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for December 2009
The biggest, most important necessity for Buffalo Bills fans right now is catharsis. At the time of this posting, the 2009 version of the Bills are 5-9 and coming off of their most recent embarrassing home loss. The 2000-2009 Buffalo Bills? Yeah, they’re 65-93 in the decade, likely to add two more losses to that pile, and about to finish the entire decade without a single playoff appearance.
I tried to hold off on the “moving on to the next decade” posts for as long as possible. The season is still being played, after all. But I doubt you’ll hold it against me that I’m about to start off our GM search articles here at Buffalo Rumblings. We all want to see things change, and change is coming. Hell, the vast majority of Bills fans would take change from Russ Brandon all the way down to the team’s uniforms without a second’s hesitation right now.
Continue reading ‘Bills GM Scouting Series: Greg Gabriel’
 Labatt USA announced today that the third annual Labatt Blue Buffalo Pond Hockey Tournament has been filled. One hundred and twelve teams, ranging from novice, intermediate, advanced and elite players from around the region will descend upon Buffalo’s waterfront on Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28, 2010. Teams comprised of four to six players, 21 years of age and older, will play a four-on-four format, absent a goalie. Each division will be broken down into two brackets of four teams competing in a round robin format. The winner of each bracket will play each other in a divisional championship game on Sunday. Division teams were assigned based on the skill and experience level of the players.
Continue reading ‘Labatt Blue Buffalo Pond Hockey Tournament Sold Out!’
 The Buffalo Sabres resume a preposterously hectic December this evening when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre tonight at 7pm. It marks the Sabres 11th game this month and their 6-3-1 December record has helped them gain some flexibility in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Buffalo is 21-10-3 on the year for 45 points, good for first place in the Northeast Division and third overall in the conference. They have a 10-point cushion between where they stand and the ninth seeded New York Ragers, giving them a good chance to end their two-year playoff drought.
Continue reading ‘Sabres vs Maple Leafs Preview’
 The University at Buffalo wrestling team captured a pair of victories at the Buffalo Duals held at Alumni Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Bulls opened with a 36-8 victory over Niagara County Community College followed by a dominating 37-3 victory over Findlay University. The Bulls concluded the day by falling to Bloomsburg, 21-16 in a close match.
Opening the day with a 36-8 victory over NCCC, Buffalo managed to gain a 19-0 lead through their first four matches. At 133, 20th nationally-ranked Kevin Smith pinned NCCC’s Dan Audy at 2:43. At 141, redshirt-freshman Chris Conti earned his first dual victory in his first ever dual start, pinning Tim Coughlin in 1:36.
Continue reading ‘UB Wrestling Captures Pair Of Wins at Buffalo Duals’
 The Canisius College men’s basketball team (4-5) opens a three-game in three-day stretch Monday at 5:30 p.m., when the team takes on North Florida (1-7) in Gulfport, Miss. The Golden Griffins and the Ospreys will be meeting for the first time
FAST BREAK POINTS
- The Canisius College men’s basketball team travels south to meet North Florida in the first game of the Southern Miss Christmas Classic in Gulfport, Miss.
- The Golden Griffins enter tonight’s contest with a 4-5 overall record after the team lost in double overtime at Duquesne Dec. 16.
Continue reading ‘Griffs ready for Christmas Classic’
 University of Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn will be announced as the 24th head football coach in University at Buffalo history on Tuesday afternoon.
Quinn, who will serve as interim head coach for the 12-0 Bearcats Sugar Bowl meeting with Florida on New Year’s Day, replaces Turner Gill who accepted the head coaching position at Kansas on Dec. 14.
Quinn has 27 years of college coaching experience and has helped guide Cincinnati to back-to-back Big East championships. He also boasts championship experience in the Mid-American Conference, having served as offensive coordinator at Central Michigan in their run to the 2006 MAC title. The following season he moved to Cincinnati to take on offensive coordinator and offensive line duties with head coach Brian Kelly where the Bearcats compiled a 33-6 record over the past three seasons.
