The Blackout Rules Continues to Haunt Us

As a part of my current crusade against the NFL black out rule (which has kept me from watching three of the last four Buffalo Bills games and is just generally unfair), I compiled some data based on the capacity of the 31 NFL stadiums (the Giants and Jets share Giants Stadium) and the metro populations of each NFL market.

Starting off, in terms of just stadium capacity, the Bills' Ralph Wilson Stadium ranks 6th out of 31 with 73,967 seats. In terms of metro population, Buffalo ranks 30th out of 31 with 1,254,066. Only the ultra-small market of Green Bay (226,778) ranks lower than Buffalo.

From just looking at these numbers, one can see that there's a huge divide between what the NFL is requiring the Bills to fill compared to what they have on hand to fill the stadium with. I wanted to further illustrate this discrepancy so I've decided to bring back the SSRI (Student to Seating Ratio Index) that I used a year ago to dissect college gym capacity. Of course in this case, we aren't dealing with students, we're dealing with population. It works the same. Here's how the SSRI pans out for NFL markets.

Green Bay 0.3216
Buffalo 0.0590
New Orleans 0.0524
Jacksonville 0.0498
Tennessee 0.0484
Carolina 0.0460
Kansas City 0.0408
Denver 0.0327
Cleveland 0.0325
Indianapolis 0.0311
Cincinnati 0.0310
Pittsburgh 0.0276
Baltimore 0.0266
Tampa Bay 0.0246
San Diego 0.0243
St. Louis 0.0237
Minnesota 0.0216
Seattle 0.0176
Arizona 0.0171
San Francisco 0.0169
Detroit 0.0145
Atlanta 0.0144
Miami 0.0139
Houston 0.0132
New England 0.0118
Philadelphia 0.0118
Washington 0.0114
Dallas 0.0113
Oakland 0.0090
Chicago 0.0064
New York 0.0036

So as you can see, the Bills rank second in SSRI. Unlike college gyms though, this means that the teams with high SSRIs have a much bigger gap to fill (and to not be blacked out) than the lower ranked teams do. In fact, the Bills have more than 16 times the work to do than either of the New York teams do.

With this big of a difference in the work teams have to do to sell their stadiums out, how does the NFL see the blackout rule as fair? It's obviously not.

Buffalo Charging

So the Buffalo Bills are now 14 games into the 2006 season and possess a 7-7 record. For a team that most people thought would be in rebuilding mode this season, 7-7 is respectable. But let's do a quick run through of their schedule so far and see what could have been.

Week 1: Lost to the New England Patriots 19-17. Man, they should've had this game. The Bills controlled this one but couldn't hold on. Now, I'm not going to say that the refs were biased toward the Patriots in this one but I'm going to say the refs were biased toward the Patriots in this one.

Week 3: Lost to the New York Jets 28-20. The Bills did play catchup most of this game but nonetheless a close one. Losman threw for 328 yards - wasted.

Week 6: Lost to the Detroit Lions 20-17. The Lions? C'mon, the Lions? Up until about a week ago, I had actually completely forgotten about this game - probably my mind doing me a favor. Only lost by a field goal.

Week 10: Lost to the Indianapolis Colts 17-16. The Bills were one missed field goal from upsetting the then undefeated Colts. Oh, Rian Lindell, why this one? Of all the times to miss, why this one? Good grief. Anyways, the Bills did all the work in Week 9 and all the Cowboys did the following week was take the lid off.

Week 13: Lost to the San Diego Chargers. Once again, another close game to an elite team. Just a field goal separated the Bills from the Super Chargers.

These five games, had they been wins, would put the Bills at a fearsome 12-2 and would have them atop the AFC, not the Chargers. That's how close this team has been this season to being great. Heck, wins against the Colts and Chargers would have the Bills on a seven game winning streak and undefeated since their bye week.

It kills me to wonder what could've been had a couple more points gone Buffalo's way. I have to say though, JP Losman has quickly won Bills fans over with his play of late. After falling to the Colts, the third year QB has posted the following stats:

Vs. Texans: 26/38 for 340 yards and 3 TDs (one being a thrilling last second gamewinner)
Vs. Jaguars: 21/28 for 169 yards
Vs. Chargers: 21/37 for 184 yards and 2 TDs
Vs. Jets: 10/15 for 157 yards and 2 TDs
Vs. Dolphins: 13/19 for 200 yards and 3 TDs

This isn't the same Losman that Bills fans have been emotionally battered with over the past year and a half. This isn't the same Losman that I almost killed myself when the Bills didn't draft Matt Leinart over. This is a Losman who has learned how to win and how to strike with a touchdown when needed.

