9. Bills announce Toronto Series with Press Conference in Toronto -- February 7, 2008

I felt like some sort of dark Paul Revere, relaying a miserable story of a moribund franchise to a beaten-down fanbase. Everyone has days they hate their job, but the worst day of my professional career was spent listening to two old, rich men shoot down the notion that anything mattered other than money. The date was Thursday, February 7, 2008, and I’ve never been angrier while covering a story.

The day was a relatively bright one for winter in Toronto, and the drive should’ve been fine. We had known for about a week that the announcement of the Buffalo Bills playing five regular season and three preseason games in Toronto over the course of five years was coming, but there is no way we could’ve imagined it would be announced in such a horrid fashion.
The conference was held in a massive hotel ballroom – high ceilings, chandeliers and picture windows set the scene for one of our area’s greater sports upheavals – and it was attended by hundreds of media members.

A few minutes late, in came Bills owner Ralph Wilson along with "Bills in Toronto" cohorts Ted Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum. They strolled down the aisle as well as two elderly men could, passing by me on the right with the pomp and circumstance normally reserved for royalty ages ago.

Sitting in front of a backdrop dotted with Bills logos and crossed American and Canadian flags, the trio repeatedly slapped the "poor and unworthy" small markets that Wilson so cherished right in the face, laughing at the prospect of setting prices as high as they could and patronizing the sad-sack Buffalo Bills fans.

Toronto has construction and economy! Toronto has progress! Buffalo is a dying town with dead people who don’t spend enough money. Be happy you have a team! An area your size doesn’t deserve one!

No one would argue that Wilson spoke some truth, maybe a lot of it, but what his peers and his words did was pull back the curtain on sentiments that had been whispered for a long time. Ralph Wilson is not your grandfather – He’s your friend’s grandfather. He’s happy to give you a Werther’s Original provided he and his grandson have a handful of them and a fridge fully-stocked with gold bricks (to keep them cold, of course).

The coup de grace came when Wilson had the chance to reassure Bills fans that this was just to help save the team’s future in Buffalo. Three seconds of his time and a well-placed phrase might ease the pain of an area that keeps breathing through the deep bruises in its guts and ribs.
"Don't worry," he said. "Don't worry, right now."

And with those words, it seemed a countdown clock started ticking in the minds and hearts of Buffalo Bills fans. Moral victories became nothing and minor losses became Doomsday. If you want to point to the moment Bills fans starting leaving hope on the shelf of The Bills Store, February 7, 2008, is the best place to start.

Of course, the results have been poor for all parties involved, save perhaps Mr. Wilson and the Bills, who made $78 million on the deal. The first two events at the Rogers Centre, a preseason game and a regular season one were miserable failures. The 2009 game against the Jets was whispered to be on the same track, though it sold-out week-of-game, and appeared to be well-attended. So where do the signs point? Here's WGR program director Andy Roth, who listed this moment in his Top Five.

"The scariest thought to have is to think the Bills will move, but I still believe the end game is to share the franchise with our friends up North," Roth said.

Moment No. 8 comes Monday morning.

Email: nick@wgr550.com