A press conference announcing Quinn’s appointment will take place at UB Stadium on Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 2 pm
The New England Patriots came into Ralph Wilson Stadium Sunday hardly the juggernaut that’s defeated the Buffalo Bills 12 consecutive times. They haven’t played well, particularly on the road and just like the Bills they’ve been bitten hard by the injury bug. They had to play without a pair of valuable linemen on each side of the ball, Ty Warren and Vince Wilfork on defense and Stephen Neal and Nick Kaczur offensively.
It barely mattered. The Patriots did what they do best—find ways to win. Conversely, the Bills accomplished what they’ve perfected—found ways to lose.
Continue reading ‘Bills Clinch 5th Straight Losing Season In Loss To Pats’
 Rodney McKissic is reporting that UB will be hiring Jeff Quinn as their next head coach..
“Buffalo hires Jeff Quinn to replace Turner Gill a source told The Buffalo News” — Rodney McKissic
This is what we wrote about Quinn last week.
Given that I can imagine how Cincinnati fans must feel I don’t want to seem like a vulture at the thought of picking up Jeff Quinn from the massive upheaval that Notre Dames most recent failure, but at the same time When I saw his name start pop up as something more than a “wouldn’t it be nice” (thanks to Rodney McKissic) he instantly jumps to one of the top two candidates on my list.
 I wont be foaming at the mouth like Mike Robitaille was after tonight’s game, but the Sabres played a smart defensive hockey game against the high-powered Penguins offense. Unfortunately for the Sabres, they continue to struggle with the powerplay and were unable to cash in on 8 PP opportunities.
Besides the PP problems, the game could be summed up like this; both teams had a ton of scoring chances and both teams blew those scoring chances. I guess you could look at the game as being one where neither team should have lost. But when you can’t score 8 times on the PP, it’s kind of tough to just waive the moral victory flag. But if you’re suppose to be one of the best teams, you have to beat the best. Did the Sabres play well tonight? Yes. Was it a Moral victory? No. Still room for improvement offensively? Yes.
Continue reading ‘Sabres/Pens Recap’
 Despite a despite a gutsy effort for the full 40 minutes, St. Bona venture couldn’t overcome a 19-4 run that stretched from the end of the first half to the start of the second half as #5/#5 Syracuse came away with a 85-72 win on Saturday night in front of 20,578 fans at the Carrier Dome.
The loss snaps a two-game win streak for the Bonnies, who fall to 6-4 heading into next week’s game at Niagara. The win improved Syracuse to a perfect 11-0. The meeting was the 26th between the two teams, but just the sixth since 1987.
Continue reading ‘Bona Falls to 5th Ranked Syracuse 85-72′
Since everyone knows the last time the Bills beat the Patriots in Buffalo, I’m going to spare you with the history lesson of how bad this one sided rivalry has been. The Bills have lost every imaginable way possible. What makes the series more of a riddle is how the Bills can’t put on a good effort in front of the home crowd. In the last five home games against the Patriots, the Bills have been outscored by 13, 46, 22, 28 and 10 points. Well, at least their improving.
Continue reading ‘JoeFromNYC’s Bills vs Pats Preview’
 Over the next several days, Buffalo Sports Daily/Bull Run blogger Tim Riordan is running a series on potential head coaching replacements for Turner Gill at UB. Today features Vance Bedford, defensive backs coach at Florida.
There seems to be a nice game of Assistant Coach Domino’s setting up around the final rumored to be on Manuals list. Florida Defensive Backs Coach Vance Bedford’s name has been tossed around for the Buffalo job, so has Notre Dame’s recently departed defensive coordinator Corwin Brown. Today Urban Meyer is rumored to have settled on replacing Charlie Strong from within presumably Bedford. If, however, Buffalo temps Bedford away from the Gators then it’s likely that Corwin Brown will get a shot at Florida.
Bedford is only the second defensively oriented coach rumored to be on the ’short’ list and as such, in my world, he has a better chance of being ‘the guy’ than fellow Gator coach Scot Loeffler.
