By Jeffrey Levine

For almost any team, three champi-onships in four years would be an

unequivocally phenomenal outcome,but the WNY Flash aren’t just any team.After bringing championship banners back

home to Sahlens Sports Park the last threeyears, the Flash looked poised to repeat for an

unprecedented fourth time. A rocky start to theseason, including two loses and a draw, were notthe most auspicious of beginnings, but the teampulled together and reeled off two straight monthswithout a loss. That rally helped spur them to thebest regular season record in the National Women’sSoccer League and earned the Flash the inauguralSupporter’s Shield.

Despite their momentum heading into the post-season as the No. 1 seed, the only advantage theFlash held over the Portland Thorns FC in the cham-pionship game were the 9,000-plus fans cheering forthe home team. Having previously played Portland totwo draws during the regular season, the Flash werewell matched, trading scoring opportunities in thefirst half and outshooting their opponents 18-9 overthe course of the game although the teams weretied seven-all for shots on net. When all was said

and done, however, the Thorns emerged with a2-0 victory in a game that was much closer

than the final score would indicate.For a team used to winning

back-to-back-to-back cham-pionships, the shock of notcoming home with the titletook a little while to set in.

“It takes time to get overthe hump of not winningthe championship whenyou’re so close,” defenderBrittany Taylor explained.“Thinking back fromwhere we started andwhere we ended, we reallycame together as a team.Some of the situations weput ourselves in and othersthe opponents pressedupon us where we neededto come together. We hadto do that a few times in theseason. When our backs are against the wall we cando that.”

“[During the season] there’s a bunch of momentswhere we could have crumbled or we were in a nega-tive situation where we lost a game or were up andthen tied, but this team didn’t accept that,” goalkeep-er Adrianna Franch agreed. “We all knew what kindof goal we wanted and we were all on the same pagewith everyone coming together to realize them. Thatteamwork has everything to do with why we did aswell as we did.”

Although the loss was certainly a disappointment,the Flash still put together a very impressive seasonand look ready to repeat that performance in 2014. AsAbby Wambach and Carli Lloyd were front and cen-ter in leading the Flash to a league-best 36 goals,Franch and Taylor were key to a defensive unit thatallowed a league-low 20 goals. In addition to soliddefense, Taylor led all defenders with three goals and

four assists in her first yearwith the Flash. In net,Franch posted the bestgoals against average forany keeper in the league,an impressive feat for anyplayer but especially for arookie taken in the firstround of the 2013 draft.

“It’s awesome to haveveterans in front of me,”Franch explained. “Itbrings me confidence,especially them havingconfidence in me. Our

relationship is that we have each other’s back. It’s notonly the four defenders, it’s the entire team. There aremoments in the games where my forwards are backdefending and not just watching the back five or six.Everyone’s working together. That’s one of the biggestthings I love about my team.”

Taylor takes a similar team-first attitude to her rolewith the Flash. “As a defender it’s just in your natureand your personality to put in work, sacrifice, to putyour teammates in position to win championshipgames. It’s great when your teammates succeedbecause you know what you’ve done to put themthere. It’s even better than being in the spotlight your-self.”

For Taylor, Franch and the rest of the Flash, there’sno telling how far teamwork, sharpshooting and soliddefense will carry them next year. If this season wasany indication, it will most likely be straight back tothe championship game.

Flash fall just short of fourth consecutive championship

Photo courtesy WNY FlashThe starting 11 for the WNY Flash in theNWSL Championship.

Fall 2013 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Page 3

Page 4 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Fall 2013

Sports & Leisure Magazine192 Louvaine Drive, Buffalo, New York 14223

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Publisher & Editor Marian GiallombardoAssociate Editor Jeffrey LevineFeature Writers Paul Adamo, Robert Caico, Rick Davenport, Mike Dyer, Mike Fox, Ivanthe Impaler, Joe Kirchmyer, George Kuhn, Jeffrey Levine, Christopher Fee, Adam McGill,Brian Michalek, Ron Montesano, Len Mytko, Gary Reeves, Charles Roberts, Dave Sully,John Williams, Rick Zurak (golf editor)Chief Photographer Jeff BarnesStaff Photographers Ryan Bartholomew, Bob Conlon, Nick LoVerde, Joe Valenti, MikeMajewski, Holly MalinowskiCover photos EJ Manuel by Jeff Barnes, Brittany Taylor courtesy WNY FlashAdvisory Board Phil Haberstro, Adam Lingner, Denny LynchContributing Writers Kevin Bonk, Todd Etshman, Jack Godzuk, Arun Morace, BobPlezia, Brian Mazurowski, Dave RicciLayout & Cover Scott Appleby, Graphic artist Liz SeivertCopy Editors and Office Assistants Len Mytko, Justin Vernold, John WilliamsPlease send your letters, questions, and comments to: Sports & Leisure Magazine, 192Louvaine Dr, Buffalo, NY 14223 or e-mail publisher@sportsandleisuremag.com. Pleaseinclude your name, address and phone number or your letter can’t be published. All lettersand responses become the property of Sports & Leisure Magazine, they may be printed, andare subject to editing. Sports & Leisure Magazine is circulated throughout Western NewYork and Southern Ontario. All rights and trademarks reserved. Reproduction in whole or inpart without the express written consent of the publisher is strictly prohibited. ©1997 -2013 Sports & Leisure Inc.Facebook: Sports and Leisure Magazine and Hugesportz.com

Labor Day signals the endof the summer, the start ofschool, and, more impor-tantly in Western New York,football games that actuallycount. It was certainly worthwaiting through the offsea-son to see rookie quarter-back EJ Manuel start undercenter for the Bills. Takingthe Patriots down to the lastfew ticks of the clock onopening day, the new-lookBills were not only proficientbut also exciting to watch.

While familiar names likeCJ Spiller, Fred Jackson andStevie Johnson contributedon offense, several Billsrookies showed that thefuture is bright in Buffalo.Robert Woods caught whatlooks to be the first of manytouchdown passes on abeautifully thrown ball tothe right side of the endzone, which he followed upwith a four-catch 68-yard

day and a two-point conver-sation. Fellow first-yearreceiver Marquise Goodwinlooked great throughout thepost season and after a longtenure by Rian Lindell,Dustin Hopkins looks likethe kicker of the future.

As the first quarterbackoff the board in this year’sdraft, expectations were skyhigh for Manuel and he’splayed exactly as advertised.So far No. 3 has shown bothpromise and poise in his firsttwo starts and as he contin-ues to get comfortable withhis young receiving corps,more TDs should rain down,that is, when Jackson andSpiller aren’t rumbling intothe end zone.

In a different kind offootball, the WNY Flashentered the post season asthe No. 1 seed in theNational Women’s SoccerLeague and looked poised

to contend for their fourthconsecutive league title,but lost in the champi-onship game. AlthoughFlash fans have beenspoiled with an almostunparalleled string ofchampionships, the seasonwas still a success and theteam will be back next sea-son, ready to immediatelycontend for their fourthtitle in five years.

Speaking of contending,the Sabres will have somenew opponents as well asfamiliar foes to face as theyvie for a playoff spot thisseason. Having the dynasticRedwings in your divisionis sure to make things hard-er but if Ron Rolston canget the most out of hisyoung players in his firstfull season, the Sabres lookpoised to make it back tothe post season.

FROM THEPUBLISHER

Fall 2013 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Page 5

By Charles RobertsBuffalo Bills head coach

Doug Marrone described theWeek 1 loss to the NewEngland Patriots as devas-tating.

“It makes me vomit,” Billsdefensive tackle KyleWilliams said of the contest,which effectively came to aclose whenPatriots kickerS t e p h e nG o s t k o w s k inailed a 35-yardfield goal, mak-ing it 23-21,with just fiveseconds remain-ing.

Upsetting asthe last-secondloss may havebeen, the Billsappear to havescored a long-term moral vic-tory: Rookie EJManuel showedflashes of why hewas the firstq u a r t e r b a c kselected inApril’s NFLDraft.

Manuel com-pleted 18 of 27passes for 150yards and twot o u c h d o w n s ,one to fellowrookie RobertWoods, the otherto veteran StevieJohnson. Equallyas important, hedidn’t turn theball over andwas not sacked.In other words, as far as sta-tistics go, Manuel had adecent first day at work.

Beyond the stats, and per-haps above all else, is theway in which Manuel carrieshimself. He seldom, if at all,looked overwhelmed in hisNFL debut and made noexcuses afterward for thegame’s outcome.

“I was very calm,” Manuelsaid. “…I knew it was myfirst time out there. I felt theenergy of the crowd. It waspacked; it was a great crowd.We just wanted to go outthere and win, but we didn’t.And like I said, we’ve just

got to move on to nextweek.”

“I was very happy withhis demeanor,” Marronesaid of his rookie quarter-back. “I think that’s veryimportant. I think that whenyou talk about tests andprocess, and what you’redoing when you’re develop-

ing quarterbacks, that whenhe was out there, it didn’tseem any different thanwhat’s been going on. That’sencouraging and we’ll keepworking with him. He’llcontinue to get better.”

Although Manuel’s mis-takes—a few misfires andnear-interceptions—wereminimal, coming up twopoints shy to the division-rival Patriots is an experi-ence that he doesn’t want torepeat, regardless of the factthat the Bills were 10-pointunderdogs.

“I’m always critical ofmyself because I don’t like to

make mistakes twice,”Manuel said. “I really don’tlike to make them once.Overall, at the end of theday, we lost, so I can’t reallysay, ‘We did this great, wedid that great.’ At the end ofthe day, you want to win.”

Despite the Week 1 loss,the Bills—looking to end a

1 3 - y e a rabsence fromthe NFL post-s e a s o n —appear readyto rallya r o u n dManuel. Afterspeaking tothe media,Manuel stoodalone near hislocker. Thatis, until veter-an runningback FredJackson, ateam captain,walked by,patting thenew face ofthe franchiseon the back.

“There willbe moreopportunities,m a n , ”Jackson toldManuel.

“I know,”Manuel said,nodding con-fidently. “Iknow.”

As itworked out,those oppor-tunities tookplace one

week later. And this time,Manuel delivered. The rook-ie quarterback led the teamon a nine-play, 80-yarddrive, culminating in a two-yard touchdown pass toStevie Johnson – with just 2seconds on the clock – topropel the Bills to a 24-23victory over the visitingCarolina Panthers.

“I can’t even tell you howI felt,” Manuel said of theWeek 2 victory. “Honestly, Ijust don’t know. I startedcrying there. I’m not usuallyan emotional guy. I want toenjoy those types of things.”

Manuel’s poise proves to be a silver lining for the Bills

Photo by Joe ValentiBills rookie quarterback EJ Manuel looks to provewhy he was the first quarterback taken in April’s NFLDraft.

By Charles Roberts

The kids are all right. Justask first-year Buffalo Billshead coach Doug Marrone.

Marrone and the Billsentered the Week 1matchup with the NewEngland Patriots as 10-point underdogs. The dou-ble-digit slap from odds-makers, however, likely hadmore to do with theunknown— a roster deepwith rookies and second-year players—than it didwith the past.

Rookie quarterback EJManuel, the 16th overallselection in this year’sdraft, opened the season asthe starter, with undraftedrookie Jeff Tuel serving asthe backup. By doing so,Manuel and Tuel immedi-ately earned a page in therecord books; no teamsince the AFL-NFL mergerin 1970 has opened a sea-son with only rookie quar-terbacks.

“I think it’s very difficult.If someone is reading it orhearing it and they’ve notbeen around those twopeople, they might say,‘He’s crazy,’” Marrone saidof starting the season withtwo rookie quarterbacks. “Ithink that if you’ve beenaround them and watchedthem, you’d say, ‘These twoguys look pretty darngood.’”

Call it crazy, but there’sno denying that Marrone’sapproach is unique, espe-cially when compared to hispredecessors. During thelast decade, the Bills havemixed young signal-callerswith the likes of veteransDrew Bledsoe, KellyHolcomb and RyanFitzpatrick, none of whomguided the team to the post-season.

Perhaps the freshapproach is just what thedoctor ordered.

“We both are still learn-ing,” Manuel said. “I thinkwe both have a good graspon the offense. We both hada lot of reps during the sum-mer camp.”

Taking the field with sev-eral rookies doesn’t seem tobother Marrone in the least.

“I think that’s our situa-tion, and we feel that we’regoing to go in to it with theplayers we feel give us thebest chance to win,”Marrone said. “I don’t havea problem if someone is arookie, a veteran, whateverit may be. Our job as coach-es is to make sure we putpeople on the field that wecan rely on and we feel thatwe can win with. That’s ourresponsibility and accounta-bility to the rest of the team.To answer your question, noI don’t, I don’t worry.”

In fact, when Manuelmissed the team’s final twopreseason games with anunspecified knee injury,Marrone was ready to moveforward with the 22-year-old Tuel.

“I’m excited about it,”

Marrone said on Aug. 26,when he announced thatTuel would be the WeekOne starter, if Manuel was-n’t ready to go. “…Becauseit’s fun. You’ve got a guy outthere that’s played a lot andhas a lot of snaps. It’s excit-ing to get out there and play.It’s a great opportunity forhim, if that’s what presentsitself.”

For Tuel—who in thematter of four monthswent from being a longshotto make the roster, to near-ly opening the season as astarter—it’s all about drop-ping preconceived notions.

“Just explains that youcan never expect, you cannever know what’s going tohappen in this league;you’ve always got to beready,” Tuel said. “That’swhy I’ve said since the dayI walked in this buildingthat I’m going to preparemyself, because you neverknow what could happen.Even going back in college,I had my redshirt-burnedfreshman year. The firsttime I played was in theColiseum against USC in2009, so it’s happened tome before. I came here andstarted just preparing like Iwas a starter since day one.It can happen.”

Tuel’s story is more thanjust right place, right time,though. The team made asnap decision—three daysof practice and a little morethan a quarter of play—tocut ties with Matt Leinart,rather than hanging on tohim in hopes of rejuvenat-ing his 2004 HeismanTrophy-winning form.

But it hardly ends withthe quarterbacks.

At wide receiver,Marrone and his newcoaching staff announcedless than a month afterarriving in Buffalo that vet-erans Donald Jones andDavid Nelson would not be

re-signed. The Bills willinstead look for an imme-diate impact from rookiesRobert Woods andMarquise Goodwin, bothof whom were impressivethroughout training campand the preseason.

“A lot of times withyoung receivers, when theycome into this league,you’re always talking

about, ‘Hey, have somepatience in your routes andin what you do.’ And that’sthe one thing about Robert[Woods], it’s a great traitfrom him,” Marrone said ofhis young receiver. “Sowhen I think about, evenpre-draft, when peopletalked about Robert beingNFL-ready, I think that’swhat people were talkingabout, just that patience offinding the zone, patiencein running the route andnot being too quick.”

