Is failing to plan, really planning to fail?

The end of 2010 brings with it a sense of renewal or a cold dose reality with the dismal prospects for the Bills and Sabres. I can’t think of a time in the recent past where I held such pessimistic feeling for both teams to perform any better, let alone get to the point of being relevant nationally.

For many the cure all for the Bills would be a franchise quarterback to build a contender around. A year ago I thought the “can’t miss” prospect was Washington’s Jake Locker. Locker could have come out after his junior season and thought it better to stay another year, only to suffer through horrible early season losses to BYU and Nebraska.

Our attention then turned to Andrew Luck of Stanford, who now is also thinking of sticking around for his senior year. Some of Luck’s decision rides on where his coach Jim Harbaugh decides to go (more on Harbaugh’s career choice later). I still like Locker, a durable type of quarterback who battled adversity and a limited supporting cast to finish the season strong and beat that same Nebraska team in a late December Holiday Bowl. Perhaps Locker is the quarterback the Bills need at this point, without the higher price tag of Luck.

Harbaugh will tonight take the stage as his refurbished Stanford Cardinal takes on Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl (please note that the game’s corporate sponsor has been deleted and forgotten). It’s a foregone conclusion that Harbaugh will leave Stanford shortly after tonight’s game for either his alma mater or to coach in the NFL. Counting on a deal with Michigan may have made weeks ago, the Wolverine brethren feel that Harbaugh will return them to their entitlement of ten win seasons and national prominence.

It wasn’t that long ago many of these same fans tossed aside Lloyd Carr for a coaching phenom named Rich Rodriguez. If Michigan doesn’t get its wish, and Harbaugh goes elsewhere, there is no apparent plan B. Just remember, the reason that things don’t according to plan, is because there never was one. Now, where does that leave the Bills and Sabres?

Once a bridge runner

By Chris Wendel

Growing up east of Lockport, New York along the Erie Canal, an unusual district configuration planted us in the Royalton-Hartland Central School System (Roy Hart). We traveled daily down the canal nine miles away from Lockport to Middleport for high school .

I remember occasionally running the 9 miles or so along the towpath to school, while training for track and cross country. The soft surface of the towpath was named after the mules (remember Sal?) that pulled the packet boats along the canal (filled with lumber, coal, and hay). Long after the canal served as the nations’ major route to the expanding west, the towpath remained and is now part of one of the longest contiguous trail systems in the country.

The towpath was also a great surface for track and cross-country training runs. Our coaches would simply tell us which canal bridge to run to (and return). For example “Hurdles Bridge and back” meant a relatively easy four mile tempo run, while Peet Street meant a long slow ten mile run. Some of us started a tradition on slapping one hand on the cement abutment of each bridge we passed under, marking off another leg of a long day’s work.

I was never much of a contributor to Roy Hart’s track success, but the school was a dominant high school track program in the 1970’s, with times and distances that could compete with most of region’s larger schools. Regardless of the varying levels of talent, those Roy Hart days provided a work ethic and appreciation for running that many of us took with us into our adult lives.

So it was interesting to read a recent story about Vincent Donner a current Roy-Hart student who was the surprise winner at the  Beast of Burden 24-Hour Ultra Run. The ultra-marathon started in Lockport consisting of 25 mile laps along the canal towpath, to Middleport and back. Donner entered as a relative unknown and finished his 100 miles (four laps in 22 hours, 50 minutes and 41 seconds).

Whie his winning performance evoked a certain “Who is that guy?” quality for many seasoned runners,  it was good to hear of a new running hero from Roy-Hart, especially one who knows those canal bridges as well we did.

Blizzard Knowledge

By Tim Wendel

Sometimes simply being from Buffalo reminds you about the important things in life.

Even though I’ve lived in the Washington, D.C., area for 20 years now, I will always consider myself a Buffalonian. Of course, we’re getting nailed by a nasty stretch of weather as I write this. (Silently praying that the power doesn’t go out). At the moment, we’re at two-plus feet and counting.

So, I’ve been trying to impress upon my 17-year-old son the importance of getting out there and doing the shoveling. How the white stuff isn’t going to disappear any time soon. Not this much snow. And how it’s important to help your elderly neighbors clear their driveway, too. Even when their snow blower breaks down.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl. We were supposed to host old friends from Buffalo, who have resettled in this area. That won’t happen now with the weather. But during the Colts-Saints showdown, I’ll tell my son about the great teams from Buffalo. How Kelly & Co. made the Super Bowl four consecutive seasons, only to come up short. How that remains something to be proud. How that’s an accomplishment to be honored and remembered.

Bills’ franchise doldrums places extra pressure on Gailey

By Tim Wendel

My initial reaction to the Buffalo Bills’ naming Chan Gailey as their new head coach? I flash-backed to Lowell “Cotton” Fitzsimmons.

