Bills' Gailey Chews Out Hecklers As Camp Closes

We pay their salary, we are their "bosses" to some respect.

I know we pay the for tickets and watch the games. But we are not their bosses in any way…we dont pay their salaries in any meaningful way. We individually pay a fraction of the fraction of the cost. If you want to say “we” as in all Buffalo Bills football fans, than maybe you have a point; but then all of us would need to say the same thing, otherwise, its still a fraction of a fraction. They hecklers did not represent “all” Bills fans and therefore, they dont collectlively pay anything. The NFL and Ralph Wilson are the “bosses” and the purse-string holders, not us. Just a pet-pieve of mine. It’s like when the a-hole getting pulled over tells the officer “I pay your salary!” No, no you dont.

How is that productive? Would you boo a band during sound check? These practices are open to the fans for free. Nobody paid to get in so to bring up salary in this case makes zero sense. If we go to a game we CHOSE to pay our money. If he doesn’t perform boo him there, but not at practice when he’s trying to prepare to play the game. Obviously these people must have been particularly foul for Gailey to address them. People have gotten way out of hand with what they feel they are entitled to. It’s crazy. Then if one of these players jumped in the bleachers and beat their behind they would be upset and want to sue. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Simple as that. Who’s walking into your job harassing you while you attempt to do it?

when that stuff goes on at games it ruins things

but you are right i don’t know anything about the situation or what they said so ill say i am dissapointed.

hear hear

I suppose it is their right, but still doesn’t do any good, what a waste of carbon. Love what Gailey did, so different than DJ, for better or worse, time will tell.

Well put, I agree with what Chan did… And I love the quote from PFT.

I disagree with some of you guys though, giving the players a hard time is somewhat warranted. You are ultimately paying their multi-million dollar salaries (not at an open practice, I realize) and if a player repeadetly has brain farts or the similar on the field, I think they deserve to hear it. Jeering/Booing is acceptable, heckling is not (unless you are Brian Cox of course). If a player can’t handle it, get out of the proverbial kitchen and give back your paycheck… It comes with the territory to a certain extent.

Again, what Chan did was commendable, although not really overly noteworthy. Now go put some “W’s” on the board!

Just because someone has the “right” to do something doesn’t make it OK for them to do it. It seems strange to me that if these hecklers were to do what they did to, say, a grocery store clerk, they could be arrested… but as long as it’s sports it’s OK to subject other people (namely children) to indecency(?). And yes, Brian… I believe it is shameful. Why do you think everyone and their mother hates Philly fans? Because as a collective whole they are the most obnoxious and disgusting sports fans on the planet (with Yankee fans and Limey hooligans a close 2nd). I want my Buffalo Bills and their fans to have a reputation as far as possible from that kind of tomfoolery.

As you all know by now, I am not a Fitz fan, but I would never yell across a practice field while the man is trying to do his job for the team I love (I even was happy for him and the team when he threw the TD). Its disrespectful to the team as a whole to heckle while they are working. So I echo Gaileys feelings and I am proud of the HC. The hecklers do not speak for me.

This would’ve been different if it was at a game. They can say whateva they want at a game.

I like Chan more and more as the days go by, he reminds me of Lou Saban. I swear any day now I expect him to take the field wearing those old school football spikes with the white leather strap around the opening of the shoe.

Maybe we wait until they actually lose a few meaningful games before we proclaim our lack of faith and that they don’t know what they’re doing?

As NIX said "Show me the baby".

What I don’t understand is, if this is your attitude, why do you even bother posting at all before the season actually starts? What can you possibly contribute to the discussion?

The season hasn’t started yet. There won’t be a baby until at least 6 or 7 weeks into the season. So what the heck are you even posting here for? I seriously don’t understand.

how is he going to react when he throws a pick and a MLB slams his face in the turf?

Throw a 70 yard TD to Lee?

This is about the coach being even in his disposition. He doesn’t criticize his players in public and he wants the fans to know he frowns upon it. This incident has put the media on notice how the coach feels about criticizing the players. Critique the team, no personal attacks.

“OH! Somebody’s holding a pound of Aunt Betty’s nut butter, and that’s a live ball!” – Announcer

TE is holding the team back? You think we are that good? Man, are you going to be dissappointed. And to say that McKelvins fumble justified his property being vandalized is just wrong.

Ill have to keep an eye out.

When I read:

If anyone has seen "My Left Foot"

haha thats right. I was thinking it was a night practice…

Practice was at 9:30 AM! Even I don’t drink that early.