Rookie kicker DustinHopkins beat out veteranRian Lindell during train-ing camp, while second-year pro Shawn Powell hascontrol of the puntingduties.

On defense, the Billsrecently parted ways withveteran linebacker BryanScott, which will likelyresult in increased playingtime for Nigel Bradham,who is entering his secondseason. Scott, who waswidely considered a teamleader, was not the loneveteran released from thedefensive side of the ball;the team also waived good-bye in February to line-backer Nick Barnett andstrong safety GeorgeWilson.

Whether or not theyouthful Bills provenaysayers wrong is any-one’s guess. But one thing’sfor certain: Veterans are ona short leash.

Several first and second-yearplayers get the nod for Bills

Photo by Joe ValentiUndrafted rookie quarterback Jeff Tuel (No.8) staves off com-petition from veterans Matt Leinart (no. 7) and Thad Lewis(No. 9).

Page 6 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Fall 2013

Buffalo Bills QBs since Jim Kelly’s retirement

Rob Johnson 1998-2001Acquired: via trade with theJacksonville JaguarsRecord: 9-17Statistics: 401 completionsin 663 attempts for 4,798passing yards, 27 TDs and 17INTs.Head coaches: WadePhillips (1998-2000), GreggWilliams (2001)Where is now: MissionViejo High School inCalifornia, where he servesas assistant head coach.Fun fact: he won a SuperBowl ring with Tampa Bayin 2002 as the backup QB.

Doug Flutie 1998-2000Acquired: as a free agent,via the Toronto Argonauts(CFL)Record: 21-9Statistics: 598 completionsin 1,063 attempts for 7,582passing yards, 47 TDs and 30INTs.Head coaches: WadePhillips (1998-2000)Where he is now: Workingas a college football analystfor NBC Sports.

Todd Collins 1995-97Acquired: via draft (SecondRound, 1995)Record: 5-8*Statistics: 215 completionsin 391 attempts for 2,367passing yards, 12 TDs and 13INTs.*Head coach: Marv LevyWhere he is now: After threeuneventful seasons inBuffalo, he served as abackup quarterback in theNFL for 13 seasons, retiringin 2010. *Note: Collins’ statistics only includethe 1997 season, after Jim Kellyretired. He also started four gamesfrom 1995-96 as an injury replacementfor Kelly. His full numbers as a BuffaloBill are a 7-10 record, 284 comple-tions, 519 attempts, 3,218 passingyards, 16 touchdowns and 19 inter-ceptions.

Billy Joe Hobert 1997Acquired: via trade with theOakland RaidersRecord: 0-0Statistics: 17 completions in30 attempts for 133 passingyards, 0 TD and 2 INTs.Head coach: Marv LevyWhere he is now: Keepingout of the public eye andenjoying life with his familyand five children after retir-ing from pro football follow-ing the 2001 NFL season.

Jim Kelly 1986-96Acquired: 1st rounddraft pick (No. 14overall, 1983)Record: 101-59Statistics: 2,874 com-pletions, 4,779attempts, 35,467 pass-ing yards, 237 TDs,175 INTsHead coach: MarvLevyWhere he is now:Retired and livingwith his family inEast Aurora, NY. Heruns a number of ven-tures, most notablythe Hunter’s HopeFoundation, which isnamed for the son helost to Krabbe’s dis-ease. The organiza-tion strives to raiseawareness aboutKrabbe’s and provideadvocacy for victimsof the disease.

Alex Van Pelt 1994-2003Acquired: as a free agent,via the Kansas City ChiefsRecord: 3-8Statistics: 262 completionsin 77 attempts for 2,945 pass-ing yards, 16 TD and 24 INTs.Head coaches: Marv Levy(1994-97), Wade Phillips(1998-2000), Gregg Williams(2001-03)Where he is now: Currentlyserving as the runningbacks coach for the GreenBay Packers.

Travis Brown 2001-03Acquired: as a free agent,via the Seattle SeahawksRecord: 0-0Statistics: 29 completions in51 attempts for 361 passingyards, 1 TD and 3 INTs.Head coach: Gregg Williams(2001-03)Where he is now: Pastor forChrist’s Church of the Valleyin Scottsdale, Arizona.

Drew Bledsoe 2002-04Acquired: via trade with theNew England PatriotsRecord: 23-25Statistics: 905 completionsin 1,531 attempts for 10,151passing yards, 55 TDs and 43INTs.Head coaches: GreggWilliams (2002-03), MikeMularkey (2004)Where he is now: Currentlythe offensive coordinatorand quarterbacks coach forSummit Bend High School inBend, Oregon. He also runstwo business ventures:Bledsoe Capital Group andDoubleback Winery.

Shane Matthews 2004-05Acquired: as a free agent,via the Cincinnati BengalsRecord: 0-0Statistics: Two completionsin three attempts for 44passing yards, 1 TD and 0INT.Head coaches: MikeMularkey (2004-05)Where he is now: Allen D.Nease Senior High School,where he serves as headcoach of the football team.

Trent Edwards 2007-2010Acquired: Third round draftpick (No. 92 overall, 2007)Record: 14-19Statistics: 535 completionsin 878 attempts for 5,739passing yards, 25 TDs and 27INTs.Head coaches: Dick Jauron(2007-09), Perry Fewell(2009), Chan Gailey (2010)Where he is now: UnsignedNFL free agent after beingcut in August 2013 by theChicago Bears followingtraining camp.

Brian Brohm 2009-10Acquired: as a free agent,via the Green Bay PackersRecord: 0-2 Statistics: 27 completions in52 attempts for 252 passingyards, 0 TD and 5 INTs.Head coaches: Dick Jauron(2009), Perry Fewell (2009)Chan Gailey (2010)Where he is now: PlayingQB for the CFL’s HamiltonTiger-Cats.

Photos: Levi Brown and Brian Brohm by Joe Valenti; Shane Matthews and BillyJoe Hobart courtesy of the Buffalo Bills; the rest of the photos by Jeff Barnes.Data compiled by staff writer Arun Morace.

The Bills have experience significant turnover at the quarterbackposition since Hall of Fame passer Jim Kelly retired in 1996. Startingwith the most recent, here are the quarterbacks who have played in aregular season game for the Bills since the 1997 season.

J.P. Losman 2004-08Acquired: First round draftpick (No. 22 overall, 2004)Record: 8-23Statistics: 558 completionsin 941 attempts for 6,211passing yards, 33 TDs and 34INTs.Head coaches: MikeMularkey (2004-05), DickJauron (2006-08)Where he is now: Won aUnited Football Leaguechampionship with the LasVegas Locomotive in 2009.After failing to make it backinto the NFL full-time withthe Miami Dolphins, SeattleSeahawks and OaklandRaiders, he retired from profootball in 2012.

Kelly Holcomb 2005-06Acquired: as a free agent,via the Cleveland BrownsRecord: 4-4Statistics: 155 completionsin 230 attempts for 1,509passing yards, 10 TDs and 8INTs.Head coaches: MikeMularkey (2005), DickJauron (2006)Where he is now: Workingas a broadcaster for hisalma mater, MiddleTennessee State.

Tyler Thigpen 2011-12Acquired: as a free agent,via the Miami DolphinsRecord: 0-0Statistics: Six completionsin 13 attempts for 55 passingyards, 0 TD and 1 INT.Head coaches: Chan GaileyWhere he is now: UnsignedNFL free agent.

Ryan Fitzpatrick 2009-12Acquired: as a free agent,via the Cincinnati BengalsRecord: 20-33 Statistics with Buffalo: 1,041completions in 1,742attempts for 11,654 passingyards, 80 TDs and 64 INTs.Head coaches: Dick Jauron(2009), Perry Fewell (2009),Chan Gailey (2010-12)Where he is now: BackupQB with the TennesseeTitans.

EJ Manuel 2013-PresentAcquired: First round draftpick (No. 16 overall, 2013)Record: 0-1Statistics with Buffalo: 18completions in 27 attemptsfor 150 passing yards, 2 TDsand 0 INT.Head coach: Doug MarroneWhere he is now: Buffalo’scurrent starting QB.

Levi Brown 2010-11Acquired: Seventh rounddraft pick (No. 209 overall,2010)Record: 0-0Statistics: Two completionsin three attempts for 24passing yards, 0 TD and 1INT.Where he is now: Playing inthe Canadian FootballLeague (CFL). He spent 2012with the SaskatchewanRoughriders, and wassigned in 2013 to theWinnipeg Blue Bombers’practice squad.

Fall 2013 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Page 7

By Leonard J. Mytko

We all know fantasychampionships are wonwith slick free-agentpickups. Both ColinKaepernick and T.Y.Hilton should quicklycome to mind from ayear ago. Even thisyear’s crop has given usDenver’s Julius Thomasand Oakland’s fleet-footed quarterbackTerrelle Pryor right offthe bat. But since bothof these players shouldalready be owned inyour league by nowanyway, we’re taking alook at ten more withpossible upside.

1. Brandon Weeden,QB, Browns

Despite a rough firststart, there’s still a pret-ty good chance his pro-duction will eventuallygo up. With JoshGordon set to returnand a quickly emergingtight end in second-year man JordanCameron, the 30-year-old should get into agroove and push to bemore than just a low-end fantasy backup ashe currently is right now.

2. Christine Michael,RB, Seahawks

Even though he’s No. 3in Seattle, he’s a back withbig-time potential andmuch more. And eventhough that future isn’tright now, Seattle hasSuper Bowl aspirationsand he could make a dif-ference to help them getthere if an injury or twoshould hit their top two.So if you get to that pointof having some spareroom on your fantasysquad, he’d make for asmart and speculativeadd.

3. Percy Harvin, WR,Seahawks

He might not see thefield until the halfwaypoint at the earliest, butyou’ll have to be quick onthe waiver wire draw ifyou want him for yourplayoff push should hereturn, so the sooner thebetter. Plus, quarterbackRussell Wilson will needevery ounce of offensivefirepower around thattime as well so ownersshould be checking up onHarvin’s status quite regu-larly leading up to then.

4. Aaron Dobson/JoshBoyce, WR, Patriots

With Danny Amendolabattling a groin injury andRob Gronkowski workinghis way back, NewEngland will need all thehelp it can get for TomBrady and the passingattack this year. JulianEdelman and rookieKenbrell Thompkins arecurrently holding downthe fort, but maybeDobson or Boyce can stepup and pick up some ofthe slack from time to

time too. 5. Caleb Sturgis, K,

DolphinsHe unseated Dan

Carpenter for the startingjob in Miami beforeCarpenter came over tothe Bills. And despiteplaying on a team thattends to rank in the lowerhalf when it comes tofield goal attempts, thestrong-legged rookie outof Florida is off to a hotstart with four field goalsand 17 points.

6. Jordan Reed, TE,Redskins

Here’s another rookieout of Florida worthkeeping an eye on as theseason progresses. In hislast year as a Gator, hecaught 45 balls for 559yards and so far this yearhe’s got eight catches for56 yards, which is fivemore receptions and 31more yards than startingtight end Fred Davis. Addin some red-zone looksand it’s quite possible hetakes over for Davisbefore the year is over.

7. Robert Woods, WR,Bills

Unless you’re in a verybig and deep league, heprobably went undraftedand overlooked sinceStevie Johnson gets mostof the receiving headlineshere. But the presence ofEJ Manuel along with anew coach’s preferencecould change all of that ina hurry so maybe you’relooking at a new go-toguy in Buffalo’s passinggame when it’s all saidand done with this sea-son.

8. Knile Davis, RB,Chiefs

If you’re looking for a

sneaky backup to addgoing forward, one placeto look might be inKansas City’s backfield.He’s No. 2 to JamalCharles and given hisinjury history, Daviscould end up thriving incoach Andy Reid’soffense. So far to datethough, he’s got just fourcarries for 12 yards.

9. Joique Bell, RB,Lions

Detroit does have abunched-up backfield,but the Lions are still apass-heavy team and evenif Reggie Bush is the leadback, can Bush stayhealthy all year long? Andtaking into considerationhe’s only played in all 16games once in the past sixyears and that Bell is alsoan intriguing pass-catch-ing option (52 catches in2012), Bell might be agood second-string backto handcuff your fantasystarters with.

10. Kellen Winslow II,TE, Jets

Hard to believe, butjust when you thought hisdays of being fantasy rele-vant were all but over, he’sback in the fold again.And given the opportuni-ty to contribute again as amember of Gang Green,he’s logged 10 catches for95 yards with a score inthe first month alone.

Others to scour thewaiver wire for include:Marlon Brown, WR,Ravens; Kenny Stills, WR,Saints; LeonardHankerson, WR,Redskins; Da’ Rel Scott,RB, Giants; Chad Henne,QB, Jaguars; Bilal Powell,RB, Jets.

Fantasy football: Playing the waiver wire

Photo by Jeff BarnesRobert Woods could start seeing a lot more targets in first-year coach Doug Marrone’s offense.

Marv LevyYears: 1986-1997Regular SeasonRecord: 182-112Postseason Record:11-8After the Bills: Heretired from coachingin 1997, and waselected to the ProFootball Hall of Famein 2001. Then in2006, he rejoined theBills as general man-ager, serving in thatrole until the end ofthe 2007 season.Where he is now:After his two-year runas general manager ofthe Bills, he retiredpermanently from profootball in 2007. He isnow retired and livingin Chicago. Sinceretiring, he has writ-ten two books: GameChangers and Between theLies.

Wade PhillipsYears: 1998-2000Regular Season Record: 29-19Postseason Record: 0-2After the Bills: Joined theAtlanta Falcons as defensivecoordinator in 2002. Servedas interim head coach of theFalcons in 2003.Where he is now: Defensivecoordinator of the HoustonTexans (2011-present).

Gregg WilliamsYears: 2001-03Regular Season Record: 17-31Postseason Record: 0-0After the Bills: Served asdefensive coordinator/assis-tant head coach for theWashington Redskins from2004-07. Williams won aSuper Bowl ring with theNew Orleans Saints in 2009as defensive coordinator, butwas fired in 2011 after beinginvestigated for a “bounty”scandal in which he encour-aged his players to intention-ally hurt members of theopposing team.Where he is now: Serving assenior assistant defensivecoach for the TennesseeTitans.

Mike MularkeyYears: 2004-05Regular Season Record: 14-18Postseason Record: 0-0After the Bills: Joined theMiami Dolphins in 2006 tobe their offensive coordina-tor; was demoted to tightends coach after one year.Where he is now: Joblessafter presiding over a 2-14season as head coach of theJacksonville Jaguars in 2012.

