May Day 10

Also John Guy was a stiff. Donahoe failed, to a point, but they were more relevant during his tenure than now, and I would take my chances with him, if I knew that his successors would be Levy(Brandon), Brandon, Nix (Brandon), and Whaley (Brandon).

Heck, If I were under the age of 20 I would consider those the golden years of the franchise

Agreed on NCAA. Ill watch that for 15 hours sometimes if Hawaii is home. NFL I can barely stomach outside the Bills.

who has been hiring all these people who commit blunder after blunder? It has now been 14 years with no playoffs, and no playoff wins in 17 years. The Constants are the most powerful people: Wilson, Brandon, Littman, and Overdorf. I also don't believe for 1 second that Brandon ever fully relinquished the GM role. Without Jim Kelly, this franchise has won one playoff game post merger. This is a loser franchise that has no hope until there is a different owner. Unfortunately, that might bring a relocation.

Same old crap. Worse yet, legions of fans buy in to the excuses every year and repeat them like catch phrases. Meanwhile, 32 other teams are able to hit bottom and turn it around very quickly and effectively. Here, it is always a rolling 3 year process.

Brandon's ascent through his current position is directly correlated to the team drifting further and further into irrelevance. Its amazing, really. All because he "figured out" that holding training camp at his alma mater in Rochester instead of Dunkirk/Fredonia would be a good idea.

I do think the bubble will burst on the NFL a bit as they continue to forget their fans. The amount of commercials and officials' reviews are completely out of control. The "product" itself is fairly vanilla. Players are too gifted, big, athletic, and technical. It all becomes somewhat of a wash on the field. Take away big hitting and there really isn't all that much left. I much prefer the NCAA game as some "weaker" players lend to much more variability and excitement. The fan atmosphere also destroys the NFL. this is a very good point. Big plays arent as exciting anymore. You used to wait to see a flag on TV, then the graphic. If none were seen you could get go nuts and get excited. Now excitement is tempered that much more until the next play goes off.

Great post. Agree 1000% Would suggest a few breaks in the paragraph though so more are inclined to read it.

really rooting for d00k and Michigan State. Perhaps we will see an Auburn vs Alabama rematch, which is the best match-up IMO. Florida State vs Auburn doesnt sound horrible either.

Been a great couple of weeks. Puts the NFL product to shame IMO. Great game here. The way Auburn moved the ball in the 1st half on a few of those drives was amazing. Some costly mistakes have kept Missouri right there within a point Missouri looks pretty good as well. I am surprised they are even having the season they are. I figured they would be nothing but SEC fodder for an indefinite period of years

It is tough. Its like 3 different teams. You have the "class" of the AFL in the last years before the merger, and you have the Jim Kelly/Polian years Other than that, this Franchise has won 1 playoff game in its history. so Thigpen getting hit in head is my choice

I dont think that a random person is going to buy the team, then look at data to consider whether or not to keep them in WNY Its going to be simple: A bidder(s) who will keep the team local vs bidder(s) determined to move them to Toronto. My money is a bidder to Toronto. More $, more potential corporate dollars, and I feel the NFL is itching to get up there and make Buffalo a memory. Us selling out games at this point isnt even a factor besides providing the NFL with a green light to paint us a "non-deserving" to the rest of the NFL fans (and apparently a few of our own). back to the topic, I do feel like they have regionalized pretty well. There is room for improvement, but it is like scraping an empty barrel without the wins. Success will bring in fans from all over.

anyone know of any other good record joints in the Buffalo area besides Record Theatres?

do you think it may have anything to do with there will be graduating seniors this year who have never witnessed a Bills playoff win (and probably dont remember a playoff game)? not many fan bases in all North American sports can withstand that sort of "neglect".

really? http://www.denverpos...-just-also-rans looks like many teams struggling at the gate http://espn.go.com/n.../_/sort/homePct I can go on ticketmaster right now and buy tickets for Sundays games in Cincinnati and New England and by my count it is "legitimate" sellouts: NE, CAR, and BALT. I cant believe our "marketing genious" GM is making us defend ourselves the league's marketing arm successfully portrays a false image of 100% sellouts which is not the case and # of games is insignificant. The Sabres normally sell out 41, or as close as possible without a great product... only because they have been relevant in the past decade Attendance dropping and shows plainly that winning teams sell out, and teams that stink dont http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl-attendance-numbers-dropping-football-losing-popularity-fans-025400400--nfl.html

I cant argue too much against it... but there are also Detroitses Clevelandses and New Orleanses out there. I think in the NFL there is enough for everyone including Buffalo. At some point the bubble will pop and they will need the heritage and the fans. I think it was a mistake to allow the Jets to hit CNY before Buffalo and unopposed.

I do notice much more pot-shots taken by the media up there and certain people. They like to hold the "Sabres and Bills only exist because of us" over our heads. I also remember being up there when Gilmore was drafted and the paper was basically saying he looked unhappy and speculated that he was unhappy because he was drafted by and had to go to Buffalo. I love Canada/Toronto however. The Rogers Centre is a dump, and I will never support Bills games up there*. Other than that, its cool *if the NFL schedule goes to 18 games, I think I can live with a Home and an Away game.

