Archives for September 2006

‘Kowal’s loyalty to the team isn’t wavering, despite the fact the Bills have entered another rebuilding mode. “There have been some lean years, leaner than this,” he said. “If I lasted [46] years, I must have patience.”‘

‘”During the [Tom] Donahoe regime, we were always given this hype every year, and they were always teeming with optimism,” said Bob Walion, 52, a 19-year season-ticket holder who lives in Albany and makes the five-hour drive to the game. “I just felt after awhile like they were hyping ticket sales rather than being forthright about the team. I feel a sense of betrayal by the Donahoe regime.”‘

‘At Bills gatherings in Los Angeles, you might catch J.P. Losman’s mom watching a Buffalo game with 60 of her closest friends. In New York, you could have met Marv Levy signing copies of his book about his years as coach of the Bills. At a Bills bar in any big city in the country it’s possible to run into Tim Russert, the closest thing there is to a professional Bills fan.’

‘Jeff Crump, president of the Boston Bills Backers chapter, says that when the Bills are playing well, they will get 300 to 400 people to watch them at The Harp, a bar-restaurant near TD Banknorth Garden. Crump gets a kick out of the fact that The Harp’s TV screens feature the Bills’ games prominently, while the games of the hometown Patriots “are off on one screen in a corner somewhere.”‘

‘”My Willis McGahee jersey is a great magnet for Bills fans in London – and we’ll meet in the most surprising places,” Manning said via e-mail. “I have been stopped in stations, airports, bars, in the street – all over London, really – when I am wearing my Bills gear. I tell them all to join me at the Sports Cafe come fall.”‘

‘”I ran into Bryan Cox there last year. He offered to buy me a beer and I turned him down.”‘

‘”I’ll be there even if they’re 0-16,” he said. “I love them. I can’t help it. I’m not crying when the game’s over, but it hurts me when they lose and the game matters. And it’s a long ride home when they lose.”‘

‘”My husband was very open to the whole idea,” Natasha said. “The wedding was great. It was fun and it was different. We had a few family members and 2,000 screaming fans. What better way to say, “I do’? To this day, we still get people saying, “That’s the couple that got married here,’ and it is a moment that we will never forget.”‘

‘”Unless you’re death-bed sick, you don’t miss the game,” he says.’

‘”The great thing about a Bills game is that for a $52 ticket, it’s an all-day experience,” Johnson said. “I show up at 5:30 in the morning and wait at the chain link fence. We have a pre-tailgate at the fence.”‘

‘”I respect Marv Levy,” Amyot said. “He’s obviously a brilliant man. You do have to question the age. Marv says it’s a state of mind. We’ll see. He only has so many tools to work with. We’re not expecting much this year, but Marv is a good man.”‘

‘”If they ever moved the team, this town would be sick. I think a lot of people would leave the area . . . and I might be one of them.”‘

‘”It’s a good thing that people aren’t going to worry about us,” said running back Willis McGahee. “We’re the underdog, we’re at the bottom, not going to do nothing. That’s a plus. But we still have to go out and prove them wrong and execute from the beginning to the end.”‘

‘The strangest thing happened when Youboty returned to the Bills. Jeannet had always wanted her son to wear No. 26, in celebration of July 26, 1847, the day Liberia was founded by liberated American slaves and declared its independence. But the number belonged to safety Rashad Baker, who was waived in the final roster cut. Youboty was wearing it on Wednesday. “I really wanted the number,” Youboty said. “It meant a lot to my mother.”‘

‘The New England Patriots have just one receiver on their current roster who has caught a pass from quarterback Tom Brady in a regular-season game.’