Continue reading ‘Potential UB Coach: Get to know Vance Bedford’
 Two of the top shooting teams in the nation square off on Saturday night when St. Bonaventure travels east to take on unbeaten and nationally-ranked Syracuse. The Bonnies enter the game on a two-game win streak and rank fifth in the country with a 51.5 percent shooting clip. On the flipside, the Orange lead the country in three statistical categories, including field goal percentage (.552), and are a perfect 10-0. Syracuse moved up to #5 in both national polls on Monday and received a pair of first place votes from the Associated Press. St. Bonaventure will look to snap a 13-game losing streak against nationally-ranked opponents and a 12-game losing streak vs. Syracuse.
Continue reading ‘Setting Up Bona vs Cuse Saturday Night’
 Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens, who missed practice on Thursday and Friday due to illness, has been listed as questionable for Sunday’s home tilt with the New England Patriots.
Owens, who has 45 receptions for 705 yards and 4 touchdowns on the season, is Buffalo’s leading receiver. The upset-minded Bills would likely be forced to start Josh Reed next to veteran Lee Evans on Sunday if Owens can’t go. Owens was in team meetings on Friday, reports BuffaloBills.com, and Owens has been listed as questionable and played in games earlier this season.
Continue reading ‘Owens, three others questionable for Patriots game’
The New England Patriots own the Buffalo Bills. Winners of 17 of the last 18 meetings against Buffalo, the Patriots have looked rather human this season, as they’re currently the lowest-ranked AFC divisional leader, record-wise, sitting at 8-5.
Buffalo hosts New England at Ralph Wilson Stadium this Sunday in the midst of a 12-game losing against the Patriots. While Bill Belichick and company fight to secure an AFC East divisional crown much later than anyone thought they’d acquire it, the 5-8 Bills are on the verge of yet another re-building effort. But upset wins happen; I believe the phrase “Any given Sunday” is quite popular.
Can the Bills pull off an incredibly unlikely and cathartic upset victory this weekend? Here are five reasons that it’s more possible than it ever has been.
Continue reading ‘Do the Bills have a chance against New England?’
 The Portland Pirates of the American Hockey announced today that Kyle Wanvig has been signed by the Buffalo Sabres to an AHL contract.
Wanvig was nearing the end of his 25-game Professional Tryout, signed on October 21st.
In 23 games with the Pirates the 28 year-old Calgary, Alberta native has collected seven goals and nine assists for 16 points to rank tied for fourth in team scoring.
In 373 career AHL games Wanvig has registered 108 goals and 116 assists for 224 points. He’s also appeared in 75 NHL games (with Minnesota and Tampa Bay) collecting six goals and 11 assists for 15 points.
So as we all know by now, guard Richie Incognito is a Buffalo Bill. And most of you already are aware that injured Bills linebacker Kawika Mitchell was not a fan of the of the signing, or Incognito as a person.
In fact you’d be hard pressed to find an instance in recent years where a player so openly chastised the acquisition of a new teammate for the world to see. Had this been the New England Patriots, it would not only lead off on Sports Center, they’d probably be in the process of filming a documentary about it.
Speaking of ESPN, our favorite AFC East blogger Tim Graham files a report that Incognito accepts Mitchell’s criticism.
This is what Incognito told Graham.
Continue reading ‘Incognito deals with harsh words from Mitchell’
 Over the next several days, Buffalo Sports Daily/Bull Run blogger Tim Riordan is running a series on potential head coaching replacements for Turner Gill at UB. Today features Corwin Brown, former Notre Dame assistant. New head coach Brian Kelly relieved him of duties this week.)
So far everyone mention has been, at least in their coaching career, an offensive mind. Typically that’s how things go in the MAC whoever has the ball last wins a shootout. Recently teams like Temple and NIU have started to break that mold and build around the defense, their success of late shows there is room, even in the Mid American Conference, for smash mouth football.
Continue reading ‘Former Notre Dame Assistant to Interview for UB Coaching Job’
 Last night Jonny Flynn and the Minnesota Timberwolves took on the Los Angeles Clippers at home in the Target Center. The first quarter of the game went really well, the Wolves matched the Clippers point for point and were even up by two points at the buzzer. But things went downhill in a hurry over the final three frames. The Clippers stepped their game up and the Wolves never seemed to match their intensity.