Dick JauronYears: 2006-09Regular Season Record: 24-33Postseason Record: 0-0After the Bills: Served as sen-ior assistant/defensive backscoach for the PhiladelphiaEagles in 2010.

Where he is now: Joblessafter being fired as defensivecoordinator for theCleveland Browns, where hecoached from 2011-12.

Perry FewellYears: 2009*Regular Season Record: 3-4Postseason Record: 0-0*Note: served as interimhead coach after Dick Jauronwas fired nine games into the2009 season.After the Bills: Joined theNew York Giants as defen-sive coordinator in 2010.Where he is now: Still serv-ing as the Giants’ defensivecoordinator, with whom hewon a Super Bowl in 2011.

Chan GaileyYears: 2010-12Regular Season Record: 16-32Postseason Record: 0-0After the Bills: Nothing.Where he is now: Joblessafter being fired from theBills’ head coaching position.

Doug MarroneYears: 2013Regular Season Record: 0-1Postseason Record: 0-0After the Bills: TBDWhere he is now: One gameinto his tenure as the currentBuffalo Bills head coach.

General Managers afterJim Kelly left in 1997

John ButlerYears: 1993-2000Notable draft picks/freeagent acquisitions: LB SamCowart, WR Eric Moulds,QB Doug Flutie, QB RobJohnson.After the Bills: After leavingBuffalo, he became generalmanager of the San DiegoChargers in 2001, a positionhe held until 2003, when hedied of lymphoma.

Tom DonahoeYears: 2001-05Notable draft picks/freeagent acquisitions: QB DrewBledsoe, RB Willis McGahee(No. 23 overall, 2003), OTMike Williams (No. 4 over-

all, 2002), Lee Evans(No. 13 overall,2004), QB J.P. Losman(No. 22 overall,2004).After the Bills: Wasout of football until hewas hired by thePhiladelphia Eagles in2012.Where he is now:Serving as the Eagles’senior football advisor(2012-13). Marv LevyYears: 2006-07Notable draftpicks/free agent acqui-sitions: S DonteWhitner (No. 8 over-all, 2006), RBMarshawn Lynch (No.12 overall, 2007), LBPaul Posluszny (No.34 overall, 2007).After the Bills: Afterhis two-year contract

with the Bills expired, heretired from pro football in2007.Where he is now: Retiredand living in Chicago. Sinceleaving football, he’s writtentwo books: “GameChangers” and “Between theLies.”

Russ BrandonYears: 2008-09Notable draft picks/freeagent acquisitions: CB/KRLeodis McKelvin (No. 12overall, 2008), LB AaronMaybin (No. 11 overall,2009), WR Stevie Johnson(seventh round, 2008), QBRyan Fitzpatrick, WR TerrellOwens, DT Marcus Stroud.After the Bills: He’s still withthe franchise.Where he is now: In 2010 hehired Buddy Nix as generalmanager and was promotedto CEO of the Bills, a posi-tion he still holds today.

Buddy NixYears: 2010-12Notable draft picks/freeagent acquisitions: RB C.J.Spiller (No. 9 overall, 2010),DT Marcell Dareus (No. 3overall, 2011), CB StephonGilmore (No. 10 overall,2012)After the Bills: He’s still withthe franchise.Where he is now: After step-ping down as general manag-er at the conclusion of the2012 season, Nix moved intoa role as special assistantwith the Bills.

Doug WhaleyYears: 2013-presentNotable draft picks/freeagent acquisitions: QB EJManuel (No. 16 overall,2013), WR Robert Woods(No. 41 overall, 2013) LBKiko Alonso (No. 46 overall,2013).After the Bills: He’s still theircurrent GM.Where he is now: Startinghis first season as generalmanager of the Bills.

Information complied by staffwriter Arun Morace.

Head coaches after Marv Levy

Photo by Joe ValentiDoug Marrone will be the seventh headcoach of the Bills since Marv Levy. Can healso be the first to bring them to the post-season since 1999?

Page 8 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Fall 2013

The NHL’s new divisionalalignment moves Winnipegfrom the Eastern to theWestern Conference wherethey belong and shiftsDetroit and Columbus to theeast. In a nutshell, thismeans that Detroit will pushthe Sabres and all other play-off hopefuls one spot furtherdown the EasternConference line for a playoffspot.

The Sabres are in the newAtlantic division. Think ofthis as the “Original six”division with the MontrealCanadiens, Boston Bruins,Toronto Maple Leafs and thedynastic Red Wings. Eventhough the Wings last wonthe Stanley Cup in 2008, andhave lost some significantplayers to retirement, theyare still a powerhouse, tak-ing Stanley Cup championChicago to seven toughgames in the 2013 WesternConference finals.

Rounding out the divi-sional lineup are the hatedOttawa Senators, Tampa BayLightning and the FloridaPanthers. While fan dis-favorite Daniel Alfredssonhas left Ottawa, Sabres fanscan still boo him regularly ashe has landed with the RedWings.

In the new alignment thetop three teams in each divi-sion make the playoffs withtwo wild cards in each con-ference. Gone is the auto-matic spot reserved for divi-sional champs, whichassured the Southeast divi-sion an undeserved top threeseed when their points total

would have found themdeserving of only a seventhor eighth place finish.

With recent championsBoston (2011) and Detroit(2008, 2002, 1998, 1997) aswell as a strong Montrealteam and improvement inToronto, even a cockeyedoptimist would find it diffi-cult to project Buffalo finish-ing ahead of any of thoseteams in the division. Thatleaves the possibility of awild card berth but one thatthey’d have to contend foragainst Pittsburgh, NewYork, Long Island,Washington and Columbus,a team that just missed the

playoffs last season and hasVezina Trophy-winningSergei Bobrovsky in net.

The Atlantic could also becalled the snowbird divisionwhere teams like Buffalo andToronto and Montreal canescape their frigid winterswith an extra road trip toFlorida to play theLightning and Panthers.

Here’s a look at how thenew divisional rivals projectfor this season in order ofprojected finish.

BostonThe Bruins may have lost

the 2013 finals but they wonit all in 2011. Their elite tal-ent—coach Claude Julien,goalie Tukka Rask, centerPatrice Bergeron, anddefenseman Zdeno Chara—will ensure the Bs overcomethe loss of Nathan Hortonand trading of Tyler Seguinto Dallas for Louis Eriksson,who will more than ade-quately replace him.

DetroitFour Stanley Cups in 12

seasons, the Wings are a con-sistently elite team. The tran-sition has been seamlessfrom Yzerman, Fedorov andShanahan to Datsyuk andZetterberg. Even the loss ofsuperstar Nik Lidstrom hasdone little to diminish theWings prowess. ImagineAlfredsson on the top linewith Datsyuk and Zetterburgthis season!

MontrealThe Habs won their divi-

sion and finished second inthe conference behind P.J.Subban’s Norris Trophy sea-

son along withstrong rookie cam-paigns from BrendanGallagher and AlexG a l c h e n y k .Everything wentright for theCanadiens last sea-son, can they do itagain or maybe dobetter?

OttawaExpect improve-

ment from Ottawawith 2012 NorrisTrophy winner ErikKarlsson back frominjury and new freeagent Bobby Ryan anupgrade over thefading DanielAlfredsson. WithJason Spezza at cen-ter and Ben Bishopin goal, the Senshave top talent at every posi-tion.

TorontoExpect an improved and

more physical team inToronto with free agentDavid Clarkson from NewJersey. Imagine if PatrickKaleta scored 25 goals andyou’ll have an idea of thetoughness and skill thatClarkson brings to the Leafs,in the tradition of WendelClark. Dave Bolland comesover after winning the cupwith Chicago and bringsanother strong physical play-er while soft MikhailGrabovski and ClarkeMacArthur head out thedoor. The Leafs also signedfree agent goalie JonathanBernier from LA who shouldgive them a strong 1-2 tan-dem in net with JamesRiemer.

Tampa BayWith mediocre goaltend-

ing and without former fran-chise player VincentLecavier, Tampa Bay will ridesuperstar forwards StevenStamkos and Martin St.Louisas far as they can take them.That Stamkos can score 60goals (2011-12) in the defen-sive-oriented NHL is a testa-ment to his amazing abilitieswhile St. Louis is the reign-ing NHL scoring champion.Much is expected from topdraft pick forward JonathanDrouin. Defenseman VictorHedman is a horse on the

blueline.

BuffaloThe Sabres are coming off

perhaps the most disappoint-ing season in franchise histo-ry where fans serenadedtheir displeasure chanting“Goodbye Darcy” followingthe dismissal of longtimecoach Lindy Ruff. Star play-ers Thomas Vanek and RyanMiller enter the last year oftheir contracts facingimpending free agency. Ifboth players are gone by nextsummer or sooner, theSabres will be left with littletalented veteran leadership.

Buffalo was probably theworst passing team in theNHL last year and had quitea few underachieving play-ers. GM Darcy Regier hassmartly traded away some ofthis veteran deadwood fordraft choices with PaulGaustad netting a firstrounder used to selectZemgus Girgensons who willmake his Sabres debut thisyear. Gauastad was a fanfavorite because he hit but henever scored even one goalin 38 playoff games.Advantage Regier. The latestto depart was Nathan Gerbewho, aside from a promising17-goal rookie performance,had done little with theSabres, no pun intended.Regier cautioned fans toexpect some more sufferingbefore new young playerscan make things better.

But the Sabres may turn

the corner sooner thanexpected. New coach RonRolston was a breath of freshair as he took over midwaythrough last season andmade it to the north side of.500 with his win-lossrecord. Several Rochesterplayers joined their formercoach in Buffalo and acquit-ted themselves well. Rolstonelevated Mike Weber to amore prominent role and thedefenseman responded withstronger play. Tyler Myers isexpected to rebound fromhis disappointing perform-ance following a summer ofintense physical condition-ing and an improved mentalfocus. Goaltending is strongfor now with Miller andJhonas Enroth. ChristianErhoff is a stud on the back-line and first round pickRasmus Ristolainen isexpected to play at age 18.

FloridaWell, the weather is really

nice in south Florida in thewinter, how can anyoneexpect the Panthers playersto concentrate on hockey?Can you name five playerson this team other than ex-Sabre Brian Campbell? Anddid you really even remem-ber that he is a Panther?Jonathan Huberdeau wonrookie of the year and sec-ond overall pick Alex Barkovwill try to do the same thisyear. Otherwise, there’s notmuch going on here.

Sabres playoff hopes face formidable challenges in new Atlantic DivisionBy George Kuhn

Photo by Joe ValentiSteven Stamkos was the NHL’s leading goal scorer in 2010 and 2012.

Atlantic DivisionBoston XDetroit XMontreal XToronto YOttawa YTampa BayBuffaloFlorida

Metropolitan DivisionPittsburgh XRangers XIslanders XWashingtonPhiladelphiaColumbusCarolinaNew Jersey

The New EasternConference Predicted Playoff Teams

X = Playoff Spot Y= Wild Card

By Gary ReevesTIME WAITS FOR NO

MAN – TRUER WORDSW E R ENEVER SPO-KEN!!!!!

I’ve beenw r i t i n gH o c k e yC o l u m n ssince 1978,starting withthe WellandT r i b u n e ,whose circu-lation cov-ered part of the NiagaraPeninsula, for an interimperiod of 14 years. I thenbegan writing hockeycolumns for Sports Timesand Sports Wrap, RegionalSports Papers covering allof the Niagara Peninsula.In 2002, I received aninvitation to write hockeycolumns for this publica-tion and have continuedto do so up until the pres-ent. However, it’s time toput my pen to rest and bidmy adieu. To Marian, thepublisher, Jeffrey Levine,associate editor, and allthe staff of Sports &Leisure I thank you forthe wonderful relation-ship we’ve had for thepast 11 years.

As for all the hockeyplayers and parents whohave followed my hockey

columns, I wish you allthe success that life has tooffer and I only hope that

I was able tocontribute insome small way.

At this time I

would like to introduceMark Zarbo, who spentfour years as a trainee inmy hockey skills clinics.Mark played Junior A forthe YoungstownPhantoms and CedarRapids Rough Riders ofthe U.S. Hockey Leagueand the C.D. Selects of theEastern Junior HockeyLeague. Mark also playedDivision I hockey forBentley College in 2006and 2007 and RPI in 2007until 2010.

Mark graduated in 2010with a B.S. in Businessand Management. In thefall of 2011 he had aninternship roll with theBuffalo Sabres, scouting

and breaking down videofor the 2012 NHL entrydraft. Mark is currentlyenrolled in the Universityat Buffalo and is sched-uled to receive hisDoctors Degree in

Physical Therapy in2014.

Mark presently oper-ates hockey clinics andoffers team instructionthroughout the Buffaloarea using, might I add,all the skill levels,mechanics and tech-niques that were taughtto him in the GaryReeves Pro SkatingHockey Skills Clinics.

Recently, Mark and I havehad some great brain-storming sessions and Ihave no doubt that theproverbial student sur-passing his mentor willsurely occur. Last but notleast, Mark will continuewriting hockey columnsfor this magazine; onlythe name will change.

I now bid my departureto you all and wish all theyoung upcoming hockeyplayers success in theirendeavors, and may theycontinue to read theinformative Hockey SkillsColumns in the Sports &Leisure.

-Gary Reeves

All good things come to an end

SPECIAL FALL PULLOUT 2013

By Bob Timkey

Allegany County hostsenough outdoor attractionsand activities to fill yourfamily’s vacation days for aweek or a weekend. Spendless time travelling andmore time relaxing on yournext getaway and be sure tocheck out these attractions:

Snowmobiling Trailwww.acfsnow.orgThe Allegany County

Snowmobiling trail boastsover 400 miles of terrainand is easily accessible fromNYS Route 19. RushfordSnowmobiling Club main-tains many of the trails asthey weave through privateproperty and the HangingBog Wild Life ManagementArea. Often, sled dog teamscan be seen training on thetrail. Snowmobiling is a desti-nation sport that brings awelcome contribution to thelocal economy. A typical dayof riding includes a big break-fast, a full day of exploringtrails and an evening at a bedand breakfast or motel.Allegany County has investedin a fleet of 20 Class A groom-ing machines to groom selecttrails to provide the best rid-ing conditions possible. You’llenjoy easy access to AlleganyState Park and Letworth StatePark from the sled routes.Trails open the day after muz-zleload deer season ends andremain open until April 1.

Tall Pines ATV Parkwww.TallPinesATVPark.comFormerly known as Kent

Farms and famous for sellingChristmas trees and wreaths,Tall Pines ATV Park is setupon a fourth generationworking farm. The currentgeneration recently built an

ATV ride park with 60 milesof groomed trails, all on theirprivate property. Trails rangefrom easy to intermediate todifficult. An obstacle courseand motocross track has beenbuilt for expert riders and allages are permitted to ridewith parental consent. Freemaps are distributed withevery admission and patronshave access to grills andshowers for their post ridingleisure.

