buffalobillsfootball
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Posts posted by buffalobillsfootball
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I got there at about 11:10 and had to get in the back of the line that was extending to the far end of the building from the door. I'm guessing there were at least 300 people there, maybe 400.
Whoa, been here six years - never seen that before... damn, I'm gonna be drinkin early on Sunday.
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And make sure you get there early this week ;-)
I was at the game last week - was it crazy busy at the Harp?
I love when it's busy - such a great atmosphere.
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bump...
could use some help. i want to pickup the 2008 sideline cap before I go to the bar on Sunday for the game.
Harp?
Just order it online and wear it next week - no one will notice
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Are they the best special-teams club of the past decade?
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ive had season tix since 96 but now im able to go out to all the bars etc i deffinately want to take it in....im staying at the holiday inn in downtown buffalo for the home opener...any suggestions on clubs? bars Or whatever....any places that the players go at all?
Colter Bay is just a block away from your hotel. Pretty cool place, lots of beers on tap, decent food and good looking people.
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Missed the game - anyone know of a link or highlights?
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NFL: "People live and die by the Bills"
Posted: August 11, 2008, 8:11 PM by Sean Fitz-Gerald
Football, GTA, NFL
It was already raining heavily, with darker clouds on the horizon, as the Buffalo Bills worked through the middle of their evening practice. Players and coaches had to stay and contend with the weather because of the value assigned to every nanosecond of an NFL training camp, but almost everyone else was free to go.
Yet they did not.
Thousands of fans remained moored to the grandstand at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., watching the team move through the mundane to the mildly intriguing bits of practice on Monday. Several hundred more milled about the promenade, which was stocked with concession stands and attractions, like a carnival.
Speculation has swirled around the Bills and their future in New York for years, and especially now, in light of the eight-game trial balloon set to begin this Thursday in Toronto. But the fans have not wavered.
Last month, the team announced it had sold 54,200 season tickets, the third-highest total in franchise history. Buffalo's record of 57,132 was set in 1992, the year after its first of four consecutive trips to the Super Bowl
"The Bills are like the heart of the city," receiver Lee Evans said. "People live and die by the Bills."
The training camp, just outside of Rochester, features private reception tents and VIP areas. Hot dogs and hamburgers are sold at the End Zone Grill, near a booth selling fried dough and funnel cakes.
Two police officers surveyed the scene on horseback Monday night, across the parking lot from a white tent the size of a rural Canadian hockey rink. Dozens of fans milled about inside, picking over a field of merchandise and subscription offers from the local newspaper.
"[The Bills] mean an awful lot," former Erie County executive Dennis Gorski has said. "We're not Toronto, New York, Chicago or Montreal. We're, by numbers, relatively small. We're considered a small-market community, and the Buffalo Bills have been the only way in many instances that we've been able to compete with the glitzy communities."
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NFL trying to send message to teams in small markets?
Monday, August 11, 2008BY Steve Doerschuk
We're not sure why the NFL publishes a list of the country's top 100 television markets in its 2008 Fact and Record Book.
We're guessing it makes fans in some of the markets nervous.
There are, of course, 32 teams in the NFL. It stands out in the rankings that five teams, printed in boldface, are based in markets outside the top 32:
The Packers' market, listed as Green Bay-Appleton, is the smallest at No. 70, with 439,940 TV households, barely ahead of Des Moines, Toledo and Honolulu. This is a bit deceiving, since it excludes Milwaukee (34th, 891,010 TV households), which used to play host to numerous Packers games.
The Big Apple, obviously, is the biggest market, with 7.4 million TV households in the New York metro area.
No. 2 is Los Angeles, at 5.7 million. Naturally, there will be people who wonder why LaLa Land is no man's land for the NFL, whereas Jacksonville (No. 49 with 655,470 TV households), Buffalo (No. 50 with 636,000) and New Orleans (No. 53 with 600, 150) are preparing for active duty in 2008.
