Classic Felser 1999: Tale of the bitter Bills-Dolphins rivalry�

[Rubes]

As I arrive in Buffalo for the big game and settle in, I happened to come upon an old file in my laptop archives: the text of a classic article by Larry Felser from 1999 that I saved because I knew someday it would be great to revisit. Given all of the time that has passed, and the fading of the bitter rivalry between the two teams (more Buffalo than Miami, I imagine, but still), as well as the importance of this weekend's game, I felt this would be a good time to finally get it back out there. The young'uns out there need to be reminded how important this rivalry is, and why they should continue to carry on the tradition.

 

One caveat: I know it is against board rules to reproduce articles in full, but this is one I couldn't find anywhere to link to, given its old age. I'm even an online Buffalo News subscriber, and I couldn't find any available online archives that have it, even for purchase. But, if it's still a no-no, feel free to delete it and give me a spanking.

 

Without further ado...

 

Tale of the bitter Bills-Dolphins rivalry begins with a rout in 1966

By LARRY FELSER

11/14/99

 

Ah, the young. They have such curiosity. "How does Santa Claus get down the chimney? ... Can I run away from my shadow? ... Does the stork really bring babies? ... How did the Dolphins-Bills rivalry become so bitter?"

Climb up on my lap, young ones, and I'll tell you about the Bills and Dolphins.

It started in 1966, when Miami entered the old American Football League, of which the Bills were two-time defending champions. The Dolphins were a foreign legion of rejects, rookies and fringe players. Mercy was not on Buffalo's mind when the new guys came to War Memorial Stadium. Miami was pounded, 58-24.

It was the most points ever scored by the Bills in their 40-season history. Worse, it was 14 points more than any team poured on Miami that inaugural season. Six weeks later Buffalo scored a 29-0 shutout in the Orange Bowl. Most professional athletes don't have an institutional memory; they forget old scores. Not the fans, in this case the Miami faithful.

They didn't have to wait long for revenge. The next season when the Bills visited the Orange Bowl the Dolphins were on an eight-game losing streak, but they upset Buffalo, 17-14, as Jack Kemp was out-quarterbacked by some rookie named Bob Griese.

In 1970, the Dark Ages of Buffalo football descended. Miami hired Don Shula as its coach and the Bills went zero-for-the-decade against the Dolphins. The unkindest loss of all occurred in 1975. It was during a back-and-forth game in Miami. Miami's Mercury Morris fumbled and the Bills recovered in favorable field position, but there was a flag on the play, dropped by head linesman Jerry Bergman.

Bills defensive end Pat Toomay, racing to recover Morris' fumble, had shoved Bergman out of his path. Bergman flagged him for "interfering with an official." Miami kept possession and went on to win, 31-21. The NFL supervisor of officials was unable to find an instance where the penalty had ever been called. It's never been called since. Long-time Bills' fans still get indigestion when the Toomay penalty is brought up.

Mass indigestion in Buffalo subsided when Marv Levy began his first full season as coach of the Bills in 1987. The Dolphins found Levy's Bills almost as frustrating and difficult to beat as Shula's Dolphins of the '70s had been for Buffalo.

From '87 until Shula's retirement at the end of the '95 season, the teams met 21 times and Buffalo won 17 of them. It wasn't quite the 20-0 humiliation of the '70s, but it still drove Dolphins' fans nuts.

It was during that period that the pregame ceremonies in the Orange Bowl and later Pro Player Stadium would include a clergyman preaching a pregame homily to a stadium full of Dolphin fans, many of them wearing "Bleep Buffalo" T-shirts.

Adding to the bitterness was the presence of thousands of Bills fans, having made a mental-health trip to South Florida in late November or December and whooping it up in the den of the enemy. The unkindest cut for Dolphin fans occurred in 1989, when Jim Kelly smashed his way into the Dolphin end zone to victory as time expired.

The scene on the field was bedlam, with most of the Bills piling on Kelly in congratulations and the Dolphins walking off in disbelief. Tom Olivadotti, the Miami defensive coordinator, staggered off with an expression of biblical anguish on his face. Meanwhile, the Bills' Cornelius Bennett raced into the opposite end zone, stopped and threw a massive bump-and-grind at the sorrowful Miami fans. The hard feelings haven't subsided yet.

That was also the period in which the teams began meeting in the NFL playoffs for the first time. Buffalo won all three meetings with Shula teams. It was also the era of Bryan Cox in Miami. Cox, the erratic and sometimes out-of-control linebacker, charged that he had been called racist and obscene names in Buffalo. Considering the well-documented heinous behavior of the lunatic-fringe in Ralph Wilson Stadium, that's not hard to believe. Besides, these were the same intellectuals who once raced to the stadium tunnel, surrounded, stoned and rocked the Miami bus as it delivered the Dolphins.

