Mae Culpa to Ralph Wilson

[Ebenezer]

Years ago after his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I wrote an article for this site stating that Ralph Wilson was not qualified to be induced into the Hall of Fame as an owner. He did many things to save the AFL and grow pro football into the mega industry that it is today but at that time it appeared that he didn't ensure the future of the Bills in Buffalo. I retract that statement. It appears that the trust was designed to assure that the sale of the Bills means the team stays here. Thank you, Hall of Fame Owner Ralph Wilson of the Buffalo Bills. This is a great day in Buffalo and I am one very happy fan.

[Novacane]

Amen! Good to see you out of hibernation!

[trapezeus]

i still don't think he is. he is getting credit for having along term plan to keep the team in buffalo.

yet if it wasn't for the lease and the emergce of pegula as a big monied players, i don't know if his plan was as rock solid as people say. he left the bills in the lurch when he was in his late 80's then.

as for football, he was a kind guy and lent AL davis money, and he's been very charitable, but he put his cronies ahead of really good football guys.

i still think he could have done more earlier to ensure the bills stayed, but it's played out how we would prefer so there is no reason to harp on it. but it's also no reason to make him into something more than he was.

[Skooby]

Who are you?


J/K, hi Eb.

[OpIv37]

He gave us a team. It was the one great thing he did. Allowing us to keep the team is simply not undoing the one great thing he did.

In the meantime, he gave us 54 years of football that was generally awful. We are arguably the worst team in the league over the last 14 years.

If he deserves in, then every original owner of every team deserves in.

[HAMMER]

I have no words for what a POS the post above is to denigrate the deceased, a man who was beyond generous, kind, and honest. A man that helped keep the AFL afloat, a legend. What have you done with your life?

[OpIv37]

I have no words for what a POS the post above is to denigrate the deceased, a man who was beyond generous, kind, and honest. A man that helped keep the AFL afloat, a legend. What have you done with your life?

Nothing but I really wish I could sign up for the Ralph Wilson plan: do one great thing then be mediocre for the rest my life while getting rich and having people heap praises on me.

I don't know why people like you refuse to see that Ralph is solely responsible for a ll the awful football we've had to endure.

[Don't Panic]

He gave us a team. It was the one great thing he did. Allowing us to keep the team is simply not undoing the one great thing he did.

In the meantime, he gave us 54 years of football that was generally awful. We are arguably the worst team in the league over the last 14 years.

If he deserves in, then every original owner of every team deserves in.

You can be such an unbelievable douche sometimes.

[Albany,n.y.]

Nothing but I really wish I could sign up for the Ralph Wilson plan: do one great thing then be mediocre for the rest my life while getting rich and having people heap praises on me.

I don't know why people like you refuse to see that Ralph is solely responsible for a ll the awful football we've had to endure.

There's more to life than winning football. Ralph donated mega bucks to charity throughout his life, including many Buffalo based groups.

End of reply to you, now a general thought:

I was fortunate in that I trusted Ralph all along and never worried that he didn't have some plan to keep the team in Buffalo after his death and never wasted any time thinking up paranoid scenarios where the Bills would be leaving in the middle of the night. I'm sure some of those same people will now start to worry what would happen if the Pegulas start hating each other and get divorced before a new stadium is built. There will always be some people who can't live without misery and thoughts of what if miseries in their lives.

[BOBM253]

Wonder why Ralph didn't want to sell the team to the Pegula's or anybody else during his lifetime.

[Skooby]

Ralph signing that lease was the greatest single event he could of done before his passing, it virtually eliminated the team moving on any reasonable level in the near future.

[OpIv37]

You can be such an unbelievable douche sometimes.

It's the truth. He gave us YEARS of **** football but many of you won't stop kissing his ass just because we have a team (and one that's frustrated us a lot more than it's made us happy).

[OpIv37]

There's more to life than winning football. Ralph donated mega bucks to charity throughout his life, including many Buffalo based groups.

