OTH articles

[Chuck]

Attached is JP's article "Lofton opens up about teammates, techs and more." Some of JP's article is from an interview Kyle had with Zach Schumaker. Attached is the interview, which is over an hour long. I watched the first 30 minutes. A few highlights from the first 30 minutes.

-- Kyle is excited to be playing in front of fans at the RC. Saying Bona has the best fan base in the nation. He said he hears it from opponents saying it is crazy playing here.
-- Kyle’s dad worked at a rec center from 4-10. This allowed him to play basketball everyday.
-- He always played point guard because he was smaller than everyone else.
-- Kyle said a recruiter from Putnam wanted to measure the length of his arms. He thought it was weird.
-- Kyle grew 4 inches in prep school going from 5’11 to 6’3”.
-- At Putnam Kyle said he wasn’t that close to Osun as he hung out with other guys on the team, but on the floor they clicked. When Osun’s recruiting opened back up, Kyle jokingly told Osun that he should come to Bona, so they can play together. Osun said yes. Kyle didn’t believe him with Cuse and Georgetown recruiting him. Osun said I want to play together.
-- In prep school Kyle played twice against Dom. He hit 5 or 6 threes against us and had a couple dunks. When Schmidt told him he just made an offer to Dom, Kyle said give me his phone number. Kyle called Dom and told him they really needed him at Bona.

www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/lofton-opens-up-about-teammates-techs-and-more/article_7066d0e7-5078-50a4-a819-7131d4dd5345.html

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=174785428002853

[Chuck]

Attached is JP's article "Answering three burning questions about Bona." Sports writer who covers Illinois for the Champaign News-Gazette asked 3 questions about the Bonnies.

The 3 questions and JP's responses.
1. How good is St. Bonaventure expected to be this season? “Again, quite simply, expectations for Bona are the highest they’ve been since its Final Four season in 1970 with the great Bob Lanier. Bona has also been part of just about every preseason national ranking list to come out to this point (anywhere from No. 15-25) and figures to start the season as a Top 25 team in the country, which would mark the program’s first national ranking since 1971." JP mentions the return of 5 starters and an improved bench, which was a weakness last year.
2. Who would you consider to be St. Bonaventure's best or, perhaps, most important player? JP named Kyle Lofton as the team's best player and Osun as the most important player. JP said Osun is "a guy with second-round NBA Draft potential.”
3. What’s the best/most intriguing game on the schedule? “Bona did a good job of making sure that its non-league schedule was reflective of a veteran team with sky-high expectations." JP was unable to pick just 1 game, instead he listed the 3 tournaments (Charleston Classic, HOF Shootout and Never Forget Tribute Classic). JP says "this is without a doubt the best non-league slate of the Schmidt era.”

www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/answering-three-burning-questions-about-bona/article_d1605c86-3481-570a-8c28-030462586d3f.html

[Chuck]

Attached is link to JP's article "Bona duo aims for strong senior year, shot at NBA." Following is a small part of article about Osun and Kyle with their shot at NBA.

Bona, in the last month, has welcomed scouts from the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs to watch the duo practice. Perhaps most notably, ‘Shoon and Lofton are actually projected to be taken back-to-back (at No. 56 and 57 of the second round) in the latest 2022 mock draft from NBAdraft.net.

But each also understands that there are tangible improvements that need to be made if they’re going to get there … most notably from an offensive standpoint, for both.

Kyle also touched on how the potential of having fresher legs (with presumably more help off the bench this year) could help to enhance his overall game. Lofton, remember, has led the league in minutes played each of the last two seasons.
“Besides that, just showing my athleticism,” Lofton went on. “I can jump, but a lot of people don’t really see that (he had just one dunk all of last year). It doesn’t help playing 40 minutes a game, but I feel like this year, I can get a little bit of a break and I can really show how athletic I am.”


www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/bona-duo-aims-for-strong-senior-year-shot-at-nba/article_74003915-7bbe-50c8-98c3-4296f36f524b.html#tncms-source=login

Link to NBAdraft.net
www.nbadraft.net/nba-mock-drafts/

[Chuck]

I've watched a few practices. Following is what I've observed from Osun and Kyle during practices.