Tall Pines is now a fullyequipped campground aswell with tent sites and 11cabins available for overnightstay. The highly successfulTough Mudder obstaclecourse running race selectedTall Pines as the site of theirBuffalo area race this summerand built over a dozen mili-tary style obstacles, some ofwhich will remain on thegrounds year round.

Wellsville Country Clubwww.WellsvilleCountryClub

.comWellsville Country Club is

one of four courses inAllegany County. The clubboasts an 18-hole golf coursewith a fully complimented

club house, serving dinner onFriday and Saturday nights. Afully-staffed and furnishedpro shop serves golfersthroughout the season. Thestaff golf pro offers lessons,apparel, equipment tips andfittings. Despite the upscalename, Wellsville CountryClub is a public course, fairlypriced at $25 for greens feewith cart. There are 40 newelectric carts and new trapswere added this season, pro-viding excellent value togolfers. This walker friendlypar 71 course is set upon fair-ly level terrain and featuresexcellent scenery includingthe Genesee River flowingthrough beautiful greens andfairways. The course is cen-trally located just 85 milesfrom Buffalo or Rochesterand has attracted many nativeBuffalo and Rochester resi-dents to retire in the area.Plenty of tee times are avail-able during the golf season onSaturday and Sunday after-noons and the club house isavailable for private partiessuch as hosting weddingreceptions, graduation par-ties, proms, birthdays and

fund raising galas.Allegany County Pheasant

Programwww.AlleganyCountyPheas

antProgram.comThe Allegany County

pheasant program is support-ed by local inmates atAllegany County Jail whoraise day old chicks to matu-rity, which are then stockedthroughout the county.Pheasants are released on pri-vate property where huntingis allowed. Six years ago,when the program began, 250birds were raised andreleased. The program hasgrown each year and over1,600 birds were raised andreleased this year attractinghunters from Buffalo,Rochester and Syracuse. Theprogram is a self-supporting,charitable organization. A$30 associate fee is chargedfor membership and no coun-ty taxpayer money is used tofund its efforts. This year, anNRA grant allowed for con-struction of an additionalbrood house, allowing formore birds to be raised ineach coming season.

Lion’s Club Trout DerbyEvery fishing season, the

Genessee River is stockedwith over 300 trout for theannual weekend tournament.Local businesses sponsortagged fish and each taggedfish netted earns the fisher-man a prize of up to $3,000per fish. With nearly $30,000in prize money swimmingaround a 10 mile stretch ofthe river as it flows southfrom Wellsville, this tourna-ment is always a crowd pleas-er.

Hunting ProgramAllegany County boasts

some of the best small gamehunting in New York Stateincluding pheasants, squirrel,rabbits and turkey. DuringWhite Tail Deer Season,46,000 acres of state land areopen for hunting. Hunters areattracted primarily from theBuffalo and Rochester areas.FESTIVALS & EVENTS

Wellsville Balloon RallyThe annual balloon rally

features over 40 hot air bal-loons. At 35 years, it is thelongest running balloon rallyin the eastern half of theUnited States. There is nocharge for licensed balloonowners to attend and privateor commercial balloons arewelcome. Four flights arescheduled during the courseof the weekend along with acrowd-pleasing balloon glow.Hot air balloon rides areavailable to the public andsure to delight the thrill seek-er in you.

Cuba Garlic FestivalIf you haven’t tasted garlic

ice cream, you haven’t lived.Seven live bands, cookingshows and historical presen-tations make the Cuba GarlicFestival an event you don’twant to miss.

Wellsville Ridgewalk &Run

This challenging walk andrunning race features 5k,10k, and half marathon dis-tance running competitions.Over 1,200 participants typi-cally register to attempt thefeat. Beginning at the base ofAlma Hill, the event culmi-nates at the summit, which isthe highest peak in WesternNew York. Aid stations alongthe route provide water andsnacks to runners and hikers.Incredible autumn scenery

and magnificent views makethis charitable event afavorite among runners andoutdoor enthusiasts.

Civil War ReenactmentAn annual Civil War peri-

od reenactment is performedto the 1812 Overture live.Actors prepare for their rolesby dressing in authentic,handmade wardrobes andeating, sleeping and living asthough they are actually inthe Civil War Era during thedays of preparation leadingup to the reenactment event.This is a must see event forhistory buffs.Lodging:

A trip to Allegany is anopportunity to stay in thearea’s premier bed and break-fast, The Lodge. The inn’sowners came to AlleganyCounty six years ago becauseof its natural beauty: the hills,valleys, lakes, and rivers.Houghton College sports fanstypically stay when visitingfor games and equestrianevents and motorcyclists,hunters and hot air balloonenthusiasts fill most of theother weekend vacancies.The main room at The Lodgeis available for breakfast andlunch meetings and is oftenutilized by local businessesfor its warmth and charm.The Lodge has attracted visi-tors from 37 states and fromaround the world. Pleasenote: no children under 16are allowed as The Lodgeremains a quiet retreat foradults. Pets are also notallowed.

One visit to AlleganyCounty is only enough to fallin love…you’ll be back.

Tour Allegany County on a tank of gas

Photo by Bob TimkeyMoss Lake is one of the regions many natural attractions.

Community Sports Report

Looking for something todo for a day or an evening?How about a getaway for thenight or the weekend? Wheredo you want to play today?Make your plans to visit theEnchanted Mountains ofCattaraugus County.

Immerse yourself in a sim-pler way of life along NewYork’s Amish Trail. Enjoy theautumn beauty as you drivethe country highways andbyways through this OldOrder Amish community. Youwill come upon Amish bug-

gies that go a comfortablespeed of 10 mph. — don’t bein a hurry, slow down andappreciate the countryside.See information below onobtaining a free map ofAmish Country.

Then, as Mother Naturepaints the hillsides with herbrushstrokes of autumn’s col-ors, and as we reach theannual passing of the harvestmoon, The EnchantedMountains of CattaraugusCounty offers sunny, crispdays and cool nights filledwith exciting opportunitiesthat await the adventuresome

in spirit. Vibrant hillsides ofever changing hues add to analready exciting EnchantedMountains Fall experience.Are you looking for some-place for a scenic view of theautumn hills? Visit Sky HighAdventure Park, GriffisSculpture Park, Rock CityPark, Bear Mountain Resortand Pfeiffer Nature Centerfor views that will take yourbreath away!Must see events:

Ellicottville: Rock ‘nOldies Weekend, September21 - 22; Fall Festival, October12 and 13. Become a “Night

Crawler” at SkyHigh AdventurePark, as they offerclimbs in theevening or relaxand enjoy the col-ors on a fall chairlift ride at HolidayValley, the lastweekend inSeptember andfirst three week-ends of October.

N i g h t m a r eHayrides: Get thescare of your liferiding on thisspooky hayride.Then walk through the mazeand barn as live scary crea-tures all around you go bumpin the night. This runs week-ends during October.

Pumpkinville in GreatValley will officially open onSeptember 14. Enjoy the spir-it of the harvest, the beauty ofthe Enchanted Mountainsand a day of family fun at thefarm. They will be havingtheir fall festival fromOctober 12-14. Watch freshlypicked apples being washedand squeezed to create thegreatest cider you’ve evertasted, perfect for washingdown homemade pumpkindoughnuts. Pumpkinville isopen daily, 9am – 7pm,through October 31.

Olean: Gem, Mineral &Fossil Show, October 11 – 13

at Rock City Park, Rte 16South, Olean.

Salamanca: Falling LeavesFestival, October 5-6.

Little valley: First annualWILMA (We Invite LocalManufacturers and Artisans)event October 19 and 20.Come out and see what localbusinesses have to offer andshop their one-of-a-kindproducts. Local businessesare welcome to sign up anddisplay their wares duringthis event.

Leon: 2013 Annual AQHATrail Challenge Family Event(Formerly Extreme CowboyFamily Event), September 28.

South dayton: Make aDifference Day, October 26.To include movies, crafts,games, Halloween costumecontest and A Taste of South

Dayton.Gowanda: Historic

Hollywood Theater inGowanda is haunted!Discover why October 25-27and October 31.

Discover what’s naturallyyours in Cattaraugus County:The Enchanted Mountains ofCattaraugus County inWestern New York… WhereDo You Want to Play Today?

For more information onthese and many other fallactivities and events or if youwould like a free copy of theEnchanted Mountains ofCattaraugus County ActivitiesGuide; please call 1-800-331-0543 or e-mail info@enchant-edmountains.com. Also, visitwww.EnchantedMountains.com or on their Facebook Page.

Enjoy Cattaraugus County this Fall

Photo courtesy Cattaraugus County TourismPicked to perfection at Pumpkinville.

FALL 2013 • SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE • WWW.HUGESPORTZ.COM

Autumn anglingaction heating up

nowThe seasons are changing

and local fisheries start tofeel the need to feed inadvance of winter. Fall isperhaps the best time of yearfor fishing, with just aboutevery species of game fishand panfish alike gorgingbefore water temperatureshead directly south.Salmon and Trout

Salmon have moved intothe shallows around theirspawning streams on LakeOntario, with fish now well inrange of pier casters and shoreanglers alike. When a goodcold rain occurs, expect fish tostart heading into the streamsto vie for the best spawningsites and the action shouldonly get better as Septembermoves to October. OakOrchard Creek, Eighteen MileCreek from Burt Dam to themouth at Olcott harbor andthe Lower Niagara River getmost mention, but do notoverlook the smaller feederswhen water levels are right.Casters working large Cleospoons or ripping large Rat-L-Traps experience viciousstrikes and hard-charging runsfrom big Chinooks duringtransitional light periods, butdo not overlook salmon skeindrifted below a float throughslower moving, deeper watersof streams and near creekmouths. Salmon capitalize onevery morsel they can eatbefore enduring the rigors ofspawning and the end of theirlifecycle.

This year DEC biologistsand field technicians will beworking the streams in aneffort to collect information todetermine effectiveness of thepen-rearing programs, amethod of raising fish stocksthat is believed to createstronger stream imprints onthe growing smolts. Officialswill be seeking to collect scaleand snout samples to deter-mine origin of fish caught byanglers, so if you areapproached, please help out inthis important study endeavor.

Lake Erie streams start see-ing the annual fall run of rain-bow trout in major tributaries,with larger fish showing moreabundance as the fall wears on.This is perhaps the best time ofyear for steelhead action, asfish are fresh from the lake andstill full of feistiness, some-thing diminished as fish holdin streams through winter.Cattaraugus Creek,Canadaway Creek andChautauqua Creek all show

strongest activity, but smallerstreams like Big Sister,Delaware and Eighteen MileCreek in Derby provide greataction in a smaller setting.Perch and Walleye

According to Lake ErieFisheries unit chief DonEinhouse, abundance of yel-low perch and walleye in LakeErie’s eastern basin has nevershown stronger. Trawl surveysshow high abundance of 2010and 2012 year class walleyeinhabiting waters betweenBuffalo and Barcelona, whichbodes very well for strongwalleye fishing for years tocome. Although seasonalmovements westward certainlyhave begun, a growing residentpopulation on the eastern sidestill offers strong opportunityfor walleye anglers throughOctober. Slow trolling stickbaits along the bottom inwaters exceeding 40 feet, orbottom bouncing worm har-nesses can deliver good catch-es when weather permits.

Yellow perch abundance off-shore is about as high as it hasever been, and large ringbackspacked in schools feeding onemerald shiners means hotaction when anglers can findthe right bait. Areas west ofSturgeon Point and east ofSunset Bay in waters between60 to 70 feet get most mention.Electronics are a must to findthe schools, which can moveabout from day to day, makingreconnaissance runs duringthe day necessary, but onceyou find the schools action isfast and furious throughoutthe day.Bass

Inland bass fishing peaks asweeds begin to recede andoffer tremendous forage forgrass crabs and minnows alike,and big largemouth bass keyon this in advance of winter.Although most docks will beout of the water on lakes likeChautauqua and Conesus,reducing the visible structurebass anglers love to target, out-side weed edges and pointsthis time of year are hard tobeat for rod-bending action. Jig

and pig presentations workedalong such areas work wellwhen fish are holding tight,while a spinnerbait worksgreat to cover water and triggerthe more aggressive fish intostrikes. Action happensthroughout the day, with hottimes driven by weather andlight levels.

Smallmouth bass onChautauqua start schoolinginto feeding packs aroundcreek mouths across this “lost”finger lake, with small Rat-L-Traps taking top mentionwhen encountering such phe-nomenon. Cassadaga Lakesand Honeoye also show greataction for bass anglers lookingto get into the last open waterfollies of the year.New License Structure com-ing

NYS Sporting licenses willbe restructured startingFebruary 2014, as a newlicense system and seasondates are implemented as partof the Governor’s 2013 execu-tive budget. Season-long fish-ing licenses purchases startingin February will carry a 365-day from date of purchasevalidity, vs. the currentOctober 1 to September 30structure. Expect to start hear-ing more information on thischange starting around thefirst of the year.

Remember, take a kid fishing,and give the gift that lasts a life-time.

Rich Davenport is co-founder ofWeLoveOutdoors.com, anavid Outdoorsman and mem-ber of the NYSOWA. Hisworks are also published in NYOutdoor News, Walleye.comand the Buffalo News. Rich isalso the Recording Secretaryfor the Erie County Federationof Sportsmen’s Clubs,Secretary of the Western NYEnvironmental Federation,member of the Erie CountyFisheries Advisory Board andis the Co-Chairman andRegion 9 Rep NYSCC BigGame Committee.

To contact, emailrich@weloveoutdoors.org.

Photo by John MaloneyRich Davenport (left) and Mike Rinallo show off a coupleimpressive bass caught while fishing Cassadaga Lakes.

DOCTARI’SFISHING FORUM WITHRICHDAVENPORT

By Kevin Bonk

Trail running may be per-ceived as difficult and dan-gerous compared to the flatterrain of your local run-ning route. However, run-ning off the pavement canbe a very rewarding and funexperience. The first time Iwas introduced to trail run-ning was at the 2011Boston, NY Mud Run; fullof mud (obviously), hills,rocks, and a few otherobstacles. Ever since, Imake it a point to enjoy theserenity and challenge of atrail run as often as possi-ble.

While your body will geta great workout using newmuscles to adjust to the ter-rain, the benefits reachbeyond the physical.Replacing speeding cars andcrowded running pathswith chirping birds andtrees provides a relaxingworkout experience to helpyou forget the day’s worries.Trails don’t have to be over-ly challenging or messy tobe considered a trail but, ifpounding the pavementwith your running shoeshas been your normal rou-tine here are a few tips forgetting started on the trail.

