Dec. 25 -- It's the quietest day in Buffalo's sports history. Apparently just about everyone was unwrapping presents and feasting with family and friends to play organized games or make trades. So we'll merely wish ex-Sabre Stu Barnes a happy birthday, and wish the rest of you a Merry Christmas.
--- Budd Bailey
December 24, 1995 -- Thurman Thomas joined some very good company on Christmas Eve in 1995.
He reached 1,000 yards rushing for the seventh straight season -- only the third back in NFL history to do that. Here's the way Vic Carucci presented the story of the game for The News that day:
The drama was gone by the fifth play from scrimmage.
Buffalo Bills running back Thurman Thomas took the handoff and ran 9 yards. That gave him 20 for the day and 1,005 for the year, making him one of only three NFL players to have seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. After that, Thomas was done for the day . . . and so were the Bills.
With a lineup of mostly reserve players, Buffalo went on to suffer a 28-17 loss to the Houston Oilers Sunday in a regular-season finale that meant nothing to either team. A Christmas Eve crowd of 45,253 -- the smallest for a non-strike regular-season game at Rich Stadium since the franchise's dog days of 1986 -- braved sub-freezing temperatures and flurries to watch a performance that would have been only barely passable for the preseason.
Now the Bills (10-6) can focus on the real business at hand, their wild-card playoff game Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Rich against the Miami Dolphins (9-7) -- whom they beat, 23-20, eight days ago to win the AFC East championship.
Buffalo, which suffered a 23-6 loss at Miami on Oct. 29, will look to extend its 11-game winning streak against the Dolphins in the second half of the season.
The rematch with Miami -- which made the playoffs after Oakland's loss to Denver -- will generate more than the usual amount of passion between the bitter division rivals. Controversial Dolphin linebacker Bryan Cox saw to that when, after brawling with Bills fullback Carwell Gardner in the last two minutes of the Dec. 17 game, he spit several times in the direction of Buffalo fans. Four days later, Cox was fined $17,500 by the NFL, while Gardner received a $15,000 fine.
"I've never been so happy to go to Buffalo," Dolphins coach Don Shula told NBC after his team's 41-22 victory over St. Louis.
--- Budd Bailey
Dec. 23, 1966 -- Remember Mike Garrett, the elusive halfback from Southern California who went on to a fine pro career with the Kansas City Chiefs?
Bobby Burnett of the Buffalo Bills was better than Garrett in their rookie season of 1966.
Burnett, himself a halfback, was honored as the rookie of the year in the American Football League on this day. Burnett ran for 766 yards and four touchdowns, and he also caught 34 passes. Wray Carlton added 696 yards rushing as a fullback, so the Bills had a good 1-2 combination at running back that season.
Sadly, Burnett was more like a comet than a star. He suffered a knee injury a year later. The Arkansas product ran for only 96 yards in 1967, and finished his career with five carries for Denver in 1969.
--- Budd Bailey
Dec. 22, 1974 -- O.J. Simpson played in exactly one playoff game in his NFL career. He picked the wrong team to do it again.
Simpson and the Bills faced the Pittsburgh Steelers -- in the midst of their "Steel Curtain" era -- on this date. Buffalo actually led, 7-3, after a quarter. Then the Steelers outscored the Bills, 26-0, in the second quarter, and that was that.
Simpson did score a third-quarter touchdown in the game, but he was held to 49 yards on 15 carries as the Bills had to abandon their ground game. Quarterback Joe Ferguson was 11 for 26 for 164 yards, while Terry Bradshaw of the Steelers was an efficient 12 of 19 for 203 yards and a touchdown, while Franco Harris scored three touchdowns.
The Steelers went on to beat the Raiders in the conference championship game, and then the Vikings in the Super Bowl. By the way, the Bills were the only playoff team to score as many as 14 points on the Steelers' defense that year.
-- Budd Bailey
The consensus among runners on Sunday was that the initial running of The Freezer 5K could have been a lot more difficult. Temperatures were only in the 20's, and there wasn't much wind -- just a bit of a breeze as competitors ran past the vacant lot that used to host Memorial Auditorium.
A total of 302 runners finished the race in the waterfront area. If anything, the crowd almost overwhelmed the facility, with lines out the door (literally) at registration and two venues needed for the post-race party. I'd say we're off to a good start for this race.
Someone sent me a link to a photo gallery of a race held in Boston each year. It's called "The Santa Speedo Run." Check out all 45 pictures by going here.
Have a good holiday.
--- Budd Bailey
December 21, 1980 -- The Buffalo Bills hadn't won their division since 1966 when the 1980 season rolled around. Chuck Knox had brought some life to the franchise in 1979, but the team still hadn't wrapped up a playoff spot when the game started.