But Cox threatened some sort of retaliation days before he came to Buffalo for his next visit. Cox's first entrance came just after the gates opened and there were only 2,000-3,000 fans in the stadium. Out of the tunnel came Cox, dressed in a T-shirt from the waist up so he had no identification. The fans didn't know who he was. All they knew was that some guy was circling the field on the warning track, flipping the bird to them.

It was a memorable day.

Then there was the incident over Russ Salvatore's annual party for a few thousand of his friends in Fort Lauderdale the night before the Bills' games against the Dolphins. A local columnist on a Fort Lauderdale newspaper wrote an insulting piece about the party and the Buffalo people who attended it. Salvatore asked for an apology. He received more insults.

"So we boycotted Florida for a couple of years," said Salvatore, proprietor of Salvatore's Italian Gardens in Depew. "The first season afterward we rented the Buffalo Convention Center and brought Miami to Buffalo."

Salvatore returned to hosting his party in Florida a few years ago, "but now it isn't as big; only about 1,500 people. We used to get Miami people at the party and everyone got along beautifully. Now, the columnist is gone from that paper, but because of what he wrote Miami and Buffalo people hate each other. Bills' fans are afraid to wear team jerseys in the stadium when they go down there."

Sadly, Shula's coaching career ended in Buffalo in 1995. Buffalo won in a rout, 37-22.

 

But wait, young'uns. The story isn't over. It gets tougher. Jimmy Johnson entered the rivalry. You want bitterness? J.J. produces bitterness. Not only is Johnson a good coach, he is one of the few people who can strut sitting down. His heavily sprayed hair is now a symbol of jock evil in Buffalo. Last year he coached the Dolphins to their first playoff victory over the Bills, then stomped on a box of "Flutie Flakes."

Last month, when the Bills handed Miami its only loss of the season in a Monday night game, Wade Phillips said he considered stomping on a can of hair spray, then thought better of it.

Does that explain how we got to where we are today?

 

 

EDIT: As a follow-up, this was written on game day. The Bills won the game later that day, in Buffalo, 23-3.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Rubes

[billygoats]

great read. thanks for posting.

[Greybeard]

Thanks for the post. I still hate no team like a do Miami.

 

The Manny Fernandez handoff where the Bills QB at the time (maybe Dennis Shaw but we had so many QB's in a string back then I can't remember which one) handed the ball to him as he was rushing in and he ran for a touchdown. I never saw the play, only heard it on the radio. The Bills had a chance of defeating the Fins when it happened. I think it was the undefeated season. If someone here saw the play, I would like an explanation.

 

Nick Buoniconti hated the Bills. So much so when they interviewed the old members of the Fins from that team and they got to him, he recounted how the Bills fans were going wild for OJ runs when the Bills played the fins that year in Buffalo. He says so what, we won. Hey, that was about all Bills fans had to cheer about at the time, and you bring that up from your undefeated year. Screw you, Nick.

 

I forgot. Years of Shula biased officiating. Just like the example above. Shula was a member of the rules committee. I think it helped him.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Greybeard

[It's in My Blood]

Good read. I don't hate Miami as much as I hate the Jets and Pats. I used to be indifferent to the Jets when Herman Edwards was coach but I can't stand Rex Ryan.

 

I hate the Pats the most for obvious reasons.

[Alaska Darin]

Shula was a member of the rules committee. I think it helped him.

Without question. Shula's teams got the same kind of !@#$ed up calls that the Cheaters get now, though apparently they got flagged at the least opportune times last week against the Fish. Maybe that's a start of something new.

[SACTOBILLSFAN]

Sal just did his own version of the history and it got me emotional and fired up all at once. I hate the goddamned Miami Dolphins with such a burning passion that as a kid these were the only games I really badly wanted to win. Of course, we were good when I was a kid so I could say that and we'd still win 11+ games so it didn't matter. Anyways, came here to read reactions of Sal's history lesson and found this thread instead.

[chaccof]

I suppose if you didn't follow the Bills before the SB years it's hard to imagine how much hatred there was towards the Fins.....I remember the game in BFLO in 1980 when the losing string was broken. Just amazing. Felzer was a terrific writer..imagine he and Ralph W. have had a few laughs now that they're reunited....

[BuffaloBill]

great read. thanks for posting.

 

Ditto...

 

Part of me really misses the rivalry in a sick way. There was hatred between the teams. It was far worse than whatever the Patsies are to the Bills today.

[Rubes]

 

 

Ditto...

 

Part of me really misses the rivalry in a sick way. There was hatred between the teams. It was far worse than whatever the Patsies are to the Bills today.

