Las Vegas…late September…attending a wedding…got a few extra bucks… …put it on the homeboy Doug Flutie… …he grew up two towns away in Natick, Mass. …remember seeing his name all over the sports pages way back when he was in
Las Vegas…late September…attending a wedding…got a few extra
bucks…
…put it on the homeboy Doug Flutie…
…he grew up two
towns away in Natick, Mass. …remember seeing his name all over the sports
pages way back when he was in high school…
…a casual $10 bet at 30-1
odds…will win $300 if the Buffalo Bills win the Super Bowl…
…wife is
against it…
…Two towns over, hon, it’s like going from Hanama’ulu to
Puhi…
…but it doesn’t matter…the wife grimaces and then laughs it
off…
…Somebody from Puhi wouldn’t hesitate to bet on a Heisman Trophy
winner who grew up in Hanama’ulu…
…even if he was only 5’9 and in his
late 30s and playing QUARTERBACK!!! in the NFL,
…the guy has his own
cereal now…
…he won how many Canadian Football League titles and
MVPs?…
FLASHBACK to the late 1980s…
Doug Flutie replaces an
injured Tony Eason as quarterback for the New England Patriots at
midseason…
…guides them to a 6-3 record and into the
playoffs…
but…wait a minute here…Eason pretends he’s all healed for
the playoff game…and coach Raymond Berry believes it…But Eason’s arm is
still hurt…everybody but Berry can tell…and the Patriots lose to Houston in
the playoff game…
Outrage!
Back to 1999-2000…Flutie leads the
Bills to a 10-5 record and Rob Johnson comes in to play a meaningless regular
season finale against New Orleans…Johnson does well…
…so it’s one,
two deja vu…Phillips benches Flutie (for absolutely no good reason at all)
for the playoff game…
…and the Bills lose to Tennessee (the old Houston
franchise, just in case you’re looking for a little more salt on the
wounds)…
…talent can be replaced, but it’s not so easy to replace
veteran leadership…remember what happened to the Broncos without John
Elway?…
…Wade Phillips is a (insert the most scathing word you can
think of right here)…
…What on Earth was he thinking?…
…You
don’t bench your star, your Heisman star, your star that was the main man in
what was voted as the Play of the Century in college football, your star who is
a proven leader, your star who has a cereal named after him, your star who has
overcome all of the odds, your star who does amazing things when given a
reasonable chance…
…You believe in him…and you give him a chance,
pal….those were your best odds…he might have been able to get you a Super
Bowl win…and I’d be $300 richer.