Over the first seven games of the season, the Bills went 2-5. During this period, Losman threw six TDs. Over the second half of the season so far, Losman has eleven TDs. I chalk this up to a combination of an offensive line that was shuffled around during the bye with the fact that the kid really has learned. That was Mike Mularkey's problem last year - he didn't let Losman learn. If you're going to break in a new quarterback, you have to play him. That quarterback shuffle that Mularkey conducted last year was counterproductive. Oh well, this is the same Mularkey whose as Miami's offensive coordinator has only been able to muster six points in two games against Buffalo in 2006. Dick Jauron really has done a good job as of late making Bills fans forget the Gregg Williams-Mike Mularkey era.

Back to how this kills me. Losman has just about doubled his TDs output over the second seven games. Just imagine if the Bills had that extra TD a game over the first seven games. Beat the Patriots 24-19? Check. One point loss to the Jets? Maybe they could've gone for the two-point conversation and sent the game to overtime. Beat the Lions 24-20? Done. The loss to the Bears and the second loss to the Patriots are beyond fixing. That's pretty impressive though. Out of the 14 games the Bills have played so far, only two were out of reach.

The Bills need to pick up wins against the Titans and the Ravens to have any chance of qualifying for a wild card spot. The Titans are red hot right now with Vince Young leading a resurgence of the franchise. The Ravens will probably have a first young bye wrapped up by the final week and should rest its players including the aching Steve McNair. Of course, this game shouldn't be taken for granted. The 2004 Bills, needing a final win to make the playoffs got stomped by a third string Steelers.

One final note: the Bills game was blacked out again in Western New York. Third home game in a row for the Bills. I'll have more on that later on.

If this column doesn't sell out, you can't read it

In the world of sports, fans are confronted almost everyday with the ridiculous. From Terrell Owens writing children books to Latrell Sprewell thinking that ten million dollars isn’t enough to feed his family, from Garth Brooks playing baseball to Barry Bonds . . . well, to Barry Bonds doing anything, there’s always something that just doesn’t seem right.

For the past two weekends, Western New Yorkers have been rudely exposed to the pinnacle of sports absurdity: the NFL black out rule. According to the all-mighty NFL, if a game doesn’t sell out within a certain amount of time before gameday, then the team’s television market doesn’t get to watch. Basically, football fans need to pray that their neighbors are paying the hundreds of dollars needed to see a game in person just so they can watch it from the comfort of their home.

What doesn’t make sense about all of this is the blatant fact that most NFL stadiums – heck, most stadiums in any sport – are funded with public money. That’s taxpayer dollars going to build palaces for the emperors of the gridiron. If a game gets blacked out, you’re not allowed to watch a game that’s being played in a building you paid for, your parents paid for.

How this has been allowed to go on for years is beyond me. To me, the whole notion of the black out rule is extortion, blackmail, and theft. The NFL is forcing you to not only pay for their stadiums but then of course, they want you to pay to see the games. I can deal with that. That’s just the way the universe works. We pay taxes that go to sports teams and then are expected to fork over an exorbitant amount of money to see the games. Fine . . . fine, I understand that.No other league tries to pull off this joke of a business practice. MLB airs hundreds of games a year and I’m pretty sure they don’t all sell out. The NBA is the same. Hockey – well, hockey begs you to watch, so they definitely aren’t going to penalize you for not selling out their games.

Not to play the part of Chicken Little here but the black out rule combined with the fact that most fans can’t watch NFL Network games plays into the logical evolution of more and more games being put on cable. Cable that fans have to once again pay for. Eventually, who knows? A pay-per-view Super Bowl?

When the NFL punishes these already taxpaying fans though for not paying to see games is when we need to put our collective foot down.

Let’s say fans were to turn the table on the NFL in terms of the black out rule. I propose that from now on, when teams aren’t performing up to our expectations, we lock them out of the stadiums we’re paying for. San Francisco, Houston, Oakland – you didn’t have a winning record within 72 hours of game time, so we’re not allowing you into the park this week. Go win on the road since we don’t really feel like paying to see you lose in our stadium.

How do you like them apples, NFL? Not so much, huh?

Let me watch my Bills on Sundays. Yeah, NFL fans are a pretty devoted bunch. Just look at Browns fans – their team left town in the middle of the night and all they got was Drew Carey for a couple years. I swear though, tick us off enough. Push this parity thing in our faces enough and make us watch 8-8 teams make the playoffs. Make us pay for seat licenses and luxury seats.