 

So true. I hate that Pats* as much as anybody, but it's hard to communicate just how much hatred there has been and always will be for the Fins. It's like its genetic or something.

 

[BuffaloBill]

 

 

So true. I hate that Pats* as much as anybody, but it's hard to communicate just how much hatred there has been and always will be for the Fins. It's like its genetic or something.

 

So true. The younguns around here just don't get it. I am really surprised that Felser didn't have a ton to say about the game when the Bills finally beat the fins after the zero for a decade run. People went nuts.

[Whites Bay]

I hated the way Marino always got the ball off too fast for Bruce. Well, almost always. But I hate the Pats* and Brady so much more. It's friggin' visceral.

[rockpile]

This is a perfect example for our fans who did not experience the 70's, why us "old timers" hate Miami so much!

 

Nice find!

[The Dean]

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

 

I lived next door to Felser for a year or so. He had a sheep named Lana Lynn (get it? lanolin). Really nice guy. Very good writer in his prime.

[ExWNYer]

So true. I hate that Pats* as much as anybody, but it's hard to communicate just how much hatred there has been and always will be for the Fins. It's like its genetic or something.

So true.The younguns around here just don't get it. I am really surprised that Felser didn't have a ton to say about the game when the Bills finally beat the fins after the zero for a decade run. People went nuts.

This is a perfect example for our fans who did not experience the 70's, why us "old timers" hate Miami so much! Nice find!

Exactly. As much as I despise Brady, Belicheat, & the Pats*, I just can't muster the hatred for them that I did, do, and always will for the Fish. Those who are too young to remember have no idea how excruciating "0 for the'70s" was for Bills fans. Bizarre calls against the Bills, fluke plays, Shula with that ever-present smug look on his face and the officials in his back pocket. Brutal for a kid such as myself growing up in that era as a diehard Bills fan. I lived and died with every play back then and the feelings only intensified when they played Miami. I wanted to beat them so badly, I could taste it. Instead, it was 20 demoralizing defeats in a row. Some close, some not so close but each one of them an ever increasing bitter pill to swallow. I still remember it like it was yesterday, the day they finally broke the streak. It was September 7, 1980...my younger brother's 14th birthday. The pain had started when I was a 7 year old child and didn't end until I was a little more than a month shy of my 17th birthday. We had moved to Virginia and we couldn't see the game but the whole family was closely watching the 'NBC Ticker' on the screen as our locally televised game progressed. I remember seeing the 17-7 score in favor of the good guys in the 4th quarter and it felt like we would never see "Final" next it. When we did, the house erupted in jubilation. It felt like a two-ton weight had been lifted off of my chest and I think I was actually walking on air at school the next day. Needless to say, my little brother had his best birthday ever. I now have two boys of my own, 12 &14 (same age as my brother at the time of "The Win"). They are both diehard Bills fans (God help them) despite never having lived in WNY and they both despise the Fish. They've heard the stories of agony from me and they understand that hating Miami like no other is a birth right, passed down from father to son. Hate the Pats* for now but when Brady & Belicheat retire and the Beantown Bozos are again an afterthought to their own fans, just remember who will always, wholeheartedly deserve your wrath. The Fish.

 

Some of the most painful losses for me during that streak of futility:

 

1972 - Orange Bowl, Miami. The Bills lost, 24-23, in what turned out to be the Fins' closest game of their undefeated season. Buffalo led at halftime but couldn't hold on for the victory. The one that got away and could have prevented the ridiculous, yearly ritual of champagne-popping by Mercury Morris and his band of no names.

 

1974 - Orange Bowl, Miami. Free Safety Tony Greene (one of my favorite Bills of the '70s) had a 105 yard interception return for a TD wiped out on a horrible call by the officials. The Bills lost the game, 35-28, and ultimately the AFC East crown. Miami finished 11-3 and the Bills 9-5 in what turned out to be Buffalo's only playoff appearance of the decade, a Wild Card loss at Pittsburgh.

 

1979 - Rich Stadium. Club-footed kicker Tom Dempsey (yes, the same Tom Dempsey who set the then NFL record with a 63 yard FG to win a game for the Saints in 1970) missed two FGs, the second a 34 yarder in the final minute of the game which would've given the Bills the victory and ended the streak. There would've been no NFL record "0 for the'70s" and Dempsey would've been a legend in Buffalo folklore. Instead, the miss cost him his job and put an exclamation point on that fateful decade of missed opportunities.

 

So, come Sunday, renew your hatred of the Fish (if you haven't already) or start it rolling for the first time as every self-respecting Bills fan should. Many of us have never forgotten and never will.

 

This is our time...

 

LET'S GO BUFFALO!!! SQUISH THE FISH!!!!!