-- JP states "for Osunniyi, that means becoming a better overall offensive threat."
* I've seen a change in Osun's game, which now consists of 15 foot jump shots. During practices, Osun now scores more with a jumper than in the paint and low post. Then of course it is a lot easier shooting jumpers than taking it to the basket with the rugged duo of 6'9" and 235 pounds Karim and Duro.
-- Osun says “at the same time, future wise, that’s the feedback I’ve been hearing, that they need to see my offensive game more and my body, my strength. I’ve put on a lot of weight this summer and it’s been showing in practice."
* I agree Osun has more muscles, but I think his statement "I’ve put on a lot of weight this summer" is a little bit of a stretch. Go Bonnies did not list Osun's weight as a freshman, but as a sophomore they list him at 215. As a senior Go Bonnies have Osun 5 pounds heavier at 220. Karim and Duro look significantly more rugged at 235 pounds. Osun needs to gain more weight and muscles for the NBA. Go Bonnie lists Andrew's weight at 240 for his senior year.
-- Kyle says "me, personally, a lot of scouts and agents have been saying jump shooting.”
* Kyle has made big improvements with his jump shot during practices. Overall I think Kyle has displayed the best jump shot of the practices I've watched.
-- JP states "Kyle also touched on how the potential of having fresher legs (with presumably more help off the bench this year) could help to enhance his overall game."
* Are we going to see more than just 1 or 2 minutes from Joryam? Joryam is the only person, who has played PG for the reserves during practices.

[bubbaw]

Let’s also link the original story on this topic, here pickinsplinters.com/2021/10/27/osunniyi-and-lofton-seek-offensive-improvements-to-bolster-pro-prospects/

[Chuck]

Buffalo News Jerry Sullivan was fired by Niagara Gazette, Lockport Union Sun and WIVB-TV over following comment made on a podcast “the worst fans really are the women. They don’t get critical journalism. They’re all wannabe cheerleaders. It’s always a dangerous avenue to go down to criticize women in general because they’re better than men generally, but they don’t get it as fans.”

Attached is Chuck Pollock’s article “Women rant proved costly for Sullivan.”

Pollock writes following, which I find very questionable.
1. We’ve grown weary of the patently insincere mea culpas from politicos and celebrities after they realize something they did, said or wrote had offended the public. But having known Jerry for 33 years, I don’t question, for a moment, the sincerity of his apology.
2. In my mind, the biggest service I could provide female readers is to debunk jargon. My policy is to avoid phrases like “bubble screen,” “zone blitz” and “two-deep safety” or risk losing them. If jargon appears in a quote, I add a parenthetical aside explaining its meaning.
3. What’s odd is, since this has happened, there are those who maintain Sullivan never would have been in this spot if he had started his mini-rant with “The worst fans really are the men.” Nobody would have blinked. And, in my view, he would have been exactly right.

First questionable comment from Pollock.
— Have to wonder how sincere Sullivan’s apology was. Shortly after being fired, Sullivan made following tweet “recently, I’ve written countless women’s sports features, from UB basketball and soccer to Medaille bowling, Olympic rowing and Lancaster High golf. It’s sad that due to one stupid comment, many of these types of stories, which go largely ignored in local media, will go untold.”

Second questionable comment.
— It's unbelievable to me as Pollock is committing the same gender bias as Sullivan, saying he does a big service for women by debunking the jargon “avoid phrases like “bubble screen,” “zone blitz” and “two-deep safety” or RISK losing them.” Pollock also states to help women with the jargon “I add a parenthetical aside explaining its meaning.”

Third questionable comment.
— I’m sorry Pollock, your view if Sullivan started out with “The worst fans really are the men” doesn’t help. It is still being gender bias.

