major Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Watching the coverage of Steinbrenner's legacy, it got me thinking about how the media will cover the passing of Ralph Wilson one day. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just curious as to how the media will portray Ralph. I think he'll be remembered as one of the founders of the AFL. Steinbrenner was a dictator that spent huge sums of money on free agents to make the Yankees the most competitive team every year. However, I get the sense that he was hard to work for. With Ralph, I think he'll be remembered as easy to work for and loyal to his former players, front office staff, etc... However, he doesn't spend like George did and I feel a lot of fans, local sports writers, etc. question his committment to winning. All that to say, how do you think Ralph will be remembered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsPhan Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Watching the coverage of Steinbrenner's legacy, it got me thinking about how the media will cover the passing of Ralph Wilson one day. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just curious as to how the media will portray Ralph. I think he'll be remembered as one of the founders of the AFL. Steinbrenner was a dictator that spent huge sums of money on free agents to make the Yankees the most competitive team every year. However, I get the sense that he was hard to work for. With Ralph, I think he'll be remembered as easy to work for and loyal to his former players, front office staff, etc... However, he doesn't spend like George did and I feel a lot of fans, local sports writers, etc. question his committment to winning. All that to say, how do you think Ralph will be remembered? Ralph will be remembered as a loyal owner of a small market franchise, and one of the founders of the AFL. In addition, they will mention he was a big player in the original merging of the AFL into the NFL, creating the AFC and NFC. They also might mention he loaned some of his fellow struggling owners of the AFL money to stay afloat in the early days of the AFL. Unfortunately for him and us, it looks pretty hopeless that he will ever be remembered as a SB winning loyal owner of a small market franchise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 He will be remembered for the same things he was named to the Hall of Fame: AFL founder, key figure in the NFL merger and TV rights, loyalty to Buffalo, generous to certain causes like spinal injury research. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KollegeStudnet Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Wilson won't get as much media coverage as Steinbrenner, but he will be rightfully celebrated as an upstanding professional AFL/NFL owner... However, the media might overshadow his cred and focus on the question, "what will happen to the Bills now post-Wilson?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Watching the coverage of Steinbrenner's legacy, it got me thinking about how the media will cover the passing of Ralph Wilson one day. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just curious as to how the media will portray Ralph. I think he'll be remembered as one of the founders of the AFL. Steinbrenner was a dictator that spent huge sums of money on free agents to make the Yankees the most competitive team every year. However, I get the sense that he was hard to work for. With Ralph, I think he'll be remembered as easy to work for and loyal to his former players, front office staff, etc... However, he doesn't spend like George did and I feel a lot of fans, local sports writers, etc. question his committment to winning. All that to say, how do you think Ralph will be remembered? The mainstream media coverage of Ralph passing will be about 5 minutes on sportscenter, and then a couple articles on espn.com, sports illustrated, etc. The Yankees brand is about 100 times more significant than the Bills. As for content, yeah, he'll be remembered as a good guy who did a lot for football but wasn't a great executive in terms of success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Biscuit97 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 The mainstream media coverage of Ralph passing will be about 5 minutes on sportscenter, and then a couple articles on espn.com, sports illustrated, etc. The Yankees brand is about 100 times more significant than the Bills. As for content, yeah, he'll be remembered as a good guy who did a lot for football but wasn't a great executive in terms of success. 4 Super Bowls and 2 AFL chmapionships is nothing to sneeze at. It really bothers me how much crap RW gets. A lot of other guys would have left Buffalo years ago. Despite the nonsense spewed here, RW have always spent money for players. His only downfall is trusting the wrong people and not knowing the right way to go about winning. The guy kept a team in the richest professional sports league in the country in a market that has been in a population decrease for 60 years. I lvoe the guy and hope he lives forever. It will be a very sad day that moment he passes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 4 Super Bowls and 2 AFL chmapionships is nothing to sneeze at. It really bothers me how much crap RW gets. A lot of other guys would have left Buffalo years ago. Despite the nonsense spewed here, RW have always spent money for players. His only downfall is trusting the wrong people and not knowing the right way to go about winning. The guy kept a team in the richest professional sports league in the country in a market that has been in a population decrease for 60 years. I lvoe the guy and hope he lives forever. It will be a very sad day that moment he passes. I don't think he's been terrible over the years, but being an owner for 40 years and coming up with zero superbowls is a failure, no matter which way you slice it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Biscuit97 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 I don't think he's been terrible over the years, but being an owner for 40 years and coming up with zero superbowls is a failure, no matter which way you slice it. Right. It's his fault Norwood missed a kick or the Bills didn't try and move the ball closer. A lot of great owners don't win championships. You can only do so much as an owner. I guarantee no owner is going to be the owner of a team that went to 4 straight championships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 As for content, yeah, he'll be remembered as a good guy who did a lot for football but wasn't a great executive in terms of success. 