CazParker Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 “The luck of Ralph” / “hplaR fo kcul ehT” Stop all the arguments. Give up the begging and pleading. If you want to know what’s happening with the Bills, and (when) (if) the present run of bad teams will end, it’s a simple matter of knowing history. In 1959, Ralph Wilson bought an AFL franchise for $20,000. After being turned away by Miami (the college Hurricanes refused permission to play in the recently renamed Orange Bowl), Ralph parked the team in Buffalo’s War Memorial Stadium, and proceeded to turn that $20,000 into an estimated $750,000,000 by 2009. (That’s not a typo). Add to that the many millions in profit the team has turned over 50 years. If you want to understand the Bills of Ralph Wilson, you must first understand this essential fact: The Buffalo Bills are all about The luck of Ralph. That’s the top and bottom line of how the Bills organization has been run, and will always be run as long as Ralph is in charge. Good luck. Bad luck. Dumb luck or blind luck. It has never been about organization, continuity or football philosophy. Luck. Or, more specifically, “The luck of Ralph” / “hplaR fo kcul ehT” . The Bills won the AFL championship, their only championships in team history, in 1964 and 1965 after Ralph hired Lou Saben, who had recently been run out of Boston, for a very modest amount. (And to, as some have reported, ‘properly piss off the ‘Pats’). There was no search, or evaluation, or reasoned football decision. It was The luck of Ralph. This first ‘Golden Age” was filled with players who were diamonds in the rough and free agent ‘finds”. Consider these two among the many: He picked up his QB, Jack Kemp, for $100 in a waiver move when San Diego foolishly exposed him. (Cookie) “Gilchrist was Buffalo's backup plan: they had actually drafted Ernie Davis to be the team's franchise running back in 1962..... Davis instead chose the NFL, but died of leukemia before ever playing a down of professional football, and the Bills instead signed Gilchrist as a free agent.” (from wikipedia) The luck o’ Ralph? You better believe it! On the flip side, just as “The luck o’ Ralph” dictated the few, too short, good times, “hplaR fo kcul ehT” (the bad luck side) has led to the many prolonged dark periods in Bills history. The same Lou Saben quit in a snit after 1965, and the Bills quickly descended into the basement. There was no organization to replace Kemp, Saimes, Sestak, Duby, Day, Shaw et. al. Ralph tried to repeat his run of luck with players like Tom Flores, who it turned out was blind, (that’s not a typo either), and a seemingly endless run of Billy Joe’s, Preston’s and Ed’s (as in Rutkowski). And we started to hear whining about “suits from Detroit” and “Ralph is cheap”. We couldn’t know it was none of those things in the end. Only “The luck of Ralph”, or in the inverse, “hplaR fo kcul ehT” mattered. The only “lucky” thing to happen between 1967 and 1972 was the drafting of OJ Simpson. Well, at least it seemed lucky then. “hplaR fo kcul ehT” turned OJ into a decoy via John Rauch, (and ultimately a pariah, but that’s another story). And then, wonder of wonders. Ralph hires Lou Saben as a favor to George Steinbrenner, the Bills draft the electric company, and the mid ’70’s are all about turning on the juice and rocking Rich Stadium. Ralph even opened the change purse to make OJ the highest paid player in the game. The ‘good’ luck of Ralph worked until 1976. “hplaR fo kcul ehT” returned with a vengeance. Within 2 seasons, Lou was off in another snit, OJ was in San Fran, our new coach’s name was Ringo, and a QB named Marangi was part of a QB controversy. The dark ages seemed to last forever. But Ralph got lucky again with ‘Ground’ Chuck Knox. Granted, it wasn’t for long, and they never really got close to the big one. Still, the fans of Buffalo were happy to cheer on Cribbs, Piccone, Butler, Smerlas and Riddick in the early ‘80s. Then Knox was gone in a snit of his own. Funny how when coaches leave in a snit, the Bills go to hell in a handbasket. Chalk it up to “hplaR fo kcul ehT” ! It was “hplaR fo kcul ehT” that bought us Kay Stephenson. And for those who are calling for Dick Jauron’s head in 2009, always remember it was DOUBLE “hplaR fo kcul ehT” that gave us Hank Bullough when Ralph fired Kay mid season 1985. During those years, “hplaR fo kcul ehT” sent Jim Kelly and Joe Cribbs to the USFL. It seemed for every Darryl Talley drafted, there were 2 Tony Hunters and 3 Matt Vanden Boom’s. Actually, it didn’t seem that way, that’s the way it was! Organization? Player personnel? Scouting? Nope. Luck. Or lack therof. “The luck of Ralph” appeared again with the drafting of Bruce Smith. Frank Reich. Andre Reed in the 7th round! Then Marv Levy, banished to Canada, eh? is bought to town by Ralph’s luckiest of lucky unknown signings. Bill Polian. Repeat after me. “The luck of Ralph”. Then, at the height of the Bills success, Polian leaves in a snit. Uh-oh! “hplaR fo kcul ehT” The super bowl teams built by Polian and the good times continued for a few more years, until Jimbo’s knee’s were obliterated by too many sacks, Bruce, Thurman, Darryl and Cornelius were no more, Marv was deemed too old, and Polian’s successor, John