Even though there arerisks for injury with anytype of exercise, trail run-ning must be approachedwith a slightly greater levelof caution. If this is yourfirst trail run, test yourskills on flat easy terrain.Many local parks have shorttrails running through the

woods, alter your normalrunning route and givethem a try. If it leaves youwanting more, step it up tomore challenging terrain.However, don’t push it inthe beginning, run slowerthan your normal pace andstart off with one trail run aweek slowly increasing thedistances and frequency ofyour runs. Trail runningputs greater stress on yourleg muscles and ankles sodon’t be afraid to walk someparts either. If hurdling logsand rocks like you’re in anaction film doesn’t meetyour skill level, slow downand walk around anyobstructions on the trail.

Paying attention to a fewkey points will make hittingthe trail manageable andsafer. Adjusting your stridewill help you keep theground beneath your feetand not in your face. Liftyour feet a little higher thanyou normally would on theroad or treadmill. Whentackling a steep hill bringyour stride in about a thirdof the normal distance but,try to keep a rhythm. Avoidlooking straight down atyour feet; keep lookingstraight ahead three or foursteps. This will allow youknow what’s coming andgive you time to react. Don’tforget to take a look aroundonce and a while either,with Fall upon us, natureprovides a colorful tapestryfor your eyes to feast on.Just keep focused on thehard parts of the trail and

slow down to take inMother Nature.

Running off the beatenpath takes patience, focusand a good pair of runningshoes. Buying specializedshoes are not necessarilyrequired, but having a goodsupportive shoe with trac-tion and tread are definitelyrequired. Remember you’llbe running over uneven andsometimes slippery terrain,pick a shoe that’s flexibleand will protect your feet.

Any hiking or nature trailprovides the perfect oppor-tunity to run, if you canwalk it you can run it! Alocal favorite of mine isBond Lake Park in NiagaraCounty. With numerousloops and routes, you canvary your distances and dif-ficulty. With mainly gentleinclines and a few steeperhills and turns it’s a goodplace for beginners. Thelandscape of open fields,orchards, and pine forestsprovide a diverse environ-ment to escape the bustle ofthe city.

Trail running is a uniqueexperience for the runnerlooking to get more out oftheir workout. With addedcare and the right equip-ment your off road experi-ence will be safe andrewarding. So if your look-ing to shake up your normalrunning routine don’t stopat the end of the pavement,keep going you might besurprised were the trail willtake you.

Where the pavement endsand the fun begins

Photo courtesy Niagara County ParksTrail runners of all experience levels will surely enjoy the spectacular view at Bond Lake.

WWW.HUGESPORTZ.COM • SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE • FALL 2013

By Ron Montesano

At the time of the yearwhen leaves turn color,Western New York’s golfcourses come alive withbeauty and savings. Bataviacountry club, located mid-way between Buffalo andRochester on Batavia-Byronroad, will no doubt offerboth pleasures, to thedelight of Niagara frontiergolfers.

When paying a green fee,golfers will easily recognizea brand-new look to theBatavia country club club-house.

“We worked for threemonths last winter to reno-vate the entire lower level,”noted club manager ChrisPompa.

“The restaurant, bar andrest rooms all have anupdated appearance, to pro-vide a better experience toour golfers.” In addition tothe clubhouse improve-ments, a fleet of brand-new Club Cart golf cartsarrived at the course in 2013, enhancing thetrip around Batavia’s 7200-yard course.

Superintendent Nick Pompa, part of theowning family and a lifer at the course, has thefairways, tees and greens in extraordinaryshape. 2013 was kind to the course and Pompatook advantage to ensure the health of grassesthroughout both nines. Appropriate aerationand care ensured that the course played fast,firm and true throughout the entire season.

Batavia gets its golfers off to a memorablestart. Back-to-back par fives offer birdiechances at each of the first two holes. If you’reup for a test, march all the way to the back ofthe 2nd hole, from where you’ll travel 580yards before you reach the green. Batavia’s frontnine has the ability to stretch to 3800 yards, thelongest side in the region. The third hole is abeautiful par three over water. Enjoy the viewbut don’t forget to hit your best shot or you’llcome up short and wet.

Hole four makes a monumental climb, albeita gentle one, up a slope to the shelf where theremainder of the front nine awaits. Four andfive are stout par-four efforts and demandstrong drives to leave manageable approachshots. Six through eight feature a challenging

triangle of 4-3-4, where a golfer will approachthe greens with a mid-iron on most days. Thehome hole on the outward nine scramblesalong a ridge to a green sighted adjacent to theclubhouse.

Each side blends a few holes over flat terrainwith a majority that ascend and descend thehills that define the property. It’s not uncom-mon to watch your ball rise and bench into anelevated fairway or cascade down from an ele-vated tee.

The back nine is played entirely acrossBatavia-Byron Road. Ten and eleven ease thegolfer into the inward half, playing as mid-length, par four holes. The fun begins with themarch up the par-five twelfth. The fairway onthis three-shot hole climbs up to a ledge nearthe 13th hole and 16th tee, the highest pointon the entire property. Thirteen is a brilliant,one-shot hole, slightly uphill to a green dis-guised behind a seeing-eye bunker. Holes 14and 16 share the same, tumble-down tee ball,separated only by fifteen, a par four that againrises upward to the ledge.

Sixteen is the most memorable hole on thecourse, in the eyes of many. A curvy three-shot-ter that bends eternally right before settling ata green ensconced in a hollow, the par five

demands three great strikes for a chance atbirdie. Seventeen and eighteen bring a golferhome to a well-deserved stop at the 19th hole.

For golfers interested in an extra bit of bangfor the buck, Fall rates go into effect onSeptember 23rd. Green fees will drop to $15 on

weekdays, $15 on weekends, for 18 holes ofgolf and one of those new carts.

Tom Moynihan, the teaching professional onstaff, will continue to offer lessons throughoutthe remainder of the season. From the physical(putting, short game, full swing) to the mental(pre-shot routine, course management),Moynihan passes on to his students his expert-ise in all areas of the game of golf.

Batavia country club is a true member’scourse. The club offers leagues four days aweek, with times and levels to offer a place forgolfers of every ability. Junior golfers benefitfrom the chance to attend a week-long juniorclinic and compete in a junior championship atthe end of each season.

If you’re a fan of the fare at the Lodge atBatavia country club, get your fill this Fall. TheLodge will remain open this off-season for par-ties, banquets and weddings alone. Bataviacountry club is currently offering a value-packed membership package for 2014. If youregister and pay now, you’ll play for freethrough the end of the 2013 season, a bonus ofat least two months of golf.

Visit the Batavia country club website athttp://bataviacc.com. Sign up for the club’sweekly newsletter for free and receive a freebucket of range balls when you play your next18 holes. Newsletter subscribers are automati-cally entered into weekly drawings for prizesranging from rounds of golf to a full seasonmembership. There’s nothing to lose and every-thing to gain! For information on parties andbanquets, visit http://thelodgeatbataviacc.com.

Batavia Country Club provides that golf in the country experience

Photo by Ron MontesanoThe bucolic, foothills setting of Batavia Country Club still has its perils.

By Brian J. Mazurek

One would think at theage of 77, it would be timeto sit back and enjoy life.Just sit around and watchthe days drift away.

For trainer/driverCharlie Bacon, that isexactly what he is doingright at Batavia Downs,right behind a sulky, andenjoying life, enjoying thefeeling he gets workingwith the horses. And thedays, well, every one is acherished one.

Bacon, at the age of 77,the oldest trainer/driver inWestern New York, couldbe second in NorthAmerica behind MarkAubin, who is 79, and stillis driving currently atPompano Park.

Bacon, who has beendriving with a pari-mutuallicense since 1978, still hasa small stable of two horsesand that’s more thanenough to keep his hand inharness racing, a sport heloves so much.

“My wife says I’m stu-pid,” Bacon respondedwhen asked about stillbeing involved in harnessracing at the ripe age of 77.“We’ve raised our kids...allturned out prettygood...but I just love thegame and don’t want toleave. I couldn’t stay athome and not be at thetrack and do this anymore.It would drive me crazy notto do this.”

Bacon currently trainsand occasionally drivesSheza Pacific Barb andYankee Elizabeth. Thesetwo are more than enoughto keep him going andenergized, but he added,“Sometimes I let the young

kids take over the driving.Not always, but some-times.”

While never being mis-taken for a driver like JohnCampbell or Tim Tetrick,Bacon never had the luxuryof driving for any powerfulstables or driving full-time.Bacon has won more than700 times in his career andearned over $1.4 million inearnings. But it’s not aboutthe glory, it’s about thesport that he loves somuch. “If I ever had donethis full-time, I wouldn’thave been able to feed ourfamily. It’s always just beena hobby of mine,” he said.

“I started working withhorses in Georgia with mygrandfather back in the1960s,” Bacon said as hereflected on how he wasintroduced to the horses. “Ithen came north and

worked on some farms withhorses. I worked for theRapones, Fred Griffin andWoodrow Henderson. Iremember Woodrow tellingme, ‘Charlie, go get yourlicense to drive.’ And in1978, I got it.”

Bacon said of the firstfew years of driving, “Wedidn’t have the fancy statis-tics and all that. You had tohave your horse ready torace back then. You used tosee horses run as 13 and 14year olds. You don’t see thatmuch anymore. The breed-ing, the track and theequipment is so differentnow than it was back then.You used to train a horse tohis ability...now it’s justspeed because there ismoney to be made. But itwears on a horse more thanit did a few years back.”

And while harness racing

has evolved to what it isnow, Bacon still recalls hisfirst several years on thetrack.

“Dave Vance and JohnSchroeder,” Bacon said withan obvious tone of respectin his voice, “Those tworeally gave me some les-sons. They’d never tell youwhen you did somethingright, but they sure didmake it known when youdid something wrong. KenBall and Fred Haslip I haverespected throughout theyears and still do. Theyhelped me along too.”

Bacon went on to say, “Ireally did love racingagainst Dave Vance. I’llnever forget one time whenI first started out and I wassitting second behindVance’s favored horse in arace. I pulled out and alongside him at the half-mileand he looked at me andsaid, ‘Get back in that holewhere you belong.’ Ofcourse, I dropped back in.When we got back into thepaddock, Vance came up tome and said, When the besthorse in the race is in frontof you and the second besthorse in the race is behindyou, don’t pull out until theend.’ I still keep that lesson

with me.”And now, Bacon sees

young drivers today andnoticed a difference com-pared when he first startedout. “It’s different now.Some guys get their licenseand they think they knoweverything and that isn’tthe case. You gotta keeplearning, read the racingprogram to see what yourhorse can do. It preventsyou from doing somethingstupid. But some guys don’tbother.”

He added in disbelief, “Isaw someone bring sixwhips to drive with. Icouldn’t believe it...youonly need one. Plus youhave to learn how to drivewithout one...there’s noneed for a whip...you gottause your hands and mouth.I can usually tell if a youngguy is going to make it ornot and we’ve got a fewhere (at Buffalo Raceway)who look good and havetheir heads on straight.They are going to make it.”

While the horses gofaster now than in yearspast, Bacon said that does-n’t bother him. “You justhave to deal with it. It’s thename of the game now.

Looking back over his

driving career, which spansover 35 years and 7,100races, Bacon recalled hismost memorable race, andit was one he’d like to for-get.

“Oh, that was a bad nightin the early 1990s atVernon Downs,” Baconsaid. “I’ve been probablyinvolved in 20-25 accidentsover the years, but it wasonce said it was one of theworst in harness racing his-tory. It was actually shownon CNN. I was sitting sec-ond behind Jack Bailey Jr. Ibelieve and we went to thehalf in like 58 seconds.Well, Bailey’s horse brokeand I was sitting second.My horse went down and Iwas pitched so high in theair that three horses wentunderneath me. I ended upwith a broken collarbone,dislocated shoulder andtorn rotator cuff. I remem-ber Tim Lanpher broke hiship in that accident. It wasbad, really bad.”

And over the years, thetrademark of Charlie Baconhas been the toothpick.Whether he’s warming up ahorse, working in the stalls,paddocking or driving in arace, the toothpick is justas noticeable as his red,black and white drivingcolors.

“I’ve always had one inmy mouth,” he said laugh-ing. “I think it started backwhen I was young with apiece of straw. Always haveto have something in mymouth. I even go to sleepwith one in my mouth. Itdoesn’t please my wife Adatoo much either. She’swoken up on more thanone occasion with a tooth-pick jabbing in her.”

Charlie Bacon may havenot been the top trainer ordriver over the years on theWestern New York circuit,but one thing is for certain,he loves what he’s alwaysenjoyed doing and that’ssomething that makes hima winner and young atheart...even at the age of77.

At 77, Charlie Bacon still enjoying harness racing

Photos by Jon CramerCharlie Bacon warming up a horse.

SPECIAL FALL PULLOUT 2013

By Brian J. Mazurek

The 2013 harness rac-ing season at BuffaloRaceway was deemed asuccess as the handle forthe year increased 21 per-cent from 2012, the thirdstraight season it showeddouble-digit increases.

“We were very pleasedthat the harness racingplayers have taken noticeof Buffalo Raceway,” JonCramer, Buffalo Racewaydirector of operations,explained. “The improve-ments we have made overthe years including thenew video system and ourrelationships with oursimulcast sites have beenvery beneficial. Our on-track patrons enjoyed thegrandstand renovationsand we know that a few ofour promotions workedwell and will be back in2014.”

The backstretch renova-tions over the past couple ofyears have included thebuilding of six new barns.The purses for the horse-men increased five percentand averaged over $80,000per night.

Ray Fisher Jr., who was

involved in a serious spillon July 12th, still managedto take the driver’s title with149 victories and over$750,000 in earnings. JohnCummings Jr. was secondwith 145 wins and madejust over $850,000.

In the training race, JDPerrin took the title with 78victories, beating Gerry

Sarama who finished with70.

A total of six trackrecords were either equaledof lowered including the all-age trotting mark that wasset by Crazy About Pat witha 1:56.3 time.

Buffalo Raceway will behosting a HandicappingChallenge each Saturdaybeginning in October assimulcasting takes placeTuesday through Sundays inthe clubhouse area.

The track will be hostinga Breeder’s Cup festivitieson November 1-2, thor-oughbred racing’s biggestweekend of the year.

Also, Buffalo Racewaywill have a new raceannouncer in 2014 as GabePrewitt has moved from theHamburg oval’s booth.Prewitt will now be callingthe action from PompanoPark in Florida.

The racing is expected toresume in early January atBuffalo Raceway, pendingNew York State Racing andWagering Board approval.For more information on thetrack including promotionsand simulcast schedule, go tohttp://buffaloraceway.com.

Buffalo Raceway completes 2013 season on good note

Photo by Jon CramerRay Fisher Jr. won the 2013Buffalo Raceway drivingtitle.

