The Senator

$15 + $5 tip at Vito’s - he cuts out all the gray ones. There’s a new place half a block from my home - looks pricey, but it has a bar. .

I’m pretty sure that’s already in the works. .

Congressman Tom Reed blasts Goodell and Tailgate Village... https://reed.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2790 https://www.whec.com/news/tom-reed-critical-of-new-tailgate-village-at-new-era-field/5340357/ .

Which horse does Ed like in tomorrow’s Derby? The one thing Brady hates, besides taking a hit, is pressure up the middle. Said so himself. Says it makes it hard to see the field, can’t step up into the pocket, can’t step into his passes. Ed Oliver is going to make Marcia cry. .

HAPPY NATAL ANNIVERSARY!!!! ?? .

I can’t stand Brady, because he’s so damned good and the Pats have owned the Bills for so long, but way cool of him to take part in the long/running gag! Kimmel is the funniest guy on late nite TV. . .

Can you imagine playing a pro football game at Fenway? They also played at Harvard Stadium. Sh*tty field. My Boston buddies and I would play a pickup game of touch football every Superbowl Sunday morning, back when we were younger and somewhat athletic. We snuck into Harvard Stadium a few times and played on that sucky, muddy field. I didn’t mind the Pats so much when I lived there - even had season tix to Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. Back then, the Bills ‘glory days’ of Marv, Polian, Bruce, Jimbo, Bennett, etc., had yet to begin, and I liked Grogan, Flutie, Hannah, Tippett, Coach Ray Berry, et al. Irving Fryar was always good for an entertaining sound-bite as well. Now, like every Bills fan, can’t stand the mofos! .

Tim Russert was in SF on assignment, and heard about this place, North Star Cafe, at Powell and Green, where me and a couple buddies convinced the owners that you can watch the 49ers at any bar in the city, but if they’d become the Bills Bar, we’d guarantee a full house every Sunday. It happened, and one day this giant bear of a man wandered in, sat down at the bar, ordered a beer...it was Russert. We talked about the Bills, Canisius High, and his youth in South Buffalo. What a friendly, totally unassuming, and just wonderful man. .

I have a Yardbarker of my own... says Bills are goin’... 19 and 0 baby!!! GO BILLSSS!!!! ??? .

Two questions: 1) Who the **** is Greg Gabriel? 2) Why the **** should I care what he thinks? .

It was truly a wonderful, magical era. Going to War Memorial Stadium on Jefferson and Best, the Championship celebrations at Thruway Plaza, the pride and excitement we all had about our Bills - it was a special time. What still amazes me is how little money most of those guys made as professional athletes. Gogolak played out his option and left the Bills for the NY Giants because Ralph wouldn’t pay him $30K/year! Many of those guys had to take off-season jobs to make ends meet. A simpler, more innocent time indeed. .

Nothing Cowturd says ever bothered me, because I’ve never heard a word of it, and never will. .