Flynn was held to just 9 points on 3 for 12 shooting, one of his worst nights since his NBA rookie seasons started. With 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 turnovers Flynn really did nothing noteworthy for the night.
Wolves veteran and Flynn’s mentor Kevin Love couldn’t even redeem the team with his double-double. Timberwolves Head Coach Kurt Rambis told a reporter after the game, “This was a big step backwards in my mind. Both effort-wise and defensive-wise, we took a step backwards.”
Continue reading ‘Flynn takes step back following career night’
As you’re all probably aware, the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday evening claimed controversial guard Richie Incognito off of waivers from the Rams. A third-round pick of St. Louis in 2005, Incognito was waived earlier this week after drawing two blatant personal fouls in a loss at Tennessee that culminated in his getting into a verbal spat with Rams rookie head coach Steve Spagnuolo.
Now, Incognito joins a battered Bills offensive line with a chance at playing right away. The Bills currently have one reserve interior linemen – Christian Gaddis – and to say that Incognito outstrips Gaddis in the talent department is an understatement.
We know how Bills linebacker Kawika Mitchell feels about the move. He had something of a stuff-foot-into-mouth moment on Wednesday night, saying he was disappointed by the move and referring to Incognito as a “bum,” among other things. How did others react to the move? Find out after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Newest Bufalo Bill: The Richie Incognito File’
 The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s next two road games at nationally-ranked Syracuse and Little 3 rival Niagara will be televised regionally by Time Warner.
Saturday’s game against the fifth-ranked Orange can be seen live on Time Warner SportsNet in Olean (Ch. 13), Buffalo (Ch.13) and Rochester (Ch. 26). The game will begin at 7 p.m. from the 33,633-seat Carrier Dome.
Continue reading ‘Next two Bona basketball games to be televised’
 Since everyone is all about comparing the Sabres of today to the Sabres of 05-06, I’ll just follow along. Just like during the regular season then, the Sabres just can’t beat the Senators in Ottawa. The Sabres lost in Ottawa last night, 2-0.
Some thoughts.
♦ I think the biggest reason the Sabres have problems against the Senators is because the team doesn’t play well against an opponent that doesn’t rely on just one line. The Senators are kind of built like the Sabres, because they roll out four lines that consist of speed and grit. When you take Miller out of the equation, the Sabres play their best when their 3rd and 4th lines outplay the opponent’s second tier lines. The Senators latter lines match-up well against the Sabres, and when your top six forwards are as inconsistent as the Sabres are, you’re going to have problems. It’s not like playing the Capitols or Hawks, who have only one or two lines you have to deal with.
Continue reading ‘Sabres lose to Sens again.. and more on “foodgate”’
 In the second double overtime game of the day at the A.J. Palumbo Center, the Canisius College men’s basketball team lost 86-77 to Duquesne on Wednesday evening. Canisius falls to 4-5 on the season and has lost three straight games.
Senior Frank Turner led the Griffs with 23 points to go along with eight rebounds. Juniors Julius Coles and Greg Logins each had 15 points and nine rebounds while junior Tomas Vazquez-Simmons had seven points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Duquesne (8-3) forced overtime as Canisius couldn’t hold onto a 67-63 lead, going 2-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute of regulation. B.J. Monteiro split two free throws and after two missed free throws from freshman Alshwan Hymes, Damian Saunders made a layup to make the score 67-66. After Logins split two free throws, Monteiro scored a layup with six seconds left to tie the game at 68-68. A desperation 3-pointer from Turner hit off the backboard at the buzzer.
Continue reading ‘College Hoops: Griffs drop OT heartbreaker to Duquesne’
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Last season when Turner Gill was in the middle of the Auburn fiasco and UB was getting attention as a the Cinderella story of the decade in college football Warde Manuel flew mostly under the radar. I do remember seeing a few interviews with Manuel, one in particular sticks in my mind. He discussed how he could not find anybody to take the job, how Buffalo was perceived to be nothing but a shot in the dark opportunity for division II coaches.
Over the next several days, Buffalo Sports Daily/