Fall 2013 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Page 9

Kemp,Kelly ruleworld of

Bills’Cards

By Mike DyerIt’s been 56 years since

Jack Kemp launched hisprofessional football career,but the former sensationalquarterback for the Billsstill rules the world of

a r e asports cards. The formerBills captain, one of thegreatest players inAmerican Football Leaguehistory, is pictured on thesix most expensive Buffalocards of all time.

His 1960 Fleer rookiecard is valued at $120 inmint condition but trailshis 1963 Fleer and 1965Topps cards in price.

Kemp, former congress-man and the 1996Republican vice presidentnominee, played in theCanadian Football Leaguebefore he led the Bills totwo AFL championships. Anative of Los Angeles andgraduate of OccidentalCollege, Kemp was the1965 AFL Most ValuablePlayer after directingBuffalo to a 23-0 thrashingof the San Diego Chargersin the league title game.

Other top Bills cardsdepicting O. J. Simpson,Cookie Gilchrist, Jim Kelly,Thurman Thomas, BruceSmith, Paul Maguire andAndre Reed are soughtafter by Buffalo collectors.

Gilchrist, who died in2011 at the age of 75, wasthe first AFL player to everrush for 1,000 yards. Hedid that in 1962 whileaveraging 5.1 yards percarry. He played for theBills from 1962 to 1964.

Cookie’s 1963 Fleerrookie card sells for $30.

There is no reason tointroduce Jim Kelly andThurman Thomas to Billscollectors. A four-time ProBowl selection, Kellypassed the Bills to fourconsecutive Super Bowlappearances. Kelly wasMVP in the United StateFootball League in 1984and his Topps USFL rookiecard sells for $60. Kelly, agraduate of the University

of Miami (Fla.), finishedwith 237 touchdown pass-es for Buffalo and he set anNFL record of 44 comple-tions in one game. No. 12will always be a fanfavorite.

When Kelly wasn’tthrowing, ThurmanThomas was running. TheOklahoma State graduateled the American FootballConference in rushing in1990, 91 and 93. He is theBills all-time leadng rusher

with 11,938 yards. His1989 Score rookie card ispopular at $8.

Controversial O. J.Simpson, hoping to beparoled, is still in demandwith his 1970 Topps rookiecard selling for $80. Thatwas as high as $1,000 dur-ing O.J.’s trial in 1994.

The Bills, who playedgreats like Bill Shaw, JoeDeLamielleure, Joe Cribbsand Ruben Brown, willalways be in demand withcard collectors.

Here are the mostexpensive Bills footballcards:

1963 Fleer Jack Kemp$150

1965 Topps Jack Kemp$150

1960 Fleer Jack Kemp RC$120

1966 Topps Jack Kemp$120

1962 Fleer Jack Kemp$100

1964 Topps Jack Kemp$100

1970 Topps O.J. Simpson$80

1961 Fleer Jack Kemp $80

1984 Topps USFL JimKelly XRC $60

1964 Topps DaryleLamonica RC $60

1963 Fleer CookieGilchrist RC $30

1965 Topps CookieGilchrist $30

1965 Topps Paul Maguire$20

1970 Topps O. J. Simpson$80

1985 Topps USFL JimKelly $20

1960 Fleer Paul MaguireRC $18

1989 Score ThurmanThomas RC $8

1986 Topps Andre ReedRC $8

1986 Topps Bruce SmithRC $8

2013 Topps BaseballIn mid-summer Topps

released its 2013 baseballsecond series of cards. Likethe first series, this 330-card lot is filled with starsand super-stars.

Any series that includesMiguel Cabrera, Albert

Pujols, David Wright,Matt Harvey, David

Ortiz, Mariano Rivera andRobinson Cano has to besaved. There are rookiecards for Jose Fernandezand Hyun-Jin Ryu. Don’tlet this get away from you.Here are the top cards inSeries II:

Albert Pujols (350);Yoenis Cespedes (362);David Wright (400); RoyHalladay (410); DavidPrice (429); Jose Bautista(441); Michael Cuddyer(449); Troy Tulowitzki(453); Paul Goldschmidt(454); Johan Santana(484); Hanley Ramirez(487); Stephen Strasburg(500); Andy Pettitte (508);Carlos Beltran (527); R. A.Dickey (554); Matt Harvey(577); Jose Fernandez RC(588); David Ortiz (595);Mariano Rivera (600);Robinson Cano (612);Miguel Cabrera (660);Hyun-Jin Ryu RC (661). Upcoming Shows

The season saw its firstarea sports card show onSept. 11 at the LeonardVeterans of Foreign WarsPost on Walden Avenue inCheektowaga. The nextshow is Oct. 9. Nov. 24 isthe date of the all-daysports collectors show atthe Hearthstone Center inDepew. More than 100dealers will be buying andselling at the show run byEast Amherst’s RobSchilling.

Mike Dyer, aCheektowaga resident, isretired after spending 47years as a newspaperreporter, author, and editorof “Who’s Who in Baseball.”He staffed sports events inbaseball, football, hockeyand basketball and has votedfor the Baseball Hall ofFame since 1983. Send e-mails tomikedyer59@yahoo.com.

By Robert Plezia

Baseball is anever-changingsport. Here aresome up-to-datetrends you mightnot be aware of.Strikeouts (SO)

We’ve all beenreading aboutthe large numberof strikeouts ingames the sea-son. As of Sept. 2, Yu Darvish(Tex.) has collected 256 SO;Darvish is the leading SOpitcher in the MLB witha SO per inning of 1.35.If the rate of SO this sea-son continues, this yearwill be the ninth straightseason in which MLBhas seen a new recordfor total strikeouts in aseason. This year, in thetotal 3,526 games playedrecently, each game hasan average of 7.5 SO. Ifthis rate continues, therewill be 36,462 SO inMLB in 2013.Hitting

We have also seenbatting average, on basepercent and sluggingpercentage numbersdropping over the lastdecade. In 2000, theaverage MLB line was.270/.345/.437. Theaverage line in 2013 sofar is .253/.317/.398.

Over the last centurythere have been cycles inoffense and pitching, with“dead ball” era, HRs in the‘30s, the offense spurt in the1960s, than lowering of themound, DH, etc. But therehave been no rule changes inthe last 10 years.

One noticeable trend hasbeen the pitchers throwingharder. In 2013, the averagevelocity for all fastballs (fb)thrown by pitchers with atleast 10 innings recorded is91.6 mph. That’s a full twomiles faster than the averagefb in 2002. And the elitestarters will average 95 mphfor up to nine innings. Andthe “flame throwers” whoaverage 97.9 routinely get itup to 106, such as AroldisChapman of the Reds.

Another contributing fac-tor could be MLB is now,more than ever, an interna-tional league with playersfrom all over the world,including Darvish andChapman. Of course, allthese reasons apply to the hit-ters as well. The cycle of thehitters catching up to thepitching speed thereforecould occur and the currenttrends could flatten orreverse.Hitting Coaches

When you look at coachesrosters today, you will findeach team with at least twopitching coaches, one in thebullpen and one in thedugout. The pitching coachand bullpen coach have beenaround for many years.

Over the last 10 years morehitting coaches have madetheir way onto MLB rosters.Today, 13 or 43 percent ofMLB teams have a hittingcoach and an assistant hitting

coach. Whenyou look at theworkload, espe-cially physical, ofthe hitting coachvs. the pitchingcoach, and thenumber of hit-ters/team and thework theyrequire vs. pitch-ers, the hittingcoach job is

much more physicallydemanding.Hitting Coaching

Swinging is instinctive.And if you talk with theChinese and their position oninstinctive martial arts, theysay it takes up to 10,000 repsfor a move to become instinc-tive.

And sportsmen say hittinga baseball is the most difficultfeat in sports.

If that is the case, this fitsin that reps are the basis formost of baseball practices. Ifthat is the case, the use ofmore than one coach wouldinsure better quality andmore reps.

The toughest part in hit-ting is with change of speeds,so a flame thrower has a dis-tinct advantage at any speedat any time.Analytics (Research,Baseball Info, ArchitectSystems, etc.)

Within the last 10 years,many MLB teams have devel-oped “statistical depart-ments” that keep track ofhundreds of pages of individ-ual stats of each MLB andAAA player. Most are offen-sive stats, but there are alsodefense and base runningstats as well. Stats such as atbats, base hits, strikeouts,base on balls, hit by pitch,and other stats for both thepark and the pitcher havebeen kept for many years.

A la “Moneyball,” the useof the stats has changed.While there was a largeemphasis on a players’ on-base percentage, more inter-est is now paid to a player’shits that produce RBIs,hits/outs with RISP (runnersin scoring position; with arunner on third, runner onsecond, runner on secondand third, etc.), RBI from

first, and similar statistics.Newer stats like swinging

at the first pitch, hits on firstpitch; base runner’s time fromfirst to third, times movedfrom first to third, timesmoved first to third/opportu-nities, times scored from sec-ond, times scored from sec-ond/opportunities, etc. arebeing kept.

Stats on these plays meas-ure not only a player’s speedbut also his decision makingprocess; is he risky (too manyput outs) or does he have

great base-running judg-ment.

Fields are now quali-fied for distances offences (a hitter’s park, apitcher’s park), and theplayer’s performance atthose fields. A hitter’sperformance vs. eachpitcher he has faced ateach park; a pitcher’sperformance vs each hit-ter at each park. Pitcher’spitches by hitter, byinning, by outing; howmany times does hethrow a fastball in aninning, a game, and inwhat situation. A curve,a slider, a change,strikes/pitches aninning, game, a player,and others too numer-ous to list here.

As noted in the title ofthis section, there aremany different descrip-

tions for these stat depart-ments. We found 12 MLBteams with employees whohad “analytics” in their title;however we know of an MLBteam with such a deptart-ment but it is not noted inMLB. And there may be MLBteams with different descrip-tions and titles of thesedepartments.

These “stats” can be usedin a number of ways, study-ing pitchers, hitters, fortrades, studying free agents,and many other situations.Baseball Tracking

I was at PNC Park (Pit.)this year and saw a systemwhere a person stands on thetop of the center fieldfence/wall, and uses a devicethat is able to track a ballfrom the pitcher’s hand(release point) to the catcher’sglove. And within seconds, itregisters into a stream ofnumbers, in the stadium,which tells how many inchesthe ball dropped or went upand how far the ball went tothe right or to the left. (Thereis no degrees of movement,but each pitch is chartedwhich shows the slope ofeach pitch.)Video taping

All MLB games are tapedtoday. These tapes can be fur-ther broken down by hitter,pitcher, by fielder making aplay, runners, ump’s calls,ump’s accuracy in callingstrikes, etc. These tapes arestored usually by player andused to study the player;pitchers can review theupcoming lineup, the hitterscan study pitchers motions,teams can look at a player fora specific position to trade forand many other uses.

Trends in baseball

Photo by Jeff BarnesBarry Bonds in his record year2001 had 73 HR, 177 BB, 93 SO, 156 H.

COLLECTINGMEMORIES WITHMIKEDYER

Page 10 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Fall 2013

By Bob Caico

Syracuse, Rochester andBuffalo have a rich history ofboxing going back to the1800s but in recent years, savefor a few brave promoters, thearea has had sporadic cards atbest. Things are looking upfor these areas with Rochesterand Turning Stone Casino,and maybe now Buffalo, againholding regular shows.

Turning Stone Casino con-tinues to provide quality cardsat their Event Center. Theyhave featured eight cards inthe last two years, many ofwhich had world title implica-tions. Turning Stone is locatedin Verona, N.Y., which is a fewmiles east of Syracuse. Theirshow on Aug. 23 was the sea-son-ending Friday NightFights on ESPN 2. Formerheavyweight champion MikeTyson made his promotionaldebut and spent the weekthere entertaining fans. Theevent featured two world titlebouts and four undercardfights. Buffalo’s GuillermoSanchez (13-10-1) fought on48-hours notice and it showedas he was stopped in the fifthround of a scheduled 10.

••••••••A professional boxing card

was promoted by Pretty GirlPromotions on Aug. 8 inRochester. But for a slightdrizzle of rain at FrontierField it was a beautiful andexciting night of boxing.

Hector Camacho, Jr. foughtin the main event and escapedwith an eight-round unani-mous decision over LeeMurtagh. With the win,Hector, Jr. improved to 56-5-1while Murtagh returns toIreland at 33-15-1 after scoresof 77-71, 77-71 and 76-73.

The eight-round semi-finalon paper looked like a mis-match with Ryon McKenzie ofCanastota by way of theBahamas sporting a 14-0record against Hamid Abdul-Mateen’s record of 3-4-2. Themismatch turned into a chessmatch with McKenzie gettingthe slight edge of the firstthree rounds. Abdul-Mateen

kept it close though andopened a cut over McKenzie’sright eye in the sixth. Thechess match continued in thelast two rounds but the earlylead was the difference asMcKenzie remained unbeatenby taking a majority decision.Scores were 78-74-78-74 and76-76.

The remaining four boutswere scheduled for fourrounds each with three ofthem ending oh so quick.First lightweight AlbertoMachado of Rio Pieta, PuertoRico, improved to 4-0 with histhird KO at 1:03 of round one.A terrific body shot putAndrew Moreno (0-3) ofIndiana down for the count.Machado is trained by TeamDeLeon and promoted byMiguel Cotto.

The next bout lasted 19seconds longer as cruiser-weight Greg Brady of Buffaloimproved to 3-1 with his thirdKO over Martez Williamson(1-3) of Alliance, Ohio. Aright to the top of the headdropped Williamson and thefight was over at 1:22.

Not to be outdone, light-weight Lavisas Williams ofRochester blitzed RoelMoreno of McAllen, Texaswith rights and lefts to thehead and body from the open-ing bell. A final right to thejaw dropped Moreno for acount of eight but was unableto continue. Time was 46 sec-onds of the first. Williamsimproves to 2-0-1 whileMoreno slides to 0-2.

Brandon Williams ofRochester took a unanimousdecision over Luis Esquillin ofPhiladelphia in a slow four-rounder. The best round ofthe fight was the second whenWilliams (2-0) unloaded withlefts to the body that slowedEsquillin (2-5-1). Williamspecked away with his jab toshut out his opponent byidentical 40-36 scores.

