thiS OnE hurt A LOt MOrE

They trudged off the turf in Orchard Park, covered in snow and clad in blue – a color that perfectly captured their mood, plus the mood of most of the 70,000-plus souls exiting to their cars and toward their sorrows.

True, the Buffalo Bills’ season has ended short of a championship summit all other times in the Super Bowl era. Some were lost by October, others in January in the most public and excruciating manner.

This one? It just hurt, ached, a season of promise and plenty of accomplishment crushed by a far superior Cincinnati Bengals side who scored 14 quick points and never was seriously stressed. For so many reasons, you wanted this team to win this title for this city and region. Instead, all of us, as Bills fans, were left even more bereft, wondering if the best chance to turn all that heartache to happiness had slipped away.

It didn’t take long for the autopsy and recriminations to commence. Coaches, players, game plans – nothing was spared, everything was put into question, as if these men had not played a game, but committed a civic crime.

Sure, a good part of this is standard postplayoff exit operating procedure, which no one other than the ones hoisting the Lombardi in February escapes.

Yet here it seemed particularly excessive and egregious.

Not just because they were already feeling awful, but because of all…. the….things they, and l From page 4 of one winter in Brooklyn when we had enough snow to build a similar fort between the cars on 55th Street. On First Street we built our fortifications around a bush that grew in the corner of our front yard. We made snow blocks, stacked them and then parged it all with a layer of snow. It was a fine fort that entertained us for days.

When the same little boy was four, his Dad took him to Toggenberg to learn how to ski. A four-year-old on the area they played for, had to endure.

Hunger to atone for the way last season ended in Kansas City was acute enough for the Bills long before May 14, that awful Saturday when a hatefilled man walked into a Tops supermarket on Buffalo’s mostly Black East Side and killed 10 innocent civilians.

Both the Bills and Sabres were a big part of the “One Buffalo” response to the massacre, making personal appearances and raising funds for the victims’ families. Suddenly the season had a bigger purpose than was already present.

From September to mid-November, there were hiccups and the usual amount of injuries to key players, but also some big wins at K.C., and Baltimore, and all looked on track for the skis - he’s never looked back! His sister naturally joined in when she arrived at the right age. They both are experts on the slopes now. Their father, the shoveling spouse about which I’ve written, went skiing on Wednesday mornings until very recently. And the grandchildren are fearless on the slopes. You did notice that there is no mention of me on skis and there never will be.

I used to ice skate. I loved to skate and still have my figure skates hanging in the basement, but time and arthritis have sent that ship sailing into the big

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Equal Housing Opportunity sea of exaggerated memory along with the ability to get down low enough to build snow forts with my grandsons. For some of us winter is an outdoor paradise, and for others, now only observers, winter provides other choices, mostly indoor involving cozy fireplaces and warm liquids. When the snow continues to fall along with the temperatures there are inside activities for those of us for whom the outside is something but to be endured. Among those inside possibilities are the corner of the living room loveseat, a good

Bills to state its championship case.

Then, a week before Thanksgiving, an obscene amount of snow, more than 6 feet in Orchard Park, made the Bills move a home game to Detroit. Now it would have to play 10 road games.

And while the Bills went 3-0 in a 12-day stretch, it lost Von Miller to a torn ACL. Miller was the difference-maker that was supposed to wipe away the past. Now he could only watch.

As if one snow disaster wasn’t enough, a Christmas blizzard paralyzed Western New York, stranded hundreds and killed nearly 40. Even as community members dug out houses and streets, they all looked to the Bills for some kind of respite and hope.

What they got was Jan.

2, that night in Cincinnati, Damar Hamlin collapsing and nearly dying on the field.

True, the Bills picked up millions of fans who wanted them to win it all for no. 3, but the scar tissue remained. Between all the adversity, all the tragedy and all the physical and psychological challenges, by the time they took the field to face the Bengals, as much as they wanted to do more….there just was nothing left to give.