End of reply to you, now a general thought:

I was fortunate in that I trusted Ralph all along and never worried that he didn't have some plan to keep the team in Buffalo after his death and never wasted any time thinking up paranoid scenarios where the Bills would be leaving in the middle of the night. I'm sure some of those same people will now start to worry what would happen if the Pegulas start hating each other and get divorced before a new stadium is built. There will always be some people who can't live without misery and thoughts of what if miseries in their lives.

Lots of people give a lot of money to charity. That doesn't make them worthy of the NFL HOF.

[The King]

Eb shows up stirs the pot. Drops the mic and walks off.

[HHURRICANE]

He gave us a team. It was the one great thing he did. Allowing us to keep the team is simply not undoing the one great thing he did.

In the meantime, he gave us 54 years of football that was generally awful. We are arguably the worst team in the league over the last 14 years.

If he deserves in, then every original owner of every team deserves in.

I have read OP's posts for years and I will say that for the most part he's usually right to some degree.

However, Ralph's support of the AFL and the merger is why we have a football team in Buffalo annd in what we know as the NFL. He was a pioneer. Anybody who buys a team today knows what they are getting into. Ralph had vision and for that he should be commended for and I beleive why he is in the HOF.

Now as an owner lets be honest. He was cheap and if not for Bill Polian this franchise would be one of the worst in any sport.

Here is the bottom line. If Ralph had it in his trust/will that the team needed to stay in Buffalo than he deserves nothing but praise and respect even if he didn't do everything right. End of story. However, if he left it open to the highest bidder with no provision for the community than I would take his name off the Stadium tomorrow and put Pegula's up there. It's really that simple.

[EricStratton]

It's the truth. He gave us YEARS of **** football but many of you won't stop kissing his ass just because we have a team (and one that's frustrated us a lot more than it's made us happy).



If you live in the area or are a Bills fan outside of the area like the two of us Op would you rather have a team to be passionate about and frustrated with or would you rather be a city hoping to get a team or wondering where the team you loved growing up went to.

I'd rather have a team that drives me crazy vs not having a team at all.

[ParanoidAndroid]

He was one of a small group of people who made the NFL what it is today. He absolutely deserves to be in the HOF. And yes, all the original owners deserve to be in (as long as their noses remained clean).

[Albany,n.y.]

Lots of people give a lot of money to charity. That doesn't make them worthy of the NFL HOF.

If nothing else, his saving the AFL did. Without Ralph loaning the Raiders $, they would have folded & created a domino effect that may have taken out the whole AFL. It was at a time where the NFL wouldn't have absorbed any of the AFL teams, the Bills included. The NFL would be a very different league if the AFL had folded, and there would be no Bills at all.

[elroy16]

Any negative talk about Ralph is unjust and uninformed.


Is it possible for some of you to to imagine for just a second that Ralph had more of a plan or forward thinking than you do?


They created a lease that was very tough and expensive to get out of. He helped put together a trust that would not sell the team to a group that would move the team. You think maybe, just for a second, he knew of some of this billionaires and possibly even talked to them about what would happen after he died?


You don't run a successful business for 54 for years without long term plans and goals. One of Ralph's goals was to keep the Bills in Buffalo. He wasn't just going to let them go to the highest bidder and let them move away without doing something about it. Ralph knew what he was doing.




Ralph absolutely deserves his HOF status.

[justasportsfan]

So there was a plan after all . OP was wrong

[WagonCircler]

Where are all the Zone legal experts that were so sure that the Bills were obligated to ignore the intentions of bidders regarding relocation? Cough cough...coastal...Felch....Spiked.....

I wasn't a big fan of Ralph as an operator, but the truth is obvious. This was the plan all along.

[OpIv37]

If you live in the area or are a Bills fan outside of the area like the two of us Op would you rather have a team to be passionate about and frustrated with or would you rather be a city hoping to get a team or wondering where the team you loved growing up went to.

I'd rather have a team that drives me crazy vs not having a team at all.

Sometimes I wonder. Suffering through bad times is part of being a sports can and it's what makes the good times more enjoyable. But what happens when there are no more good times?