••••••••Rochester’s Mercedes

Vazquez-Simmons, presidentof Pretty Girl Promotions,plans her first card in down-town Buffalo on Oct. 4 at theBuffalo-Niagara ConventionCenter. Mercedes is the firstLatina woman to be a full timepromoter and is presentingher fourth card (first three inRochester) in a little over oneyear. Buffalo fighters JordanGaines (2-0), EmmanuelColon (3-0), Michael Jackson(debut) and Eric Pulmeri(debut) are scheduled to fightin the preliminaries.Rochester fighters JamellTyson and Brandon Williamswill also appear in separatebouts. Ten fights are sched-uled in all. The boxer worththe price of admission will becruiserweight Greg Brady ofBuffalo. Brady lost a majoritydecision in his first pro boutin 2011 but has now won fourstraight bouts in 2013 all byknockout. Brady (4-1) istrained by recent BuffaloBoxing Hall of Fame inducteeRoss “The Boss” Thompson.

Is professional boxing making a local comeback?

Photo by Bob CaicoPromoter Mercedes Vasquez-Simmons in Rochester after herboxing show in Rochester last month.

By Mike Fox

The NFL haskicked off the 2013season, and the pres-ence of EJ Manuelhas given Bills fanshope that the longplayoff drought mayfinally be over. Thefollowing questionsremind us of some ofthe more prominentplayers ever to wear ahelmet sporting abuffalo.

1. Nate Clementsleads all Bills defen-sive backs with 12career forced fum-bles. Who ranks sec-ond among team DBswith 10?

a. Henry Jonesb. Jairus Byrdc. Nate Odomesd. George Wilson2. Who is the only

player ever to leadthe Bills in bothrushing yards andreceiving yards in thesame season?

a. Terry Millerb. Ronnie Harmonc. Joe Cribbsd. Thurman Thomas3. Who is the only player

in team history with twopunt return TDs in one sea-son?

a. Keith Moodyb. Nate Clementsc. Roscoe Parrishd. Leodis McKelvin4. Who is the only Bills

kicker ever to attempt 46field goals in a single sea-son?

a. Pete Gogolakb. Scott Norwoodc. Steve Christied. Rian Lindell5. Only two Bills have ever

been named to eight consec-utive Pro Bowls; Billy Shawand who?

a. Tom Sestakb. Steve Taskerc. Bruce Smithd. Ruben Brown6. Stevie Johnson has put

together three consecutive1,000-yard receiving sea-sons. Who is the only otherBill ever to have three con-

secutive 1,000-yardreceiving seasons?

a. Andre Reedb. Eric Moulds c. Lee Evansd. No other Bill has

done it.7. Only six Bills

have caught at least10 touchdown passesin a season. Who isthe only Bill ever tocatch 11 in a season?

a. Andre Reedb. Bobby Chandlerc. Billy Brooksd. Elbert Dubenion8. C.J. Spiller

rushed for 1,244yards in 2012. Whowas the last Billbefore Spiller to reachthe 1,200-yard markin a season?

a. Fred Jacksonb. Willis McGaheec. Marshawn Lynchd. Antowain Smith9. Which of these

Bills never rushed for12 or more touch-

downs in a season?a. Thurman Thomasb. Travis Henryc. Robb Riddickd. Cookie Gilchrist10. In 1991, Jim Kelly set

the team record for mostpassing touchdowns in aseason. How many did hethrow that year?

a. 41b. 40c. 38d. 33

Buffalo Bills trivia

Photo by Mike MajewskiUnderrated wide receiver Stevie Johnsonkeeps churning out 1000-yard seasons forthe Bills.

Answers1.b 2.c-1983 3.d 4.a 5.d6.d 7.c 8.b 9.a 10.d

By Bob CaicoTony Campbell has opened

a boxing gym called BigBrother Boxing at 921Sycamore Street on Buffalo’seast side. Training the boxersthere are Ross “The Boss”Thompson and FrankMcLaurin. Not only do theyoffer excellent coaching butthe quality of fighters theremay be second to none. OnJuly 20, Thompson took histeam to Tennessee to partici-pant at the Bobby HughesInvitational. Mike Stevenswon three bouts and tookhome the championship beltat 152 pounds forThompson’s first nationalchampion since he turned tocoaching after his stellar ama-teur and professional career.Next they took a team of fourto the Paul Murphy NationalInvitational in Atlanta at theend of August. Super-heavy-weight Alex Dedovets, 162-pound Donnie Marshall andMike Stevens added morechampionship belts for thegym as each took first placelaurels. Jack Grady was run-ner-up in the tournamentgoing 2-1 at 141 pounds. Alsotraining at Big Brother areprofessional fighters MeacherMajor, Michael Jackson andGreg “Juice” Brady. The gymis open from 4 to 8 Mondaythrough Friday.

•••••••• The Westside Boxing Club’s

on West Ferry Street. inBuffalo will host an amateurshow on Oct. 5 at theMatthew Glab Post on AbbottRoad. The Westside clubboasts some of the toughestboxers around and thisshould be an excellent show.The following week AdalbertoDiaz-Padilla and his fatherRick Diaz will travel to LasVegas to work the corner ofRochester’s Kenny Abril (14-6-1) who has been training attheir gym. Abril will take onundefeated Brad Solomon(20-0) on the under card ofthe Tim Bradley-Juan ManuelMarquez fight. Also on thatcard will be Orlando Cruz,who is trained by JuanDeLeon, as he takes onOrlando Salido for the vacantWBO featherweight title.

••••••••On Sept. 28 there will be a

great amateur show for thoseinterested in the fight game.Victory MMA will host a cardat the Sportsplex at 90 RidgeSt. in North Tonawanda with10 amateur boxing bouts fol-lowed by 10 amateur MMAbouts in the cage. Fans ofboth combat sports will begetting a real treat.

•••••••• The annual Rochester St.

Martin Boxing Club spon-

sored Puerto Rican Festivalamateur boxing show washeld Aug. 11. Competitionalso included clubs formRochester’s ROC Boxing,Brampton, Ontario, SyracuseWestside, Buffalo PAL andnew clubs from Albion andSpencerport.

Paris Davis (RSM) rsc-2Joe Sylvestro (ROC)

Quenton McKnight (RSM) rtm Abdoar Abbi (RSM)

Francisco Vargas (Syracuse) dec Alex Colon (Albion)

Steve Massaro (Syracuse) decTyler Cipolane (Spencerport)

Kamron Overton (RSM) dec DelshawnGreer (RSM)

Lamar Allen (Buffalo PAL) decPerjst Dhaliwall (Brampton)

Justin Hopkins (Buffalo PAL) decGregory O’Neill (RSM)

Tracy McGruder (RSM)decJosh Ramos (Syracuse)

Niasheen Williams (RSM) decNaural Sran (Brampton)

Michael Reeves (RSM) rsc-1Harmon Sran (Brampton)

Local boxing

Fall 2013 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Page 11

By Ivan the Impaler

He’s been known as RyanReeves and SkipSheffield. He’s been bothcheered and hated by fans.And he’s been known for hishuge appetite — both literal-ly and figuratively.

There is nothing subtleabout Ryback. The WWESuperstar isn’t a high-flyer orscientific wrestler. He simplyused his 290 pounds of purepower to thrash his way tothe upper tier of the WWEfood chain. He radiates anintimidating presence, strik-ing fear into other wrestlers.If a hapless backstageemployee or caterer shouldbe in his way, they’ll pay theprice for being in the wrongplace at the wrong time.

Ryback will be part ofthe WWE Battleground Pay-Per-View in Buffalo onOctober 6th at First NiagaraCenter. His opponent wasn’tcertain at the time we wentto press, but all indicationspoint to a showdown betweenhe and C.M. Punk.

Last year, Ryback got hisfirst shot at the WWE Titlewhen he faced Punk, thedefending champ, in a Hell ina Cell match.However, Ryback lost due to aconspiracy between Punk’sthen-manager, Paul Heyman,and rouge refereeBrad Maddox.

Punk and Heyman havesince had an ugly split afterHeyman turned his back onhis protégé. At the September15th Night of ChampionsPPV, Punk won the right toget Heyman in the ring. As

Punk was pummeling his for-mer manager, Ryback cameout to put Punk through atable, help Heyman win andthen carry Paul to safety. Is itsafe to say that Ryback is nowa “Paul Heyman Guy?”

“I wouldn’t say that justyet” declares Ryback. “Ihaven’t forgotten thatHeyman conspired againstme in the Hell in a Cell matchlast year and cost me thetitle…What I saw (onSeptember 16th) was C.M.Punk bullying around PaulHeyman, who’s not a wrestler.I didn’t like that and decidedto take matters into my own

hands.” (Ryback would latersay on Raw that he wouldnever let C.M. Punk “bully”Paul Heyman again.)

When it was suggested thatRyback has been guilty of bul-lying people himself, he firm-ly denies the charge. “I’m notat all being a bully. What I dogive people is an opportunity.I give them the opportunity toshow courage; to stand up forwhat’s right in the AmericanTradition — the chance toshow the courage to be aMan.”

“As for October 6th inBuffalo, I have a feeling thatC.M. Punk isn’t too happy

with what happened. (We’llsoon) find out if he wants toget in the ring with TheHuman Wrecking Ball…Ihave no problem with shell-shocking Punk for costing methe WWE Title.”

Ryback, under his previousring name of Skip Sheffield,was part of one of the mostmemorable nights on WWERaw. In 2010, he and sixother rookies known as theNexus tossed around JohnCena while destroying thering and much of the set.“That’s a night I’ll never for-get,” recalls Ryback. “Wehad one opportunity to makean impact; had we not, youprobably wouldn’t have seenmany of us around muchlonger. We were talented guyscoming up through the devel-opment system; we’re all stillhere with the exception ofMichael Tarver. That nightwas very special.” He didn’trule out Nexus reformingdown the road, but stressedthat for now, they’re all happydoing their own thing.

Growing up in Nevada asRyan Reeves, Ryback playedhigh school football and base-ball; he also played the latterin junior college. His uncle isformer pitcher Randy St.Claire, who played nine sea-sons in the majors betweenthe Expos, Twins, Reds,Braves and Blue Jays. (Randyhas been a major leaguepitching coach and currentlyworks with the Mets’ AAAaffiliate in Las Vegas.) Ryback

played third base, shortstopand first base, noting he was agood power hitter who battedin the .350/.380 range. Hedidn’t wrestle in high schoolbecause baseball andwrestling overlapped, butoften trained with thewrestlers for physical condi-tioning. “Looking back,” hesays, “I wish I wrestled. I don’tregret anything I’ve ever done,but it would’ve been nice tohave that background.”

In the Tough Enough com-petition where he first caughtthe eye of WWE, trainer AlSnow marveled that Rybackwas always eating. ALWAYS.Ryback’s response: “Hey, theBig Guy loves to eat — yougotta eat to stay big…I’m inthe gym three hours a day; Ido a lot of conditioning. If Iate like a regular person, I’donly be about 250 pounds.”Ryback would beg WWE to“feed me more” opponents;perhaps he also meant powerbars.

He started watchingwrestling when he was fiveyears old. When he was 13,he won a contest to be a guestbell ringer at a WWE show inVegas. “I met all the guys.From that point on, I knew Iwanted to wrestle. I didn’tknow how it would work out,but I wanted to try because Ithought it was the coolestthing in the world. And as itturns out, it is.”

Ryback’s immediate goal, ofcourse, is to be the WWEUndisputed Champion and

the World HeavyweightChampion.” I feel like I’mgoing to be one of the main-stays in WWE for the next tenyears” he says. “I love thislifestyle; there’s nothing betterin the world…Ryback ischampionship material andwill be in main events formany years to come.”

And if he isn’t in the mainevent? He’ll be somewherebackstage, beating the snotout of anyone who refuses hisgenerous offer to show“Courage.”

UPCOMING LOCALEVENTS

Sat. Sept. 21- UFC 165(PPV) - Air Canada Centre -Toronto, ONT, Canada - 6p.m.

Sat. Sept. 21- Upstate ProWrestling (UPW) - Eagle’sClub, 1200 Buffalo Rd. -Gates, NY - 6 p.m.

Sat. Sept. 28- Empire StateWrestling (ESW) -St. Johnsburg Fire Hall, 7165Ward Rd. - North Tonawanda,NY- 6:30 p.m.

Sun. Oct. 6 - WWEBattleground PPV - FirstNiagara Center - Buffalo, NY -7:30 p.m. - Head downtownand Follow the Buzzards!

Sat. Oct. 12 - NeoWrestling Federation - 4536Portage Rd. - Niagara Falls,ONT, Canada- 7:30 p.m.

Sat. Oct. 26 - UPW -Braun’s Bar & Grill, 11891Main St., Akron, NY - 5 p.m.

Sat. Nov. 30 - ESW -Keenan Center Arena -Lockport, NY - 7 p.m.

WWE Battleground PPV: Ryback will bring his Appetite for Destruction

Photo courtesy WWERyback intends to make a statement at WWE’s BattlegroundPPV.

Page 12 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Fall 2013

By Dave Ricci

Be honest, when the cal-endar turned to Septemberwe all muttered some ver-sion of the phrase “wow!Where did the summergo?”