Given all this, there are two options. One is to, like Dylan Thomas wrote, rage, rage against the dying of the light, and take out that rage on all those on the Bills, playing and coaching, who didn’t provide total deliverance.

The other is more novel in this era of hot takes.

Random Thoughts

Phil blackwell

To every Bills fan: consider, if you can, all that took place, a great deal of it far out of the control of mere mortals, and ask yourself how you could have handled trials and travails that would test any hearty soul.

It’s okay to feel sad, depressed, even shed tears, for how fate turned against the Bills once more. But remember that their pain is even greater, so instead of making it worse, pick them up, support them, and feel proud of all they did accomplish.

Champions? Maybe not. But you don’t need to win a title to be admired forever.

Phil Blackwell is sports editor at Eagle News. He can be reached at pblackwell@ eaglenewsonline.com.

book and a cup of tea. The spouse has discovered pickle ball. No freezing fingers and toes, no possibility of being hauled to the ER for a snow related injury, no swearing at my driveway or weeping at the ice build-up on the eaves. Isn’t that equal to a day on the slopes?

Ann Ferro is a mother, a grandmother and a retired social studies teacher. While still figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up, she lives in Marcellus with lots of books, a spouse and a large orange cat.

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Eagle Newspapers, 2501 James St., Suite 100, Syracuse NY 13206 by email lnewcomb@eaglenewsonline.com or call 315-434-8889 ext. 333 ere was also a new area called the Career Zone which gave college students and 2nd career professionals an opportunity to explore and connect with companies from all over the world. I did not attend any of the employerled panels and networking events but I saw more 18-22 year old attendees than I have ever seen before. I believe the opportunities to work, travel and make a good living in the golf industry will continue to be available for at least the next 10-15 years.

Last week I attended “ e Greatest Show On Earth” for PGA Golf Professionals, media and the general public at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida. e o cial name of the show is the PGA Merchandise Show. It was the 70th edition of the annual world wide golf industry get together that started in 1954. I have now attended 23 of them and am already planning my trip for next year.

Last years show, that followed the Covid in uenced all virtual show of 2020, featured just over 600 exhibitors but absent from the show were some of the biggest names in golf equipment and apparel including…Titleist/FootJoy, Callaway, Cobra Puma, Ping, Mizuno, Srixon/Cleveland, Peter Millar and Travis Mathew. As you may recall, I chastised these same companies and others who did not attend last years show for not supporting the show and the golf professionals of the PGA of America who have supported them from the beginning.

Although this years show attracted over 800 exhibitors, it was still far short of the over 1,000 who lined the 10 mile stretch of space between the isles of booths in 2020. e show was still great and I believe next year the number of exhibitors will approach 1,000 again. Many of the “hot” names in golf were there, such as, Butch Harmon, Jim Furyk, Matt Fitzpatrick, Zach Johnson, Lexi ompson, Brooke Henderson, Annika Sorenstam, Justin Leonard, Danielle Kang and Stacy Lewis.

My picks for the best booths at the show go to Titleist/FootJoy, Cobra / Puma and Callaway. For some reason Taylor Made chose not to attend again. Ok Taylor Made…you have lost me as a customer again…for another year.

What are my picks for the best new golf clubs for 2023? Let me express my thoughts this way, “I have never seen more innovation, technology, looks, feel and performance in golf clubs from ‘all’ of the club manufacturers than I have this year”. I will get tted before I make my decision. How about you?

I intend to start the 2023 golf season with a new set of clubs and I have at least four “solid” options. My mission is to nd the clubs that; “launch the ball higher, have more forgiveness, and those with the best distance control”. Please note that I have not mentioned “distance”. at’s because it is #5 on my priority list.

All of the new 2023 clubs, balls and accessories will be in pro shops and retail stores his week. I predict you will have a tough time picking your favorite but the best time you have ever had experimenting.