Feeling at Home in Toronto

It's impossible to consider the Bills debut in the Bills in Toronto series anything other than a smashing success. Both on the field and off, the Bills achieved many of their goals going into the first preseason game of the eight game series.
On the field, Trent Edwards and the first team offense looked extremely sharp. They executed two long scoring drives, and Edwards 7-yard touchdown pass to Robert Royal was a laser. Edwards is showing the kind of arm strength that many wondered whether he had--he's done it with throws at training camp and with that throw to Royal, a tight fit between several defenders.
The Bills defense got another takeaway, a heads up interception off a tipped pass from Ko Simpson. And the special teams found the end zone, with Leodis McKelvin's electrifying kickoff return.
Off the field, the Bills staged a tremendous pregame rally on Wednesday, and followed it up with a well executed game day presentation Thursday night. They should probably brainstorm to find ways to enhance the pregame tailgate experience, as that seemed to be a common complaint from the Toronto fans. In addition, they probably should set up a little more in the way of halftime entertainment. The pricing for the games needs to be examined as well, especially for the preseason game.
But overall, give the Bills high marks for their first real foray into the Canadian market. They are hard at work trying to incorporate Toronto and Southern Ontario into "Bills Country." I think the Bills Toronto series could wind up as the best thing to ever happen to the Bills future in Western New York.

Confidence is High at UB

I've been around the UB football program for the last 16 years. I can tell you that I've never sensed anything near the confidence level of his year's team. This observation comes from attending the team's recent media day at UB Stadium. The Bulls are coming off a five win season, a MAC East co-championship and feature four players who are among the best in the conference. That's where the confidence comes from. The team now believes it can win, believes it can be good and believes that success is expected, not hoped for. Sometimes that kid of confidence borders on overconfidence. But I don't think that's the case. While they had their first taste of success, they also lost enough games to sense their limits. Turner Gill is a master motivator, and one of his offseason projects was making sure his team doesn't believe its TOO good.
In QB Drew Willy, RB James Starks, WR Naaman Roosevelt and DB Davonte Shannon, the Bulls have some of the best players in the MAC. They will be the leaders, on and off the field. The schedule is tough, especially out of conference (Missouri, Pitt). In the MAC, UB plays favorite Central Michigan, along with top teams Miami, Bowling Green and Western Michigan. But if some young players help the defense match the high-scoring offense, the rallying cry of "Bowl Game of Bust" could be a reality.
IF you're a UB fan, how excited are you? What are your expectations?

Raising Kahne

I had a chance to meet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne (right) today, at America's Fair at Hamburg. Kahne flew into Buffalo from Watkins Glen, where he finished 14th in yesterday's Centurion Boats at the Glen. He's on his way to Michigan for next weekend's race, but he spent about 1:45 signing autographs for thousands of fans. Some of the fans lined up as early as 8:30am to get autographs from the 2004 Rookie of the Year. Kahne was pleasant and patient, and was very positive about his car's position with four weeks left before the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Kahne's #9 Budweiser Dodge currently ranks 8th in the points standings and he seems in good shape to finish up the season.
Unlike some of his competitors, Kahne says he loves to race on the road courses, like Watkins Glen, even though he hasn't had much success on the courses. He says some drivers complain about the road courses, mostly because they have little experience on the two road courses on the Sprint Cup series.
It was pretty impressive to see the level of support Kahne has from his fans (many of them female fans) and equally impressive to see how well he responded to his fans.