Is Toronto ready if Buffalo shuffles on?
Aug. 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
I'm worried about the Buffalo Bills. How about you? No? A pity. I don't think I would be exaggerating by saying I cherish Buffalo, where football is important to a population willing to suffer to attend games in the terrible cold of winter in western New York.
I bring this up because I have been talking to Jim Phillips, who is a leading light in the San Diego chapter of the Buffalo Bills Fan Club. (Yes, there is one.) Phillips is a native of Niagara Falls, N.Y., a former U.S. Marine, a San Diego restaurateur and a chap who is four-square for the Bills. He holds season tickets for the Bills games. “Good seats, too,” he said.
More Jerry Magee Columns
Aug. 10 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Favre soap opera elicits memories of Johnny U: For more than 15 years, the quarterback had been working in the same town and it had been good there for him, where he had the status of a demigod, only now he was moving with his mastery and his pride. Particularly his pride.
Aug. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Glamorous 'Boys perfect for 'Knocks': It's not as if Terrell Owens is going to be going one-on-one against some sprite who expresses her expertise by teetering atop a balance beam. On second thought, in a way, it is.
July 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Tagliabue should not impact hall: A touchy matter, this. Reference is to Jack Kemp's candidacy for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and, more particularly, Paul Tagliabue's support of it.
July 6 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Football wants Favre, but do the Packers?: Walk into the Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Field dressing quarters in recent seasons and you would not have seen Brett Favre. His was a place apart, in a little room set aside for him exclusively.
May 8 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
It's early, yes, but rank Pats No. 1 . . . and Bolts No. 2: Seven different teams have represented the NFC in the past seven Super Bowls, which suggests how markedly matters can change from year to year in the NFL.
April 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
On draft day, NFL's GMs played 'deal or no deal': Let's get into the mathematics. Of the 252 selections in the NFL draft, 32 were compensatory picks, which cannot be traded. That leaves 220.
April 28 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Clubs try to utilize 1-2 punch with RBs: Pittsburgh's extraordinarily talented Willie Parker is 27, in the prime years of his career and has averaged 1,337 yards over the past three seasons. Yet the Steelers used a first-round pick to select another running back, Rashard Mendenhall of Illinois.
April 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Dolphins make OT Long No. 1, spoil draft buzz: It wasn't the butler who did it, it was Bill Parcells. An action most foul. The league's mystery story had much of its intrigue eliminated yesterday when the Miami Dolphins announced they have reached a contractual accord with Jake Long and on Saturday intend to make the Michigan offensive tackle the NFL draft's ranking selection.
PHOENIX, Feb. 5 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Manning-Tyree fever was catching: When he got back to his hotel room in the wee hours, Eli Manning was weary, but not so weary that he did not turn on a television set.
Jan. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Novel idea: Giants need to sit on ball against Pats: In order to win a football game, a team can have a marvelous quarterback, but even a Tom Brady is helpless unless he has the football. Try getting it against the New York Giants.
GREEN BAY, Jan. 22 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Eli Manning has had Super fling in the postseason: A former Chargers quarterback is in the Super Bowl. All right, the San Diego club had title to Eli Manning for only about an hour.
Jan. 13 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Why Chargers will win: They've done it before: I guess what we thought we saw here in November didn't actually happen. The man next door, Bob Kravitz, refers to it as “a complete aberration.”
Jan. 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Retiring, Gibbs puts his worries behind him: Joe Gibbs' worries, one trusts, are over. Gibbs stepped away from the Washington Redskins yesterday and away from football, which, because it is a game of a thousand details, created for him a thousand worries.
Jan. 7 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Titans don't face music or dance: Choosing the proper dance partner can make the music sound so much sweeter, and the Tennessee Titans chose the wrong one yesterday.
Dec. 31 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Titans get late Dungy Christmas gift: Lo! The team responsible for “The Music City Miracle” is in the NFL playoffs, not because of something that had its source from on high but because of the charity of Tony Dungy, which was just as good.
Dec. 30 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Browns fans singing, 'Come all ye faithful': “Believeland” is a play on the word “Cleveland,” where the citizens are great in their faith that the Browns are going to be transported today into the NFL's postseason.
Dec. 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
If Patriots go to 16-0, so what?: Win this evening and in the context of NFL history, the New England Patriots still would not have left an imprint comparable to those associated with Red Grange, streamlined footballs, the breaking of the color line and the Colts-Giants game of 1958.
Dec. 26 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Resting guys raises issues of integrity: Professional sports once recognized what could be termed “the code.” It was not written out, but it was observed. It was this:
Dec. 23 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Win streak not likely for ex-Bolt Camarillo: Meantime, down on the farm, “Chargers East,” as one can think of the Miami Dolphins, are gathering themselves, hopeful of disrupting the flow of NFL history for a second time in two weeks.
Dec. 16 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Steroids: Cold War Era Commie training tip: The Chargers had been duped. They had been advised what they were ingesting was a nutritional supplement. Unknowingly, they were feeding a steroid into their systems. The steroid era in sports was beginning.
Dec. 11 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Bring on battle of unbeaten: Guaranteed to happen: Some computer geek will get one of those things humming and will have it project how a game between the unbeaten 1972 Miami Dolphins and the current New England Patriots, not yet all-victorious but just wait awhile, would come out.
Dec. 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Brits don't follow NFL that closely: “Chargers? It's a sports team?” wondered Stuart Callahan, whose home is midway between Manchester and Liverpool, England.
Dec. 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A tribute to Titans of 1960s: On Sunday, the New York Jets wore throwback uniforms harking back to the New York Titans of faint and not so fond memory. Good for the Jets, I say.
Dec. 2 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Player's killing not headline news in 1976: In 1974, Blenda Gay served the Chargers as a defensive end, playing in only two games but scoring a touchdown in one on a fumble recovery. Two years later, he was dead, his wife having slit his throat while he was sleeping.
