SI's Jeff Pearlman should be ashamed.

[Amstel]

this guy is a total jerkoff "managed to fin a leader that nobody listens to in dallas or buffalo" This guy has no idea what hes talking about. Chan may not be the best coach in the world but no one has questioned his leadership or said he has no control over this team....

[bbb]

San Diego wasn't effeminate enough for Mathison... he had to go to Phoenix.

 

[polish lover]

That's a little harsh, but mostly they are just saying its really cold in Buffalo especially compared to San Diego. Which is true. I don't like the comment that Buffalo is "ranked near the bottom of the league in all offensive and defensive categories". Really? Ranked 6th in Pass defense, 13th in Rush offense, 9th ranked QB... none of those are near the bottom of the league and all three are major categories. try doing a little research shmuck.

[bbb]

Pearlman's email: anngold22@gmail.com

 

You got Mathison's?

[Canadian Bills Fan]

What is more annoying is that they make it seem like Buffalo is the only city that gets cold. You don't see people bashing Green Bay.

 

 

Or New England

[Punch]

It's really funny that he chose to speak to Bruce Mathison--- I had a Mathison football card in my Stadium Wall profile page because I considered him to be literally the most obscure and perhaps awful player in the history of the Bills.

 

Of course, as others have pointed out, another QB that transitioned from San Diego to Buffalo was not only an All-Pro that won multiple championships, but spent the rest of his very publicly successful life helping his adopted home in a very real way (as a politician) and also spoke glowingly at every chance of the people (which of course, may have also been political, but I digress...) rather than a loser like Mathison.

 

Anyway, who cares? It's not the first time ("Warts, Love and Dreams in Buffalo" from Sports Illustrated 1/20/69), and certainly not the last, a writer will take the easy way out and write a hack job piece about the region. He obviously tried hard to make Buffalo seem insignificant by mentioning Z-grade celebs when much more famous and significant people have come from Western NY.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Punch

[The Avenger]

I don't get the whole cold thing. Yes - it gets below freezing in Buffalo and yes it snows. But it's not like it's Siberia where it gets down to -40 or -50. I know it's been a few years since I lived in WNY, but I don't recall it even being cold enough for many people to use things like engine block heaters. Heck, in some other NFL cities like Green Bay and Minneapolis practically everyone uses an engine heater - if you don't your car might not start. In Minneaplois they built a skyway to get around downtown without having to go outside because it's so cold. Buffalo gets cold, but not nearly as cold as some other places - put if you're some pansy football writer I guess anything below 75 degrees just gets lumped together as "damn it's cold".

[Fergs2323]

a) When I think of culture, San Diego is the first city that comes to mind. They have fish tacos!

 

b) You know what sounds good? Living so close to Mexico. Gotta love when those drug cartels cross the border and kidnap for ransom.

[The Avenger]

Or New England

 

Actually it is warmer in the Boston area - most winter days top out at a few degrees above freezing - I don't recall many above freezing days in Buffalo in the winter. I'd actually rather have Buffalo weather - what happens in Boston is that itgets above freezing in the day, the freezes at night, then thaws again the next day - absolutely kills the roads. If it would just stay frozen I think the roads would fare much better.

[bluecarter]

I've lived all over the country. I spent two years in SoCal. Did I love it, YES! Here is the problem, if you aren't in the playoffs they don't give a flying F#*% about showing up to the game. So lets talk about culture. Has buffalo had blacked out games yes, but with a way worse team. We have fans even when the team loses. It's blue collar, vs. San Diego white collar snobs. San Diego is a beach town not a football town. Trust me if you are concerned about the weather and culture of this football town, maybe you should have picked a different profession. How about lifeguard!

 

Don't get me wrong I like San Diego, but they live in a fantasy world, plus more residents there watch de futbol. Might as well be Mexico!

[Mr. WEO]

That's a little harsh, but mostly they are just saying its really cold in Buffalo especially compared to San Diego. Which is true. I don't like the comment that Buffalo is "ranked near the bottom of the league in all offensive and defensive categories". Really? Ranked 6th in Pass defense, 13th in Rush offense, 9th ranked QB... none of those are near the bottom of the league and all three are major categories. try doing a little research shmuck.

Well, if you're going to get picky, we are ranked 6th in pass defense because it's easy to defend against the pass when teams don't bother passing against you. We are tied for dead last in attempts against (with Dallas) and the next team above has way more attempts against than us.

[clearwater cadet]

Merrimen's a football player. As long as gets paid, (which he should) he going to by thrilled to play in a real football stadium, with real weather, and real fans. Buffalo may not be the best place on the face of the earth, but it's not the worst either. I only people who knock buffalo are the one who have never been there for more then 10 min. The Bills are on the right track, if there no major shift with ownership/ relocation, there no reason why they shouldn't be able to compete in 2 years when this guys 28.

[WWVaBeach]

This is disgusting:

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jeff_pearlman/11/05/merriman/

Have you ever been to SD? There's a reason the cost of living is so high there. The weather! Most of us plant annuals every year. If you plant an annual in SD it actually lives forever because the weather's so nice. Will the Buffalo weather affect SM? Nah...he played at Maryland & grew up in DC. When next month gets here will he wish he was playing in SD? Maybe.

[Wagon Circler]

Crappy article. You have to live in Buffalo to appreciate it.

