurs?

If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Deadspin seems to be grasping at this long-form, men’s mag model after “mistakingly” going in the tabloid direction with its exposes of ESPN’s inner workings and Favre’s exploits (which, mind you, had been long out there, but carefully forgotten – it’s funny how Super Bowl titles erase irresponsible behavior and painkiller addiction.) Deadspin no longer wants to be seen as the sports version of TMZ, but that may just be what they’re good at. Readers turn to them for that. Why abandon sports for exposes of gender bias, interviews with little known comedians and ponderings about middle age?

And Grantland striving for the men’s magazine model isn’t surprising. The site needs a focus, and trying to fit that model could give a sometimes schizophrenic site just that. Currently, Grantland resembles an entire bulk foods aisle in a supermarket. You want essays on movies? Those bins. You want pondering on reality TV? Those six bins in the middle. You want sports? That entire wall over there. Bill Simmons achieved popularity for blending pop culture with sports in the same articles; the next logical step to him was to combine the two on the same website. Many of the writers are promising, but the site serves up too much variety mixed with a ton of inconsistency, and the combination keeps you from making it a regular destination site. The lack of focus will doom Grantland, and I doubt labeling the site a “men’s magazine” or a haven of long-form journalism is enough of one to solve its issues.

Adopting a long-form journalism model is dicey for any website, given that internet usage studies have shown us that anything “below the scroll” is often disregarded. In a world further dominated by internet usage on hand held devices, brevity will be even more useful. Banking on the average reader hanging on for 2,000 plus words is a risk.

In addition, are sites serving a variety of topics useful in this day in age? Isn’t internet usage training our consumption to include various sources for various subjects, and to curate them all on our own (through Google Reader, through Facebook, through Twitter)? Why then is any one site trying to be everything to everybody? Why do we need the magazine model when readers essentially are their own magazine editors?

What happened to writing clearly written and interesting stories on sports? What happened to just wanting to be good at that? And why do the writers and editors of both feel that they need to grant themselves credibility by labeling their sites as wanna-be “men’s magazines?”

Jerry York, head coach of Boston College (who are ranked tops in the country this week by USCHO), took to 98.5 The Sports Hub to speak with The D.A. Show (I can’t find the link on their site, but I’ll keep searching.) During the interview, the station announced that they will be broadcasting select Boston College hockey games this season starting tonight against Denver. This is a giant get for Hockey East, who already have games on NESN and CBS College Sports this season.

Maine head coach Tim Whitehead, who split their opening weekend, losing to Merrimack but winning against Northeastern, spoke to the good people at the Maine Sports Network on Wednesday. Whitehead may be on thin ice in Orono – losing their season opener to a team who had not beat them at home since the Clinton administration is not the way to start. He has to motivate his team to play big and consistent, or Maine fans may strengthen their call to boot him as head coach.

Vermont’s Kevin Sneddon spoke with the Chris and Rich Show on 101.3 ESPN Burlington late Thursday afternoon. Sneddon has a group not unlike last season’s Boston University team – talented youngster heavy. It could be rocky for the Catamounts, who open their season tonight against the U.S. Under 18 Team, but once their freshmen get their feet under them, they could be dangerous. I am eager to see if they can harness sophomore Connor Brickley’s enthusiasm, which last season tended to manifest in big NHL style hits that aren’t exactly kosher in college hockey.

The Sneddon interview is also significant for another reason. I happened to mention to my friend Chris that my fantasy hockey team was once named, “Kevin Sneddon’s Playoff Beard.” I find Sneddon’s post season choice of a playoff goatee as opposed as a full out beard fascinating. It’s meticulously kept, unlike most unruly and grizzly hockey beards. I once wrote that I wanted to name my imaginary garage band after it. But since I’m tone deaf, I named my fantasy hockey team after it instead.

Like a good friend, Chris then mentioned my fantasy hockey team name when introducing Sneddon. The response by the coach is priceless.

Merrimack vs. UNH in March 2011. Photo by Walter Rossini.

I’m a college hockey writer without an online home this season (time is my enemy – I couldn’t commit enough time to any one website, so I bowed out for the season), so more of my random college hockey thoughts will get featured on this blog.

In the Straight Out of Andover department, Merrimack College announced their first ever hockey television coverage deal on Friday. WBIN-TV Channel 18 (formerly MY TV 18 Boston/Manchester, NH) will air three of the Warriors’ home games in December and January. The program’s strong 2010-11 season spurred on this new deal, said WBIN’s general manager Gerry McGavick in a statement:

“Coming off a 25 win season, an NCAA berth last year and entering this season with a top 15 national ranking, the Warriors will be a strong addition to the WBIN team.”

