Buffalo Mike? Perish The Thought

Published by Toronto Mike on February 8, 2008 @ 19:06 in Miscellaneous

thumbsdown It's easy to start feeling sorry for yourself when you're a Leafs fan. Sometimes, when you feel things are at their worst, you need to look on the bright side of life.

ESPN The Magazine had an great little write up by Bill Simmons about the horrible situation in New York with the Knicks. Simmons explains how much worse things are in Buffalo, but Buffalo simply doesn't have enough people who care about them, talk about them or write about them to make this suffering noticeable. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Over the past 40-plus years, no sports city has had it rougher than Buffalo. It doesn't have a baseball team. Its NBA team fled west to become the Clippers -- a double whammy. Its greatest and most famous athlete is O.J. Simpson. It has suffered three of the toughest losses ever, all of which are so infamous they can be described in three words or fewer: "wide right," "no goal" and "Music City Miracle." Its beloved Bills lost four straight Super Bowls and currently have the second-longest NFL playoff drought (eight years and counting; the Cardinals haven't gotten in since '98). Is any under-45 American sports fan more scarred than the one who lives in Buffalo?

Things are bad in Toronto with our Maple Leafs. We haven't won the cup since '67, we endured the Harold Ballard era and now we're run by a multi-headed monster without hope and buried in the cellar. Our best-case scenario is that we trade our best player. Die-hards like me weren't on this planet the last time we won it all but things could be so much worse.

I could live in Buffalo.

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6 comments

6 Responses to "Buffalo Mike? Perish The Thought"

dale
February 8, 2008 / 21:40

Hey! In 1967 I saw the Leafs parade down Yonge St.
I've seen The Leafs, Argos, Jays & Toronto Rock in my lifetime all win championships.
MY life is complete.

A.R.
February 9, 2008 / 01:46

I hate to break this to you, but you have yet to see the Raptors win a championship, or Toronto FC.

Mike (Buffalo Boy)
February 9, 2008 / 02:15

I may live in Buffalo but I am a Jays fan who got to see his team win 2 World Series, The Sabres have been to the Cup finals 3 times, and conference finals 2X in the past two years.
The Bisons though not major league baseball, draw better than some major league teams (Florida Marlins) and have won many AAA Championships.
And I will say this about the Bills, Id rather get there and lose than not get there at all. They got there 4 times. There are teams that havent even gotten there.

Toronto Mike
February 9, 2008 / 09:25

Buffalo Boy, I knew I'd hear from you on this one.

The Sabres and Bills getting to the finals 7 times and never winning is probably more frustrating than never getting there. You're oh so close so many times but never champions. That's gotta hurt.

As for the Bisons, they don't count. We both know that. ;-)

Kathleen
February 9, 2008 / 21:55

Yep, it's pretty frustrating being a Buffalo sports fan. If we could win something just once......................

Mike (Buffalo Boy)
February 24, 2008 / 13:16

I guess when it comes to the Sabres and Bills, the question you have to ask is, would you rather go along for the fun ride and disappointed at the end 7 times or win once and not go on the ride for several years at a time.

Me personally, Id rather take the ride and get off early than not go on at all.

The Sabres didn't win the cup the last two years and I know if you don't win the big prize at the end whats it worth? It was a hell of a lot of fun being a sports fan with them in it and competing than if they had not made it at all.

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