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Wow! UB football matters in WNY By Richard W. Kozak, Jr.  |
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I really can’t complain about my employment of sports scribe here in the Western New York area. For the most part, covering the world of sports opens up many different worlds that had been otherwise closed to the general public.
Since I was a young boy, I’ve always been drawn to the excitement of competition, and as I matured, my interest in the games started to go far beyond the result on the scoreboard for I found the much more interesting story in the story behind the story.
Whether it was a story of overcoming the odds, the underdog, or perhaps the team or player that just didn’t get the attention they deserved, they captured my attention most of all and touched, in its purest form, what sports should truly be all about.
It is with that notion in mind, that I find the renaissance of the entire University of Buffalo football program not only entertaining, but also heartwarming as well. You see, it takes something special to capture not only the hearts of a Buffalo sports fan, but also the sometimes snobbish interest of the casual Buffalo fan.
Now, I don’t want anyone to get angry with that last statement, but more often it’s truer than it is not. We tend to think that the Buffalo area contains the “Greatest sports fans in the world”, but that’s true only to a point.
We support our professional teams really on only a few occasions. Either, they must be winning, or they must be the community place to be at the moment. We like our sports as long as there is a party attached and it’s a social badge of honor to say to our office colleagues, “I was there.”
The Bisons drew over 1,000,000 fans season after season, but when the hope disappeared for major league baseball, so did the support of those hanging on the edge of the bandwagon. Even when the Bisons captured long sought after championships, seas of empty seats filled Dunn Tire Park.
On ESPN and the Fox Networks, high school basketball and football games draw tens of THOUSANDS of spectators to support local teams and flash their local colors before a national audience, yet our local teams draw a handful of parents and spectators. There’s even less interest for local girls’ teams.
Finally, with Turner Gil at the helm the Bulls of UB are quickly becoming the team to see and UB Stadium is becoming the place to be seen at. Heck, I even was asked four times last week if I could get co-workers tickets to the Temple game. These are the same tickets I couldn’t give away for FREE in previous seasons.
With a big season opening win against UTEP and a respectable showing against Pitt the Bulls look like Bowl contenders. With the names Drew Willy, Naaman Roosevelt, and James Starks becoming household words, it might be time for Western New Yorkers to hop on the UB Bandwagon.
With a capacity of only around 30,000 at UB Stadium, don’t be caught on the outside looking in. With a few more dramatic wins, there might not be room on that bandwagon, because finally and deservedly, the Bulls are for real!
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