Channel 2’s brief sneak preview Thursday of tonight’s special on Buffalo Bills Owner Ralph Wilson looked pretty impressive.
The hour-long special, “Wilson: The Life, Impact and Living Legacy of Ralph C. Wilson Jr.,” airs at 9 tonight on the NBC affiliate and is repeated at 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
It is anchored by sports anchor Adam Benigni. From the clip shown Thursday on a newscast, the special appears to be a balanced look at Wilson’s legacy that should appeal to viewers interested in history and nostalgia.
Adam Benigni
Wilson, who is 94, declined to be interviewed or issue a statement for the special, which may lead to some speculation about his condition., The special features interviews with such Wilson supporters as Bills chief executive officer and president Russ Brandon, Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly and Hall of Fame Coach Marv Levy.It also includes an interview with a Wilson critic, Buffalo News sports columnist Jerry Sullivan, and a legendary general manager who Wilson fired – Bill Polian. During the preview, Sullivan was shown saying Wilson has “embarrassed himself” in recent years with foolish moves.
You don’t generally hear that kind of brutal honesty from TV sportscasters, which is why Sullivan is used for balance and perspective.
There is no question that Wilson has made some hiring mistakes that deserve criticism. But I’m with Brandon in looking more at Wilson’s positives in keeping the team here despite the area’s market decline and giving WNYers a chance to keep it here after he is gone.
In short, I don’t think Wilson gets enough credit. I also don’t think many WNYers realize how fortunate they are to have a NFL team.
People point to the stands being filled despite the years of failing to make the playoffs. But they aren’t always filled and ticket prices here are incredibly low compared to other NFL cities.
When I tell my friends in New York, Denver, Boston and Washington, D.C. what I pay for a season ticket on the 50-yard line — $80 a game – they look at me as if I had gotten the steal of the century.
Channel 2 General Manager Jim Toellner, who is No. 99 on the Business First List of most influential people in WNY, believes Wilson should have been No. 1.
“He probably is the most influential WNYer in the last 50 years when you think about all he has done and affected people’s way of life,” said Toellner. “Who is more influential than Ralph Wilson?”
Actually, Wilson didn’t make the list, perhaps because he doesn’t live here. Brandon is No. 13.
Channel 2 is preempting a repeat of Wednesday’s episode of “Chicago Fire” to carry the Wilson special tonight. It is airing the repeat of “Fire” at 2:30 Sunday morning for those who want to record it.
Did you hear Matt Lauer channel the late Mayor Griffin Friday morning on “Today”? Lauer advised some vo-workers and viewers “to grab a six-pack” to deal with Friday’s storm.
Speaking of Friday’s storm, I returned from shopping at the Galleria Friday just in time to hear Channel 2 anchor Scott Levin tell viewers that the station was going to cover the storm “with the proper perspective.” Then it spent the entire newscast — except for sports — dealing with the weather and telling us it wasn’t that bad. Some perspective.
Inquiring minds want to know: When is Channel 2 going to start carrying the new graphics package that owner Gannett Broadcasting already is using at some of its stations? Toellner said the plan is to premiere it in late March.
NBC announced late Friday that a repeat episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” will air at 10 p.m. Thursday, which means “Do No Harm” is leaving the lineup after two low-rated episodes. In other words, the network couldn’t afford the harm that “Harm” was doing as a lead-in to network affiliate newscasts like Channel 2′s here.
I agree with Alan, Ralph Wilson doesn’t get enough credit. He took a risk in investing $25,000 to buy the Bills so many years ago and he has done nothing since then but mortgage his future by spending every last penny he has to make sure the Bills had the best coaches and players year in and year out. And Wilson never asked for anything in return.
Those subsidies were owed to him because we are indebted to this man for everything he has done to create jobs and make Buffalo the booming metropolis it is today. The Bills may be worth over $700,000,000 now, but just think how much he could have made if he moved the team to a bigger market!! He may have even gotten into the hall of fame if he weren’t slumming it in Buffalo!
Ralph is in the Football Hall of Fame, class of ’09.
Yea, I know Bob, I was being sarcastic. Ralph has done the bare minimum for Western NY on a regular basis. He got lucky with the Bills, and made more money by doing nothing except sitting on his initial investment.
Any normal human being would keep the team in Buffalo just out of shear guilt for turning a 25,000 investment into a 700,000,000 investment. Hes got more money than he could possibly spend, yet still went cheap on the team for the longest time and took public money that could have been used elsewhere.
Alan says he deserves more credit, but the HOF should be enough. What more can we do? Do you really deserve more credit for just sitting on your but and watching your investment sky rocket?
We should bow down to this old man just because he could have made a little bit more money elsewhere??
Its ignorant and short sighted to think that Ralph Wilson deserves more credit.