I can’t understand Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to cut funding to Roswell Park while he promises to spend millions of dollars and do everything in his power to see that the Bills stay in Buffalo. The Bills’ economic impact to the area is minimal and is costly to taxpayers. It is just a game, while Roswell Park involves saving lives. Should this topic even be debated?
Martin Farrell
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) - New York Jets defensive tackle Sione Pouha says the touchdown celebration by Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson was insensitive to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Pouha says Monday that Johnson putting his arms out and acting like a plane - something Santonio Holmes does after scoring - but then crashing into the turf in the Jets' 28-24 win Sunday was "kind of a dagger" because of the attacks that occurred 10 years ago in Manhattan, a few miles from MetLife Stadium.
Pouha says it was an "unprofessional" gesture by Johnson, whom he says didn't take into account that 9/11 is a "sacred moment."
Get over yourself, Pouha. Talk about a stretch. The name of your team is the New York Jets! The last thing on anyone's mind when Johnson scored was the September 11th terrorist attacks. We've become so sensitive about everything these days. I can see if Johnson pretended to crash his imaginary plane a month after the attacks, but come on. It's been ten years! It reminds me of the time Dolphins' coach Jimmy Johnson stomped on the box of Flutie Flakes after a Dolphins' victory and Flutie remarked that "it was like he was stomping on his autistic son." No. It was like he was glad that he finally beat you.
Johnson is a young guy who hopefully will learn from this moment of stupidity. As I said before, Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison never spent any time planning their end-zone celebrations, because they were there too often. Chad Ochowhatever figured out the best way to solve his celebratory nonsense was to stop catching touchdowns (or passes) altogether. Johnson does play with a great deal of passion and I hope he continues to improve. I like the way he plays, except for the pre-planned celebrations. On the positive side, channel 7 has asked him to co-host this years' New Years Eve Ball Drop with former Bill Ronnie Harmon. Clip Smith is laughing about that one, somewhere.
Jet Critical of Johnson | wgrz.com
I agree with this letter writer from Lockport. The Bills sell out 80,000 seats each week. People in this town are obsessed with them and the league 12 months a year. To hold a gun to the community and say you better fork over $100 million, is a crime. The fans who attend games should decide whether a stadium is modern enough for them.
This fan will never respond to threats. I love football on autumn Sundays, but I could very easily find other things to do. The NFL has gotten too big for it's own good. Roger Goodell needs to go back and look at old clips and see what made the NFL great. It had nothing to do with luxury boxes...
Why are Bills asking for additional money?
I am a simple man, so I may need some help in my search for an explanation of something that I read in the paper last week. I read a couple of articles in which National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is a Jamestown native, said that it will take state and local tax dollars to keep the Buffalo Bills viable for the future.
As I recall, over the summer there was a labor disagreement between the NFL owners and the players on how to divide $9.5 billion (with a b) in profits between them. Am I the only one who sees a problem in logic here?
So are the taxpayers of Western New York being asked to subsidize this hugely profitable private enterprise while schools, libraries and the arts are being cut, not to mention the infrastructure that continues to crumble? Somebody please explain this to me.
Jeff TracyLockport
The days are numbered for the shaggy beard of Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Bills' quarterback, who has been growing his beard all season, said he will shave it off after the season-finale against the New York Jets on Jan. 2. Fitzpatrick's beard is very full around the mouth and chin and splotchy on the sides.
Bills cornerback Drayton Florence has been calling him "the Amish Rifle." Fitzpatrick was asked Wednesday if he has been invited to take part in any Civil War reenactment festivities. (He hasn't.)
"I think there are probably plenty of people who want me to trim it or cut it up, especially of the female variety," Fitzpatrick said. "I've gotten a lot of different comments and stuff, [like] 'how does your wife deal with that?' But it's part of it. She's along for the ride."
Asked if his wife is counting the days until he shaves it off, Fitz said: "Yeah. I think so."
I like Fitzpatrick, even though his beard makes him look like one of the ZZ Top band members on crack.
He seems to have the leadership skills the Bills needed at the position. Hopefully, he'll keep churning out touchdown passes as well as butter...
“Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.” Luke 3:11Mike Hamby, a regular volunteer at St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy on Walden Avenue, didn’t literally take the boots off his feet and give them to a needy young man.
But Hamby did take action last week after hearing about a man who needed size 14 boots to replace a hole-filled pair of sneakers that couldn’t cut it in Buffalo’s harsh winters.
Hamby, without hesitation or fanfare, went out to his own vehicle to give the man a pair of expensive fur-lined hunting boots.
The fact that a former pro athlete is volunteering his time on Walden Avenue in Buffalo really says a lot in itself. Hamby has made quite a name for himself after football, as a sculptor. Here's how the boot story went down last week...
“There’s a gentleman who comes in twice a week, a big heavyset man who doesn’t have a lot, obviously, but a very appreciative man,” said Gino Grasso, an associate missionary at St. Luke’s.
Several times in recent weeks, that young man had come in to ask for size 14 boots, to replace his beaten-up sneakers for the winter.
The young man asked Grasso again last week, within earshot of Hamby.
“He [Hamby] looked at me and said, ‘That’s the size I wear. I have a pair of boots in my SUV,’ ” Grasso recalled.
Hamby went outside, got the boots and gave them to the man, who tried them on. It was a perfect fit.
“They’re yours,” Hamby said, according to Grasso.
Hamby couldn’t be reached to comment Monday.
His wife, Deb, hadn’t heard about the boots. But when told the story, she had a quick reaction:
“That’s my husband.”
I guess it's true what they say. Character is defined by the things you do when nobody else is watching. So many former players struggle when the crowds stop cheering, but it appears Hamby has become more successful upon retirement.
The days are numbered for the shaggy beard of Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Bills' quarterback, who has been growing his beard all season, said he will shave it off after the season-finale against the New York Jets on Jan. 2. Fitzpatrick's beard is very full around the mouth and chin and splotchy on the sides.
Bills cornerback Drayton Florence has been calling him "the Amish Rifle." Fitzpatrick was asked Wednesday if he has been invited to take part in any Civil War reenactment festivities. (He hasn't.)
"I think there are probably plenty of people who want me to trim it or cut it up, especially of the female variety," Fitzpatrick said. "I've gotten a lot of different comments and stuff, [like] 'how does your wife deal with that?' But it's part of it. She's along for the ride."
Asked if his wife is counting the days until he shaves it off, Fitz said: "Yeah. I think so."
I like Fitzpatrick, even though his beard makes him look like one of the ZZ Top band members on crack.
He seems to have the leadership skills the Bills needed at the position. Hopefully, he'll keep churning out touchdown passes as well as butter...
