daquixers_is_back Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Does anyone know it? Writing a report ... please help!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webster Guy Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Does anyone know it? Writing a report ... please help!! 599895[/snapback] 10/17/1918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daquixers_is_back Posted February 10, 2006 Author Share Posted February 10, 2006 Thank-you very much ... I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webster Guy Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Thank-you very much ... I appreciate it. 599904[/snapback] I interpolated. Not 100% sure. What do you think? The following article came out on Sunday October 17th, 2004 (Sunday paper). BUFFALO NEWS SUNDAY Sports ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Front Page > Sports > Teams & Leagues > Bills COMMENTARY Ralph owed a fish fry on birthday By LARRY FELSER 10/17/2004 Could it be too much to skip the birthday cake with the four score and half dozen candles and have the Bills produce a bona fide victory in honor of their boss today? Yes, it's Ralph Wilson's 86th birthday. Ties are out. Slippers he owns. He wears Bills' sweaters, not knitted ones. His birthday present request list has just one item written on it: "Beat the Dolphins!" It's not asking too much. This Buffalo-Miami game is like a re-enactment of the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac, those two Civil War ironclads that were precursors to modern battleships. They moved glacially and had short and unhappy futures. Just like the 2004 Bills and Dolphins. When you're 86 and you own an NFL franchise, what you want to do is go to the games, sit back and be entertained by your well-paid warriors. Leave the headaches to someone else, in this case Tom Donahoe, whom Wilson not only hired as the GM but bestowed the title of president upon, the first Bills' employee with that much power and say. Donahoe's reign has turned out like a Florida election. The '04 Bills can't get through an offensive series without some sort of disaster penalty, usually a dumb one. Each yellow flag is like a dart in the hide of the owner. All he asked for were pleasant afternoons. Instead he's had a month's worth of heartburn. Last week, after the last-minute loss to the Jets in the Jersey Meadowlands, Wilson spoke out angrily. He has had his fill of "nice tries" and consolation prizes. The Bills' comeback to produce a late lead was like a nice dessert that comes after the chef burns your steak and overcooks the vegetables. Wilson deserves much better. It was in October 1959 that he decided to bring an American Football League franchise to Buffalo, returning the pro game to a city that had lusted for it since losing its All-America Conference franchise in 1950, when the NFL turned thumbs down on the city. At the time, the NFL was a 12-team league with no intention to expand. There were a few forward-looking owners, but George Preston Marshall, the owner of the Washington Redskins, always blocked change. Washington was then considered a southern city. If Marshall were alive today the NFL would still be a 12-team league and all white. Marshall and most of the pro football franchise owners of the time are dead. Ralph Wilson is one of the great statesmen of American sports. In the AFL's rockier days, he saved the Raiders' franchise by buying a piece of the team. It was against the AFL constitution for anyone to own even minority shares in another team. As Wilson explained later, "The league would have gone down if I hadn't." After NBC signed a rich contract with the new league, assuring its survival, Wilson sold back the shares. He also lent money to the late Billy Sullivan to keep the rival Patriots alive. The Pats grew into one of the premier franchises in sports. Wilson, like any owner, has absorbed a lot of unkind shots in Buffalo through the years. Whenever a gas-station rumor popped up claiming he would move the team to some other city, there would be panic in the streets, or at least in the talk-show and letters-to-the-editor columns. He's still here. As he's been explaining for decades, "I'm not going anywhere." He meant it. For about the last quarter century, one of the major water-cooler questions around town has been "who will own the Bills when Wilson is gone?" There have been published stories naming candidates. Most of the candidates have come and gone. Ralph is still on the right side of the grass, agonizing over dopey penalties. He's been called money hungry yet his ticket prices are the lowest in the league, more than $10 under the league average. Parking is $4 under the average. You can buy a hot dog for 82 cents under the average. Happy birthday, Ralph. (Larry Felser, former News columnist, appears in Sunday's editions.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 I interpolated. Not 100% sure. What do you think? 599906[/snapback] FYI - a Bills media guide confirms your calculation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 10/17/1918 599900[/snapback] Shouldn't it be: X/XVII/MCMXVIII? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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