Merrimack will not be the only team WBIN gives college hockey love to this season. University of New Hampshire announced a 12 game deal with the station this week, spanning four of the school’s winter sports. WBIN will air six men’s hockey games, and two games each for the women’s hockey, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams. UNH men’s hockey had been without a television deal since New Hampshire Public TV (WENH) stopped covering their home games in 2008. The deal also gives the America East conference additional television exposure for basketball, which is always coveted.

Here is WBIN’s men’s college hockey schedule thus far:

Fri. Nov. 18 Mass.-Lowell at UNH 7 p.m.
Thu. Dec. 8 Boston U. at UNH 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 17 Union at Merrimack 7p.m.
Sat. Jan. 14 Merrimack vs. Maine 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 21 Merrimack at UNH 7 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 28 Boston College at UNH 7 p.m.
Sun. Jan. 29 Merrimack vs. Providence 4 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 10 Northeastern at UNH 7 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 17 Vermont at UNH 7 p.m.

But in a sad piece of news, WBIN’s rebranding has seemingly signaled the end for my favorite cable TV show, Dollar Bill’s Discount World. Dollar Bill announced himself in September that his show would be ending its over decade long run on the channel and be going web-only. For those of you who never had a chance to watch, Dollar Bill is an overly hyper and occasionally inappropriate salesman who sells closeout and discount wares in his Derry, NH warehouse. I salute you, Dollar Bill, and wish you all the best as you enter the world of online video.

Me, caffinated.

Coffee (preferably Dunkin Donuts), my iPhone, good eye makeup and a physical, old school paper notebook. The iPhone serves as my audio recorder and long commute multi-tasker. The notebook because there are still times it is quicker to write in longhand, plus it holds all of my to-do lists. The eye makeup helps me not look like a crazed zombie, and the coffee is pretty self-explanatory.

Thus, my silence here is understandable. Between move-in at work and a plethora of writing assignments, I am engaging in mega-prioritization.

One of those writing (well, kind of writing, more social media) assignments is that I have been named a Yahoo! Trending Insider. A few weeks back, I entered a contest to find one of Yahoo’s most influential users, and I was named a finalist. I was whisked away to a day of training, and am now in the midst of the contest…of which I am losing badly.

This was to be expected in the first two weeks of the contest. Student move in at my full time job was going to be my handicap, plus the fact that I had every single writing assignment ever assigned to me due in the same week. But I am ready and willing to make up for lost ground.

How does it work? I’m supposed to share Yahoo’s trending content via my social networks. Thus, I give you a link, and you click on it and read it. Now, I won’t link to every piece of trending content, given that I know my audience doesn’t turn to me for “Scarlett Johansson cell phone pictures.” (But if you do, here’s a link to Yahoo’s story on that, so please click on that so I get points.) I’ll try to pick content that is trending that you might actually be interested in. I’ll link to it here, on Twitter, Facebook and Google +. The links will be tagged #YInsider or say “I’m an Insider!”

So click on the links, and let’s see if I can make up for lost ground. The contest ends during the first week of October. They will name a top five – my modest goal is just to crack the top five. Right now, I’m in the bottom three. If I lose, oh well. I got a lot of great stuff from the contest already (like a yodeling Yahoo button and a night in a swanky hotel), and I am already flattered just being included in the top nine.

Now let me get back to my students, my coffee and checking off to-dos like Buffalo Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick checked off touchdowns last Sunday against Kansas City. It was like a Oprah giveaway. “Scott Chandler, you’re getting a touchdown. CJ Spiller, you’re getting a touchdown. Stevie Jackson, you’re getting a touchdown. YOU’RE ALL GETTING TOUCHDOWNS!”

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And now, here’s the legal fun!

“I have been selected to be a Yahoo! Trending Now Insider!  For the next six weeks, Yahoo! will be providing me with exclusive trending content, which I will be sharing with all of you.”

Said Lefsetz:

“Despite the prevalence of prepubescents, our rock stars are going to be older and older, because not only does it take that long to get noticed, but it takes that long to be good.”

Is this the way writing – in particular sports writing – is going?

Is writing becoming something you need to dabble in part time before you can make a sustainable living doing it? Is the new sports journalist the 29 year old who has had a blog for years, balanced writing with a non-writing full-time career, and eventually cobbles together enough to fashion a full-time living from it?