Or just let me ignore the fact that the NFL doesn’t get the public scrutiny on steroids that MLB suffers, that the Bengals are made up of criminals, and that Bill Belichick shouldn’t be allowed to wear cut-off sweatshirts and just let me watch the Bills on TV.

- Originally published in the Cardinal Courier (Volume 6-Issue 6; December 6, 2006)

Liveblogging the Bills game

Oh wait. Nevermind. I can't do that. Thanks NFL. Thanks blackout rule. You're welcome for all that taxpayer money that funds Ralph Wilson Stadium. Gee, no problem, I don't mind. I hope that angry fans make Takeo Spikes angry. And you wouldn't like him when he's angry. Watch out NFL - Takeo might add you to his hit list.

A Summer of Sports

How was everyone’s summer? Short? Yeah, I know the feeling. I clocked in an average of 60 hours a week at work. Between working at a CVS and working at a science warehouse – where I put bagged animals to the shelf – I didn’t have much free time. That doesn’t mean though, that I didn’t have time to take in the wide world of sports. Here’s a little timeline of my summer in sports.

April 29: Watched the NFL Draft. Being a Bills fan, I’ve grown to use to disappointment and failure. It’s a sad thing, but I’ve come to expect it. For a team that changes head coaches and quarterbacks more often than Hillary Clinton changes sides on an issue (save this one – you’ll all appreciate it come the 2008 presidential election), you really can’t expect much consistent success. But I’m used to that. So when the Bills came up with the eighth pick in the draft this year and Matt Leinart was still available, I should’ve just known that the Bills leadership would screw up. I mean, why would Buffalo want a two-time national champion, Heisman winning, box office draw? Naw . . . we don’t need those in Buffalo. Instead, the Bills took a safety who no one thought would even go in the top ten. Amazing. Just amazing.

May 28: Barry Bonds hits career home run 714. Baseball fans weep on this day. When talking about Bonds, I’m legally required to use the word “allegedly.” Bonds “allegedly” used steroids. Bonds “allegedly” cheated at the game of baseball. Bonds “allegedly” scarred the record books. Retire, Bonds. Do us all a favor and retire.

June 1: The Buffalo Sabres are eliminated from the NHL play-offs. Oh well, NHL, you almost got me to care. Really, you were really, really close. After a year of no hockey, the NHL returned with new rules and a new attitude – or at least that’s what the advertising campaign told me. But kudos to you, NHL, you’ve piqued my interest, whetted my appetite now. I think I might just tune in a little bit more this upcoming season. If not for the hockey, but to see the Sabres’ new jersey. Let’s go charging slugs!

June 3: Attended the opening of PAETEC Park. For those of you not from the Rochester area, PAETEC is our soccer stadium, home of the Rochester Rhinos. For those of you not from the Rochester area, the Rhinos are probably the greatest non-MLS soccer team in America. This stadium went through constant redesigns, relocations, and refinancing. So after years of hard work and determination, PAETEC Park finally opened its doors in June. And it poured. Not just your usual “Oh it’s Rochester, of course it’s raining” rain, but torrential downpour “let’s start building an ark in the Kodak parking lot” kind of rain. Due to my disposition to pneumonia, I left at the half.

July 16: Michelle Wie withdraws from the John Deere Classic due to “heat exhaustion."

September 8: Michelle Wie misses cut at the Omega European Masters.

September 15: Michelle Wie misses cut at the 84 Lumber Classic. Okay, for those of your catching onto a trend here, I’m not a fan of Michelle Wie. She worth millions in endorsement deals and Time magazine said that she’s one of the people who will shape our world, etcetera, etcetera. Well, I’m not buying it. So far, all we’ve seen from her is a girl with poor golf etiquette, someone who felt she didn’t have to pay her dues before going trying to go to the top of the sport, and someone who at this point, has made the cut at zero PGA events. For those keeping score at home, Michelle Wie and myself have made the cut at the same number of PGA events. And I don’t even have an endorsement deal.

Welcome back, everyone. Enjoy another season of Courier sports.

- Originally published in the Cardinal Courier (Volume 6-Issue 1; September 20, 2006)

Reggie, Matt, the Ducks, and nothing

First up - the NFL Draft. You gotta love the fact that ESPN devotes an entire weekend of coverage to a league's annual selection of players. No one cares about baseball's draft. It's a non-event. Can anyone tell me who the first pick of the 2001 MLB amateur draft was? Yeah, I can, but that doesn't count for this exercise. Now who can name the top pick in 2001 for the NFL? Michael Vick. Anyways, basically anything the NFL does now is a show. You could have the Barber twins in a mudwrestling event while Eli Manning sounds out Goodnight Moon and it would draw ratings. And I, like a lot of you out there, watched it to. Mainly to see who went in the top ten and especially since my Bills had the eighth pick. I'll get to that in a second.