While it’s hard to bidfarewell to summer, fans ofthe Western New York highschool sports scene haveplenty to look forward to inthe coming months as foot-ball, soccer, volleyball, fieldhockey, tennis, golf, swim-ming and cross country areall underway. From theendless potential ofCanisius’ football team toTonawanda High School’sribbon cutting of the NewClinton H. Small Stadiumthere isn’t shortage of greatstories and great athletes.Some steal headlines everyweek, while some areunsung heroes and otherare up-and-coming youth.Here’s a peak at some of thekids who should be makingnews this fall.Qadree Ollison, football,Canisius

The 2012 Buffalo NewsCo-Player of the Year,Ollison is as good as it getsin WNY. Maybe even all ofNew York State. An amazingtalent.Nigel Davis, football,St.Joe’s

The Marauders are pin-ning their hopes on Davisand the speedy runningback is up to the challenge.Can’t miss All-WNY firstteamer.The Wheatley’s, football,Canisius

Brothers TJ and TeriusWheatley make an alreadygreat Crusaders team thatmuch better.Nick Valone, football, St.Mary’s

Monsignor MartinAthletic Association firstteamer and the league’sSpecial Team’s Player of theYear. As clutch as theycome.Brad Zaffram, football,Canisius

All-WNY first teamerwho played wide receiver,linebacker and strong safetylast season for Sweet Home.Another weapon on analready solid team.Chris Woodard, football,North Tonawanda

Several times last yearJacks coach Tony Truilizioreferred to his single callerthe real deal. Now, as a jun-ior, Woodard is living up toexpectations as a leader andwith the stats he puts up.Woodard can lead NT backto gridiron glory.Brian Stoldt, football,Alden

QB for the three-timedefending Section VI ClassB champion Bulldogs. Stoldtwas a NYS third team selec-tion last year.Kalyn Compeau, soccer,Tonawanda High School

The 2012 soccer Player ofthe Year for Metro Sourceand Tonawanda News.Compeau has incredibleskill. First Lady Warrior toscore a goal at Tonawanda’sNew Clinton H.Small

Stadium.Carissima Cutrona, soccer,Williamsville South

Few players have createdas much of a buzz in theWNY soccer community asCutrona has. Very giftedand it would be hard to findanybody who would have anegative word to say abouther. Simply amazing.Remmington Zaepfel, soc-cer, Sacred Heart

The Sharks lost 10 sen-iors but Zaepfel is one of thebest in WNY and will keepSacred Heart a contenderfor the MMAA playoffcrown. Scored the first evergoal at Tonawanda’s newSmall Stadium on Aug.30.Lauren Lepovich, soccer,Kenmore West

Metro Source 2012Rookie of the Year, Lepovichis skilled and a great on fieldleader. As upbeat and lik-able a kid you will evermeet, but an absolute buzz-saw on the field. You don’twant to get in her way. Backafter suffering scary injuryduring the indoor seasonthat almost cost her thesight in her right eye.Jillian Zamorski, soccer,Nichols

Came to the Big Green byway of Holy Angels. Wassupposed to be cornerstoneof the rebuilding Angelsprogram, but finds herselfstarting over as newestmember of one of the eliteprograms in New York.Hard work and good atti-tude have helped Zamorskiwin over her new soccerfamily.Erin McCormick, soccer,Mt. St. Mary

No student was morevocal or more passionatewhen it came to leading thefight to save Holy Angels.McCormick will bring thattough, never say die attitudeto her new school as theThunder’s starting goalie.Gretta Dry, soccer,Lockport

One of the gems of theLady Lions basketball pro-gram, Dry is no slouch on

the pitch either. Had twomulti-goal games in firstweek of season.Bryan Daigler, soccer,Sweet Home

Scoring machine and asolid all-around player for avery strong Sweet Homeclub.Abby Borkowski, volley-ball, Kenmore West

Coach Kelly Strong saidBorkowski was thestrongest eighth grader shehas ever had. High praiseconsidering Strong hascoached two all-time Westgreats Kaley Vasquez(Daemen) and Sarah Pray(Geneseo) as eighthgraders. Borkowski hasgreat all-around skill. Afuture captain for sure.Leanna Metzger and GabbyHansen, volleyball, NorthTonawanda

The Lady Jacks 1-2punch at outside hitter.Both in year three of varsity,Hansen and Metzger aretwo big reasons why theJacks are ready for a run atthe Niagara Frontier Leaguetitle.Kelsey Yeates, volleyball,Niagara Wheatfield

Great all-around playerand heart and soul ofFalcons team that is thefavorite to win the NiagaraFrontier League title.Kailee Ballou, volleyball,Eden

Another solid all-aroundplayer in this elite program.Carolyn Hopkins, crosscountry, WilliamsvilleSouth

Won three races in thegirls division of the JFKCross Country Invitationalin September. Only the startof what should be great sea-son.MacKenzie Hadaway, fieldhockey, Kenmore

A key member of thisjoint team of Kenmore Eastand Kenmore West,Hadaway was a rock in netas she helped the Devil-Dogs win the Barb FieldTournament.

Sports & Leisure’s 2013 All-Fall Team

Photo by Dave RicciKayln Compeau, last year’s soccer player of the year, posingat the brand new Clinton H. Small Stadium.

By Adam McGillThe 2013 collegiate soc-

cer season is underway andsome young stars arealready starting to standout. To help distinguish thefaces in the crowd, here aresome of the shining soccerstars to look for in WesternNew York this fall.D Alex De Carolis,Canisius College

Surprisingly, the sopho-more defender has been oneof the team’s best offensiveweapons. De Carolis scoredtwo goals and added oneassist in the first threegames of the season. DeCarolis was also named tothe Preseason All-MAACTeam and was one of onlytwo underclassmen on thesquad.F Breanna Catipovic,Niagara University

Catipovic (Kenmore,N.Y.) has a knack for find-ing the back of the net. Thecriminology major scoredon a corner kick in a gameearlier this month againstBinghamton after a beauti-fully placed ball from KoriThorne (Penfield, N.Y.). Itwas Catipovic’s third goal ofthe season and certainlywon’t be her last.M Russell Cicerone,University at Buffalo

Cicerone transitioned hisstrong club soccer resume

into a starting spot with theBulls and he hasn’t disap-pointed since earning thepromotion. The left mid-fielder scored three goals inthe first three games of theseason and has beenBuffalo’s best offensiveweapon. He will continue toshow up in the box scoregame after game.M C.J. Scirto, Buffalo StateCollege

Scirto (Lockport, N.Y.) isthe best offensive weaponon Buffalo State and is look-ing to build on his breakout2012 campaign. The seniorleads the team in shotsgame after game and is notafraid to fire one at the net.Scirto will likely lead theteam in points when it is allsaid and done, so make sureto keep an eye on this veter-an midfielder.F Briana Smith, CanisiusCollege

Smith (Buffalo, N.Y.)scored five goals in her firstseven caps of the season andis leading the team in nearlyevery offensive category.The senior has amazingtouch and can finish any-where inside the box.Expect big things from theforward in her final seasonon Main Street.M/F Watson Nicholas,Niagara University

Watson scored two goals

through his first threegames with the team,including a game-winner.The freshman has alsoadded three assists.Nicholas will be a fixture ofthe team’s offense for yearsto come.G Ainsley Wheldon,University at Buffalo

Wheldon’s final season inBuffalo will be one toremember. The senior wasalready named MACConference DefensivePlayer of the Week in thebeginning of Septemberafter going 2-0 with oneshutout and a sensationalone-goal effort. She has keptBuffalo in every game thisseason and will always giveher team a chance when sheis between the pipes.M Shannon Yokopovich,Buffalo State College

Yokopovich (Webster,N.Y.) scored six goals lastseason and was named tothe 2012 All-SUNYACSecond Team. The seniorscored in her very first gamein 2013 and is primed tohave another big season forthe Bengals. Yokopovich isone of the leaders of thisteam and the senior is readyto end her Buffalo State soc-cer career with a bang.

Local collegiate soccer shining stars

Photo by Paul Hokanson/UB AthleticsGoaltender Ainsley Wheldon is one of the best between the pipes in Buffalo.

Fall 2013 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Page 13

By Joe Kirchmyer

I guess we can now goahead and call 2013—the first year of Buffalo’saffiliation with theToronto Blue Jays—asuccess. For starters, theteam finished four gamesabove .500 with a 74-70record, good for thirdplace in theInternational LeagueNorth.

Additionally, the teamcontended for a playoffspot right down to thewire before finishing 6.5games back of divisionleading Pawtucket. Sucha run was a rare occur-rence during the team’sprevious relationshipwith the New York Mets.

Fans also had anopportunity to see somehigh-profile players inaction, including severalwho spent time inBuffalo while on injuryrehab assignments.Excitement surrounded thearrival of players such asChien-Ming Wang, J.A.Happ, Ricky Romero, JoseReyes, Josh Johnson andMelky Cabrera.

Couple that with anincrease in attendance ofapproximately 800 fans pergame and a jump in relatedrevenues, and it was no sur-prise when the Bisons andBlue Jays announced a two-year affiliation extension onAug. 29 that lengthens theplayer development contract

through the 2016 season.“We’ve seen a tremendous

response from fans, bothlongtime followers and newsupporters, since affiliatingwith the Blue Jays,” BobRich, owner of the BuffaloBisons, said. “We’ve found agreat teammate in the BlueJays and every element ofour business is better withthe strong commitment ofour major league partner.”

“We believe in the TorontoBlue Jays and the directiontheir organization is going,”Rich continued. “The future

is bright for the Blue Jaysand we want to be a partof what is sure to beexciting seasons to comein Toronto and Buffalo.”

Bisons vice presidentand general managerMike Buczkowski wasalso happy to address thefuture of the team on thefield shortly after theconclusion of the 2013season. He believes nextyear’s squad will be deepin quality pitching.

“I think most of theprospects we’ll see nextyear will be pitchersbased on what we sawhere and in Double-Athis year,” Buczkowskisaid. “Sean Nolin is oneguy that we had up hereat the end of the yearthat we expect to see onour roster next year.Marcus Stroman was aDouble-A starter all year,and we could even see

Kyle Drabek and DrewHutchison back as both arestill coming back fromTommy John surgery. DeckMcGuire pitched in Double-A New Hampshire this yearand had a bad first half butpitched much better in thesecond half. And as forrelievers, John Stilsonpitched here and did verywell for us.”

Addressing the “everydayguys,” Buczkowski said it’spossible we might see RyanGoins back at shortstop forthe Bisons to start the year as

he’s yet to play a full seasonof Triple-A ball. He alsohopes to see prospect catch-er A.J. Jimenez in Bisons gearto begin the season followinghis brief end-of-season stopin Buffalo in 2013.

“Kevin Pillar is an out-fielder who came up fromDouble-A and hit over .300for us, and then there’s out-fielder Brad Glenn whoplayed up here the last cou-ple of weeks of the seasonand hit some home runs,”Buczkowski added. “Thewild cards are (outfielders)Anthony Gose and MoisesSierra. They’ve both hadtheir ups and downs andcould both wind up inToronto or back here inBuffalo next season.”

••••••••Player transactions can at

times be fast and furious, butBuczkowski found himselfwheeling and dealing the

evening of Aug. 22 just priorto the Bisons home gameagainst the Lehigh ValleyIronPigs. Buczkowski’sevening began with theacquisition of Eric Church,who was then immediatelytraded for the rights to MattHarvey. Harvey was thenshipped off for none otherthan “The Polish Rifle” him-self, Ron Jaworski.

Confused? Not if you real-ize that Aug. 22 was MysteryBall Night at Coca-ColaField, where fans had anopportunity to purchaseautographed baseballs at $20a pop, with proceeds fromthe event going to charity.Hundreds of balls were avail-able, and gone about 20 min-utes after the gates opened at6 p.m.

Buczkowski was spottedamong those purchasing oneof the wrapped balls, whichare signed by a wide variety

of individuals from baseballplayers and other athletes toactors, musicians, entertain-ers and more.

Buczkowski’s ball carriedthe autograph of singer-songwriter Eric Church,which he traded to a countrymusic fan for a ball auto-graphed by New York Metsphenom pitcher MattHarvey. Harvey was thenexchanged for the footballgreat from nearbyLackawanna.

As for me, I ended up withbaseballs autographed by J.P.Arencibia and Chien-MingWang at the end of my firstMystery Ball Night experi-ence. There was one tradeinvolving a prospect thathelped me acquire Wang.

I look forward to seeingeveryone on Thursday, April3, for Opening Day 2014!

Unwrapping a mystery: Who will we see in Buffalo on Opening Day 2014?

Photo courtesy Buffalo BisonsWill Kevin Pillar spend the entireseason in Buffalo next year or getthe call up to Toronto?

By Mike Fox

As the 2013 baseballmarathon draws to a close,it’s time to give recognitionto some of the notewor-thy—and not so notewor-thy—accomplishments sea-son, each of which hadconsiderable bearing on theoutcome of fantasy leaguesacross the land.Fantasy Batting MVP

This was expected to be athree-man race betweenRyan Braun, MiguelCabrera and Mike Trout.Braun, of course, cheatedhis way out of the race, butthe other two heavyweightsdid not disappoint, andChris Davis is deserving ofconsideration here as well.

In 2012, Cabrera was thefirst Triple Crown winnerin 45 years last season, andactually improved his statsin all three categories in2013. Were it not for Davis’sremarkable home run pace,Miggy would be cruising tohis second consecutivecrown.

At first glance, it wouldappear that Trout digressedfrom his record-settingrookie season, with reduc-tions in homers, stolenbases and runs scored. Acloser look reveals that heshowed improvement inbatting average, sluggingpercentage and on-base per-centage, so those otherdeclines were probablymore attributable to a gen-eral decline of the Angelsoffense than to a sophomoreslump. Much like last yearat this time, the 22-year-oldTrout is still the jewel of anykeeper-format fantasyleague.

It could be argued thatDavis was actually the mostvaluable fantasy player of2013. Sure, Miggy and Troutwere amazing, but the entirefantasy world saw it com-ing, so their price tags weresky-high. Davis was stillavailable in the middlerounds of most fantasy

drafts, and when a mid-round pick comes anywherenear the 50-homer plateau,success is sure to follow.Best Batting Bargain

Davis deserves recogni-tion again here, but whenjudging the best bang foryour fantasy dollar, it’s hardnot to zero in on St. Louis’sMatt Carpenter. He waslikely nothing more than aroster filler pick (if he waseven drafted in yourleague), yet sported a .300batting average almost allseason, and will lead themajors in runs scored in2013. The fact that he car-ried roster eligibility at fourpositions in some formatsenhanced his value evenfurther.

Alfonso Soriano had a 30-100 season in 2012, butnobody expected him to doit again this year at age 37.He did. Even more remark-ably, of the top 30 home runhitters of 2013, only CarlosGonzalez stole more basesthan Soriano.Worst Batting Bargain

If we don’t count lying,cheating, suspended play-ers, this award has to go toL.A.’s Matt Kemp. After

falling one homer short of a40-40 season in 2011,Kemp has produced a com-bined 28 homers and 18stolen bases over the pasttwo injury-marred seasons.Pitching MVP

Perennial favorites JustinVerlander and FelixHernandez faltered, butClayton Kershaw just keepsgetting better. The 25-year-old Kershaw turned in themost dominant season ofhis already impressivecareer, with an ERA under2, and his customary K-per-inning pace.

Kershaw will win the NLCy Young Award for thesecond time in three years,and the AL Cy should go toMax Scherzer, the new aceof the Tigers. His ERA was afull run higher thanKershaw’s but he rankedhighly on the leader boardin WHIP and strikeouts,and nobody will come closeto his win total in 2013.Best Pitching Bargain

Rookie right hander JoseFernandez went undraftedin most fantasy leagues, yetproceeded to post a 2.19ERA and strikeout 187 bat-ters before the Marlins shuthim down in mid-September. Even moreimpressively, he managed12 wins while pitching forthe worst major-league teamnot based in Houston.Worst Pitching Bargain

Verlander and Matt Cainwere among the morenotable underachievers thisyear, but the hardest fallfrom grace had to be that ofCC Sabathia. The supposedYankees ace was off mostdraft boards by the fifthround, but he’ll finish theseason with by far the worstERA of his 13-year career,along with the expectedcorresponding bloatedWHIP. In 5x5 roto leagues,fantasy owners would havestatistically been far betteroff benching CC all yearand taking a zero.

Fantasy baseball

Photo courtesy MLB PressboxFantasy owners wish theyhad not said “si si” when CCSabathia’s name came up.

Page 14 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Summer 2013

Fall 2013 SPORTS & LEISURE MAGAZINE Page 15