I’m not sure if you heard, but Buffalonians can be kind of emotional whenever someone makes fun of the city. Don’t you dare mention the economy or the snow in your Grantland article or you will be getting a Twitter feed full of FU#K Bill Simmons. To be honest, it takes a lot for me to get angry when it comes to people teasing the WNY region. I know some fans don’t think very highly when writers compare the poor economy in Buffalo to Ryan Fitzpatrick saving the city. I can understand that, but I just think of it as general sports writing.
Every city in America gets their fair share of this. Writers always compare athletes to the good/bad of the city. How many times have I read a Bucky column that indicated a player having a Buffalo blue-collar like work ethic? How often do we love it when a writer uses that analogy when describing a player? All the time. It is a two-way street. Frankly, I like those kind of columns. I don’t blame writers for doing it because fans have a tendency to relate to players because of similar city characteristics.
“Oh, he’s a Boston or Buffalo or New York guy!”
Where does this expression come from? It comes from the similarities between the player and city. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I usually ignore/don’t care about players or writers talking smack about our city. Why? Because every city gets crapped on one way or another.
Plus, we tend to over-dramatize it whenever someone makes a comment about the region. LA gets it for being completely fake. Miami gets it for not caring about sports. New York gets it for being angry a$$holes. I wasn’t even that ticked off when Willis McGahee badmouthed the nightlife in Buffalo. Why? Because I think he kind of had a point. However, if there is one thing I can’t stand, it is when our city gets used/lied to/played.
Mike Shanahan kind of did all three.
It has been 21 months since the Bills named Chan Gailey the head coach. At the time, I, like probably a number of Bills fans, was not happy with the choice. However, things have changed. Gailey has done an exceptional job with a bunch of no-name guys. I think back to how awful the coaching search for the Bills was during that time.
For two months, it seemed like everyday we would get an assistant or legendary coach saying no to the Bills. It sucked and it was kind of embarrassing. Yes, more embarrassing than a Grantland writer telling his readers that the economy stinks here. However, even though the likes of Gruden, Cowher, Russ Grimm, Jim Harbaugh and others said “No” to the team, I still don’t resent them.
However, it is different with Shanahan.
Mr. Fake tan did everything in his power to create the illusion that he was interested in coming to Buffalo. It only took 24-hours for Adam Schefter to leak that Shanahan and the Bills were interested in talking. Then a week later, Russ Brandon and Shanahan had this amazing 8-hour meeting. Now, everyone knows that Schefter/Shanahan are boys. They wrote a book together and Schefter use to cover the Broncos as a beat writer. Coincidentally, it was also leaked that Shanahan wanted 10-million bucks a year and a piece of ownership. Hmmm..You think the duo was trying to send a message to other owners in trying to raise Shanahan’s price?
Then, for about the next 6 weeks, we heard nothing. Finally, after Jim Zorn was fired in Washington, it probably took a 10-minute conversation or 10-million bucks for Shanahan to come to Washington. It was the worst kept secret ever.
In hindsight, everyone had to know that Shanahan didn’t want to come to Buffalo because the Redskins don’t have a cash to the cap philosophy. Say what you will about Snyder, besides that he’s an a$$hole, but he will open his checkbook for anyone. You can’t possibly say that about the Bills. That is the real reason why Mike went to DC. He used his boy at ESPN to raise his salary demands. That is the main reason why he talked to us. No one else tried doing that with the Bills. Not Mike Holmgren, who didnt want to talk. Not Harbaugh. Not Cowher. At least those guys were honest in not wanting the job. Shanahan was not.
Yeah, I know, it is just textbook negotiations. However, it still doesn’t mean I have to like it.
Then, to top it off, Shanahan stated that one of the reasons why he picked Washington over Buffalo, had to do with the weather. Really??! I forgot, Washington and Denver never get bad weather. You know, we have these things called plows or snow blowers. Actually, for a guy making 10-million bucks year, he could probably turn his snow-filled driveway into a snow cone for the kids. If you want to diss our weather because you are living in the Florida Keys or Vegas, I can deal with that. But not when you are comparing DC to WNY. Just be up front, dude. I just hated that excuse because it was so fricken lame. So, there you have it. Shanahan lied and used us to get a better paying job. He totally played us.
21 months later, who is laughing now?
Shanahan has been a wreck in Washington. He can’t figure out the QB situation, his son looks in over his head, and he had a lot of drama go down with former players (McNabb and Hayensworth). Frankly, I couldn’t be happier about the crappy job he’s done.
Money can’t buy wins in football and you don’t use us!
It’s funny what my state of mind was after the 2-month coaching search ended with Gailey being hired. I was totally beaten.However, looking back, we got the right guy for the job. I know it is early, but you have to be more impressed with the improvement Gailey has done over the likes of Holmgren, Shanahan, Brian Schottenheimer and Russ Grimm. All four of those coaches/GMs haven’t exactly lit the world on fire since they turned the Bills down.
Lastly, I’m reminded about what Stevie Johnson said a few weeks back on WGR, about how no coaches wanted this job, but Gailey did. It really stuck with me because these guys have rallied behind a coach that no one wanted here. I also have to think that this is in the back of their minds when they face Shanahan. Call it bulletin board material. He turned down the Bills because he didn’t think they were good enough. Gailey, in turn, saw something with this group (Alright, that’s probably a stretch, as he probably couldn’t get a head coaching job elsewhere).
However, Gailey has always believed that he can make these players play above and beyond their expectations. He has believed in them since the beginning. He didn’t try throwing guys on their asses like Shanahan did. He sat there and has worked with them to get better. That’s the coach I want.
So, for all the Buffalonians who get annoyed whenever someone mentions the economy and the weather sucking in WNY, Sunday could be a day where we can show a naysayer that the region is just fine and that he missed out.
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