The Texans passed on Reggie Bush. Really, for all their talk about wanting Mario Williams over Reggie, I just assumed like everyone else that Houston management was just talking in hopes of raising the stakes and forcing Bush's and his agent's hand to sign with them. I was pretty surprised to see in Saturday's paper that Williams had agreed to a contract with the Texans. I understand why the Texans passed on Vince Young. David Carr has had problems but he hasn't had much to work with up to this point. Which is where Reggie would've come in handy. A dynamic player would've changed that young franchise.

So because of the Texans' blow chance at an amazing talent, the Saints got lucky, something the city of New Orleans hasn't had much of lately. I've heard talk that Bush isn't going to sign with the Saints and he's going to hold out for money and blah, blah, blah. Whatever. That would be a PR nightmare. A disaster. I really hope that Reggie Bush doesn't want to be the one to turn against that city. I thought Eli Manning was a punk for determining where he went as a rook but anyone who snubs NO would be deemed a monster. So whoever it is out there helping Bush make decisions, make the right one here.

Now onto what killed me the most about this draft. Once again, the Buffalo Bills excelled in ineptitude. Eighth overall pick. You have to screw up pretty bad the year before in order to get that pick. And you have to screw up pretty bad to waste that pick. Welcome to life in Bills Nation.

Matt Leinart.

We could've had Matt Leinart. You know - Heisman winner Matt Leinart. National champion Matt Leinart. Box office draw Matt Leinart. I knew we wouldn't draft him. I didn't even think he'd be around when the eighth pick came up. But he was so I started hoping that maybe, just maybe Levy and gang would take Leinart. Yes, I know that we have JP Losman to play quarterback. But passing on Leinhart since you have Losman is like passing on Stacy Keibler since you have Teri Hatcher. Teri Hatcher was nice that one time she was on Seinfeld but she's really nothing to look at anymore. And don't correct me on that. I'm a dude. I think that I'll make that decision.

Could you Bills fans out there imagine Leinart playing in Orchard Park? I personally would bestow forgiveness upon all Bills coaches and executives for the past decade of blunders if we had Leinhart. I will put money on Leinhart being the next Roethlisberger. Like the rest of the Bills fans out there, I continue to take abuse year after year. Damn you, Bills - why can't I quit you?

Let's see - up next the two-headed play-off monster that is the NBA and NHL. Honestly, I don't really care all that much about either one. I will admit though, that I've slowly started caring about hockey. This could be due to the fact that the Sabres are in the thick of things right now and most of those kids played in Rochester for the Amerks last year. Maybe.

But I've also decided that I don't really have a favorite team in either league. Yeah, I'll root for the Sabes. I rooted for the Mighty Ducks when they played a couple years ago and I still feel a like for them to this day. Maybe it's because I use to watch the movies back in the day. I had a birthday party where we went to see D3 and I got a Ducks hat for my First Communion. When it comes to the NBA, I'll root for a couple teams. The Nuggets for Carmelo (go 'Cuse!), the Cavs for LeBron (go bandwagon!), or sometimes the Kings since they are the holders of Rochester's only championship from one of the big leagues - Rochester Royals, 1951 NBA champions.

I'll talk more about this stuff in later posts. These postseasons go on forever so I'll have about three months of material.

And finally, Michelle Wie. For those of you new to listening to me talk about sports, let me fill you in on a secret: I hate her. Yes, yes - journalistic objectivity, yadda yadda. I'll make an exception for her. I hate Michelle Wie. She'll be attempting to get into the men's US Open again this year and will probably fail at it again.

Who does this kid think she is? At this point, she's won nothing. She is nothing. Michelle Wie needs to go out and win some LPGA tournaments before she tries to play with the guys. Actually, she just needs to stop trying to play with the guys. The LPGA has rules against men playing in their tournaments but the PGA doesn't outlaw women. It should though. I could make some kind of metaphor about Wie being to the PGA as illegal immigrants are to American workers but I'll pass for now.

Basically, Michelle Wie and myself have the same track record when it comes to making PGA cuts: zero. And I suck at teeing off.

Don't forget to root against Barry Bonds. He's only two away from the Babe right now. So please put his failure in your bedtime prayers.


By the way, the first pick in 2001 for MLB was Joe Mauer to the Minnesota Twins. They passed on Mark Prior, who went second to the Cubs.