He ran through the parking lot at Ralph Wilson Stadium stripped to the waist late Sunday morning, his lean, extended arms hoisting a flag emblazoned with the Buffalo Bills logo, his circled mouth issuing a guttural, wordless scream.
Across his chest, someone had lettered a couple of words that, taken separately, aren't remotely obscene. In fact they appear, inverted, elsewhere in this column. As arranged, though, they formed a phrase that doesn't quite meet this publication's standards for decency. Let's just say the term connotes wholehearted, unwavering commitment.
Which this guy certainly demonstrated. Two hours before kickoff, as the cold rain and wind that would buffet visiting Miami throughout Buffalo's 21-0 demolition of the Dolphins began to pick up, we watched him weave up one row and down another until he was out of sight and earshot.
The Dolphins' commitment to keeping their own scant playoff hopes flickering seemingly waned with the first look out a hotel window at a hatefully gray pre-winter day. It would be easy to pin their disjointed performance on the elements, but their deficiency looked more mental than elemental. They collectively performed as if the barechested flag-waver spent four quarters sprinting up and down their sideline, his piercing yell providing an unnerving soundtrack.
Miami quarterback Joey Harrington played like the Buffalo banshee had chased him up the stadium tunnel and into the locker room, then periodically poked his head into the Dolphins' offensive huddle.
Harrington misfired on his first two attempts to throw into the rain and gusting wind. His first completion came on fourth-and-4 from Buffalo's 31-yard line, but covered only three yards.
Things would only get worse for Miami and Harrington from there. With former Buffalo running back Sammy Morris grinding out yards, the Dolphins moved deep into opposing territory again on their next drive. But with the wind making a normally sensible field-goal attempt untenable, Buffalo defensive end Chris Kelsay piled up Morris on fourth-and-1, ending Miami's last, best chance at scoring during the game's meaningful portion.
Meanwhile, in another sign of his improvement over the course of the season, J.P. Losman didn't seem to mind the wet and the wind much at all. In the final moments of Buffalo's early season loss to the New York Jets, Losman was baffled by a sudden storm that played havoc with not only his throws, but his ability to simply hold the ball.
With Sunday's game scoreless a little more than midway through the second quarter, he put his team in control with a pair of deep balls into the wind. First, he connected with Lee Evans down the left sideline for 37 yards. Two plays later, he launched one to tight end Robert Royal, who was all by himself down the right side near the goal line, for a 33-yard touchdown that provided all the points Buffalo would need.
Rather than adjusting to the Western New York climate and the Buffalo defense as the game went on, Harrington steadily disintegrated.
After a first half in which he completed four of nine throws for a puny 16 yards and a 51.6 passer rating, things almost had to get better for the former first-round pick of the Detroit Lions.
They didn't.
He completed just one of eight second-half throws to his own team, and two to Bills defenders, before Miami coach Nick Saban mercifully benched him after the second interception.
If you have small children in the room, you shouldn't allow them to see these numbers -- five completions in 17 attempts for all of 20 yards -- that's 1.18 yards per attempt -- and a 0.0 passer rating. That's right. Zero point zero.
Of course, it's easy to mock Harrington's inability to cope with the drenching day when you spend much of it inside, as BillStuff did on this Sunday.
With the game blacked out, thanks to the National Football League's refusal to alter a policy that dates from a time when 98.2 percent of each week's games didn't sell out and the same taxpayers who don't get to watch on television didn't wholly fund construction and regular renovation of the money-making machines known as stadiums, I caught a ride out to the stadium and wandered off through the tailgates.
Acting on a tip, I found a group from Niagara Falls that had traveled to Orchard Park via a luxurious vehicle known as a limousine bus. I'd planned on buying a ticket from one of the desperate scalpers dumping cut-rate tickets in the final moments before kickoff, but our friend George Churakos supplied a ticket for a seat located in the Jim Kelly Club (BS policy normally dictates the use of first names of fans only, for a variety of reasons, but such stunning generosity demands full recognition).
Over the years, I've watched games from the press box, traditional seats and a luxury box, but had never before been in one of the club areas. And it ranks as the best of all possible vantage points. Unlike the boxes, you can sit outside -- on a heated seat, no less. But you're under an overhang, largely shielding you from the harshest conditions.
The worst hassles that come with attending a game, the lines for restrooms and refreshments, are eliminated by the amenities available inside the club. It amounts to a large sports bar, with a bank of televisions showing every game across the league, as well as the one being played just outside.
Despite the weather, outside was a great place to be Sunday. Paid attendance was announced at 71,011, a bit shy of a sell-out. But the atmosphere was fierce from the opening kickoff and intensified with each defensive stop, then spiked after Losman's touchdown hookup with Royal. From there, the roar steadily built, jumping each time Miami's offense trudged off the field, which it did 13 times -- eight after punts, two following interceptions heaved by Harrington, on the two occasions when the Dolphins failed on fourth down and, finally, when Bills defensive end Ryan Denney swatted away a pass by Harrington's replacement, Cleo Lemon.
The deflection ended the afternoon with Miami at Buffalo's 1-yard line, losers by the very same score that the Dolphins defeated AFC East leader Miami a week earlier. A lot of things will still have to go Buffalo's way, including two more Bills victories, for the playoffs to become more than a fond fantasy. But on Sunday, that was almost beside the point.
I didn't see him after the game, but something tells me that the shirtless flag carrier did some running after the game, too.
STAT OF THE WEEK: Over the past two weeks, the Bills have outscored two AFC East rivals, Miami and the Jets, each of which had equal or superior records coming in, by a combined 52-13.
WING REPORT: Mark Calvello, owner of the Greens Restaurant, was part of the traveling party and put together what might rate as the greatest tailgate spread ever. Besides terrific fried chicken and pasta with beautiful red sauce, he whet appetites with pans full of Cajun and medium wings, each of which were particularly delicious when eaten in the wind and rain. The spread earned the most enthusiastic of A's.
BS FAN OF THE WEEK: I didn't dare interrupt him to ask his name, but the guy with the flag was both literally and figuratively the standard-bearer for every Bills fan on this day.
David Staba is the sports editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter. He welcomes e-mail at dstaba13@aol.com.
Niagara Falls Reporter
www.niagarafallsreporter.com
December 19 2006