LifetimeBillsFan
01-29-2007, 07:38 AM
If you haven't seen Jerry Isenberg's article on Marv Levy on the BZ front page, it is really worth the read. It is very complimentary of Marv and Buffalo--especially coming from a long-time NYC area sportswriter. It's entitled: "Izneberg: Levy belongs among elite, Super Bowl victory or not". I particularly liked this part:
"There was a bond here between coach and players, yes, and between them and the town itself. For more decades than most recall, Buffalo has been treated as a wart on the smug, self-centered counte nance of the rest of the country. Buffalo is cold. Buffalo has no glamour. Buffalo is a late-night television comedian's dream of a whipping boy. Small wonder Buffalo pinned its collective heart on the Bills' sleeves each time the team had a ticket to ride in the Super Bowl.
And nobody -- but absolutely nobody -- would have picked a different commander-in-chief than Marv Levy for those four excur sions. He was their Ahab and the Lombardi Trophy was their white whale. And they will always remember that for four straight years he took them through the dangers of the NFL regular-season and playoff desert right up to the edge of a 100-yard River Jordan but simply could not get them across.
They understood heartbreak. They were tough enough not to blame the guy who won more than 75 percent of his games over those years. There are no sissies in Buffalo. They know to make it to the final quest is no small thing. They know how hard Levy's team tried during those four years. Over that stretch Levy's teams played 64 games and won 49. They played nine playoff games up to the Super Bowl and won them all. How can you say anything except that Marv Levy was a hell of a coach? "
http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/izenberg/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/117004904252840.xml&coll=1
"There was a bond here between coach and players, yes, and between them and the town itself. For more decades than most recall, Buffalo has been treated as a wart on the smug, self-centered counte nance of the rest of the country. Buffalo is cold. Buffalo has no glamour. Buffalo is a late-night television comedian's dream of a whipping boy. Small wonder Buffalo pinned its collective heart on the Bills' sleeves each time the team had a ticket to ride in the Super Bowl.
And nobody -- but absolutely nobody -- would have picked a different commander-in-chief than Marv Levy for those four excur sions. He was their Ahab and the Lombardi Trophy was their white whale. And they will always remember that for four straight years he took them through the dangers of the NFL regular-season and playoff desert right up to the edge of a 100-yard River Jordan but simply could not get them across.
They understood heartbreak. They were tough enough not to blame the guy who won more than 75 percent of his games over those years. There are no sissies in Buffalo. They know to make it to the final quest is no small thing. They know how hard Levy's team tried during those four years. Over that stretch Levy's teams played 64 games and won 49. They played nine playoff games up to the Super Bowl and won them all. How can you say anything except that Marv Levy was a hell of a coach? "
http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/izenberg/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/117004904252840.xml&coll=1