A Link for Buffalo Bills Fans

Message

Bixby17 · #1 Post by **Bixby17** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:37 pm

Saw this and thought of y'all:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/nfl_ex ... fl%2C65641

Sometimes analogies really get the point across.

T_Bone0806 · #2 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:31 pm

It's funny, but it's also scary.

I don't want to know what Oilers, Browns, Colts, and Rams fans felt like.

I won't root for the Toronto Bills.

Bixby17 · #3 Post by **Bixby17** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:09 am

T_Bone0806 wrote:It's funny, but it's also scary.

I don't want to know what Oilers, Browns, Colts, and Rams fans felt like.

I won't root for the Toronto Bills.

I can tell you it is awful. Moving a franchise, especially one where the fans support the team like Bills fans do, is an awful awful thing to do.

earendel · #4 Post by **earendel** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:10 am

Bixby17 wrote:
T_Bone0806 wrote:It's funny, but it's also scary.

I don't want to know what Oilers, Browns, Colts, and Rams fans felt like.

I won't root for the Toronto Bills.
I can tell you it is awful. Moving a franchise, especially one where the fans support the team like Bills fans do, is an awful awful thing to do.

Granted. But unfortunately professional sports is a business first, and the owners have to be concerned about their investment in the team.

dimmzy · #5 Post by **dimmzy** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:33 am

What makes it a "little" bearable is that you can drive to Toronto from Buffalo in less than 90 minutes. Of course, the issue is The Border.

The other thing I've wondered about is the problem some of the PLAYERS might have getting over the border! Some of them have drug convictions etc. that might make them ineligible to cross ... Now, Canada isn't even letting DWI offenders over the border.

Bixby17 · #6 Post by **Bixby17** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:39 am

earendel wrote:
Bixby17 wrote:
T_Bone0806 wrote:It's funny, but it's also scary.

I don't want to know what Oilers, Browns, Colts, and Rams fans felt like.

I won't root for the Toronto Bills.
I can tell you it is awful. Moving a franchise, especially one where the fans support the team like Bills fans do, is an awful awful thing to do.
Granted. But unfortunately professional sports is a business first, and the owners have to be concerned about their investment in the team.

Ha.

Houston is a bigger market than Nashville.

The Houston franchise is worth more than Nashville's.

The reason why the Houston franchise moved to Tennessee is that Bud Adams was an uncouth vulgarian who was incapable of doing the political things of getting people to work together to get a new stadium. He was the king of bad timing and wanting things all his way.

Now he lives in Houston and has his team in Nashville. And Houston's franchise will always be able to pull in more money because there is more money and corporations in Houston.

In addition....

Goodwill is also worth something to business people, and when you move a franchise, you stomp on that goodwill and mangle it.

No one can convince me that the league is better without the BUFFALO Bills in it, one of the most rabid fanbases in the league.

T_Bone0806 · #7 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:39 pm

The fact that Toronto is not that far from Buffalo isn't the point. It's taking the team away from the city of Buffalo. Losing their beloved team would tear up the souls of that city's fans. For most of them, the team is their identity. It wasn't that big a deal when the basketball team relocated. Losing the Sabres would piss many off, but it wouldn't be a devastating blow. Losing the Bills? Trust me, it would be like losing a family member.

I have never lived in Buffalo itself, although I lived an hour away for a few years. But I love that team. I could not get over the knife in the heart that would be the relocation of the team. Toronto? They may as well move to Hawaii or Alaska, for all the difference it would make to me and many other fans..the team would be dead to me.

Buffacuse · #8 Post by **Buffacuse** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:28 am

We will lose the team if the owner, Ralph Wilson, doesn't sell before he dies. He can't leave it to his daughter--the inheritance taxes would be so crushing she would have to sell the team anyway to pay them (and, reportedly, she hates Buffalo anyway) and if he simply leaves it to his estate the executor will be legally obligated to take the high bid--and no one interested in keeping the team in Buffalo can compete with either the Toronto billionaires or a Rupert Murdoch type who would pay $1 billion to move the team to Toronto, LA or someplace else.

People are begging Wilson -- who we all love -- not to do this to us but he seems bound and determined to keep the team until he dies. If he does, I think it's gone and T-Bone is right--it would rip the heart out of Buffalo, which is on life support as it is.