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The man who named the Buffalo Bills...


ricojes

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As a guy who likes history, I enjoyed this story. I had never heard of Jim Dyson before.

 

I've heard speculation and stories suggesting the Bills were NOT named after Buffalo Bill Cody. I guess this article puts those theories to rest.

 

"Dyson wrote a short essay envisioning the Bills as the frontier “posse” for Buffalo Bill Cody, who had killed thousands of bison on behalf of the railroads on the Great Plains."

 

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Your city is named Buffalo and you place a Buffalo on your helmet and you name the team after a fella renowned for killing Buffalo.

The logic has always seemed somewhat enigmatic to me.

A little bit of humor from Dyson, I think. Brueil wanted to get rid of "Bison." Dyson named the team after a guy who killed bison.

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We're so used to the name "Buffalo Bills" that its weirdness doesn't really sink in. I mean, I grew up with it. But once in a while I'll run into someone who knows absolutely nothing about football (o.k., some women and/or foreigners) and the name just strikes them as bizarre. The American women know who Buffalo Bill was, but can't really understand why you'd name a sports team after him just because your city is named Buffalo. Is any other sports team named after an individual, particularly one with no connection to the city they play in? The foreigners are completely mystified, knowing neither the old cowboy nor American football. Then again, Buffalo Bisons was even weirder, kind of like Los Angeles Angels...

 

EDIT: I guess if you know the history, Cleveland Browns is even weirder, kind of like Buffalo Wilsons. But the weirdness (weirder still since the current incarnation has zero connection to Paul Brown) is masked by the fact that they can always wear brown and act like it's o.k.

Edited by The Frankish Reich
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Interesting that the sentiment here seems to be our team was simply named after a cowboy who was famous for killing buffalo.

 

Buffalo Bill Cody was the most famous American in the world for decades. He was a pony express rider, a decorated civil war scout, an extraordinary marksman, and an adviser on the American frontier to every President under whom he served. He was also the architect of the greatest Wild West show the world had ever seen, literally shipping the American West experience to countries overseas earning him friendships with kings, queens, and nobility around the world.

 

Not even Bill himself would deny he had a checkered past - this is the 1800s Wild West after all, where 'heroes' like Jesse James and Billy the Kid held reverence. But I'm actually really proud my favorite football team holds a lineage with such a remarkable yet apparently mostly forgotten figure.

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Interesting that the sentiment here seems to be our team was simply named after a cowboy who was famous for killing buffalo.

 

Buffalo Bill Cody was the most famous American in the world for decades. He was a pony express rider, a decorated civil war scout, an extraordinary marksman, and an adviser on the American frontier to every President under whom he served. He was also the architect of the greatest Wild West show the world had ever seen, literally shipping the American West experience to countries overseas earning him friendships with kings, queens, and nobility around the world.

 

Not even Bill himself would deny he had a checkered past - this is the 1800s Wild West after all, where 'heroes' like Jesse James and Billy the Kid held reverence. But I'm actually really proud my favorite football team holds a lineage with such a remarkable yet apparently mostly forgotten figure.

 

He actually won the Medal of Honor as a civilian, which I didn't know was even possible.

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Very cool,

 

didn't know the Cardinals went back to 1898

 

The browns is still the worst name and color ever

 

the Goths for the Giants would have been awesome

 

the NY Burros :lol:

 

Chargers were originally from LA, interesting

 

Redskins was chosen to honor their head coach who Native American, my how times have changed.

Edited by Buffalo Barbarian
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