That’s both the rub and the reward of the Internet, online media and the growth of blogging. It gives those of us who dreamed of writing for a living but were discouraged and confused a second chance. But it widens the pool of writers, making things difficult for those who devoted schooling, internships and low paying police/fire newspaper beats to their craft.

Who is the new sports media member? Is it the nearly-30 blogger who tries their best to emulate the writers who inspire him or her, or is it the writer with the print journalism degree who took a more traditional path? Who will be the sportswriter of the future?

In this new media world, are sportswriters going to be much older when they finally, to quote Lefsetz, “get noticed” and “be good”?

John Mayer at Berklee on July 11, 2011. (Photo: Berklee College of Music)

I recently read coverage of singer/songwriter John Mayer’s July 11th lecture at his alma mater, Berklee College of Music. Mayer returned to his Boston music school to share his ups and downs musically and with his celebrity.

Mayer touched upon his once obsessive use of Twitter, which he eventually had to abandon. Berklee Blogs reported from the lecture:

“(Mayer struggled) to curb using social media, which should have been an outlet for promotion but eventually became an outlet for artistic expression. Mayer shared that he found himself asking himself questions like ‘Is this a good blog? Is this a good tweet? Which used to be, is this a good song title? Is this a good bridge?’

And possibly more alarming, Mayer realized that pouring creativity into smaller, less important, promotional outlets like Twitter not only distracted him from focusing on more critical endeavors like his career, it also narrowed his mental capacity for music and writing intelligent songs.”

Most telling was this direct quote from Mayer:

“I stopped using Twitter as an outlet and I started using Twitter as the instrument to riff on, and it started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I couldn’t write a song.”

Even though I’m tone deaf, Mayer’s insights regarding Twitter hit home for me as a sports writer. I devote so much of my time engaging my sports communities via Twitter, and having worthy and in-depth conversations there. I’m using ideas and thoughts on Twitter that might be better explored via my sports blog.

It is an easy rut for sports bloggers to get stuck in. You leave some of your best material – the discussion of a player’s role on a particular team, a discussion of how you would set hockey lines, who you would hire for a vacant coaching position – on Twitter. You might not even realize you are putting your creativity priority on Twitter, but step back and look at what discussions you’re spending a lot of time having on Twitter. You might be leaving a lot of topics there that you could be having on your blog.

Remember that even though Twitter has exploded with popularity, not all of your blog readers are there. Consider about expanding on topics you’re discussing on Twitter on your blog. Or write about a topic first on your blog, then share the blog post via Twitter and let the post generate the discussion. By putting your blog as creativity priority one over Twitter, you may not run into difficulty finding time to post or coming up with post ideas.

Start by asking yourself: Are you using your blog or Twitter to “riff” on sports? Is whatever one you’re using the one you want to be using?

- The snarky, insightful and wildly inconsistent figure skating and gymnastics blog, Aunt Joyce’s Ice Cream Stand, interviewed 1998 Olympic ladies figure skating gold medalist Tara Lipinski this week and posted it in two parts. (Here’s Part 1 and Part 2.) As a Lipinski fan growing up (I know, a rarity), I was interested in reading it. The interview doesn’t disappoint. In fact, it may be one of the best interviews with an athlete I have read in a long time, regardless of sport.

Lipinski won her medal months shy of turning 16, retired from competition weeks after, tried to make a professional skating career for herself, suffered serious hip injuries, and retired at the sport all together at 19. She had an entire career by the time most of her peers were finishing freshman year of college. She is now 29, back involved in the sport, and is blunt, truthful and talkative. She basically admits she was obsessive as a skater, tells the backstories figure skating fans have longed for for years, and is a perfect example of how much one completely changes between 15 and 29. The comments section of the two part interview still has Lipinski haters, but they are outnumbered by readers convinced to change their long held negative opinions of her after the interview.

- On tonight’s theme of comebacks, the CoverGirl Classic is this weekend. It is a gymnastics meet that determines qualifiers for the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, but also is used for already qualified gymnasts to test skills and build buzz heading into that event. Since next year is an Olympic year, the CoverGirl Classic is being used by several 2008 Olympians who want to mount comebacks for another Olympics. Shawn Johnson, Massachusetts favorite Alicia Sacramone and my all-time fave Chellsie Memmel (who I saw compete live at this same event when she was 11 and knew she was talented) will be among those trying another Olympic run for size.