At first blush the two appear to have little in common. Gailey has an 18-14 record in the NFL, while Fitzsimmons went 832-775 in the NBA.

But as I watch the dysfunctional Bills unravel, I’m reminded of the final season of the Braves in Buffalo, when Fitzsimmons was coach. The team went 3-10 in December, 3-9 in January and 3-10 in February in 1977-1978, en route to a dismal 27-55 record. By that point, season ticket sales, including partial plans, had fallen to 2,400. Soon after the year ended, with a 131-114 defeat to Boston, the Braves left Western New York. With John Y. Brown wheeling and dealing, the franchise was swapped with the Boston Celtics and sent west to become the Los Angeles Clippers.

“I think Buffalo got a raw deal as far as the NBA,” Fitzsimmons told my friend Pete Weber years later. “I enjoyed everything Buffalo. What I feel bad about is the franchise … I guess I’ve got to take credit for folding the franchise.”

That brings me back to Chan Gailey. Will he singing the same tune when the Bills leave town? Everyone knows the Bills are in big trouble, seemingly destined to end up in Los Angeles or Toronto or another larger market.

Ironically, if you compare the Braves’ coaches and the Bills’ coaches, the spiral downward is remarkably similar. Both had Hall of Fame coaches, followed by pretenders when the teams desperately needed to win. The Braves’ high-water mark coincided with Jack Ramsay. He was followed by Tates Locke, Bob MacKinnon, Joe Mullaney and Fitzsimmons.

The Bills haven’t been the same since Hall of Famer Marv Levy left after the 1997 season. Those who tried to fill his shoes include Wade Phillips, Gregg Williams, Mike Mularkey, Dick Jauron and now Gailey.

Buffalo fans better pray the Bills’ new guy can make the team competitive. If not, we could be looking at the Braves’ scenario all over again, with Gailey telling us years later how the Niagara Frontier deserved better.

Kiffin’s and Beilein’s career paths provide new meaning to coaching loyalty

by Chris Wendel

Many of us watched is disbelief this week at the surreal scene in Knoxville with Lane Kiffin making the quick exit to LA to replace Pete Carroll at USC. Kiffin’s career path has a Forrest Gump bent to it, parlaying a dismal stay with the Oakland Raiders and a mediocre one season record of 7-6 into a the head coaching spot with USC.

Hidden in the hijinx that ensued with Kiffin this week was the University of Michigan’s announcement that John Beilein signed a long-term contract as the school’s basketball coach. While Kiffin’s departure from Tennessee was ridiculed, some might say that it is no different from Beilein’s job changing pattern.

I bring up Beilein because of his Buffalo area roots. Born and raised in Niagara County’s orchard country (Burt to be exact), Beilein has the distinction of progressing from high school coach to head coach in the Big Ten Conference without ever being an assistant coach.

There is a marked difference between Beilein and Kiffin, however. Since Beilein began coaching in 1976 at Newfane (N.Y.) H.S.), his average stay at one position is about five years, and it would be fair to say that every school he left had a basketball program that was in better shape then when he arrived.

Kiffin’s one-and-done season at Tennessee could be justified by his narrow window of opportunity to accept his “dream job” at USC, but he has to realize how making that choice radically changes how the press and public view his coaching loyalty. The disarray left in Knoxville and the Vol’s inability to secure Kiffin’s replacement is rivaled only by the Buffalo Bills’ ongoing coaching search.

Somehow I felt that Beilein’s acceptance of a new contract means that he’s in Ann Arbor for the long-term. Time will tell if Michigan made the right choice with Beilein, my hunch is that they did.

Explaining the Deadline gone by

The best laid plans can take longer than anticpated and we’re now looking at April for a release date. With that in mind, I sent the following message last night to those who have pre-ordered the book “Buffalo, Home of the Braves”. Extending past the publication date (again) was a tough but necessary choice. Here’s part of what I wrote to those who have pre-ordered the book:

“The entire effort of gathering photos, checking for historical correctness, and editing has taken more then three years, obviously much longer then anticipated. The book is still in editing mode before going to press. We’re now at the mercy of the graphic design person who is now finishing up the chapter on the final season. Then it’s four weeks working with the printer before we have books in hand.

With a long wait that extends past the advertised publication date of February 1, 2009, we’re offering a full refund to anyone who has pre-ordered. If you can hang in there a bit longer, it is now likely that book will be shipped out in early April. If neither if these alternatives work for you, please write or call with any questions or concerns.

The book still promises to be the most comprehensive history of the Buffalo Braves ever compiled. Your support in getting over these last hurdles is greatly appreciated.”