We're guessing the NFL publishes the top 100 markets in part to say:
• Hey, Jacksonville, what's up with falling 5,000-plus short of selling out last year's home opener?
• Hey, Buffalo, share the Bills with Toronto and like it.
• Hey, New Orleans, we feel your pain, but get on the stick ... you're barely bigger than Wilkes Barre-Scranton.
(story continues at link)
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Off the lake in Buffalo, around HSBC arena, but it would have to come with a bigger bridge to handle traffic. You are located in buffalo then, right by a border crossing that is at the end of the big highway that goes directly to one of the Largest Cities in Canada that the Bills are trying to market their product to. I find as a Canadian, the biggest problem going to a game is the border crossing, and a new bridge is necessary. Making the stadium a 5-10 drive from the Border will keep the team central to the areas they are trying to market to being Rochester and Toronto. The views of one in Niagara Falls would be nice, but i don't think its going to o much for the team to be located there.
The only problem is that the best idea for the stadium to be used for more then just football would be to make it a dome or a retractable roof stadium to allow for things like concerts during the winter months.
Wow, for a change - I agree with this a-pita, i mean apus.
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Huh? Who is going to take these trains? The Acela hasn't exactly been a resounding success in the highest population density region of the country. The thruway and other roads do a fine job moving people between the cities you mentioned.
Where do you live? It's quite popular between BOS and NYC.
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The Buffalo Bills future is north - not east. Sorry Rochester and Syracuse - love your support but the population and money just north of the border is huge.
My first choice would be downtown Buffalo... preferably near HSBC or along the harbor.
If Grand Island didn't have such access issues - I wouldn't mind the stadium being built there - plenty of space - sorta north of beaver island park on the westside of the island - imagine the skyline views of Niagara Falls to the north and Buffalo to the south.
We could even build a bridge from the qew right to grand island or provide ferry service for Canadians on game day.
If money weren't an issue - Id help fund high speed trains between Toronto and Buffalo. Albany and Buffalo. Cleveland and Buffalo. We need to connect these metro areas and high speed trains are the way to go.
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If the Chargers move outside of the SD metro - it will be north to LA. Once LA is taken care of - San Antonio can start to dream.
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Can the NFL really keep up that policy forever? It seems to me like the value of NFL franchises has risen much faster than the pool of possible owners. Its already at the point where being a billionaire does not mean you could really afford to buy a team outright. At some point I would expect the current owners to realize that their franchises would be much more valuable if corporate entities (who have much more money than individuals) were allowed to purchase them.
Good point.
Also, I hate to say it but if Schumer has any say or influence from a political standpoint (NFL's anti-trust exemption) - this rule might change quite quickly.
You'd have to think Russert was involved with this group... sad he's gone.
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Anyone know about Kemp AND Cuomo's interest?
On Kemp and Cuomo's interests to buy:I'm aware they have a special fund that's created for investments in to NFL and other sports teams. We have a very strong policy that we want a principal owner that speaks for the team, speaks to the community but also is a representative on the league level. They're aware of those policies if they want to own an NFL team, that those opportunities exist, but it's very important for us to have a principal owner like Mr. Wilson that will not only represent the team and the community, but also participate in league level matters.
On if he's heard from Kemp or Cuomo:
I've talked to them about their concept many times. We have others that have had very similar concepts and that were interested in ownership throughout the league.
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Ray, I live in NH not Boston, but that's a minor point. And no, living here has not jaded me. I'm still a Buffalo booster. But being a booster doesn't mean ignoring reality.
You make some points about Toronto, but you act like if we dodge the Toronto bullet the Bills stay. What about L.A.? Someone is already planning a new stadium and has stated he will buy an existing franchise. You also totally ignore the financial reality of WNY and the Bills. Ralph Wilson makes money in Buffalo because he owns the Bills free and clear. If there was a half-billion dollar mortgage on the team, like someone who may buy the team after Ralph passes on, there is no way they survive in WNY. Sold-out games mean nothing. It's corporate money, premium suites, and ancillary development (ala Cheatriot Place) are what drive the NFL.
