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Brad Gagnon

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  • We're slowly but surely lugging the archives over from the old blog. So if you randomly see a post from last year at the top of the homepage, we simply screwed up. It happens a lot.

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Goal-Line Stand » All Tags » Toronto (RSS)

  • An overlooked angle of the Bills Toronto Series

    All this talk about the fans, but as the Dolphins-Bills game in Toronto looms just 18 days from now, what about the people who rely upon the Bills playing eight regular-season home games in order to maintain a livelihood? I spoke to a few scalpers Monday in Orchard Park. Instead of making the trip to Toronto, most of them are going to head to Pittsburgh on Dec. 7 to work the Cowboys-Steelers game, meaning they’ll have to pay for gas and hotel rooms. They said the Miami home game is usually one of...

  • Talking Bills Toronto Series from the trenches

    With all the bitter feelings, jealousy, and frustration plaguing the Buffalo Bills’ eight-game relationship with the city of Toronto, the focus has been on the fans, and rightly so. If it weren’t for them, franchise relocation wouldn’t be so gruelling. Owners wouldn’t have to move teams, with little warning, in the dead of night . Fans on all sides of the coin (pro-Toronto Bills, pro-Buffalo Bills, pro-CFL) have vented loudly as rumours swirl that this eight-game series is a potential precursor to...

  • Bills Toronto Series preparations underway

    Driving in to work today, I noticed Bills Toronto Series ads hanging from street posts. We're 25 days away from the first regular-season NFL game ever played in Toronto. Coincidentally, I received a press release today from the Bills with the schedule of events slated for Dec. 7. Game time is 4:05 p.m. ET, but, in spite of preseason dread at the thought of having a team that went 1-15 last year taking on the Bills in the season's final month, we could have a game with some importance on our...

  • Time for Rogers to send a message

    In case you missed it, NBC’s Peter King reported on “Football Night in America” that former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly is putting a group together to buy the Bills from Ralph Wilson . Wilson, who’s kicking it at 90 years of age, has established quite the business relationship with Rogers Communications, which has the Bills playing eight games over a five-year span in the city of Toronto. Speculation is that Rogers has interest in purchasing the team upon Wilson’s death. We’ll give this to...

  • 5 Question Preview: Buffalo Bills

    1. How will they survive without left tackle Jason Peters? They won’t. The Bills need Peters, who may very well be the best football player on the team, back in the lineup ASAP. Gigantic right tackle Langston Walker has done a nice job while the Pro Bowler Peters has been holding out for a new contract, but his mobility is limited and the Bills definitely don’t want to use Kirk Chambers as anything more than a spot starter. “It’s business, part of the game,” big-money guard Derrick Dockery told me...

  • Bills in Toronto Quick Hits

    Call it Friday morning quarterback. Here’s what people are saying one day after the “big” game: • ESPN’s Tim Graham was in the house, and filed more than one rather negative story about the game and the atmosphere. Take your pick: “Bills hope Toronto is dome sweet dome” “The Buffalo Bills rode three hours on buses and had to stay overnight in a hotel for their home game. And they were in another country, no less. “But that's what the Bills sacrificed when they accepted $78 million to move eight...

  • Wanna see Toronto’s football passion? Tune in Dec. 7

    Was it possible to live up to the hype? Probably not. But the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers did all they could to keep the crowd entertained in the first installment of Bills North. The Steelers were the perfect team to play the Bills in the series opener. The city of Toronto has a plethora of Steelers faithful, and they were out in full force on Thursday. In the crowd, the two sides played off of one another. “The fans were good,” said Bills head coach Jauron. “They got loud when we let...

  • Steelers-Bills Live Blog

    6:05 -- We're all set up, with about 90 minutes until game time. The Bills and Steelers are on the field warming up, and the stadium's about this full: 6:15 -- We spent some time at the "Tailgate party" across the street, which was actually not too bad. Beers were $6 and several guys in their fifties told me they were asked for I.D. Canadians are reluctant to let people drink in the streets, so it'll take baby steps before we stop carding seniors. Here are some shots from the...

  • Kelly takes hardest stance on Bills' future

    Jim Kelly doesn’t hide the way he feels about the Buffalo Bills and western New York. “I have no mixed emotions,” says the Hall of Fame quarterback. “My loyalty is with western New York and the Buffalo Bills.” But Kelly also knows the Bills need financial help to stay in Buffalo, and while many think that help will come from corporate Toronto as the Bills continue to drift north, Kelly thinks the team can receive financial support from Toronto businesses while remaining in western New York. “I do...

  • Fake smiles as Bills cross the border

    My friend’s grandfather has a word for those situations in which you have to put on a happy face, even if you’re not all game. You know, those days when you just don’t have the energy to attend that function or go to that dinner, but you just suck it up. “Showtime,” he says. Turn that frown upside down, at least temporarily, and give us your best. The Buffalo Bills crossed the 49th parallel today and arrived in Toronto for the first game of an unprecedented eight-game series in Toronto, and as I...

  • Bills in Toronto Quick Hits: One day away

    The game’s just a day away, and the festivities start today. Here’s a sample of the vibe leading up to the opening game of this “historic” series. • Jim Kelley (not the ex-Bills quarterback; note the different spelling) says Buffalo feels the same way about the Bills as Canada does about hockey . They don't want to lose what belongs to them. “You see, unlike Toronto, Buffalo sees itself as a player on the world stage not via commerce or education or culture, but through its sports teams. And...