The meet will be broadcast on Universal Sports, but there are several members of the online media covering the event online who will blow them out of the water. Blythe Lawrence of Gymnastics Examiner must be the world’s fastest typist, because her notes columns and running commentary are seemingly posted within seconds of an event. Lawrence is a great example of using notes style columns to produce online content. She also has good relationships with gymnastics photographers which allow her to feature slideshows of in-meet photography not found elsewhere.

Gymnastike is a model of how to use online video in sports reporting/blogging, and not just in the world of gymnastics. They have endless amounts of clips and interviews, from carefully edited to quick, shaky takes, that their audience eats up. For them, online video has helped them find a nice niche in the gymnastics community.

Then I started going to sports networking events, and confident me came back. At the first Boston Sports Blogapalooza last spring, I was tentative at first, but lost the trepidation within ten minutes. I felt like I knew what I was talking about, and I was interested in hearing from my fellow attendees.

Confidence reinstated post-Blogapalooza, I started to sign up for networking events in higher ed and in general social media. Things quickly returned to the status quo: my glass of generic white wine in hand, I would stand in the corner after ten minutes of being intimidated by the discussion and attitudes around me. Or I would try to pitch in, even if they didn’t need the help. (I became really adept at unofficially filling in at registration tables and “admiring” scenic views out windows.)

Going into the third edition of the Blogapalooza on Saturday, I didn’t have high hopes. I had signed up to present during a panel, and was excited to do that, but I was so beaten down from my introversion that I didn’t know if I could work a room. Within a minute of walking in, I recognized three people. I turned the corner, and ran into more. Then I started talking to new people. Introvert? What introvert? I didn’t stop talking for five hours. I gave my panel, I did interviews with The Pulse Network and Comcast SportsNet New England, and I bounced from group to group.

Afterwards, it hit me: I’m not really an introvert. I just have been trying to fit in places I might not fit in. I might not be cut out for higher ed, much like some of my higher ed colleagues aren’t cut out to be a sports writer. You do best at what you’re passionate about, and I am more convinced than ever that I’m passionate about sports media.

Just a week and a half prior, I had remarked to a higher ed colleague that I felt like I am at a crossroads in my career: am I in higher ed technology or am I in sports media/social media? I need to choose one to throw all of my effort behind so that I don’t stagnate in either. At the time, I was leaning towards higher ed, and was entertaining thoughts of dropping sports writing all together.

But why would I dump the one field that is obviously the field that I am most comfortable with? There is a reason I can work a room at an event like Blogapalooza, and that I struggle in higher education events, that I feel like I’m welcome at one and feel like an outsider at another.

In some respects, Saturday’s event kept my career debate alive. It at least gave me more initiative to find at least a happy medium. And for that, I have to thank Joe Gill and his team for putting the event together and being such strong advocates for building a bustling Boston sports blog community; Chris Villani, Ken Fang, Kevin Paul, Kisha T, Ryan Durling, Amy Blue, Mike Riley, the BC Interruption crew, and the Days of Y’Orr crew for being so friendly and fun every time I see them; Kathy McDonnell for being my fellow social media panelist and someone that always makes me laugh; and Butch Stearns and Jess Camerato for interviewing me and being able to pronounce my last name.

I’ll write up more about the NHL’s presentation and overall conference later (I am in charge of technical support for a new student orientation this week, so time is tight), but there was one ironic and timely point in it that I must share. DiLorenzo mentioned that one of the things they have struggled with is responding via their NHL Twitter account in the wake of disciplinary news: “No matter what the discipline department decides, we’re going to get tons of tweets that say ‘You’re wrong.”

He mentioned that at 2:40. By 8:40, the NHL had another massive disciplinary situation on their hands: Vancouver Canucks Aaron Rome’s hit on puck-less Boston Bruin Nathan Horton that resulted in a severe concussion.

Rome was suspended four games by the league for the incident, effectively removing him for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Finals. On Twitter the reaction to the NHL’s decision varied immediately, ranging on the Goldilocks scale: some fans thought it was too much, some thought it was too little, and some thought it was just right.

Assume you are one of the two folks who man the @NHL Twitter account (yes, there are only two, mentioned DiLorenzo Monday.) How would you effectively use your Twitter account to respond to each type of fan? Do you not respond to one group? Do you respond to all? Because of the mass of Tweets, do you just not even try to respond to them at all? Do you focus on the negative ones first, where it sounds like you’re losing a fan?

And if you are a fan who Tweeted at @NHL about today’s disciplinary decision, what response were you hoping to get?