Sports Then and Now

In week 3 of the 1997 NFL season, the New York Jets traveled to Foxboro to face the defending AFC champion New England Patriots in a primetime Sunday night match-up.

This was perhaps the most anticipated game of the early season as Jets head coach Bill Parcells returned to Foxboro for the first time since he left the Patriots following their run to Super Bowl XXXI.

In the two weeks between the Patriots’ win in the AFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl, speculation ran wild that Parcells would leave the Patriots because he was unhappy that he did not have more say on personnel matters.

Five days after losing to the Packers 35-21 in Super Bowl XXXI, Parcells resigned as head coach of the Patriots after four seasons.

In his press conference, Parcells famously said “If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries”.

Parcells would then go on to become head coach of the New York Jets, replacing Rich Kotite who had complied a 4-28 record in two seasons, including a 1-15 record in 1996.

The Jets had actually been 4-32 ever since the infamous “Fake Spike” game where Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino faked that he was going to spike the ball and then threw a game-winning touchdown pass to hand the Jets a 28-24 defeat in a game was first place for the AFC East. Read the rest of this entry →

Team to be called Western New York Flash, Owner’s Story is Classic Buffalo Tale

If this isn’t a classic Buffalo story, I don’t know what is.

Joe Sahlen, owner of a multi-generational family owned meat packing company and maker of the local favorite Sahlen’s Hot Dogs (the official hot dog of the Buffalo Bills) has made his apparently large amount of money honestly. True, he inherited the company from his father and grandfather before him, but he’s done a good job keeping the business from running into the ground like a lot of subsequent generation executives often do. He’s scrappy, intuitive, flies by the seat of his pants, and does things because he wants to.

When his daughter, Alexandra Sahlen, was having to commute all the way to Rochester to play minor league soccer for the Rochester Rain, Sahlen did what any good soccer Dad would do— he bought his daughter a team and brought it to Buffalo, calling it the Buffalo Flash, making sure the team logo looked a lot like the Sahlen company logo, lest anyone forget the connection.

Alexandra had made a friend in Rochester. A man named Aaran Lines, a former New Zealand international was finishing his pro career in the US minor leagues, playing finally, for Rochester Rhinos. Lines had been a decent player but had never coached at any level. Sahlen must have had a good feeling about Lines, because he hired him as the Flash’s head coach.

The team first took the field in the 2009 season in the developmental “W-League.” Despite having difficulty recruiting the best players due to the inception of a new major league for women, Womens Professional Soccer (WPS), Sahlen was able to assemble a good enough team to make the playoffs in their first year. And apparently Lines was a good enough coach to get them there. They lost in the first round but they made the playoffs. Not bad at all for a first year team with a first year coach. Read the rest of this entry →