Donahoe Out, Levy In
Finally, the Tom is gone. For five years, he had the opportunity to build the Bills into a team that could win a Superbowl. Instead, he took an average team and made them steadily worse. Sure, the record got better for a little bit, but the two things he needed to address (offensive and defensive lines) he really didn’t do anything about.
Now, Marv Levy is back, this time as GM. While I like Marv, and think he is the best coach the Bills have ever had, I have to question his worth as a GM. Sure, he’s a good judge of talent, but is he GM material? Only time will tell.
There’s really only one thing that bothers me about Marv being hired back. It’s like history repeating itself. Lou Saban coached the Bills from 1962-65 and had a 36-17-3 record. He was hired back after the disastrous 1-13 Harvey Johnson ordeal. In the second go-around from 1972-76, he had a record of 32-28-1 before being canned mid-season. When he left, the Bills were so bad, they were bottom-feeders in the NFL until 1980.
It is my sincere hope that Marv has better luck this time around. His old record would be difficult to beat, however. He had a 112-70 regular season record and was 11-8 in the playoffs during his first tenure with the Bills. That’ll be a tough record to beat.
I just don’t want to be mocked for being a Bills fan. Especially by the likes of people who follow a team like Tampa Bay, who were perennial losers until they get better in the late 1990′s and won the Superbowl. This guy I work didn’t even care about football until the year Tampa Bay won the Superbowl, and now he thinks they are the greatest team and that he’s such a great fan. It is my sincere hope that they fall and go through a nice, long period of suck, just so he can see what it means to be a real fan.
I’ve been a fan since . . . well as long as I can remember, back to the early 1970′s, before the Bills moved to what was then known as Rich Stadium. I’ve stayed loyal through thick and thin. Since 1980, even through the worst periods, I watched or listened to every game the Bills played, except for Doug Flutie’s last game as a Bill. The only reason I missed that is because I got hammered with one of my best friends because the tickets we were supposed to use to see the Sabres with got screwed up at Will-Call. We missed both games, and I wound up passing out at his house before the Bills game even started.
So, here’s to the Bills getting better, and Tampa doing a nose-dive.