4 Super Bowls and 2 AFL chmapionships is nothing to sneeze at. I don't think he's been terrible over the years, but being an owner for 40 years and coming up with zero superbowls is a failure, no matter which way you slice it. Right. It's his fault Norwood missed a kick or the Bills didn't try and move the ball closer. A lot of great owners don't win championships. You can only do so much as an owner. I guarantee no owner is going to be the owner of a team that went to 4 straight championships. Biscuit, In my history as a poster, I've given Ralph plenty of credit for being a founding father of the AFL and a prime mover in the merger and his other assorted contributions to pro football. But as Sage said, Ralph's been marginal as an executive in terms of the success of the Buffalo Bills. I agree with you (Biscuit) that the Super Bowl record means little in terms of the team's overall performance. It's the non-Super Bowl seasons which tell the real story. Of all the teams in the NFL, 23 have higher all-time winning percentages. Only 8 teams have worse winning percentages. In other words, the Bills winning percentage puts them in about the 25th percentile as far as success (winning) goes. Put differently, almost 75% of the league has outperformed the Bills. And plenty of small market teams have experienced success over their histories…so for those who might invoke that as an excuse, it's simply not a valid reason for the fact that the Bills have generally sucked over the course of their 51 seasons. I love the Bills. I support the Bills. I cheer for the Bills. I am usually very optimistic and positive about the Bills. But the fact is that they have only 19 winning seasons in their history and have been a very below average team under Ralph Wilson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Ralph's legacy in my mind will be that he fired Bill Polian and that his poor estate planning has resulted in our team being under constant threat of being moved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typical TBD Guy Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 4 Super Bowls and 2 AFL chmapionships is nothing to sneeze at. It really bothers me how much crap RW gets. A lot of other guys would have left Buffalo years ago. Despite the nonsense spewed here, RW have always spent money for players. His only downfall is trusting the wrong people and not knowing the right way to go about winning. The guy kept a team in the richest professional sports league in the country in a market that has been in a population decrease for 60 years. I lvoe the guy and hope he lives forever. It will be a very sad day that moment he passes. Since the late 1980's, this has been true. But before then, he was widely known as a major cheapskate. Ask anyone older than 30 about RW and paying players. As for paying coaches, he has always been a cheapskate. Up until maybe now, where the rumors were that he was courting the Cowhers and Shanahans but was turned down. RW's overall legacy will be 180 degrees between what ESPN and the national media say about him and what WNY thinks of him...for the very simple reason that he has failed to secure the team's future in WNY. To most fans of the BUFFALO Bills, Ralph Wilson = Art Modell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoobydum Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 What couldn't of been will be his legacy. Steinbrenner hired the best help to make his team a legacy as he got older, Ralph hired people that couldn't get it done. Call it a different sport, I call it a decade long failure but I'm sorry to say but the twilight is passing and it might be for the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalonian-at-Heart Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 What couldn't of been will be his legacy. Huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Been listening to a lot of former Steinbrenner employees and he seemed like a very demanding guy to work for BUT he knew it and if you worked hard for him and put up with all of his **** he took care of you (Giving you a no show job after you worked for him a long time). So yeah he was a D-bag but at least he knew it. Hate the Yanks but Steinbrenner was a dynamic man and owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalonian-at-Heart Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Steinbrenner hired the best help to make his team a legacy as he got older, You can't make a team a legacy. It's a noun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalonian-at-Heart Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Call it a different sport, I call it a decade long failure but I'm sorry to say but the twilight is passing and it might be for the better. Twilight means its past or nearing the end, so how could the twilight be passing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoobydum Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Twilight means its past or nearing the end, so how could the twilight be passing? Mr. Semantics, it's passed him by. If you can't put it together or are in denial, step out of the box. We have a team that will have a tough time making it out of obscurity before he passes. If it happens, I'll be suprised but being realistic, we have issues that will take several more years to fix. I really think we can do so much better this year than planned by most but in all reality, we're about 5 great players away from the playoffs and probably 7 from making a real run. Making the playoffs is one thing, being the best in a league of the best is a huge guess. I cannot see us changing plans and having a perfect set of players on board already, it's just not there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoner7 Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 Watching the coverage of Steinbrenner's legacy, it got me thinking about how the media will cover the passing of Ralph Wilson one day. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just curious as to how the media will portray Ralph. I think he'll be remembered as one of the founders of the AFL. Steinbrenner was a dictator that spent huge sums of money on free agents to make the Yankees the most competitive team every year. However, I get the sense that he was hard to work for. With Ralph, I think he'll be remembered as easy to work for and loyal to his former players, front office staff, etc... However, he doesn't spend like George did and I feel a lot of fans, local sports writers, etc. question his committment to winning. All that to say, how do you think Ralph will be remembered? All people once deceased tend to be glorified, however great or terrible their lives. Ralph has done a lot of great things for football and the Bills (not much as of late in terms of building a winner though). He will be remembered as one of footballs most important figures. I cant say I argue with that - I just wish he was having more succes in his last years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 You can't make a team a legacy. It's a noun. You might need to go back to high school English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoobydum Posted July 14, 2010 Share Posted July 14, 2010 I just wish he was having more success in his last years. That would be the twilight, as I mentioned before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts