MARREN: Win the last game, then we’ll celebrate

Columns

Related Photos

September 12, 2009

By Tim Marren<br><a href="mailto:tim.marren@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Tim</a> The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sat Sep 12, 2009, 11:56 PM EDT

I know this isn’t supposed to be the page where you read about sports, but this is Western New York, where the weather and our sports teams lead the news.

Why should our opinion page be any different than other media around town?

Here’s my thing: As the Bills start another season tomorrow night, I think Buffalo sports fans should take a step back and reflect on how all of our sports pride, yes pride, comes after some horrific seasons, championship losses and just pitiful performances.

My reason for that statement is that I, like many others, just can’t get excited about the start of another Bills season. I have apathy for the Bills these days. So instead of excitement I’m thinking about how pathetic we all are for celebrating epic losses.

While I’m not getting excited about the Bills, and instead watch a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers kick off the NFL season this past Thursday and feel excitement for their team, their fans, their blue-collar city, I can’t help but think about the mediocrity — or less — that we have become accustomed to in Buffalo.

I guess it was during my trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, last month that got me thinking about Buffalo sports.

We celebrate four Super Bowl losses. How pathetic is that? That weekend, I was among thousands cheering two Bills, Ralph Wilson and Bruce Smith, who were integral in those four appearances — and four losses. I’ve thought about that weekend and the celebration in recent weeks and can’t get it out of my mind that the bulk of the Bills’ Hall of Famers had great personal accomplishments and deserve Hall recognition for that, but their teams never won the last game of the season.

I think that should have at least been a required accomplishment for Marv Levy and Ralph Wilson Jr.’s enshrinement. But we settle. We settle for four Super Bowl losses and build that up as a great accomplishment. It’s not. Why do we celebrate such losses.

Are others in the NFL secretly laughing at the fact that all we have to hang our hat on are four consecutive Super Bowl appearances and that’s apparently Hall of Fame worthy? They must think it’s a joke that so many players are in the Hall from those teams.

If I was a Hall member with multiple championship rings I’d wonder why my bust is next to a handful of guys who “just got there.” They didn’t win.

Contrast that against the Steelers opening with yet another win on Thursday, oh, and on the same night they raised their sixth Championship banner and the same day the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated their Stanley Cup Championship with President Obama at the White House.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Four straight Super Bowl losses. The Sabres/Flyers fog game in the 1975 Stanley Cup finals. No goal in 1999. The Ice Bowl. These games were all either losses or part of a series that we ultimately lost. Yet listen to someone tell you their favorite Buffalo sports memory and undoubtedly the “experience” of one of these losses is near the top of their list.

We have that comeback game against the Houston Oilers, but I’d take one Super Bowl over some random greatest comeback game. Plus what is that? Just some playoff game where we came to life in the second half. Huh.

My point is we should stop celebrating losses or quirky Buffalo wins. In sports a loss is a loss. Showing up four years in a row but losing each time isn’t worth congratulations. It’s barely worth a pat on the back. Those were good teams, yes, but not great.

We had a rally after the Sabres LOST the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs. I was at that rally. What was I doing? What city goes down to City Hall to celebrate a loss?

Buffalo.

I want a parade down Delaware Avenue with a shiny silver trophy in someone’s fancy car. Ticker tape. Visits to the White House. Championship banners.

In the words of crazy Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders, who actually has Super Bowl championships, “Just win, baby.”

Then we’ll celebrate.

Tim Marren is the managing

editor of the Lockport Union-Sun

& Journal. Contact him at Tim.Marren@lockportjournal.com

or 439-9222.

Text Only

Columns

LEFFLER: The things that actually matter
To hear some people tell it, this great republic of ours is on the brink of disintegration.

May 22, 2012 1 Photo
Your friends are great ... at Facebook
The internet has been the facilitator of a lot of good things; it allows us to comparison shop without putting on pants, lets people check the weather report without having to watch the rest of the news and it’s made keeping in touch with friends and family a breeze; cruising through Facebook seeing pictures of your friend from high school’s new baby, a twitter feed full of self-promoting tweets about your neighbor’s new online start-up, a status update from your nephew that talks about meeting Buffalo Bills legend Jim Kelly. Reading all of these updates from the exciting lives of your friends and family while you sit at home, it can at times feel like everyone is living the dream but you.

May 17, 2012 1 Photo
The war against the English language
April 25, 2012
VINCENT DAVIS II: Oil prices and the 'Bro-conomy'
Can we be serious for a moment; not too long, but longer than usual? Gas prices are going up folks. US oil drilling is at its highest point in more than 10 years. But when Toyota Prius commercials come on TV during sporting events, we know longer make fun of them for advertising a “fake car” that “only a hippy or English professor would drive.” Instead, we think to ourselves “40 miles a gallon, that does sound nice ...”

March 16, 2012 1 Photo
‘Mailing it in’ is not good enough
The U.S. Postal Service has been mailing it in for years. It has stuck like an old postage stamp to a business model that was going nowhere fast, literally. Snail mail is still the USPS stock in trade, and it has increasingly earned its nickname. And for a poorly run operation, it certainly does cost a lot. USPS must offer competitive shipping options, guaranteed faster delivery times and overall service enhancements — or the death spiral of an American institution will continue.

March 2, 2012
Gadgets Galore
The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has come and gone, but the gadgets introduced there likely will be part of our future for years to come. Record numbers were set with attendance, vendors, and square footage of exhibit space. Innovations were unveiled, and in some cases, expectations dashed.

January 29, 2012 5 Photos
LEFFLER: I remember the scream
If you’re sick of news of the run for the White House, I’ve got some really bad news for you: It’s about to get worse.

January 3, 2012 1 Photo
Put some Apple accessories under the tree this year
December 18, 2011 6 Photos
War of 1812 has lots of connections to us
December 17, 2011
Don’t overlook freedom
November 13, 2011
More Columns Headlines

Columns

Search Results

Related Photos

MARREN: Win the last game, then we’ll celebrate

Site Map

Contact Us