Butler, left in a snit. Do you see a pattern here? The Music City Fiasco was inevitable. “hplaR fo kcul ehT” has been with us in force since then. Consider the players: Erik Flowers. Mike Williams. Drew Bledsoe. Willis McGahee. JP. And the coaches: Greg Williams. Mularky. Jauron. And the front office: Donohoe. Levy as GM. Brandon as quasi-GM. In every case, Ralph has tried to regain the magic with another diamond in the rough, another stroke of Ralph ‘genious’, a blast from the past. So, forget about firing the coach, trading TO, signing another washed up vet. There is no magic potion to turn the O-line into an experienced, cohesive group. Our current QB, take your pick, is not the next coming of Fergy, let alone Kemp or Kelly. At the conclusion of yet another dark season for the Bills, Ralph will hire yet another cast-off or unknown, in the hopes of finding the next Saben or Polian. Just as he has always done. He may even open his pocket book, and sign the next Dockery or Kelsay. The only hope for Bill’s fans is hplaR fo kcul ehT” finally comes to an end. For a while at least. In any event, trust Ralph to continue to trust to luck. It is what he has done for 50 years. And let’s face it, it’s tough to argue with a guy who watched $20,000 become $750,000,000. No matter how bad “hplaR fo kcul ehT” seems for Bill’s fans, it will always be good for Ralph. Go Bills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 My fault for opening this and reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilson from Gamehendge Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I would say that Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey and Willis McGahee are doing quite alright for themselves. Just look at THEIR teams. (and Willis' stats) And as far as Drew Bledsoe...he was not the same QB when he got here, but he was a damn good one before his stint in Buffalo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaise321 Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 I've been a fan since 1960 and I feel this a pretty good assessment. We're long overdue for something good to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frit0 Bandit0 Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 My fault for opening this and reading. What he said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Byrd Man Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 I've been a fan since 1960 and I feel this a pretty good assessment. We're long overdue for something good to happen. Don't completely agree with your analogy, as some of your "luck" decisions had solid and respectable backgrounds. Even Ole Hank was a pretty good D C. It just turned out he wasn't HC material. And GW would have had much better results if TD hadn't gutted the team shortly after hiring him. I read somewhere GW claimed he wanted Breese but was shot down. Said if he had gotten his wish things might have turned out differently. Interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metzelaars_lives Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Andre Reed was drafted in the 3rd or 4th round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West End Stench Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewHampshireBillsFan Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 A lot of truth in the original post. Not true however that Knox never came close to winning the big one. In 1980 all five playoff teams finished with identical 11-5 records. Even though the Bills won their division they were the odd man out on the tiebreaker and had to play the divisional playoff game in San Diego. They had already beaten the Chargers in SD a few weeks earlier and came close again in the playoff game. As usual for the Bills the officials called a very homer game in favor of SD (remember Miami with Flutie), but the Bills still came close. Had they won that SD game they would have played the Raiders in Buffalo for the AFC Championship. They had already beaten the Raiders 24-7 in Buffalo earlier that year and matched up extremely well against them. Instead the Raiders got to play the Chargers and Eagles en route to winning the SB. Buffalo would also have been favored against the Eagles and probably would have beaten them like the Raiders did. But probably the saddest thing about the whole Knox experience is that he was not given the authority to be over player contracts and the Bills constantly had hold outs and bad feelings between the players and management on the financial side of things. Stew Barber, a former player but a total jerk, was the person on the Bills responsible for negotiating contracts and he did a horrible job maintaining good relations with the players. Knox wanted to replace him with someone from his previous LA Rams staff but RW would not allow it. Finally when Knox quit RW finally did fire Stew Barber as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CazParker Posted October 22, 2009 Author Share Posted October 22, 2009 Andre Reed was drafted in the 3rd or 4th round. My mistake - He was the 7th player we picked that year - second pick of the 4th round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CazParker Posted October 22, 2009 Author Share Posted October 22, 