Let me preface this whole column by simply stating that enjoy watching documentaries a lot. Maybe way too much. My wife knows I enjoy them because every time she catches me on the couch watching a documentary she kind of rolls her eyes. Now, when you factor in my love of sports, you get the end result of me watching a million sports documentaries. ESPN’s 30 for 30 is a must watch for me every time. HBO always kills the sports documentary game. Heck, I’ll even find myself watching MLB and NFL Network’s stuff.
So, with ESPN airing a 30 for 30 about the ‘90’s Bills on Saturday night, it’s the perfect storm of things I love. We all know that I already have an unhealthy obsession with the Bills and have encyclopedic knowledge of those Super Bowl Bills teams. I’d be happy to spend two hours discussing those years. Put it all together in a two-hour long, NFL Films-produced documentary and I might as well spend all day Saturday tailgating the event outside my living room.
Other than a doc about the O.J. Simpson chase through Los Angeles, this is the first ESPN 30 for 30 to be centered on anything related to Buffalo sports. That got me thinking about what other Buffalo sports documentaries I’d love to see made. I’ll be honest, this isn’t the first time I’ve thought about potential Buffalo sports documentaries. In fact, if I had the financial wherewithal and even a second of filmmaking experience (other than the 30-minute long mafia movie I made for a class project in high school), I’d bankroll and produce a series of Buffalo sports documentaries. If anyone wants to start a GoFundMe page to get that rolling, you’re more than welcome to.
Anyways, here’s a list of Buffalo sports documentaries I would try to make if I were in charge of a 30 for 30-style Buffalo sports documentary series. Unfortunately, we have to start with the not-so-fun stuff.
No Goal and the Music City Miracle
Sorry to open up old wounds, but I feel both these events are worthy of documentaries examining what happened, revealing never-before-told stories, and analyzing the long-lasting impact both had on our favorite Buffalo sports teams.
With No Goal, there’s enough behind-the-scenes stuff to reveal about that night and the chaos that ensured after Hull scored to fill an entire hour. Can we track down someone who has a copy of this alleged memo the league sent out about possession on skate-in-the crease plays? The doc would have to tell the story of the Sabres ’99 Cup run, break down Game 6 and the goal itself, explain why it was controversial and what the league said and did in the aftermath. I’m sure there are stories that have never been told before about what happened in the bowels of the arena as the Stars were celebrating on the ice and the Cup was being taken out of its case. Good luck getting Gary Bettman to go on camera about it, though.
Many of year have probably read or heard my rant about how the Music City Miracle changed the fortunes of the Bills franchise for years to come. We’re still feeling the effects. While a No Goal documentary would mainly tell the story of one night, a MCM documentary would probably spend more time talking about the week leading up to the game and the chain reaction of that devastating loss. Again, we’ll analyze the play and determine once and for all if it should have been called back (yes, it should have been). We’ll also spend a lot of time talking about the decision to start Rob Johnson and why Wade Phillips Ralph Wilson made that call. We’ll then explain why that decision tore apart the locker room in 2000, how Bruce DeHaven’s firing kept the team out of the playoffs in 2000, and how the dismissal of both Phillips and GM John Butler after the 2000 season led the Bills down the wormhole they still find themselves in.
Bob Kalsu
There’s a name on the Bills’ Wall of Fame that many casual fans may not recognize amongst the Kellys, Reeds, Levys, and Smiths on the wall. It’s Bob Kalsu and his name is up there not so much because of football, but because of the sacrifice he made overseas.
Kalsu was the only active professional football player to be killed in Vietnam. He was an eight-round pick of the Bills in 1968 and was one of their two starting guards for the entire season, earning the team’s Rookie-of-the-Year honors. After the season ended, he decided to fulfill has ROTC obligation and was sent to Vietnam was part of the 101st Airborne Division. Unfortunately, he never made it back home as he was killed in action on July 21, 1970.
A story about his life and what happened to him in Vietnam is overdue. Sports Illustrated ran a cover story about Kalsu in 2001, but a film about his life and death would probably be something that Buffalo sports fans would appreciate.