I for one did not appreciate the shots against our coach. Nobody listened to Chan in Dallas? Whose fault was that? Maybe a bunch of overcoddled babies like the current group?

Low blow and tasteless.

It's possible that my standards have been beaten down buy Dick jauron.But after he realized the Trent mistake and the Lynch mistake, I think Chan has done a reasonable job.

Now he just has to get rid of the "other Edwards"

[NewHampshireBillsFan]

I grew up in Buffalo and have lived in San Diego and many other places. I loved to go to the beach in San Diego but most other things Buffalo has over SD, for my taste.

 

1. Food--MUCH better choices of interesting food in Buffalo, only thing better in SD is Mexican and California type salad restaurants. Also, no supermarkets like Wegmans in SD, just small boring supermarkets. Fresh picked by Mexicans strawberries in California are great at roadside stands.

2. People--MUCH more substantial and interesting people in Buffalo. As a cab driver who grew up in SD told me one time when I first moved to SD. The weather is great but the people are superficial and he had lived there most of his life. People in California are very superficial. Kind of like the idiot who wrote that story.

3. Weather--When I moved to Texas I used to dream about snow, when I moved to SD I had to learn to live without any rain as well for 9 months of the year. Everything is dusty and dirty outside. Rain has a wonderful cleansing effect. San Diego is dirty and dusty outside. Also, all the people who are total wusses about weather (and therefore total wusses and complainers about everything else) move to SD. When it finally rains after 9 months they complain about the rain and run like old ladies to their cars so they won't get wet!

[Thisistheyear]

We need to get some thicker skin. The writer's inbox is going to be full of poorly written, reactionary vitriol. That is not good for the brand. It'll only make the next article easier to write for this guy.

 

Also, the article is dead on. I live in Buffalo. I love Buffalo. I do very well in Buffalo and have no plans of leaving. That being said...have you ever been to San Diego???? It's awesome. A lot of the people suck, but its an awesome place.

 

There's no such thing as bad pubicity, unless it involves pedophilia. Or we whine about it.

[John from Riverside]

Live very close to San Diego.....

 

Miss the East Coast at Christmas Time.

[Sanners]

Buffalo is a toilet pretty much in every way compared to San Diego.

If you have spent any time in SD it is difficult to disagree.

I moved back to buffalo from San Diego and absolutely couldn't be happier. The California born and raised wife wouldn't move back to southern California at all. To each their own, but we love this town, and are working to make it a better city. Socal has the weather, other than that the quality of life is very poor... Traffic, housing prices, people living on top of eachother, smog, illegal aliens, people's attitudes, etc. There really is not a comparison in my eyes, and I lived in social for 13 years... To each their own.

[BEAST MODE BABY!]

I grew up in Buffalo and have lived in San Diego and many other places. I loved to go to the beach in San Diego but most other things Buffalo has over SD, for my taste.

 

1. Food--MUCH better choices of interesting food in Buffalo, only thing better in SD is Mexican and California type salad restaurants. Also, no supermarkets like Wegmans in SD, just small boring supermarkets. Fresh picked by Mexicans strawberries in California are great at roadside stands.

2. People--MUCH more substantial and interesting people in Buffalo. As a cab driver who grew up in SD told me one time when I first moved to SD. The weather is great but the people are superficial and he had lived there most of his life. People in California are very superficial. Kind of like the idiot who wrote that story.

3. Weather--When I moved to Texas I used to dream about snow, when I moved to SD I had to learn to live without any rain as well for 9 months of the year. Everything is dusty and dirty outside. Rain has a wonderful cleansing effect. San Diego is dirty and dusty outside. Also, all the people who are total wusses about weather (and therefore total wusses and complainers about everything else) move to SD. When it finally rains after 9 months they complain about the rain and run like old ladies to their cars so they won't get wet!

Yes, the article is a little nasty, but you are off on so many points:

 

1) The only real thing lacking out here is a lot of seriously good Italian food. However, the Italian food that's in SoCal tends to actually be made by real Italians from Italy, not some 4th generation goomba with a NYC attitude. Other than that, SoCal has arguable the best selection of food outside of San Francisco. Plus, there are more supermarkets in Southern California than anywhere else. Whole Foods. Bristol Farms. Gelsons. And cool little Co-Ops with organic produce from local farmers. Wegmans is nice, but it's like a beautiful girl from a small town who moves to LA...once she's there, she's just another girl...and Wegman's is just another supermarket albeit a very nice one.

 

2) I have met plenty of interesting people in SoCal, and rarely run into the flakey types....they're here of course, but so are a bunch of people from the East Coast and Midwest who prefer the weather and the lifestyle.

 

3) Anywhere near the beach, it's not dirty and dusty...that includes downtown San Diego and the Gas Lamp district. And weather is subjective...it doesn't mean people are wusses...happens to everyone that lives here long enough. In my mind, the real wusses are the ones who would rather be a big fish in a small pond (stay in a small town and never grow) then take a dip in the ocean where all the really big fish are (the challenge of a big city).

Edited November 5, 2010 by BEAST MODE BABY!

[Wing Man]

San Diego is a nice city. Buffalo is a nice city. When you visit both, you know what you're going to get.

 

Dear Shawne,

 

Welcome to the NFL where if you don't play up to standards, your preferences can melt away like a Buffalo late spring. Grow up. Play well or retire into the great NFL background. It's your career.

 

Sincerely,

 

A.J. Smith