2009 A lot of truth in the original post. Not true however that Knox never came close to winning the big one. In 1980 all five playoff teams finished with identical 11-5 records. Even though the Bills won their division they were the odd man out on the tiebreaker and had to play the divisional playoff game in San Diego. They had already beaten the Chargers in SD a few weeks earlier and came close again in the playoff game. As usual for the Bills the officials called a very homer game in favor of SD (remember Miami with Flutie), but the Bills still came close. Had they won that SD game they would have played the Raiders in Buffalo for the AFC Championship. They had already beaten the Raiders 24-7 in Buffalo earlier that year and matched up extremely well against them. Instead the Raiders got to play the Chargers and Eagles en route to winning the SB. Buffalo would also have been favored against the Eagles and probably would have beaten them like the Raiders did. But probably the saddest thing about the whole Knox experience is that he was not given the authority to be over player contracts and the Bills constantly had hold outs and bad feelings between the players and management on the financial side of things. Stew Barber, a former player but a total jerk, was the person on the Bills responsible for negotiating contracts and he did a horrible job maintaining good relations with the players. Knox wanted to replace him with someone from his previous LA Rams staff but RW would not allow it. Finally when Knox quit RW finally did fire Stew Barber as well. Barber's connection to the 'glory years' adds to my point. Ralph is always looking for the next big signing coupe, the unknown off the wire, or a blast from the past with 1 hurrah left. As far as luck goes, wasn't it Barber who fumbled the opening kickoff against KC in the '66 AFL Title game? Good lineman, lousy kick returner, disastrous player personnel-GM. And if I remember correctly, it was Fergy's injured ankle that did us in in 1980. Getting past SD was only step 1, and that was as close as we ever got. I do agree we were 'jobbed' by having to play in SD. I believe they changed the playoff rules the following year so that would not happen again. "phlaR fo kcul ehT" was alive and well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 A lot of truth in the original post. Not true however that Knox never came close to winning the big one. In 1980 all five playoff teams finished with identical 11-5 records. Even though the Bills won their division they were the odd man out on the tiebreaker and had to play the divisional playoff game in San Diego. They had already beaten the Chargers in SD a few weeks earlier and came close again in the playoff game. As usual for the Bills the officials called a very homer game in favor of SD (remember Miami with Flutie), but the Bills still came close. Had they won that SD game they would have played the Raiders in Buffalo for the AFC Championship. They had already beaten the Raiders 24-7 in Buffalo earlier that year and matched up extremely well against them. Instead the Raiders got to play the Chargers and Eagles en route to winning the SB. Buffalo would also have been favored against the Eagles and probably would have beaten them like the Raiders did. But probably the saddest thing about the whole Knox experience is that he was not given the authority to be over player contracts and the Bills constantly had hold outs and bad feelings between the players and management on the financial side of things. Stew Barber, a former player but a total jerk, was the person on the Bills responsible for negotiating contracts and he did a horrible job maintaining good relations with the players. Knox wanted to replace him with someone from his previous LA Rams staff but RW would not allow it. Finally when Knox quit RW finally did fire Stew Barber as well. BillsVet, Over the past decade, prior to this dismal season, the Bills record had them ranked 29 out of 32 teams. Their record was 60-84. Their winning percentage was .417. The Bills' horrible record over the past half century has nothing to do with good luck or bad luck. It has everything to do with the ineptitude of this buffoon owner. The most influential people in his organization are not the mediocre football people he usually has employed, it is the financial people, such as Littman and Oberdofer, who run the operation. The structure of the organization is designed to maximize profit with little consideration of the product on the field. The owner has made more money off of the Bills than he and his heirs are capable of spending. However, the 91 yr old shyster still insists he can't survive in the small, impoverished market. The owner is a HOF fraud who continues to squeeze everything he can out of the francise before he leaves the scene. Then the next stage (sold to the highest bidder) will demonstrate how grateful the owner is toward the region. My opinion of this larcenous owner has never changed. He is a disgrace and embarrassment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 .tnemssessa rouy htiw eerga yllareneg I .tsop dooG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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