On September 22, 1985 at was then called Rich Stadium, Buffalo Bills quarterback Vince Ferragamo dropped back against the New England Patriots and looked to the left side of the field. He threw the ball to a cutting receiver over the middle of the end zone. Playing in his third career game as a rookie, Andre Reed corralled the ball that was a bit high into his reliable hands for his first NFL touchdown.
He’d go to catch 86 more touchdowns; 85 of them as a member of the Buffalo Bills. He’d also end up with franchise records of 941 receptions and 13,198 yards for his 15-year Buffalo career. Despite a career rivaled by few receivers in the history of the league— Andre Reed is still not a NFL Hall of Famer.
The National Football League announced its 2011 Hall of Fame class and for fifth consecutive year as a finalist, Reed didn’t make the final cut to gain induction.
The NFL Hall of Fame selection committee met for nearly seven and a half hours today to decide the fate for the 15 finalists. Reed’s case was presented by Buffalo News reporter Mark Gaughan.
Reed made the first cut from 15 down to 10 but was eliminated along with Curtis Martin, Cortez Kennedy, Willie Roaf and Dermontti Dawson when the cut went from 10 to 5.
The 2011 class consists of Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk, Shannon Sharpe, Ed Sabol, Richard Dent, Chris Hanbuger and Les Ritcher.
Continue reading ‘Andre Reed Gets Hall of Fame Snub Yet Again’
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team had its six-game winning streak snapped at Ball State, losing to the Cardinals, 72-71, at Worthen Arena on Saturday afternoon. There were 15 lead changes and four ties in a game between the Mid-American Conference’s two division leaders.
Zach Filzen led the Bulls with a career-high 26 points, including four three-pointers. The junior guard added a career-best five steals. Titus Robinson matched a career best with 16 points and added five rebounds.
Turnovers and foul trouble plagued the Bulls early on as they had 10 turnovers and committed 11 fouls in the first half. The Cardinals came out of the gates shooting the ball well and built a nine-point lead with 7:41 remaining in the first half. Trailing by eight with 4:05 left in the half, UB’s shooters started to heat up. Filzen, Tony Watson II and Filzen again drained three-pointers on three straight Buffalo possessions to put the Bulls ahead, 33-32, with 2:37 left in the half. Ball State’s Tyrae Robinson hit a driving layup with less than a second remaining to give the Cardinals a 38-37 lead at the break.
Continue reading ‘UB Men’s Hoops Has Six Game Win Streak Snapped’
Senior Kourtney Brown put the University at Buffalo women’s basketball team ahead with a basket with 28 seconds left and the Bulls hung on for a victory at Eastern Michigan, 70-68. The Eagles had overcome a 16-point second half deficit, taking a one-point lead before Brown gave the Bulls the lead back. The win was the third straight for UB as it improves its record to 12-10 on the season and 5-4 in the MAC.
The Bulls scored the first six points of the game on back-to-back three-point plays from junior Brittany Hedderson and Brown. However the Eagles responded to tie the game up, going on to take their largest lead of the game at 20-12 with 8:42 left in the opening half. The Bulls then went on a 14-1 run over the next six and half minutes, which was fueled by three three pointers from sophomore Nicki Hopkins. The Bulls led by as many as five in the first half, which was their lead heading into the break.
The Bulls came out firing in the second half as they dominated the opening 10 minutes of the half. With UB up 48-40 in the half, the team went on a 10-2 run, which was capped off on a layup from Brittany Hedderson, giving the Bulls their largest lead of the game at 16, leading 58-42 with 9:02 left.
Continue reading ‘Brown’s Bucket Delivers Bulls To Third Straight Victory’
Andre Reed will be waiting by the phone at approximately 7pm tonight to find out if he’ll be enshrined into the NFL Hall of Fame Class of 2011. This is Reed’s fifth time as a finalist and sixth year of eligibility.
Reed is the Bills all-time leader in receptions (941), receiving yards (13,198) and receiving touchdowns (86) during his 15-year Buffalo career that saw him earn seven Pro Bowl nods. He also played one season in Washington, catching just 10 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.