The AFC East title wouldn't come easily this time either. Every time the Bills scored, the San Francisco 49ers responded on a muddy field. Joe Ferguson threw a touchdown pass to Jerry Butler, while Curtis Brown scored on a 4-yard run.
Still, the Bills' fate was set until the final moments of the game. Joe Montana, then a relatively unknown young pro quarterback, launched a couple of long passes into the Buffalo end zone. They fell incomplete, thus delaying the establishment of Montana's legend for a short time, and the Bills could celebrate a championship.
--- Budd Bailey
Dec. 20, 1964-- The Buffalo Bills didn't qualify for the postseason in 1960, 1961, 1962 or 1963. The drought finally ended in Year Five.
The Bills completed a superb 12-2 season with a 24-14 win over the Boston Patriots. Buffalo finished with a 12-2 record, while the Patriots ended up 10-3-1. That was good to win the American Football League's Eastern Division title.
Jack Kemp scored two touchdowns on short runs, while throwing for 286 yards on only 12 completions. Elbert Dubenion and Glenn Bass both went over the 100-yard mark in receiving yardage.
The Bills' defense held the Patriots to only 33 yards rushing on their home field. Buffalo still had a game to play that season -- the AFL championship game. That one turned out just fine too.
--- Budd Bailey
December 19, 1948 -- The Buffalo Bills had the chance to play for a championship on this date. The other Buffalo Bills, that is.
Western New York's entry in the All-America Football Conference won the East with a mediocre 7-7 record. Then the Bills beat the Baltimore Colts in the first round of the playoffs. The reward for all that was a date with the Cleveland Browns, the most powerful team in the AAFC with a 14-0 record.
It was no contest. The Browns handed the Bills a 49-7 thrashing. Marion Motley ran 14 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns, showing why he was one of the greatest running backs of his time.
The last score of the game came on a 39-yard interception return for a touchdown by the Browns' Lou Saban. He would become more familiar with Buffalo later in life.
The Bills' only touchdown came on Jim Still's 10-yard pass to Al Baldwin.
--- Budd Bailey
Dec. 18, 1966 -- The Buffalo Bills concluded the regular season on this date, and they finished as champions.
The Bills wrapped up the American Football League's Eastern Division with a 38-21 win over the Denver Broncos. That was good for a 9-4-1 record and a division title.
This one was never in doubt. The Bills jumped out to a 17-0 lead by the second quarter, and had a 38-7 lead early in the fourth quarter. Buffalo picked up one touchdown on an interception return by Tom Janik, and another on a fumble recovery by Mike Stratton. Jack Kemp was only 9 of 23 for 147 yards.
The divisional title earned the Bills a trip to the AFL championship game, with the winner of that one going to the first Super Bowl. You probably know how that worked out.
--- Budd Bailey
FORT ERIE, Ont. --- The Ontario government will breathe three more years of life into the financially ailing Fort Erie Race Track.
An agreement announced today calls for the province to provide $5.6 million a year for three years to help a civic not-for-profit group lease the 112-year-old horse racing track from Nordic Gaming Corp.,which has owned the track and surrounding property for 12 years but has found racing unprofitable. Efforts to come up with a plan to save the track, the Town of Fort Erie's largest employer, have been underway for several years.
The money will come from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., which operates casinos at Fort Erie and 16 other tracks. The Town of Fort Erie will add another $500,000 from its share of slots revenue.
"This is a great day for Fort Erie and everyone involved in the horse racing industry," Kim Craitor, Fort Erie's member of parliament, told a news conference at Leisureplex.
"It looks like we have a chance now. We've been on pins and needles," said veteran horse trainer Jim Woods. "Things look real good."
"I'm delighted we have an opportunity to make money," added trainer and horse owner Daryl Ezra. "You can reinvest again. I've got owners sitting on the fence, they don't want to buy horses. Now they can invest."
Plans call for about a 78 to 80-day May through October thoroughbred meet similar to 2009. Racing would start May 1 with purses averaging about $100,000 per day. Although details are not clear, plans also call for adding races for quarter horses, which currently race at a track in Ajax, Ont.
James Thibert, president of the Fort Erie Economic Development & Tourism Corp. and head of the not-for-profit "Consortium" that will lease the track, said the group will request proposals from new management groups for taking over operations after July 1.
The track, which opened on June 16, 1897, provides about 500 direct jobs and supports about 1,500 people in various trades. Thibert said it has a $200 million economic impact in the town, the Niagara Region and the province.
--- Bob Summers
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