That's what happened under Ralph. I left WNY in 2001, still wearing my Bills gear with pride and talking **** with other fans. We sucked those years , but it was supposed to be a short lived rebuilding cycle. 13 years later, the only time I've gotten to gloat was the victory in the Sean Taylor game and the one win over the Pats. And I was in Redskins territory most of that time- they're not exactly juggernauts. I still wear my Bills gear, but the reaction I get is more like pity than anything else.

If Ralph was still the owner, I have no reason to believe that trend wouldn't continue.

[YardRat]

Ralph deserves to be in the HOF as much as any owner for the simple fact that his influence, both early and even in later years, affects the entire league.

As far as just specifically Buffalo, he brought the team here, he did win championships here (pretty quickly), he kept the team here, and assured the team would stay here beyond his life span. Ralph never again will have the opportunity to be a part of a championship, but he assured WNY and Bills fans anywhere that the possibility still exists for us.

Welcome to the 'big picture' point of view...if you haven't caught up by now you might as well give up because you never will.

[imbondz]

He gave us a team. It was the one great thing he did. Allowing us to keep the team is simply not undoing the one great thing he did.

In the meantime, he gave us 54 years of football that was generally awful. We are arguably the worst team in the league over the last 14 years.

If he deserves in, then every original owner of every team deserves in.

lol. :hi5:

[bleve]

I'm as critical of Ralph as anyone, this franchise for the most part has been abysmal. I don't think it was out of greed, or cheapness. I just think he was incompetent in running a winning NFL franchise. But it was his, and he could do as he pleased, and the results were not flattering.

However, it has become clear that he loved this city, and wanted his beloved team to continue to thrive in Buffalo. And for that he should get some respect.




...and it's Mea

[Meathead]

who is Mae Culpa? and does she realize her name resembles a legal term?

[OpIv37]

Any negative talk about Ralph is unjust and uninformed.


Is it possible for some of you to to imagine for just a second that Ralph had more of a plan or forward thinking than you do?


They created a lease that was very tough and expensive to get out of. He helped put together a trust that would not sell the team to a group that would move the team. You think maybe, just for a second, he knew of some of this billionaires and possibly even talked to them about what would happen after he died?


You don't run a successful business for 54 for years without long term plans and goals. One of Ralph's goals was to keep the Bills in Buffalo. He wasn't just going to let them go to the highest bidder and let them move away without doing something about it. Ralph knew what he was doing.




Ralph absolutely deserves his HOF status.
Define "successful."

He got rich off of us fans and gave us **** on the football field in return.

In terms of making money, he was a success. In terms of winning football games, he was a failure.

[Historian]

I think the reason that this is a sub-.500 team for it's history, is because Ralph was just like us: He was a fan of the game.

Some times...often times...fans make snap judgements and incorrect decisions in the heat of the moment.

I'm sure if he had it to do over again, Harvey Johnson would not have ever been promoted, or Polian let go, but you learn from your mistakes.

Ralph once told me that he wanted to build a "generational thing" here in Buffalo, much like the NFL had in places like Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland.

I believe he succeeded in doing that.

He didn't just build a team, or a league, he built a hub for a community to rally around.

Do I care if the Bills finish 1-15 this year?

A little, but the W-L column is secondary to me. I'm going to RWS to celebrate what makes this area great: friends, family and community. (food, lol)

And I will renew next year for the same reason.

So thanks Ralph, not just for the team, but for everything that said team has brought into my life, because I'm passing it all on to MY son.

[TacklingDummy]

Just look at how many good QBs this franchise has had during its history and that's your answer for the sub .500 record.

[swiper]

who is Mae Culpa? and does she realize her name resembles a legal term?

Sounds like Mulva or Dolores to me.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/H1g5iPdwTL4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

[swiper]

Just look at how many good QBs this franchise has had during its history and that's your answer for the sub .500 record.

You hit the nail on the head my friend.

I will always love Joe Ferguson, but take Jim Kelly out of the list and you're just not left with much (after 1970).