Bob Rich and Buffalo’s Pursuit of Baseball
How close did Buffalo actually come to getting a Major League Baseball expansion franchise in the early ‘90s? We’ve all heard the story before about Bob Rich leading Buffalo’s charge for MLB expansion after the opening of Pilot Field in 1988 to great success. Despite having a stadium with under 20,000 seats, the Bisons outdrew multiple MLB teams in attendance in the first three years of the park’s existence. It’s kind of weird to think about now when seeing Bisons’ highlights on the news that feature more empty seats than actual people.
Despite an ownership backing that included Rich, Governor Mario Cuomo and even Larry King, Buffalo was simply priced out of Major League Baseball and the new franchise ended up going to Denver instead. The league had jacked up the expansion fee from its previous amount, far exceeding estimates Rich and his team had in mind.
So Buffalo’s bid fell short, but how close did they actually come to winning? I’d love to interview Rich, MLB commissioner Fay Vincent, and members of the MLB expansion committee about what they remember about that whole process and Buffalo’s bid. Would Buffalo have been able to survive as a Major League Baseball team considering the economics of the league and the city in the 1990s and 2000s? How would the park have been expanded to accommodate Major League Baseball? Would Buffalo consider making a run at an expansion team again? These are all questions that can be explored.
The Complete History of the Buffalo Braves
Yes, there was a time when Buffalo had three professional sports franchises. The NBA’s Braves arrived at the same time as the Sabres in 1970. Unfortunately, they only lasted eight seasons here before bolting to the West Coast under bizarre circumstances – a swapping of franchises with the owner of the Boston Celtics, who then decided to move the team to San Diego.
I certainly don’t remember the Braves and neither do other Buffalo sports fans of my generation. The NBA and Buffalo – it almost doesn’t even make sense. But, it happened, and I’d love to see a doc telling the story about it.
There are more than enough stories about the Braves to fill up an hour-long documentary. There’s Dolph Schayes, the team passing on Niagara star and future Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy in the 1970 draft, Bob Kauffman, Randy Smith, Dr. Jack Ramsay, Bob McAdoo, Ernie DiGregorio, playoff appearances in 1974, 75, and 76, McAdoo’s MVP season in 1975, the dubious foul call that allowed Jo Jo White to hit two free throws with no time left to eliminate the Braves in Game 6 of the 1974 playoffs, the sale of the team to John Y. Brown, his subsequent selling off of McAdoo to the Knicks, the two games Moses Malone played for the team before being traded, and the infamous swap with Celtics owner Irv Levin, much of which was orchestrated by David Stern.
The complete history of the Braves would not be the only basketball documentary I would like to see made.
When College Basketball Ruled the Aud – A History of the Little 3
Ok, I’m biased because I went to St. Bonaventure and still follow the basketball team closely, but a documentary about Little 3 basketball – Niagara, Canisius, and St. Bona – would be tremendously interesting to me.
Back before the Sabres and Braves arrived, the Aud was home to only a few regular events – wrestling, the occasional concert, and college basketball. From 1946 to 1958, the Little 3 was more than just a nickname for the three local schools, it was an actual NCAA conference. In fact, not only was it a basketball conference, it was a football conference as well, at least from 1926 to 1949 (Bona and Canisius split the final football title in 1949 with identical 2-1 records).
Basketball was the big draw, however, and the rivalry between the three schools brought thousands to the cigar smoke-filled Aud for games. It was Niagara who typically dominated, winning the men’s basketball championship five times between 1948 and 1955. Bonaventure won the league’s final championship in 1958.
In the 1950’s, the schools were often more than just local rivals. These teams occasionally were nationally ranked and made noise in the postseason. This was back when the NIT was a bigger deal than the NCAA Tournament. Bonaventure went to the semifinals of the NIT in 1952, 1957, and 1958, while Canisius made it to the Regional Finals of the NCAA Tournament in 1955 and 1956. Niagara played in the NIT semifinals in 1954 and beat Western Kentucky in the consolation third-place game that season.
This was the golden age of college basketball in Western New York, and I’d love to be able to retell it, somehow.
Cookie Gilchrist
Unfortunately, Cookie is no longer with us, but a documentary about his life and career would be something I’d be interested in. Gilchrist is one of the best players ever to suit up in the Canadian Football League. He then signed with the Bills in 1962 as their plan B at running back after draft pick Ernie Davis passed away due to leukemia. Gilchrist became the first 1,000-yard rusher in AFL history and set the league’s single-season record for touchdowns in 1962, earning MVP honors. He was perhaps the most dominant running back of the era and helped lead the Bills to the 1964 title.
