Archives for April 23, 2006

‘I was in Chicago and Mr. Wilson called me and told me he was going to change general managers and asked me for some recommendations. We were about eight or 10 minutes into the conversation and he said, "How about you?" I just sort of blinked and said, "Are you serious?" And he said, "Yes. I am." And it sounded extremely intriguing. I loved working with him. I enjoyed my time in Buffalo, immensely. The Buffalo Bills meant a lot to me. It was exciting. I felt my adrenaline flow, and I slept on it overnight and called him in the morning and said, "If your offer is still there, I’m game."’

‘It’s easy to see that lower-revenue teams are going to need assistance from high-revenue teams. The only main guideline agreed upon when the new collective bargaining agreement was OK’d was that if teams spend more than 65 percent of their gross revenue on players they get help. Green Bay had $200 million in gross revenue in 2004, 10th best in the league. Player costs are expected to be about $120 million. So that puts No. 10 at the 60 percent mark. If Forbes’ numbers are correct and the Bills’ revenues are $173 million, the Bills are spending 69 percent on player costs.’

‘Buffalonians aren’t afraid to mix football with politics; they sent Jack Kemp, a star Bills quarterback, to Congress. Representative Martin T. Meehan, Democrat of Lowell and a die-hard Patriots fan, said Flutie’s endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton in her 2000 Senate campaign ”in my view was the most important endorsement she got in that campaign" and bestowed her instant credibility upstate. But Weld might want to consider the overall record: The Bills have lost four Super Bowls, while the Patriots have won three Super Bowls in four years.’

‘You’ve got to hand it to Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson: He knows how to push all of the right buttons. While his concerns about his NFL club’s future haven’t been completely resolved, the 87-year-old Wilson is feeling a lot better than a couple of weeks ago.’

‘”It’s kind of fantasy football,” he said. “It’s fun, it’s meaningful, it’s exciting, it’s an enjoyable experience. And you’re never wrong on draft day.”‘