Sports Then and Now

Ryan Fitzpatrick has experienced both ups and downs since taking over as quarterback of the Buffalo Bills.

Many Buffalo Bills fans were quick to jump on the Ryan Fitzpatrick bandwagon after he won the starting position from Trent Edwards. Many of the same fans are also the first to throw him under that bandwagon, after his first bad game in seven starts. The focus on drafting a franchise quarterback is on again in Bills Country, after being muted for a while as the Harvard quarterback created offensive numbers not seen in Buffalo since the early days of Drew Bledsoe’s ill-fated tenure. Fitzpatrick joins Bledsoe, Johnson, Losman, and Edwards on the scrap heap of premature faith blown up.

It is true that by his performance against the Vikings in the 31-14 debacle in the MetroDome (oh, excuse me, “Mall of America Field”) Fitz took a step backwards. But was it simply that—a step backwards after six consecutive brilliant and inspired performances– or is it more that he was playing over his head for a while and the Vikings game exposed the man behind the curtain?

It is certainly true that Fitz’s play in Minnesota often resembled that of his predecessor, derisively dubbed “Captain Check Down” by Bills fans, when he made little dump passes after being unable to find any targets downfield.  Yes, he may have seemed intimidated by the Minnesota defensive line at times, and his fumble on the Minnesota one yard line was less than we have come to expect from Fitzpatrick’s leadership since he assumed the starting role.

You can’t blame Bills fans for being quick to judge, the moment the first little hole pops up in the blue superhero tights. It is a self-defense mechanism often observed in people who have been burned in relationships a series of times. The more often people are burned in love, the more quickly they anoint the new squeeze as the love of their life, but in turn the more quickly they dispatch said person after the first crack in the veneer is spotted. Falling fast is usually followed by falling hard. Read the rest of this entry →

Whether natural or of their own making, over the last few years the Buffalo Bills seem to always be in some kind of fog.

Being from Buffalo is an addiction in itself. I’ve written on that before.  And there’s a sense in which being from Buffalo is completely intertwined with and inexorably woven into the fate of Buffalo’s major league sports teams.  Buffalonians are more likely to be Bills and Sabres fans than the per capita rate of devotees to the local teams of a typical major league market.

This is especially true of women. I have lived in several sports markets between growing up in and returning to Buffalo and have never seen as many fanatical female sports fans (with the exception of Oklahoma and Texas, for college football) than in Buffalo.

I have a hunch that it is as much about seeking vindication for living in America’s most misunderstood and unfairly maligned city as being a true football or soccer afficianado. But whatever the etiology of this affliction, one thing is clear. It is an addiction, and now that the Bills have hit bottom, it’s time to consider an intervention.

They say one has to hit bottom before one is willing to face one’s addiction and make the life changes necessary to overcome it. Of course we all know there’s no cure, there’s only recovery. Where the Bills are concerned, recovery may be only as good or as long as the losing streak, but since even the most optimistic pundits are now predicting a 0-16 season, it seems that conditions are ideal to stare the addict in the the mirror and admit we’ve confronted the addict, and it is us. Read the rest of this entry →

This is the fifth and final installment of a sports satire

Could the WNBA be the answer to what ails sports in Buffalo?

I thought he’d given up on me. It has been almost a year since I first heard from Brave Throat. Despite my best efforts to light a fire under the idea of bringing the Braves back to Buffalo,  I had received less than a grand and a few season tickets in commitments—and to be honest, was eventually distracted by life and gave up on the idea.

I’ve been looking over my shoulder, though, fearful that he’d eventually show up in a more Dickensian form, terrorizing me with dream-travel to a Buffalo future sans the Bills and Sabres. I was already imagining it—Buffalo back in the AHL and the AFL as in (the new, old) Arena Football League.

But, no. He was understanding of, if not completely resigned to my failure.

As I suspected, he would not use text messaging to get my attention. He simply popped into my room when I was asleep last night, appearing as some kind of hologram. He had company. Randy Smith. That threw me for a loop.

