EP 33: Sal Maiorana, Democrat & Chronicle

On this episode of the Moran-Alytics Podcast, Patrick Moran interviews Sal Maiorana, long-time Democrat & Chronicle beat reporter for the Buffalo Bills.

A Buffalo native who spent much of his childhood growing up in nearby Syracuse, Maiorana talks about admiring Bob McAdoo, Gilbert Perrault and OJ Simpson as a young kid and knowing he wanted to someday become a sports writer when he was only in sixth grade. It was a journey that started to come to fruition when he attended Buffalo State College and landed an intern gig stringing Buffalo Sabres games for the Associated Press.

After college Maiorana eventually landed a job at the Democrat & Chronicle. Originally hired as a golf writer, Sal also started covering the Bills beat in 1990. Ironically it was the same year the Bills would play in their first of four consecutive Super Bowls —-not a bad way to start your NFL beat writing career. Sal talks about covering that first Super Bowl and the immediate anguish he felt after Buffalo lost.

They also spend time discussing sports media, including Sal’s take on the balance between friendship and competition among his colleagues, why the game has changed because of guys like Adam Schefter, and his opinion on everything that’s happened at The Buffalo News.

An author of several books, they spend time talking about a few specifically and Patrick’s surprised to learn Sal incorporated fictional characters into some of his historical perspective novels.

Of course, Sal spends plenty of time talking about the Bills, including his thoughts on what he perceives as the ridiculousness of OTA’s, how patient the Bills will be with Josh Allen and discusses a former first-rounder who could find his roster spot in jeopardy this summer.

The interview wraps up with some random topics. Sal reveals his favorite sports movie and city to visit, the one person he’d follow on Twitter if he were only allowed to follow one, and lists the three people dead or alive he’d love to have dinner with.

You can follow Sal Maiorana on Twitter (@salmaiorana), read his work at the Democrat & Chronicle here and check out all of the books he’s authored on Amazon right here.

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