Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Orchard Park Bills

First I need to say that I have a history with the Buffalo Bills most of you do not know and I do not wish to expound on it. Lets just say that I don't actively root for the Bills even though I live here. Also, being that I do not read the local paper or watch the lame local news, I really have no feelings vested in what they do. But with the Bills being 3-0 and coming off of a huge win against Punk Brady and the Pats. I must say that they have showed a lot of heart and most of all athleticism during this first part of the season. It's good coming in work and seeing people so enthused and excited. I must admit the city needs it. Let me say it again - THE CITY OF BUFFALO NEEDS IT.

When you really get down to the nitty-gritty, the Bills are not Buffalo, they are the Orchard Park Bills. The reason I am making this an issue is because of something George Wilson, the Bills starting SS said after the game when discussing the crowd at Ralph Wilson stadium and how the players feed off of the noise of their 12th man. His statement was good for publicity but totally off base. To paraphrase, he said the Bills have a special relationship with the Buffalo community. What community is George referring to? The suburbs? I have been in the Queen city for over 13 years and that organization has never been close, related, involved, and rarely seen in the real community here - except when the players come to town to pick up a sista or two, or 50 if you were talking about Eric Moulds back in the day. Players like Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, or Nate Odoms never identified with the city.

In my opinion, since the Bills moved to Orchard Park in the 70's they moved their community focus to the suburbs also. Yes they may have a gratuitous showing in the inner-city, but for the most part, their contribution to 'Real' Buffalo has been void. More than likely, mostly every African-American citizen of Buffalo would tell you the the Bills have no impact in the city of Buffalo. In fact, the city is set up this way all together.

For those of you who do not know, according to the census, Buffalo was the 6th most segregated city in the USA (http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/03/29/most_segregated_cities/slideshow.html). People live in the suburbs, drive to the city, work and make their money in the city and then spend it in the suburbs. There is even a highway built along the water, which easily takes them to and from the suburbs without having to drive past the 'hood'. I can go on forever about issues of Buffalo but let me get back to the subject at hand - the Orchard Park Bills.

The problem with the Bills begins at the top with it's owner, Ralph Wilson. For reasons beyond the scope of this blog, I do not have a nice thing to say about Mr. Wilson personally, so I will stick to what I do know. What I know is that Mr. Wilson moved the Bills stadium from the city to the suburb of Orchard Park in 1973. A well to do, high-middle class neighborhood, Orchard Park is known as having a very racist past, even to the Buffalo Bills players who play there. Mr. Wilson will tell you that he moved the stadium because the old War Memorial Stadium ,where the Bills were housed in the 1960's, was run down and old. In addition, post AFL-NFL merger, the NFL mandated a stadium had to have a capacity minimum of 50,000 while War Memorial Stadium only had a max of 47,000. So Ralph moved to Orchard Park. I'm not blaming Mr. Wilson for the demise of Buffalo, but I believe that move, along with the segregated attitude of white Buffalonians really killed the city. We are talking about a city that can't and will not develop the Waterfront to bring in new business. We are talking about a city that it's main college, University of Buffalo moved it's main campus to THE SUBURBS. They moved to get out of the city. Really? I'm sure there is a 'logical' explanation for this but when it's all said and done, we know why.

I can go on about some of the borderline racism of the city but let try to get back to the subject a hand - the Orchard Park Bills and how they have no relationship with THE CITY OF BUFFALO AND THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE CITY. George Wilson needs to stop modeling and acting and get the rest of his boys down to the inner-city and get active with these kids who are in need of them as mentors and role models. And you are telling me, Mr. Ralph Wilson, who had the foresight to buy the Bills for $25,000 (now worth over $800 billion), doesn't see how much he can impact Western New York as a whole by putting a new stadium, downtown, on the waterfront? Not only would there be a sense of pride for the city, but the measurables are jobs - IN THE CITY, tax dollars  which can be used to fund schools, more hotels and new businesses opening. In other words, the Baltimore model.

Buffalo has a lot of potential and there are pockets of greatness here already but until the mindset is changed and the economy is open to ALL people it will always be a second class city. The Orchard Parks Bills can change this by just being involved. Ya heard!!!!!!

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