What makes Gilchrist so interesting to me is why his time in Buffalo was so short. He famously clashed with head coach Lou Saban and owner Ralph Wilson, so much so that the Bills shipped him out of town to Denver after the ’64 championship season. What happened here? (Wilson didn’t want to pay him, that’s what happened). His feud with the Bills carried on well after he left. He is still not on the Bills Wall of Fame.
Gilchrist’s story also includes his involvement in the boycott of the AFL All-Star Game in New Orleans in 1965. At the time, blacks were not allowed to stay at the same hotels and eat in the same restaurants as whites in segregated Louisiana. Gilchrist and other black AFL All-Stars successfully boycotted the game and got it moved to Houston. It’s an amazing story and one that needs to be retold.
Sabres vs. Soviet Wings
I certainly don’t remember a single thing about the Cold War. I was born well after the era of hiding under desks for bomb drills, Dr. Strangelove, missiles in Cuba, Soviet tanks rolling through Afghanistan, and the Berlin Wall. But I know all about how the 1960s and 1970s were the era of American-Soviet tension and also the era of Russian hockey dominance.
Not only did the Soviets claim gold medal after gold medal at the Olympics every four years, they seemingly had the edge over the NHL’s best players. The infamous Soviet Series against Team Canada in 1972 went eight memorable games and the Soviets dominated a team of WHA all stars in 1974. A tournament between the NHL’s best teams and the Soviet Union’s Central Red Army and Soviet Wings teams was arranged in North America for 1976. The Sabres were one of the lucky teams chosen, thanks to their appearance in the previous season’s Stanley Cup finals.
Before visiting Buffalo on Jan. 4, the two Soviet teams were undefeated in their tour of North America. On New Year’s Eve, the Red Army tied the mighty Montreal Canadiens in the Montreal Forum, the same Canadiens team on their way to the first of four straight Stanley Cups.
This documentary would tell the story of how the Sabres became the first NHL team to beat the Soviets, not just beating them, but throttling them, 12-6. This gave the Sabres tremendous credibility throughout the NHL. In fact, the Sabres earned a standing ovation from the fans in the Montreal Forum just a few nights later. It was also a huge moment for North American hockey standing up to the Soviets. The most famous game in this tournament ended up being the Flyers beating of the Red Army that led to the Soviets leaving the ice in protest, but the Sabres win is much more interesting to us. Also, screw the Flyers.
The 05-06 and 06-07 Sabres
A definitive retelling and remembrance of these legendary Sabres teams is definitely needed. How often do Sabres fans reminisce about those two seasons? How often do they talk about where they were and who they were with for Briere in double OT, 7-6, Pominville going around Alfredsson, Game 7 in Carolina, the Ottawa brawl, Drury with 7.7 to go, etc.? I think there’s enough here to fill two hours.
This documentary would start by talking where the Sabres came from in the early 2000s – with the Rigases ending up in jail, attendance plummeting, Paul Allen and Portland looming, and a control board overseeing the finances of the city they played in. Even when Golisano stepped in and saved the team, little was expected of them heading into the mid-2000s, especially after a lockout wiped out the 2004 season.
We all know what happened next.
This documentary would detail ever big moment and key player who helped lead the Sabres on an unexpected run to the conference finals in 2006 and the President’s Trophy in 2007. Much of the focus will also be on how it all fell apart as Briere and Drury got away in free agency.
Other documentary topics I’d certainly be interested in would include the 1980 Talkin’ Proud Bills, Joe DeLamielleure and his fight with the NFL over retirement benefits and CTE, the Sabres struggle to make it to Montreal during the Blizzard of ’77, the O.J. Simpson trade, the 1958 UB Bulls declining their invitation to the Tangerine Bowl, the Sabres win just hours after the crash of Flight 3407, and a history of the All-American Football Conference Bills. I’m sure there are hundreds of other topics that are worth exploring for a documentary series. None of my ideas are about the contributions of women to Buffalo’s sports history, and that’s something I’d like to learn about.
If you have an idea, or want to tell me how stupid my ideas are, feel free to let me know.
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