[Jim in Anchorage]

I remember that Pat Toomay penalty like it was yesterday. Instead of Bills ball, as any sane person would agree it should have been, Miami got the ball back first and 10 and immediately ripped off a long TD run. I was far beyond just angry.

 

I got payback though. I had great seats for the 1980 game 4-5 rows up somewhere between the 40's on the visitors side. I could plainly hear Shula yelling " WHAT ARE WE DOING OUT THERE!" A wonderful day.

[bbb]

I tweeted and John Murphy read it - when he his topic was the most anticipated openers ever - that that one wasn't the most anticipated (this year and '86 would be that, and that Titans game after Home run Throwback), but it turned out to be the best!

 

But, I mentioned, and he said Yes, he definitely remembers it - the week leading up, Bob Keuchenberg proclaimed "I will never lose to the Bills" and that did boil our blood for that game (but we figured he was probably right)

 

That Toomay game - that and the just give it to them game, are the biggest ripoff games in our history.

 

It knocked us out of the playoffs and I went to that game the next week, where they hung the ref in effigy in the tunnel..........And, it was the snow game vs; the Vikings where Chuck Foreman got hit in the eye.

 

But earlier that year, I went to this game with my Dad. I can't find a writeup, but it's definitely the game, We are beating the Dolphins by 9 in the 4th quarter and somehow lose. I remember at least one of Jake Scott's INTs being the killer. He might have got them both in the 4th.

 

I remember walking out of the stadium, with my heart torn out, and there were a bunch of drunks filing out with us, laughing and singing and **** - and my 13 year old brain is saying How can anybody be happy right now?!?

 

Here's the game. I hope somebody else remembers it. It was one of many heartbreakers with them in the 70s and seems to be forgotten:

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197510260buf.htm

[Jim in Anchorage]

I tweeted and John Murphy read it - when he his topic was the most anticipated openers ever - that that one wasn't the most anticipated (this year and '86 would be that, and that Titans game after Home run Throwback), but it turned out to be the best!

 

But, I mentioned, and he said Yes, he definitely remembers it - the week leading up, Bob Keuchenberg proclaimed "I will never lose to the Bills" and that did boil our blood for that game (but we figured he was probably right)

 

That Toomay game - that and the just give it to them game, are the biggest ripoff games in our history.

 

It knocked us out of the playoffs and I went to that game the next week, where they hung the ref in effigy in the tunnel..........And, it was the snow game vs; the Vikings where Chuck Foreman got hit in the eye.

 

But earlier that year, I went to this game with my Dad. I can't find a writeup, but it's definitely the game, We are beating the Dolphins by 9 in the 4th quarter and somehow lose. I remember at least one of Jake Scott's INTs being the killer. He might have got them both in the 4th.

 

I remember walking out of the stadium, with my heart torn out, and there were a bunch of drunks filing out with us, laughing and singing and **** - and my 13 year old brain is saying How can anybody be happy right now?!?

 

Here's the game. I hope somebody else remembers it. It was one of many heartbreakers with them in the 70s and seems to be forgotten:

http://www.pro-footb...97510260buf.htm

I was at that Chuck Foreman game when he got hit in the eye with a snowball [nice shot BTW who ever you are.] So big uproar, Bills fans are dangerous hoodlums. So the very same year Dallas is playing in Minnesota in the playoffs and a whisky bottle [yes whisky] comes flying out from the stands after a good call for Dallas and whacks a official right on the head. Yeah Minnesota fans are more civilized then Buffalo fans.

[Chandler#81]

Great article! Great thread! Thanks, Rubes. (It won't be Me who shuts it down) Felsers' Gameday columns were an absolute Must Read! RIP, Larry, and a heartfelt 'Thank You!'

 

When I attend Bills games in Miami, I still wear my colors proudly and talk smack about the old days to the folks around me. (My gray hair probably keeps me from getting beat up). I do it in good spirit and is well received but their 'young-uns' don't get it either..

 

Fish Fry Sunday @ The Ralph!

[BUFFALOKIE]

I suppose if you didn't follow the Bills before the SB years it's hard to imagine how much hatred there was towards the Fins.....I remember the game in BFLO in 1980 when the losing string was broken. Just amazing. Felzer was a terrific writer..imagine he and Ralph W. have had a few laughs now that they're reunited....

 

That was the only Bills game I have ever been to. Sadly, I don't remember it. I was 8 years old. The only thing I remember is the cold. It probably wasn't cold at all to the locals, but to a skinny kid from the south...it was frigid.

[transient]

Rubes, thanks. Fitting weekend to pull out a Felser article. I wish we could have been treated to his insight on this historic occasion. TBN would do well to find someone of his caliber again. Kelley, too.