The Curse of the Bills

OMG – wide right again!!! As expected, the curse of Buffalo Bills punched us in the eye once more. I’m a big believer in the universal concept of “karma” and I have long thought the City of Buffalo is under a curse originated by the team’s name’s sake – William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917), aka Buffalo Bill.

He’s was a legendary Indian fighter, bison hunter, and an old wild west performer. But he gained his national notoriety after he was hired to slaughter wild bison from the back of trains with high powered rifles. He won a national contest in which he killed 4,202 bison between 1867-68 to feed railroad workers. It was part of a government sponsored annihilation of millions of bison that roamed the great plains of the west for thousands of years. The extermination of the bison served to methodically deprive the native Indians of life sustaining essentials for their tribal existence.

So, my point is Buffalo Bill was really a despicable human being and his eternal aura is the reason the Bills will never win an NFL Championship.

If that’s not karma enough, did you know that the original “Rich Stadium” is built on ancient Indian burial grounds? The New York Wenrohronon tribal burial grounds to be exact. I wonder how those spirits feel about drunken hooligans trampling on their eternal resting places?

This is my annual lament on being in an exclusive 60- year Buffalo Bills losers club. I have become a dwindling rarity of those who remember when the Buffalo Bills were champions. As a boy, I attended games at the old War Memorial Stadium on Jefferson Avenue. I can still smell the aroma of popcorn, hotdogs and beer in the air. I can still hear the man on a soap box woofing: “Get you’re programs herrre!! I remember my father allowing friends to park in our driveway to walk to the stadium. I recall hearing the roar of the stadium crowd after every touchdown from my front porch.

I also recall the day the new Rich Stadium opened in August 1973. On that day, people were even then scratching their heads: “Why the snowiest city in the nation didn’t built a dome stadium?”

I’m not going to rehash that stupidity here because I sincerely believe that by not putting a dome on the new stadium guarantees the Bills won’t be here much longer. As a longtime Bills fan, I know when the Bills return to the bottom of the standings, which they always do, they will invariably lose revenue because the fanbase will not want to brave those snow storms on a team that perennially sucks. When that happens in the new stadium, Terry Pegula will have a fiduciary responsibility to sell the team, which is worth several billions on the market, and there will be no shortage of buyers.

Here are some fun facts I learned in researching this column. The cost of the original Rich Stadium was: U.S. – $22 million in 1973 ($145 million in today’s money). The new Bills Stadium without a dome, which will be located up the street from the old stadium, is scheduled to cost $1.54 billion dollars, and will open in 2026. On the other hand, the new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada where the Super Bowl is being held next week, cost 1.9 billion dollars and has a dome.

So the powers that be could not have scrounged up another half billon to put a dome on the new Bills Stadium is a sure testament to the ineptitude of County Executive Poloncarz. It a bit like buying a new car with no air conditioner and hand cranked windows. Its just cheap and archaic thinking! Go Bills!