Jack is one of my all time WNY favorites, both as a player and as a politician - but, amazingly, he was initially disappointed when Lou Saban realized the Chargers were trying to hide him and convinced Ralph (who, as we all know, was cheap ?), to pony up the hundred bucks. Jack was a skier, and was hoping Denver would get him. This brief bio was forwarded my way from a friend and mutual admirer... After being selected by the Detroit Lions in the 17th round of the 1957 NFL draft, Kemp was cut from the team before the 1957 NFL season began. He spent 1957 with the Pittsburgh Steelers and 1958 on the taxi squads of the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants. The Giants hosted the NFL championship game, known as the "Greatest Game Ever Played" and the first overtime NFL playoff game, but, as a third-string quarterback member of the taxi squad, Kemp did not take the field. After his time in the NFL, Kemp served a year as a private in the United States Army Reserve. During his service, he played one game for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, which made him ineligible for the NFL in 1959. According to his older brother Tom, his parents drove him from California to Calgary, Alberta only to see him cut. By this time Kemp had been cut from five professional teams (Lions, Steelers, Giants, 49ers, and Stampeders) and his family encouraged him to get on with his life. On February 9 and 11, 1960, the newly formed AFL agreed to "no tampering" policies with the NFL and CFL respectively, protecting each league's players. Players like Kemp, with modest NFL experience, were often signed by the AFL at the time. Kemp signed as a free agent with the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers. Sid Gillman era (1960–1962) In 1960, Kemp led the Chargers to a Western Division Championship with a 10–4 record. He finished second in the league to Frank Tripucka in passing attempts, completions, and yards (making him and Tripucka the league's first 3,000-yard passers), led the AFL in yards per completion and times sacked, and finished one rushing touchdown short of the league lead. Under Kemp, the Chargers' offense averaged 46 points over its last four games and scored more than 41 points in five of its last nine games. In the AFL championship game, he led the team to field goals on its first two possessions, but after the Houston Oilers posted a touchdownin the second quarter for a 7–6 lead, the Chargers never recovered. In 1961, San Diego Union editor Jack Murphy convinced Barron Hilton to move the Chargers from Los Angeles to San Diego. Kemp led the relocated team to a 12–2 record and a repeat Western Division Championship. He again finished second in passing yards (this time to George Blanda). The Chargers earned an AFL championship game rematch against the Oilers. However, this time the Chargers were unable to score until a fourth-quarter field goal in a 10–3 loss. The Berlin Wall was erected in August 1961. On October 15, 1961, President John F. Kennedy activated Kemp's San Diego-based 977th Transportation Company reserves unit for duty in response. In September, the right-handed Kemp had injured his left shoulder while playing football. Medical examiners found swelling and muscle spasms and described his voluntary range of motion at 80%. In a decision that was reviewed and upheld by the Surgeon General of the United States Army, Army doctors found him as unfit for active duty. That year, he led the Chargers to a division title, passing for 2,686 yards and 15 touchdowns. Years later, Kemp's 1961 Chargers roommate, Ron Mix, recalled that Kemp needed "ten or so" shots of painkillersbefore each game and commented that "it sounds weird, but he could play football and not be fit to serve in the Army." In 1962, Kemp broke his middle finger two games into the season and was unable to play. He persuaded his doctors to set his broken finger around a football, so that his grip would not be affected once the finger healed. Chargers coach Sid Gillman put Kemp on waivers to try to "hide" him.[45] Buffalo Billscoach Lou Saban noticed that Kemp was available and claimed him for a $100 waiver fee on September 25, 1962, in what sportswriter Randy Schultz has called one of the biggest bargains in professional football history. The Dallas Texans and Denver Broncos also attempted to claim Kemp, but he was awarded to Buffalo by AFL commissioner Joe Foss. Lou Saban era (1962–1965) According to Billy Shaw, Kemp's acquisition solved the Bills' quarterback problem, but Kemp was not excited about coming to Buffalo. According to Van Miller, "Jack's a skier, and he wanted to go to Denver and play for the Broncos. He hated the thought of coming to Buffalo.". In Buffalo, he would become known for his love of reading a broad range of books including those by Henry Thoreau, which led to chidings from Saban. Injuries, including the broken finger, kept Kemp from playing for most of 1962. That season, Kemp received a military draft notice for service in the Vietnam War but was granted a draft waiver because of a knee problem. The injuries healed, and Kemp debuted for Buffalo on November 18, 1962, by directing the only touchdown drive in a 10–6 win over the Oakland Raiders.[He played only four games for Buffalo in 1962, but made the AFL All-Star team. The Bills won three of their last four games to finish 7–6–1. On December 14, 1962, the Bills outbid the Green Bay Packers for Notre Dame quarterback Daryle Lamonica. In 1963, a four-season starting quarterback battle began that continued until Lamonica left for the Raiders. Lamonica felt he "... learned a lot from Jack about quarterbacking. And I truly believe that we were a great one-two punch at the position for the Bills." In 1963, Kemp led the Bills from a slow start to a tie for the AFL Eastern Division lead with a 7–6–1 record. Kemp again placed second in passing attempts, completions, and yards, and he also finished second to teammate Cookie Gilchristin rushing touchdowns. The Bills played the Boston Patriots in an Eastern Division playoff game to determine the division title on December 28 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, New York, in 10 °F (−12 °C) weather. During the game, Buffalo replaced Kemp with Lamonica after falling behind 16–0, but still lost 26–8. Kemp was said to be the "clubhouse lawyer" for the Bills because of his role in mediating conflicts. In 1964, he managed personalities such as Gilchrist, who walked off the field when plays were not being called for him, and Saban, whom he kept from cutting Gilchrist the following week. He also managed the politics of his quarterback battle with Lamonica, who engineered four winning touchdown drives in the Bills' first seven games. Kemp was the first and only Professional Football player to pass for three touchdowns in the first quarter of a season-opening game, against the Kansas City Chiefsin 1964, until the record was tied but not broken, 47 years later in 2011 by Aaron Rodgers. The 1964 team won its first nine games and went 12–2 for the regular season, winning the Eastern Division with a final game victory over the Patriots at Fenway Park. Kemp led the league in yards per attempt and finished one rushing touchdown short of the league lead, which was shared by Gilchrist and Sid Blanks. In the AFL championship game, he scored the final touchdown with just over nine minutes left in a 20–7 victory. According to Lamonica, the 1965 team had a new emphasis: "In '64 we had depended a lot on Gilchrist and our running attack to carry us. . .But that all changed in '65. The Bills had traded Gilchrist in the off season to the Denver Broncos. So we went to a pass-oriented game more that season than we ever had before. We not only went to our receivers, but we threw a lot to our running backs. And I really think it brought out the best in Jack that year." In 1965, the Bills finished with a 10–3–1 record. Kemp finished the season second in the league in pass completions. In the 1965 AFL Championship Game, Buffalo defeated the Chargers 23–0; for Kemp, the victory was special because it came against his former team. Kemp's role in leading the Bills to a repeat championship without Gilchrist and with star receiver Elbert Dubenion playing only three games earned him a share of the AFL MVP awards that he split with former Charger teammate, Paul Lowe. Kemp also won the Associated Press award and the Championship Game Most Valuable Player award. .