Sadly what Sullivan and Pollock do not get is this is not a gender issue, but the difference between a fan and non-fan of a sport.

www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/women-rant-proved-costly-for-sullivan/article_f4431135-688a-581b-bce1-2cd7ffed1c17.html#tncms-source=login
awfulannouncing.com/newspapers/buffalo-sportswriter-jerry-sullivan-firing-sexist-remark-loss-womens-sports.html

[skeller6]

Oh please stop with the defense of censorship.

In America there is no place for censorship. You may have not liked or you may have disagreed with Jerry Sullivan, but Jerry had every single right to express his opinion as an objective sports writer. That is what Jerry does. What Jerry wrote is hardly a firing offense, except in a highly sensitive woke far left world.

America is the free market place of ideas, and again you may not like those ideas, but all Americans are free to express them. That right is a guarantee under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Its not negotiable and never should be.

Jerry's point was that sports journalists on TV and the press tend in the current age to be "cheerleaders" for the sports teams, and not critical thinking journalists. These "cheerleaders" are both male and female, as Jerry on reflection should have stated, but did not. And its not only in the sports realm, we have seen the NYT and WPO turn into advocacy driven mediums, where they have become propaganda machines for one certain point of view (generally far left and anti Catholic). The media outlets and the MSM have relinquished objective journalism and straight up reporting for news coverages that advocate one point of view, without any coverage of opposing views......its a sad reflection on the very poor state of news and sports journalism today.

Jerry and Chuck have never had that problem, they are old school journalists who call it as they see it.....sometimes laudatory and sometimes critical as it should be.........WIBV, the Niagara Gazette and Lockport Sun were just plain wrong..........

[bonaforeva]

Who cares really about Sullivan, he's not a Bona alum or anything

But they were looking for an excuse to fire him because he is often critical of the Buffalo Bills and right now that's a very sensitive and fickle fanbase that doesn't want any critical press.

This was their chance to go back to sunshine and rainbows

---

Living near Buffalo I think its truly insane & funny that they will drag the Sabres through the mud every day but one little critical comment on the Bills and everyone gets upset. Dude, they are owned and operated by the same billionaire, calm down

[bigcat]

From today’s OTH…

The last time Bona lost four in a row, it was a similar point in a transition season: midway through 2018-19 — the freshman year for Bona’s previous core including Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi — when the Bonnies lost their last four in non-conference, then their A-10 opener. That team, however, finished 12-6 in conference play and won two games at the Barclays Center to reach the Atlantic 10 championship game.

[2fal4life]

Dec 20, 2022 21:22:36 GMT -5 Chuck said:

Buffalo News Jerry Sullivan was fired by Niagara Gazette, Lockport Union Sun and WIVB-TV over following comment made on a podcast “the worst fans really are the women. They don’t get critical journalism. They’re all wannabe cheerleaders. It’s always a dangerous avenue to go down to criticize women in general because they’re better than men generally, but they don’t get it as fans.”

Attached is Chuck Pollock’s article “Women rant proved costly for Sullivan.”

Pollock writes following, which I find very questionable.
1. We’ve grown weary of the patently insincere mea culpas from politicos and celebrities after they realize something they did, said or wrote had offended the public. But having known Jerry for 33 years, I don’t question, for a moment, the sincerity of his apology.
2. In my mind, the biggest service I could provide female readers is to debunk jargon. My policy is to avoid phrases like “bubble screen,” “zone blitz” and “two-deep safety” or risk losing them. If jargon appears in a quote, I add a parenthetical aside explaining its meaning.
3. What’s odd is, since this has happened, there are those who maintain Sullivan never would have been in this spot if he had started his mini-rant with “The worst fans really are the men.” Nobody would have blinked. And, in my view, he would have been exactly right.

First questionable comment from Pollock.
— Have to wonder how sincere Sullivan’s apology was. Shortly after being fired, Sullivan made following tweet “recently, I’ve written countless women’s sports features, from UB basketball and soccer to Medaille bowling, Olympic rowing and Lancaster High golf. It’s sad that due to one stupid comment, many of these types of stories, which go largely ignored in local media, will go untold.”

