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Sunday, December 27, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Lehigh Elementary Christmas Program
Each year we as a club donate money raised from the raffles to the children in the Pre-K program so that they may have presents for the holidays. Each year the children put on a special Christmas program. The pictures are from the program. Thanks to all the club members for making the holidays for these children special.
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Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
A Fan's Perspective
By Peter
The problems with your football team in Buffalo are sadly similar to the
hockey problems we have experienced for over 4 decades in Toronto. When you
have a lack of leadership and vision at the top of an organization it
permeates throughout.
In Toronto when Harold Ballard owned the hockey team no competent general
manager wanted to work under him and the Leafs front office was always in
shambles. As Ballard got older and realized even he wasn't immortal, he
brought back an aging and out of date Punch Imlach to be the Leafs GM. As
you know, Imlach had led the Leafs to 4 cups between 1962 and 1967. Things
went from bad to worse and eventually all of the Leafs top players were
dealt away.
Since Ballard's death, while there was an ongoing dispute over his estate in
the 90's, the Leafs were actually run by a competent GM Cliff Fletcher and
were the most competitive that they have been in the last 40 years. Once
the dust settled, and the Teacher's Pension fund emerged as the majority
shareholder, corporate/non-hockey people were placed at the top of the
company. To evaluate their success (other than the financial bottom line)
just look at the Leafs record over the past 7 seasons.
Sadly Ralph Wilson is approaching the end of the road. A few years ago,
much like Ballard, he tried to turn back the clock to the man who had last
brought him winning football Marv Levy who had led the Bills to 4 Super
Bowls in the previous decade (much like Imlach).
Over time, I think it is clear that the best organizations are those that
are strongest at the top. Obviously, you can find exceptions such as the
Yankees who through sheer bankroll can buy their way out of mistakes, but
those are the exceptions. Look what new competent ownership did for the Red
Sox and the Patriots in this decade. The owners brought in competent people
to run, manage and coach their teams and for the most part you only see the
owners sipping champagne in the locker room and riding at victory parades.
You sure as hell don't see them firing coaches.
The situation in Buffalo has an added wrinkle as no one knows what the
future of the team will be after the owner joins the big league in the sky.
Ralph Wilson has done a lot for Buffalo and certainly for football in
Buffalo. In my view his biggest and most long lasting contribution could be
if he were to find a way to transfer the Bills to new ownership himself
rather than having the process carried out by executors and the Probate
Courts. I think it would be better for everyone, and especially the
football fans in Buffalo, if this was done through the business and
football people now rather than through the lawyers and accountants later.
As far as winning goes, that will come with leadership from the top. New
ownership would mean a chance to hire new competent people to manage the
organization and coach the team.
Not that many years ago, it was announced that the Patriots would be
leaving Foxboro and moving away. Rather than suffering that fate, with
stability at the top of the organization, their fans have been treated to a
decade that they could not have previously imagined.
Can the Bills fans too avoid the fear of losing their team, and instead
through stability and leadership at the top of the organization, achieve
new success their fans can only dream of?
For the sake of the 70,000 people we spend every other
Sunday with in the fall, I hope they can.
The problems with your football team in Buffalo are sadly similar to the
hockey problems we have experienced for over 4 decades in Toronto. When you
have a lack of leadership and vision at the top of an organization it
permeates throughout.
In Toronto when Harold Ballard owned the hockey team no competent general
manager wanted to work under him and the Leafs front office was always in
shambles. As Ballard got older and realized even he wasn't immortal, he
brought back an aging and out of date Punch Imlach to be the Leafs GM. As
you know, Imlach had led the Leafs to 4 cups between 1962 and 1967. Things
went from bad to worse and eventually all of the Leafs top players were
dealt away.
Since Ballard's death, while there was an ongoing dispute over his estate in
the 90's, the Leafs were actually run by a competent GM Cliff Fletcher and
were the most competitive that they have been in the last 40 years. Once
the dust settled, and the Teacher's Pension fund emerged as the majority
shareholder, corporate/non-hockey people were placed at the top of the
company. To evaluate their success (other than the financial bottom line)
just look at the Leafs record over the past 7 seasons.
Sadly Ralph Wilson is approaching the end of the road. A few years ago,
much like Ballard, he tried to turn back the clock to the man who had last
brought him winning football Marv Levy who had led the Bills to 4 Super
Bowls in the previous decade (much like Imlach).
Over time, I think it is clear that the best organizations are those that
are strongest at the top. Obviously, you can find exceptions such as the
Yankees who through sheer bankroll can buy their way out of mistakes, but
those are the exceptions. Look what new competent ownership did for the Red
Sox and the Patriots in this decade. The owners brought in competent people
to run, manage and coach their teams and for the most part you only see the
owners sipping champagne in the locker room and riding at victory parades.
You sure as hell don't see them firing coaches.
The situation in Buffalo has an added wrinkle as no one knows what the
future of the team will be after the owner joins the big league in the sky.
Ralph Wilson has done a lot for Buffalo and certainly for football in
Buffalo. In my view his biggest and most long lasting contribution could be
if he were to find a way to transfer the Bills to new ownership himself
rather than having the process carried out by executors and the Probate
Courts. I think it would be better for everyone, and especially the
football fans in Buffalo, if this was done through the business and
football people now rather than through the lawyers and accountants later.
As far as winning goes, that will come with leadership from the top. New
ownership would mean a chance to hire new competent people to manage the
organization and coach the team.
Not that many years ago, it was announced that the Patriots would be
leaving Foxboro and moving away. Rather than suffering that fate, with
stability at the top of the organization, their fans have been treated to a
decade that they could not have previously imagined.
Can the Bills fans too avoid the fear of losing their team, and instead
through stability and leadership at the top of the organization, achieve
new success their fans can only dream of?
For the sake of the 70,000 people we spend every other
Sunday with in the fall, I hope they can.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Where in the world is Anthony Hargrove?
DE Anthony Hargrove, who was suspended by the league for a year after violating the league’s substance abuse policy on the heels of other off the field incidents signed with the New Orleans Saints. That according to the Times-Picayune.
Former Rams interim head coach Joe Vitt is now the Saints’ linebackers coach and reportedly put in a good word. But Hargrove though talented is anything but stable upstairs.
I once had a long conversation with him about the voices in his head. He said there are 11 people living up there and they all “come out” at different times. At first I thought he was pulling my arm, that it was an act, but he rattled off their names like it was nothing. The list by the way included three or four female personalities.
Some of his teammates at the time were convinced he was nuts. Still he was pretty talented and he was a monster on kickoff coverage on special teams. The league re-instated him just this past February.
His former Bills teammates will be able to see him in Week 3 when the Saints come to town, that is if he’s still on the roster. New Orleans has an awful lot of distractions.
Former Rams interim head coach Joe Vitt is now the Saints’ linebackers coach and reportedly put in a good word. But Hargrove though talented is anything but stable upstairs.
I once had a long conversation with him about the voices in his head. He said there are 11 people living up there and they all “come out” at different times. At first I thought he was pulling my arm, that it was an act, but he rattled off their names like it was nothing. The list by the way included three or four female personalities.
Some of his teammates at the time were convinced he was nuts. Still he was pretty talented and he was a monster on kickoff coverage on special teams. The league re-instated him just this past February.
His former Bills teammates will be able to see him in Week 3 when the Saints come to town, that is if he’s still on the roster. New Orleans has an awful lot of distractions.
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