処軍 .

And let me guess...while Jack was his usual gracious, cordial, friendly, and brilliant self, the curmudgeonly Dole hollered, “Hey! Get off my lawn!” .

I have only one memory of Matt Millen... https://deadspin.com/history-lesson-the-time-matt-millen-punched-the-patrio-5901978 . That said, I think the Pats got quite a steal with N’Keal Harry at #32. .

Had the hots for Laura Petrie, didja? You horny devil, you! ? (So did I.) .

Thanks for this wonderful post, and link - which pointed out some errors in my already short-term memory, namely, that Jack was a 9-term Congressman (not 6), and was not merely an ‘instigator’ of the NFLPA, but founder of the AFL players union. Great, absolutely GREAT article. A pleasure to read. Thanks again for the link ..

A great person, soldier, quarterback, politician, Congressional Rep., Cabinet Sec., statesman, and self-proclaimed “bleeding-heart conservative”. Also, more than a bit of a ‘locker-room lawyer’, so I’ve read. Some call him the instigator for today’s NFLPA. .

Ten years ago today, we lost JFK - Jack French Kemp. Occidental College, 4 years in the U.S. Army, claimed from the Chargers for a $100 waiver fee, two-time AFL champ (against said Chargers), nine-term Congressman from my district, Presidential hopeful, Secretary of HUD under Bush The Elder, running mate of Bob Dole, and first pro QB to hand off to the Brentwood Butcher. I had the great pleasure of meeting him, and working for his campaign, when I lived in DC. During our brief conversation, we spoke mostly about the Bills and BuffTown, not Reaganomics. Very nice man, very cordial, and oh, that raspy voice... ”Well, Dave, when I played, we ran the offense on a ‘supply-side theory’...it was very successful in pro football!”. (I really had no idea what he meant, I was in my early twenties, but pretty sure he was joking about David Stockman.) Another life well-lived, cut short by the dreaded ‘Big C’. RIP Jack. Forever in our hearts and memories. .

Maybe we should leave the nicknames to Chris Berman. .

ESPN adored the Bills when Berman ran the show. .

Funny thing is, Buffalo is not as small-market as some think, at least from a Neilsen ratings perspective BuffTown is 53rd on Neilsen Designated Market Area (DMA) list, slightly behind Jacksonville, way higher than Green Bay. Now throw in Southern Ontario including Toronto -which is only about 35 miles away, as the crows (and TV signals) fly, which is definitely part of our TV and season ticket market, and which Neilsen and the NFL fail to consider. We instantly become the 4th largest DMA, leapfrogging every NFL city except NY, LA, and Chicago. Just sayin’. (But I agree - going 5-0 before the bye week will draw some media attention.) .

I’m one who LOVES those 1:00 games, and really couldn’t care less what the national media says about the Bills. .

As long as it’s for his special teams play, not as a broadcaster. .