I know you don't see it this way but sharing the Bills with Toronto is the only way to save, at least part, of the Buffalo Bills. You have convinced yourself the Bills can never leave. Good for you. I hope you're right.
PTR
PTR: ...and you have convinced yourself there is no other solution but sharing 50% of our games. bull sh--.
Why would Ralph Wilson renegotiate a lease with 5 years remaining when he doesn't even know how many years he has left on this fine earth?
We know all this sucks - but man - every Bills message board I visit, including the stadium wall - PTR chimes in like a broken record.
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It's just ugly. Best these billionaires could come up with?
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The Son of a Displaced Buffalonian
By Eli Gerber
I am the son of a father passionate about keeping the love of the city of Buffalo, New York, alive. It has always been described to me as a utopia of wonders like Niagara Falls, the Buffalo Bills, and various fried and fatty foods. People generally say that first impressions are the most important, but my experience with Buffalo contradicts that.
The first time I went, my dad and I ate at all the places he had so lovingly described to me, from Anderson's, a roadside ice cream parlor that actually stayed open an extra five minutes to serve us, to Chef’s, an Italian restaurant downtown that will leave you wanting more, no matter how much you eat. We saw a Bills game, and even though they lost badly to the New Orleans Saints, it was worth just going to experience a live football game of the team that my father once shattered a TV remote against the wall because of.
However, the trip that will always stick out to me the most was the second trip.
I was 8 years old, and while I wasn’t particularly ecstatic to be leaving home for the whole weekend, I calmed myself with the knowledge that it was Buffalo time, which meant just my dad and I. That Friday evening we went back to Anderson's, checked into the Marriott, and feel into a deep, Buffalo sleep.
We decided on Saturday to see Niagara Falls at night, when it gets lit up. It was about a 45-minute drive, and I napped along the way. When we arrived, what I saw took my breath away. A cascading mass of beautifully colored water was tumbling down the cliff that is the Falls, dropping into the abyss of the night far below. I tried to get pictures, but they didn’t develop. Still, that is one memory I will always carry with me. Not just the Falls themselves, but also the memory of my dad standing next to me the entire time, proud to be showing his son the wonders of the world he and my mother had given me.
The next day was the game, between the New York Jets and the Bills. It was at 1 o’ clock, so we had about two hours to cool our heels before we left. We spent the time trying to jinx the Jets, saying the Bills had no chance, we might as well not go, the usual voodoo routine.
When we finally got to the stadium, I was overwhelmed by the sense of passion pouring out of every crevice within a one-mile radius, something I had failed to pick up on the previous year. We spent about half an hour tailgating with some of my dad’s old buddies, and then headed over to the stadium.
We got into our seats, and a few minutes later, the game began. It was a great game, eventually going into overtime, where the Jets returned the opening kick for a touchdown, sending the Bills to another loss. As we walked out of the stadium, I burst into tears, telling my father, “The Bills are supposed to win!”
That really sums up my feelings for the city of Buffalo. It’s a great town, with nice people, amazing food, and a several teams deserving of a championship, so why can’t they win every once in a while? Despite this, my dad and I have missed only one game in the last seven seasons, and each year, we go back to do what we love.
I’m 14 now, and I too love Buffalo like a second home. Dad, you did a great job raising me to be your son.
Eli is the son of Mitch Gerber, former editor of the Courier-Express Sunday Magazine and current Senior Editor for Copy, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Washington, DC.
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Nice job. I appreciate the city views as well.
May I ask the name of the soundtrack?
Harp in Boston - just awesome
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Another phenomenal Sunday at the Harp. The Bills need to place cameras in these Bills-backers bars and play them live back at the stadium on game day just to show the Bills and fans at the stadium just how much support they get outside WNY.
The Harp was just crazy.