We can wordsmith this all you want... but in my opinion, you cant scream bandwagon if the team hasnt won a playoff game in nearly 20 years, hasnt even made the playoffs in 14, and has finished better than .500 one time in that period and that was after a terrible start and was fueled by a late run against every bad team in the NFL. How many meaningful games (being the last team listed "in the hunt" doesnt count) have they had after Thanksgiving in the past 14 years? Nobody can truly say for sure that the ticket sales would be the same if they somehow become competitive. In my opinion, for the reasons I stated above, (and what I think is common sense), ticket demand would increase dramatically. I also think if we experience a few good seasons, a few bad, a few good, and so on, the demand would stick (like with the Sabres). The Sabres draw 19,000 a game for 41 games at fairly high prices. All the Bills have to do is bump the demand up past the capacity point for the season (which would happen in 1-2 "good" seasons). Then people (and yes, bandwagoners) would be desperate to go, resale would be high, and many more people would buy tickets even to flip a few (or all). If they start out with a few wins next season, check out stubhub pricing. The fact that Bills fans join Russ Brandon in putting down this fan base is disappointing. It is amazing that we draw what we do at this point, even if prices are low.

That was 3 decades ago NFL is much bigger now Lesser capacity Internet ticket sales Regionalization. Didn't even get to rochester at that point. When the team starts out well... many many people ask me about tickets. All my friends who have tickets use theirs. Stub hub prices get very high. They need to become relevant and sell out the season to create a feeling of perpetual sellouts so people are scared to lose their season tickets and pay top dollar for box office tickets. Then they can gradually increase pricing. Just look at the sabres. Struggled to sell out games forever. They sell almost all the tickets, they aren't cheap, and they have pretty much stunk for 6 of 7 years. All fueled by 2 great seasons. Everyone with an Internet connection is a ticket broker. Just need to get to that point of people perceiving demand.

the Chiefs last season had poor attendance and worse than Buffalo has this season http://espn.go.com/n...12/sort/homePct this season they have high attendance at 98% capacity. what changed?

look at the league attendance this season. There is a direct correlation to winning (or at least recent winning). Winning absolutely sells tickets and it is the oldest principle in the book. http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance fan bleed off for losing (especially for 14+ years worth) is totally expected and not a version of boycott. Apathy is a better word for it. And I agree boycotting in sports is a complete waste of time. You need close to 100% participation to prove a point and display the strength of a fan base. Never will happen. Best you can get would be 10% and that is generous. I remember Schopp organized a Sabres walk-out back in like 2002. It had legs/buzz and a lot of attention. Felt like it was going to be huge. We were out at Headlines at the time and there were about 250 people there. Impressive, but not a dent. Then Miro Satan scored and everyone started flocking back to the seats. Boycott and not showing is our worst enemy at this point of relocation. The NFL does not want the PR stain of moving a crummy team where great fans continue to support. This is why I believe we see in the press "Bills in danger of being first black out" everywhere. It doesnt mention that is only because the Bills didnt opt out of the blackout rule, while most other teams did. People like to point out that in the 90s they didnt always sell out in December, so its a moot point. I disagree. First, internet ticket sales. Second, lower seating capacity. Third, they havent even made the playoffs (or really been competitive post Thanksgiving) since the "Regionalization" efforts to both ROchester and Ontario. If these are going as well as Mr. brandon says, selling out should be no problem. Give us a relevant team.

this thread is about boycott? Im not seeing it

I got Stone Temple Pilots Core (yellow) Queens of the Stone Age and the Chili Peppers those werent the most 'sought after' releases, but the ones I specifically targeted.

I cant stand it when he kicks dirt in our face and each time I consider dropping my seasons. Didnt the New England, Carolina, and Baltimore games all sold out "naturally", right? That is 3. "Manufactured" was the buy-up of the last seats vs Jets, Cincinnati, and KC? Not "4 or 5" like Mr. Slime says. I cant believe Im forced to defend us against this. applies to the all the other teams who cant sell out? http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance

I just wonder if the NFL is expressing concern as the game got some bad press and is a failure in nearly every way. Plus multiple player complaints over terrible field conditions which could result in another lawsuit if ignored. I really dont think Brandon lets the toothpaste out of the tube there if there wasnt anything to it. You also say Rogers should be able to improve over time. It isnt improving 6 years later, and is going the other way. This isn't regionalizing Bills football. By all accounts this is an awful representation of Bills football and the NFL. Honestly, how many people have you encountered at games or here have said that the genesis of being a Bills fan was attending a Bills in Toronto Series game? Regionalization is natural IMO and the resurgence of the Canadian dollar and huge increase of Canadian traffic across the border is the prevailing factor in the increase in CDN ticket sales. There are many, many ways to market to Canadians for games here in Orchard Park. Partner up with malls and hotels and put together weekend packages and bus people in... I dont know. I think once we all admit this is what it is: Easy money for Mr Wilson, and a dress rehearsal for Rogers to own an NFL team, it will get easier to dissect.