Sports News Just Getting Weird Around Here

March 13, 2013 · No Comments

I’ve been in and around the Western New York sports scene in some shape or form for 35 years now and I have to say, March 12th was a weird day.

The morning started with Sabres fans lamenting the lack of success by the home team and wondering about the future of General Manager Darcy Regier. By lunch time it was the Buffalo Bills General Manager Buddy Nix who had stolen the spotlight and not in a good way. Nix was the hapless victim of “reportedly” two 20 year old pranksters who recorded a phone conversation between him and Buccaneer GM Mark Dominik in which Nik admitted Ryan Fitzpatrick would be a back-up next season, at best.One has to feel badly for Buddy because he is a good guy, but it begs the question as to just how savy he is with the use of a cell phone and NFL networking.

While the national sports media was focusing in on the embarrassing prank Nix had fallen prey to the Bills released Fitzpatrick. The team had tried to restructure Fitz’s deal, but he wasn’t interested. Speculation is that once the recorded conversation Buddy Nix had with Dominik was made public, Fitz was interested in both taking a pay cut AND being demoted to second string.

So while the Bills fans are buzzing about the ramifications of the Fitzpatrick release and Buddy Nix falling victim to “catfishing”, Darcy Regier joins Schopp and the Bulldog on GR radio and admits the First Niagara Center Arena is not a very nice place to work these days. Regier is not referring to the offices not being heated well enough or slow elevators, but the lack of success on the ice.

Bulldog asks Regier if he feels added pressure for maintaining his job now that Ruff is gone and the team is still not performing and Regier says no. Darcy claims he couldn’t operate as a GM if he feared for his job every-time he made a decision. Considering he has kept his job for sixteen years whether the team won or lost, why should he feel pressure?

Finally, by the time the eleven o’clock news comes on we hear from a downstate Assemblymen who feels the State shouldn’t toss $60 million in to renovate Ralph Wilson Stadium. Of course the measure passed anyway and the local TV guys produced sound clips from Mark Poloncarz and others explaining the math as to the investment is justified, but still! Albany and downstate have received billions of dollars in state investments over the years and that’s not even including the money thrown at the Yankees.

No UFC fighter has received the number of body blows local sports fans have in this town over the past three months. Like I wrote in the title of this piece, it’s just getting weird around here.

Filed under: Koshinski's Korner