Sometime last week, Bills owner Ralph Wilson decided that halftime of Sunday’s game against the Browns wasn’t the best time for him to ceremonially receive his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring.
That’s fine, except that he didn’t tell the media about the cancellation. Or the public, who thought it was part of Sunday’s festivities. They waited at halftime for a ceremony that never came. Then they waited for a Bills offense that was also M.I.A.
(And yes, we’re a little late on this story, but it got buried in the avalanche of news the last two days, and deserves some notice outside the city of Buffalo.)
Wilson was reportedly not feeling up to the ceremony physically and says he will reschedule. But he was at the game and there is doubt it will ever happen. The immediate reaction in Buffalo is that he didn’t want to get booed.
“It was an insult to Bills fans, who pay their hard-earned money to support a dysfunctional, losing team,” Jerry Sullivan of the Buffalo News wrote Monday. “Don’t expect the worst from them. Let them decide whether to boo. Many would have cheered because they’re able to separate the Hall of Famer and founder from the foundering owner.”
The Bills gave the crowd plenty of reason to boo before and after halftime, but the late cancellation and poor communication by the Bills is symbolic of a franchise struggling to right itself.
The Bills released a statement after the game about the cancellation:
“The focus of today’s game should be about the team and the fans,” Wilson said. “I think most of our fans know that I’ve been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”
Bills fans focusing on the team will do so on television the next two weeks, when they travel to face the Jets and Panthers before a home game against the Texans, then a Week Nine bye.
It’s anyone’s guess whether we’ll see Wilson’s ceremony or head coach Dick Jauron after the break.
