I was listening to the interview of Buffalo Bills Owner Ralph Wilson Jr who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame later this year. And something he said after being nominated struck me. He criticized other owners, that in his opinion, ‘took the easy way out’ and abandoned their cities for greener pastures. And Wilson’s right. What ever happened to loyalty? The truth is, loyalty in sports went out the door in 1984. In 1984 sports, and pro football in particular,  became all about the money.

Wilson said there were many times when he had considered moving his team but when it came time to pull the trigger, despite being tempted by more money and greater profits, it always came back to doing what was right for the city and doing what was right for the people of Buffalo. He said that he had gotten in to sports ownership for the thrill of competition, not for more money. As he put it, and I paraphrase, “if you’re an owner of a pro team, you’re doing ok financially.”

He needs to be applauded for staying loyal to the people and city of Buffalo. Oh if there were only more professional sports owners with this mindset today!

Unfortunately, Mr. Wilson is an increasingly rare breed of owner. Even as he grows older and talks about the future of the Bills after he passes, he admits that they will likely be sold to the highest bidder. It would be great if former Bills great Jim Kelly, could swoop in and save the Bills, but it already appears the league is shopping them around, even scheduling Bills games in Canada to ‘expand the fan base.’ Whatever.

It’s a sad situation, especially if you know any Bills fans. They are some of the best, most loyal, most knowledgeable fans around. It would be a shame to give them the shaft.

But as I said above, there was a pivot point, a time when this type of thing became acceptable. Sports stopped being about hometown pride and loyalty and started to be about cash. Sports were always about hometown spirit and building legend. But a fateful night in 1984 changed it all. Other teams had changed cities before. But it had mostly happened when a league failed, realigned, or disolved. When the storied Baltimore Colts franchise, under the ownership of Robert Irsay, snuck out of Baltimore under cover of night, pro football officially changed. It no longer was about hometown spirit or pride, or loyalty, it became all about expediancy and the money.

Irsay set a precedent. Is your team having a down year? Not filling the stadium? Simply want a shiny new stadium? There’s an easy, quick answer- move the team.  Unfortunately now that’s the mindset of most owners. Now each year loyal fans are subjected to the rumors about the professional teams likely to relocate.

So for the Bills fans out there, I am rooting for you. I truly hope that Jim Kelly comes through or that another Ralph Wilson type buys the team. But in the meantime, steel yourself. Prepare for the fact that football is no longer about city pride or loyalty. Enjoy the games, support your team at every opportunity. Enjoy the great product on the field and the amazing athletic feats that are performed. But don’t get too attached to the players or even the colors on the jerseys. Harden your sensibilities and embrace the fact that football is all about business these days, not the name of the city on the jersey or the hearts of the fans that fill the stadiums. But don’t be too sad, it’s been that way since 1984.

We’ve been talking lately about the “Greatest Game Ever Played.”  The 50th anniversary just passed so I thought it would be appropriate to give a few recommendations for some further reading.  Besides watching the actual game, the two books that have most informed me are right here:

One Sunday In December by Lou Sahadi

This book’s greatest strength is its even handedness, as they say, the winners write the history so most of the time stuff focuses on the Colts.  Not so with this one.  There are two forwards, one written by the Colts’ Gino Marchetti and another written by the Giants’ Sam Huff, bound forever by that controversial play.  Before the game recap, the chapters alternate between the two cities.  The book keeps things pretty brief and succinct.  It assumes a bit of a base knowledge of the game, but does a good job filling in the surrounding details, talking about the state of the NFL at the time as well as mentioning various cultural events that were happening.  Overall, it’s a good all around book for getting the scoop on the game.

Johnny U by Tom Callahan

This book is more of a biography but it uses the game as kind of a climatic point.  Being more about Unitas, the book isn’t nearly as evenhanded as the other one, but it had a great, great, play by play breakdown of the game.  Interspersed with these are cutaways, some blurbs, some longer, giving greater depth into the plays.  They range from interviews with the players, to narratives on things like practice routines.  Basically, you get the play and the story of how the play was even possible.  This helps build up some nice tension, and Callahan never over does it by trying to describe every little thing, you get the breakdown, a couple of interesting details, and you can really fill in the blanks.

Here is a linkto a different kind of view of the game.  It disputes, though not totally, the theory that the 58 game sparked the television movement.  The theory here is that it helped, but it was really Lombardi’s Packers that made the difference.  I think that is a fair point, though I would argue that more has to do with the creation of a viable competitor with the AFL as a direct result of the 58 game.  One hand washes the other as the saying goes.

Currently I’m reading The Colts’ Baltimore by Michael Olesker and the early impressions are good.  As the title suggests, it focuses on the impact that the Colts had on the city of Baltimore in the late 1950’s.  Those who don’t have much of an interest in Baltimore may not find it the best read, but it is still interesting to see the far reaching effects that a sports team can have on an area and that can be applied to any team.

So that about covers it.  There are tons of articles and books about the game out there, especially now given the anniversary.  I encourage everyone to get out there and check them out!  Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything particularly good I should take a look at.

In that grand NFL championship game of 1958, the final seconds ticked away with the score knotted at 17.  No one really knew what to do.  Gino Marchetti, who had insisted that he stay on the sidelines after having his ankle broken, was taken to the locker room under duress.  The fear was that spectators would swarm the field, as happened frequently in those days, and his injury would be aggravated or worse.

Some believed that that was it.  The game ended in a tie, the prize money would have to be split, and they could all go home.  Others just waited around to be told what would happen.  The situation had never occurred before, so no one knew what to expect.  The rules came down, there would be an overtime, fifteen minutes like a quarter but with one new wrinkle.  It was to be sudden death, whoever scored first would win the game, and the losers would have no chance to respond. Read the full story

The attendance of the ’58 championship game at Yankee Stadium (Art Donovan had grown up several blocks away, incidently) was 64,185.  That is a good deal bellow sell-out.  This wasn’t necessarily because no one wanted to watch the game, though the NFL was not terribly popular, but most attribute it to the fact that the newspapers were on strike.  The home audience, however, that new concept, was healthily in the millions.

The second half of the game saw the Colts get the ball.  The game stood at 14-3 Colts.  That’s a fairly surmountable lead, but sloppy play from both sides couldn’t have been too encouraging.  The Colts were making a strong argument for the offense being better than the defense.  Despite the Giants playing fairly well and getting turnovers, the Colts had two good drives.  The Giants, however, couldn’t get anything going on the other side of the ball. Read the full story

As much as I’d like to believe otherwise, it’s widely reported that athletes don’t respond well to lengthy, overly dramatic pep talks.  As a fan of sports movies, I’d like to believe that all it takes in order to get that big win is the coach firing you up in the locker room, tearing the place apart, and saying what is needed.  In reality what really happens most of the time is the coach gets down to brass tacks, points out what can be improved, leads a little team yell, and it’s back to the field.

All that said, Baltimore coach Weeb Ewbank is remembered as giving one of the best pep talks ever before the 1958 championship game.  He famously went around the locker room and pointed out all the failings and rejections of each player before reaffirming their status on their current team.  He had plenty of material too.  Stars like Gino Marchetti and Art Donovan were leftovers from the failed Dallas Texans.  Wunderkind revolutionary player Johnny Unitas had been cut from the Steelers and was playing amateur ball before being picked up by Baltimore.  Kicker Steve Myhra was awful that season, but he was a Colt, and the Colts were in the championship. Read the full story