At least one national reporter thinks Reed’s time is coming sooner than later.
Continue reading ‘Will Andre Reed Get Call From The Hall?’
If nothing else in high school basketball we learned two things Friday night. Canisius is amongst the elite teams in Western New York and secondly, Bishop Timon St-Jude is not…. at least at this time.
The Crusaders, ranked fifth among WNY large schools took to the road in a crucial Martin Monsignor Association match up and walked off Timon’s floor with a convincing 7764 victory.
Canisius has played a slew of tough opponents from all over the region and come away with mixed results. More importantly they rebounded from a tough home loss last week against St. Joes. Meanwhile, Timon has played four tough opponents and come up empty each time, including a pair of home court loses to Catholic schools (they also lost to St. Joes in overtime at home) and also lost to Batavia and Bishop Kearney and Batavia from Section V.
Continue reading ‘Canisius Handles Timon’
The Buffalo Sabres took a 2-0 lead in Pittsburgh against the Penguins, but it didn’t hold up. The Penguins stormed back with three straight goals and held on to beat the Sabres Friday night, 3-2.
Buffalo failed to take advantage of playing Pittsburgh without their two best players. Sidney Crosby was already out with a concussion and early in the game Evegni Malkin was injured (and didn’t return) after a collision with Sabres defensemen Tyler Myers.
Paul Gaustad and Mike Grier scored in the first period for Buffalo as the Sabres jumped out to a 2-0 lead but couldn’t muster any offense the rest of the way.
Buffalo will try to collect themselves when they play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the HSBC Arena.
The Buffalo Bandits moved to 3-2 on the season after they defeated the Minnesota Swarm 15-12 at HSBC Arena on Friday.
John Tavares scored two goals and eight points, while both Mark Steenhuis and Chad Culp recorded hat tricks in Buffalo’s second home game of the season. Mike Thompson was an anchor in the Bandits’ net as the veteran netminder made 23 saves in Buffalo’s victory.
After scoring just five goals in last week’s loss to Toronto, Buffalo was challenged by the coaching staff to step up the offense and exploded for 15 goals against the Swarm.
Continue reading ‘Bandits’ Offense Rebounds by Scoring 15 Goals in Win Over Minnesota’
All five Canisius College starters scored in double figures, led by senior Julius Coles and his team-high 18 points, as the Golden Griffins defeated Marist 75-60 Friday night in MAAC action in the Koessler Athletic Center. The win improves Canisius to 11-11 overall and 5-7 in the MAAC, while the Red Foxes dropped to 4-20 overall and 3-9 in league play after losing their seventh straight.
Coles finished the night shooting 5-for-9 from the field, 1-for-2 from 3-point land and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line to go with six rebounds and one steal in the winning effort for the Blue and Gold. Senior Greg Logins had 17 points and five rebounds, while sophomore guard Alshwan Hymes chipped in 14 points and a career-high six assists. Senior Elton Frazier was good for 12 points, three boards and three assists, and sophomore Gaby Belardo added 10 points and six assists as all five Canisius starters registered double figures in the scoring column for the first time since Feb. 5, 2006.
Continue reading ‘Balanced Attack Leads Canisius Over Marist’
The Niagara men’s basketball team was unable to climb out of an early hole to the second place Saint Peter’s Peacocks in a 70-47 loss on Friday night from the Gallagher Center.
“I’m very disappointed in the way we came out tonight,” head coach Joe Mihalich said. ”I thought we came out a little soft and lethargic. We don’t have any room for errors and you can’t spot a good team a 10-0 lead.”
A fast start by the visitors and a slow start by Niagara (4-20, 1-11 MAAC) led to a 34-20 halftime lead for the Peacocks (14-9, 9-3 MAAC). Niagara cut the lead to 23-18 with 6:30 left in the half, after falling behind 10-0, but would only manage to score two more points for the remaining of the half.
Continue reading ‘Niagara Slowed By Saint Peter’s’
