At some point, things have to start going Buffalo's way, right? While the fact that there are othertorturedfanbases out there is dully noted, the Bills have to be in the conversation.
OK, try this: close your eyes and think about the history of the Bills. I'm more than willing to wager that one of the first things that comes to mind is on the following list (the rich AFL tradition of the franchise notwithstanding):
All of those past demons lurking about have to make the current season that much more of a jagged little pill for Bills fans to swallow. At 2-9 at the time of this writing, the Bills have easily been the pluckiest team sporting a .181 winning percentage in the history of organized football. Consider that after their Week 6 bye...
Then he backtracked a bit (good piece by ESPN's AFC East blogger Tim Graham).
But despite the fact that the Bills went on to lose the game, Fitzpatrick and his lumberjackian beard look like they are laying the groundwork for becoming a respectable team again in the near future.
Either that, or the 2010 Bills are just going to become another notch on the Bedpost of Failure in Buffalo.
I'm probably dating myself a bit here, but when I was a kid, there was a short lived cartoon show called "Hammerman" starring M.C. Hammer and he - oh heck, I'll stop here and let Wikipedia explain the concept of the show:
Youth center worker Stanley Burrell (Hammer's real name) owns a pair of magical dancing shoes (which are alive and can speak), which when worn cause Burrell to transform into the superhero Hammerman. He frequently gets advice from his "Gramps", who was a former owner of the shoes and was known as Soulman. While in the guise of Hammerman, Burrell was dressed in MC Hammer's signature purple parachute pants and myriad golden chains.
The show was hosted by the real MC Hammer, who also sang the show's theme song, telling about the origin of Hammerman. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Gramps (real name unrevealed) was the superhero Soulman, but as he grew older, he grew weaker and was forced to retire. Gramps and his granddaughter Jodie traveled to find the next new superhero. Their search was over when they met Stanley and he put on the shoes.
As absurd as that concept might sound, you can't discount the fact that at one point in time the man was so big that somebody from DIC Entertainment (the same company that brought us great old school cartoons like Inspector Gadget and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show) pitched this show to somebody AND GOT IT GREENLIGHTED. Sure it only lasted 13 episodes, but that's 13 more episodes than, say, a cartoon based on Lil' Wayne.
Coincidentally, 1991 was not only the year that Hammer made his animated debut (and saw his animated demise...) but also the year that he put out is last musical work of note (no Pun intended). Unless you count Pumps and a Bump.
On Kanye West's track "So Appalled" Jigga took some seemingly mild swipes at the newly monikered "King Hammer" saying, "Hammer went broke so you know I'm more focused /I lost 30 mil' so I spent another 30/ 'Cause unlike Hammer 30 million can't hurt me" Either King Hammer has his finger on the pulse of hip hop, or someone alerted him to the verbal jab (my money is on the latter), because revenge was vowed.
And that vengance is a dish best served after the 1:21 mark:
All of this forces me to ask: When does King Hammer take the Vanilla Ice route and realize that he's little more than a punchline and accept that?
Does anybody else get the feeling that at the beginning of the year Peyton Manning just said "Screw it, I'm gonna let Jim Caldwell see how he can do actually coaching this team." And somehow the milquetoast head coach wasn't quite up to the challenge, so Manning was forced to take the reins back?
And I'd be remiss if I didn't show some love to San Francisco Giant's closer Brian Wilson's Beard (yeah, it's so awesome, it's a proper noun).
According to ESPN, the apocalypse is about to occur in Minneapolis this afternoon at roughly 4:15 PM Eastern time. The 1-3 Minnesota Vikings are set to host the 1-3 Dallas Cowboys.
Nobody needs me to point out that the both of these teams rode the hype bus into the season as Super Bowl contenders. At 1-4, the loser of this contest is going to try to match a feat that has been accomplished by only five other NFL teams in the past 20 years: make the playoffs.
Total disclosure: I grew up a Packers fan. Brett Lorenzo Favre was, and still is, one of a handful of NFL players that can get me to drop what I'm doing so I can watch him play. Admittedly, I view the world through Favre-colored glasses, but I do like to think that I am something of a realist when it comes to the Southern Mississippi University alum.
During the 2008 NFC Championship Game, as soon as the Packers won the toss, I distinctly remember turning to all of the non-Packer fans in the room and saying "This game ends one of two ways: Brett throws an interception or works some magic and wins it right here. There is no other ending for this game."
Sure enough, he did the former.
But he's human (mostly). You don't play as many games in a row as he has without being made of steel. Or some element that I've never heard of.
So between the swirling off-field controversy engulfing Favre and the Vikings, the return of Randy Moss's hobo beard to Minnesota and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones continuing to stuff the ballot box full of votes of confidence for his beleaguered head coach; sports fans have been beaten senseless with the story-lines for this game.
If you're a football fan without a rooting interest in any of the other teams playing in the late time slot, clearly this is a must-see game. Especially since the other two games look like they should be duds.
I just hope that this game isn't so big that Werder spontaneously combusts on the sidelines.