The two gave me a moment to absorb, then Ranallo aka Brave Throat spoke up.

“OK, John,” I think I over-estimated Buffalo. I should’ve known.” Read the rest of this entry →

It’s true: I’m shameless. Last year, around this time, I pimped an article by heading it “Bills Win Super Bowl.”

This year, some word play with the names of people we would rather not be the ones upon whose shoulders our team and city’s fate now rests, is my best shot at grabbing readers. No one would fall for the Super Bowl tag again, and not because it would be the second year in a row that I used it, but because the capacity of the typical Buffalo fan to even imagine such a reality is exhausted.

Now after having dreams of Holmgren nixed, dreams of Cowher Chan-neled to the crapper, dreams of McNabb, or Clausen, or McCoy, or even Tebow have been spr(ung) for CJ and the rest of the 2010 Draft Class—they aren’t necessarily bad in a vacuum but they are certainly not the best apparent players to fill the Bills’ biggest voids—the best I can do is have fun with the names of those we wish we didn’t have to associate with the speeding bison logo, and a very wild night-flare (opposite of nightmare) that it all works out perfectly in the end.

Forget imagination, optimism, even wishful thinking; now the best I can offer is a wild, crazy dream. Sort of the Buffalo football version of The Wizard of Oz , and this is certainly not the time to pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.

Work with me.

So here’s the dream I had last night. Read the rest of this entry →

Will Tim Tebow be heading to Buffalo?

The Buffalo Bills blogosphere is on fire. Every armchair GM in Buffalo is frothing with angst.

What’s wrong with Buddy Nix? Why hasn’t he signed any big name free agents? Why hasn’t he leveraged his inside knowledge of the Chargers to pluck some of their best pieces to complete the Buffalo puzzle?

And, oh my God, no! Tim Tebow! What does Jim Kelly think he’s doing, recommending and romancing this guy who obviously can’t be retooled for the NFL? Good thing Kelly doesn’t have any personnel authority at One Bills Drive.

OK, all of you! Breathe!

Is anyone familiar with the expression, “Crazy like a fox?” I’m going to suggest a new expression that is the Bills translation of same. “Genius like a Nix.”

I was one of the biggest advocates for getting big names like Bill Cowher on board. I wrote an article here at ST&N and was interviewed on Buffalo radio about it.

Read the rest of this entry →

Former Dallas Cowboys and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Chan Gailey will become the new head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

I had heard the buzz yesterday, that the Bills would be announcing Chan Gailey as their new head coach. I’ll have to admit, it was underwhelming at best. Then I looked at his record and was almost impressed.

For instance, I did not know that (with the exception of Kansas City in his most recent brief assignment) every NFL team that Gailey has worked for, has gone to the playoffs each year he was there. So, I was starting to convince myself to be at least cautiously optimistic.

But then, as I was eating breakfast today, Chicago’s morning sports anchor announced the same story, ending with the comment in quotes above. The sick feeling returned.

Yes, I’m a die-hard, you might say many times dead, Buffalo Bills fan from childhood. I bleed red and blue. My scabs and scars always take the faint, understated shape of a buffalo. And while disappointment is a staple in the Bills fan’s diet, the club’s inability to land even an A-list coordinator for its head coaching vacancy, when so many A-list head coaches are available is one of the worst blows to the gut we Bills fans have ever had to endure. Bar none!

If we take our 91-year-old owner seriously when he said he would spare no expense to get top tier football people into all aspects of the team’s operation, and especially in the general manager and head coaching positions, then it appears that no amount of money or autonomy was enough to entice any of a “Who’s Who in Football” list to accept, or in some cases even interview for the job.

Buffalo News columnist Jerry Sullivan put it in print– that which most of us would have preferred not having to say, hear, read, or think out loud– that the Bills’ inefectual leadership search indicates that the Buffalo Bills top job is not even the 32nd best coaching job in football (there are 32 teams in the NFL). Sullivan based this on the fact that at least six potential candidates turned down the position or refused to interview for the positon. Read the rest of this entry →