Second questionable comment.
— It's unbelievable to me as Pollock is committing the same gender bias as Sullivan, saying he does a big service for women by debunking the jargon “avoid phrases like “bubble screen,” “zone blitz” and “two-deep safety” or RISK losing them.” Pollock also states to help women with the jargon “I add a parenthetical aside explaining its meaning.”

Third questionable comment.
— I’m sorry Pollock, your view if Sullivan started out with “The worst fans really are the men” doesn’t help. It is still being gender bias.

Sadly what Sullivan and Pollock do not get is this is not a gender issue, but the difference between a fan and non-fan of a sport.

www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/women-rant-proved-costly-for-sullivan/article_f4431135-688a-581b-bce1-2cd7ffed1c17.html#tncms-source=login
awfulannouncing.com/newspapers/buffalo-sportswriter-jerry-sullivan-firing-sexist-remark-loss-womens-sports.html

So Chuck Pollock thinks women are idiots and don’t know what a bubble screen is?

[skeller6]

I think what Jerry Sullivan was alluding to was the propensity of some female sports reporters in Buffalo, both TV and print, of becoming cheerleaders for the Bills. Objective reporting has disappeared in favor of a team ra, ra attitude.
That is not their job......their job as reporters is report the events as they occur, their own personal opinions are irrelevant. If you are writing an opinion piece then that piece needs to be clearly labeled as such......any reporter worth a pinch of salt needs to understand the difference.

[BONA82.5]

Dec 22, 2022 17:06:00 GMT -5 bigcat said:

From today’s OTH…

The last time Bona lost four in a row, it was a similar point in a transition season: midway through 2018-19 — the freshman year for Bona’s previous core including Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi — when the Bonnies lost their last four in non-conference, then their A-10 opener. That team, however, finished 12-6 in conference play and won two games at the Barclays Center to reach the Atlantic 10 championship game.

I love the analogy - but ... In 2018-2019 we had Stockard & Griffin returning - along with Kaputo and Ikpeze (not to mention transfer/bust Poyser). I am an eternal optimist - but I'm afraid that 12-6 in the A10 just isn't in the cards for this year's team.

Hope I'm wrong - but I'm thinking a .500 record would be quite an accomplishment for this group. Expectations lowered for sure.

[2fal4life]

Dec 23, 2022 6:52:58 GMT -5 skeller6 said:

I think what Jerry Sullivan was alluding to was the propensity of some female sports reporters in Buffalo, both TV and print, of becoming cheerleaders for the Bills. Objective reporting has disappeared in favor of a team ra, ra attitude.
That is not their job......their job as reporters is report the events as they occur, their own personal opinions are irrelevant. If you are writing an opinion piece then that piece needs to be clearly labeled as such......any reporter worth a pinch of salt needs to understand the difference.

Exactly. Bills and Pegulas are perfect, nothing to see here 🙄.

[bonaforeva]

Dec 23, 2022 6:52:58 GMT -5 skeller6 said:

I think what Jerry Sullivan was alluding to was the propensity of some female sports reporters in Buffalo, both TV and print, of becoming cheerleaders for the Bills. Objective reporting has disappeared in favor of a team ra, ra attitude.
That is not their job......their job as reporters is report the events as they occur, their own personal opinions are irrelevant. If you are writing an opinion piece then that piece needs to be clearly labeled as such......any reporter worth a pinch of salt needs to understand the difference.

It is not just the women though, it is all Bills fans that are too cheerleader-y

[efsboca]

Dec 23, 2022 6:52:58 GMT -5 skeller6 said:

I think what Jerry Sullivan was alluding to was the propensity of some female sports reporters in Buffalo, both TV and print, of becoming cheerleaders for the Bills. Objective reporting has disappeared in favor of a team ra, ra attitude.
That is not their job......their job as reporters is report the events as they occur, their own personal opinions are irrelevant. If you are writing an opinion piece then that piece needs to be clearly labeled as such......any reporter worth a pinch of salt needs to understand the difference.

That is every news person in the country now. Journalism as it was meant to be is dead.