Toronto Bills and Buffalo Raptors…Oklahoma City_______?

I had ment to talk about this yesterday. Let’s start with a little NBA History 101 for you younger fans out there or older folks who can’t remember the 70’s. The modern day L.A Clippers were orginally called the Buffalo Braves and were part of Western New York sports scene in the 1970’s. The Franchise would eventually leave and become the Clippers. San Diego was the home of the Clippers before a move to L.A.

The History of Buffalo Braves

Most folks are aware that the Buffalo Bills have cut a deal to play games at the Rogers Centre for several seasons. It is being done to help the Bills from a economic stand point. Buffalo was once a proud city and it still is but has fallen on some serious issues as a city. Many jobs have left the town and it is really a sad state of affairs. I do not follow hockey much at all anymore but when I did, I cheered for the Buffalo Sabres. I really respect the people of Buffalo and they are good people and love their sports teams. It would be sad to see the Bills or Sabres leave that city and it is a blow that I am not sure it could handle.

So now some local and state politicans are looking for some free trade of sorts. Seems they would like to see the Toronto Raptors do a simlar arrangement that the Bills have in Toronto. Having the Raptors play a number of games each year in Buffalo. Both regular season and exhibition. It should be noted that it is an election year in the United States and this idea is about as safe a political move to support this as you could make in Western New York.

But this would be more charitable of the Raptors to do as opposed to being profitable. Besides there is a much greater need to build a fan base through out this country. I love Buffalo and if the Raptors could help that city it would be nice of them to do so. But I am not crazy about the idea of playing a regular season game in Buffalo. If the Raptors are going to play a game away from A.C.C as a home game. It should be at one of the many other cities in this country. It is not like MLSE is really all that concerned with helping out Buffalo. The head of MLSE is part of the group looking to bring the Bills here in the first place. He also wouldn’t mind seeing a team be it the Bills or anyone else re-locate to Toronto. If they are not concerned about the CFL and Toronto Argos, I can’t imagine the people of Buffalo are high on the list of concerns as well.

Buffalo does have a great arena to host the Raptors. The stadium in Buffalo that is home to the Sabres has also hosted NCAA Tournament games as well as the local schools in the area like the Unversity of Buffalo Bulls Basketball. Still that really is not the point. It is also a major headache to cross the border these days. It just does not seem like something that the Raptors would be interested in. After all the fan base of the Raptors in the Toronto and GTA area has been strong the last few years.

I will say if they do make this thing a reality which I see as unlikely. I want to suggest what it should be called. ” The Jack Armstrong Buffalo Classic” after all who do Raptor fans love more in the Western New York area? I would have contacted Jack and got his feelings on this idea. But Jack is on holidays. I am sure knowing his feelings on that part of the world he calls home he would welcome the idea of Raptors coming closer to his home. It would make a shorter drive to work for a game or two. But I know Jack has strong ties to that community and would want to see this happen for good folks in Buffalo. He would not be a fan of my name suggestion but you could even make it Jack Armstrong Bobblehead night in Buffalo. I really got a lot out of the lone marketing course I took back in college. Not really but I am always coming up with ideas.

I do think that Buffalo could make a nice city for a NBDL team in the future. Perhaps for the Nets, Knicks or even the Raptors. But if Raptors go this route they would likely perfer Hamilton(Not that I live here but) based on being closer to Toronto. But if Raptors were to do that the league would need a team at least in the same area. Buffalo would seem a logical choice. The Buffalo Bisons the Triple A baseball club have always got fan support to the best of my knowledge so the idea of a minor league sports franchise would work in a city like Buffalo.

In the end I hope at least something can happen in form of exhibtion game in Buffalo at some point.

Sonics Are No More

Add Seattle to that list with the Buffalo Braves. The terms have been set for the moving of the franchise from Seattle to Oklahoma City. The terms of the move are as follows:

75 Million Dollars will be paid to allow the team to break the lease at Key Arena

The team gives up the rights to the name and colours of current Sonics

This will allow the Franchise To Relocate to Oklahoma City for the 2008-2009 NBA Season

I know many folks will be sad about this news. But I choose to take the good side of this issue. The people of Oklahoma City embraced the team I once cheered for before the Raptors. They took in the homeless Hornets and made them feel like they had a home. These people desereved a NBA team for what they did. I feel bad for the people of Seattle but these things happen. Ask people in Vancouver who lost the Grizzles to Memphis. It is an unfortunate reality of sports. It is the worst possible thing that can happen to a fan of a franchise in their home town.

If you want all the details on this here is the complete story from ESPN

I admit this is a pretty down way to end the blog. But there are some things we can learn from all of this. Enjoy your team and support it because you have no way to know if it will be their forever unless it is named the Celtics, Knicks and a few select other iconic franchises. You just have to love it while you have it. I hope the Toronto Raptors are here for a long time. Even after I am gone from this world I hope the Raptors remain. I hope that is long way off too. But you can never perdict what lies ahead and that is why you should embrace each and every game. It is easy to become very apathetic about the franchise at times. But this is a wake up call to you not to be so for too long. Live and enjoy the moment. Think that is some solid advice and a bit better ending for today’s blog.

Tags: Jack Armstrong, Toronto Raptors, MLSE, Sonics, CFL, NBDL, Buffalo Braves, Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Bisons, Buffalo Bulls, Toronto Argos, NFL, Buffalo Sabres, Seattle, Oaklahoma City