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This is what I’m thinking:
* The No.1 sport around here these days is bashing the Buffalo Bills after their first two sorry preseason losses.
But that doesn’t mean people aren’t watching.
The Bills are also the No. 1 TV attraction, getting double-digit ratings in the summer when network affiliates typically get ratings of 4 and under.
The Bills loss to Chicago had a 14.9 rating on Channel 7, meaning 14.9 percent of area households watched Ryan Fitzpatrick and company lose in Chicago. That was higher than the 14.0 the first preseason game had a year ago.
The Bills loss in Denver slipped almost 20 percent to a 12.3 rating, well below the 16.5 for the corresponding game 2 of the 2010 preseason. But there are some asterisks. The 2010 game was at home and the Denver game had a late start – 8:30 p.m. – because of its time zone.
The rating for the Denver game hit a high of 17 before halftime but going into single-digits in the second half when the Broncos dominated. I wouldn’t leave at halftime.
One of the best features during Bills games on Channel 7, is the halftime exercise in which Bills in-house journalist Chris Brown sits down with Bills coaches to watch film on some of the Top 10 performances of 2010 last year. Kyle Williams was highlighted in the Denver game. Good thing the team only has four preseason games because I’m not sure last season had 10 top performances.
* To those who wondered, Buffalo News reporter Jim Heaney said he didn’t ask to return part-time after taking a buyout. His last day at the paper is Friday. Donn Esmonde, Dan Herbeck, Brian Meyer, Scott Johnston and Flick Doyle are among those who will be returning for as little as 10 hours and as many as 19 hours a week as part-timers or job sharers.
If you’re not familiar with Johnston and Doyle, they are both editors in sports, a department that is understaffed largely because of buyouts and health issues.
The staffing level may be responsible for one of the unfortunate errors over the weekend when the paper ran a story about former Bills Coach Dick Jauron on Saturday’s front page with the headline: “Jauron molding Browns’ D.”
The story said “tonight’s” game between Cleveland and Detroit would be a test of the early work of the Browns’ defensive coordinator. The only problem is the Browns had already taken the test – and failed — as reported in an inside page of the sports section. The game was played Friday night, with Jauron’s defense giving up 30 points in a two-point loss to Detroit.
* I caught the legendary investor Warren Buffett (see above) on The Charlie Rose Show carried by one of the local PBS channels explaining why he and other billionaires should be taxed more. As usual, he was a very engaging TV guest and made several good points. But I’m not so sure the Buffalo News needed to write an editorial praising his stand. I mean, how could it not? The guy owns the paper.
* Enjoyed the wire story in the Buffalo News on former CBS anchor Dan Rather that mentioned all his good work on Mark Cuban’s HD Net hasn’t been seen much because of the channel’s low distribution. I know I haven’t seen it as a Time Warner subscriber. TWC used to carry HD Net, but not anymore as far as I can tell. That’s just the way it is – as the late Walter Cronkite – used to say in the cable game.
But looking for HD Net on my HD tier, I was surprised to see a lot of HD channels in the 800 tier that I hadn’t realized existed. You should look yourself.
* Viewers may have been surprised to see an abbreviated 11 a.m. newscast on Channel 2 Monday before the station carried a replay of a Pete Gallivan program of “unknown and untold stories” in the area. Here is the unknown and untold story about the reason for that programming move. The corporate owners of Channel 2, Gannett, were in town to meet and greet everyone at the station, which meant the 11 a.m. news staffers needed time off.
pergament@msn.com

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