Even Sept 12th? :-)

OK, I got ya. I’m not from the area. But I kept seeing posts about the tickets to the practices so I guess I assumed they cost a fee. What’s the point of having tickets if they are free? I don’t get it. Why not just make them open to the public except for the closed practices?
I’m with you on that. If someone pays good money for a ticket, a little razzing is OK if a player makes a bonehead move. Within reason of course, like keeping the expletives to a minimum. What happened to McKelvin last year was WAY over the line.

Thanks for the info

that I see coming through in your posts:

1.) “There’s a ton of small kids just dying for that interaction, yet who just get pushed out of the way by the greasy, smelly, selfish guys who likely only want to sell on ebay.”

- I hear this all the time…almost like kids are the only fans that should get autographs, and every adult getting autographs are getting them to resell. I gotta say I hate when I hear this.

First of all, I enjoy collecting autographs…I find it an enjoyable hobby…a way to interact with the guys I watch play football. I also love the challenge of it…trying to get the perfect autograph (tougher than you think). I would NEVER resell anything I get autographed. To my wife’s dismay, I have a great collection in my barroom that I would never part with.

Secondly, I gotta say, it does make my day as well getting a good autograph….sorry if that makes me seem like a nerd or loser….but it makes me feel like a kid again. Brings me back to a time when I used to go to sporting events with my dad.

And lastly, kids aren’t always the ones getting “pushed out of the way”…in fact, sometimes it can be quite the opposite…a few weeks ago, a buddy of mine and I decided to drive up to Cortland to go to Jets training camp. In the days beforehand, I ordered Jets mini helmets off the internet, scoured google images for good pics, went to Target to get them blown up into 8×10′s, the whole deal. We got up at 5am, drove 3 hours from Buffalo to Cortland, got a good spot at the fence, stood there for the entire 3 hour practice….and then, as Mark Sanchez came near our spot at the fence, the people behind us went nuts and started pushing their way to get close to the fence…in fact, as I stood there with my Sanchez 8×10, two kids about 8-10 years old pushed their way through the crowd and tried to go under my legs to get closer!! I couldn’t believe that these 2 kids were trying to get by me! So I did what I thought was appropriate…I stood my ground. I didn’t let the first kid through my legs, and I didn’t let the second kid around me. If they wanted an autograph, they could just stick their hand out with their item like everyone else and see if Sanchez would sign it.

Looking back, it probably seemed like I was boxing these kids out and being a jerk….but in reality, I did everything the right way, and as a result, had a great spot….I wasn’t just going to be pushed aside for a couple of kids that squirmed their way around and under people and pushed and shoved. No way man. Am I wrong in that? I don’t think so. Under less crowded circumstances, I usually wait for alot of the kids around me to get their autos before I get mine….and sometimes even help them get their item to the athlete or even give them extra pictures I have to get signed. Just wanted to dispute the common misconception of the “big bad adult stealing the poor little kids autographs”.

FYI, for those interested, I did really well at Jets training camp too…got David Harris and Bart Scott to sign my mini helmet…..and got Mark Sanchez to sign my 8×10, which was awesome…he even personalized it. Seems like a great guy. Until we play the Jets, of course!

2.) “Groups of kids and group home gatherings should get 1st opportunity at an autograph. Those are the people who would appreciate it most.”

- I think I addressed this a bit in my earlier paragraph, but just wanted to reiterate the fact that I love the hobby of collecting autographs…love the challenge, love the interaction, love getting a keepsake for my barroom (I call them “man decorations”!) that I will have for the rest of my life that will also remind me of meeting a certain player or being in a certain town or stadium, etc. It really makes me happy to come back home with a few good autos. If that makes me nerdy, so be it. (People sure as heck seem to enjoy looking at my collection when they see it, that’s for sure). So to generalize like kids or old people are the ones who most enjoy it….well, I just don’t see the point in making such a claim. Everyone enjoys it…regardless of age. In fact, I see kids all the time who would be just as happy if the mascot signed their item! I certainly won’t push any kid out of the way for that opportunity!

Just wanted to address some of the common misconceptions…..

Well I got it thanks to a friend of a friend. If I get a ticket you’ll be on the list.

Someone bagged on Brian for grammatical reasons?

Well the Lions have a QB and LT…

I beleive you are correct.

Although when I first wrote it over ten years ago, it was about baseball.

“Any idiot can root for the Cowboys. It takes a real fan of the game of football to root for the Bills”

(The original substituted “Cowboys” with “Yankees” and “Bills” with “Expos”)

‘84 and ’85, ugh, This team feels like ’86, minus a Kelly!! Chan is the man too!! I wouldn’t want to play poker against him, he seems like he’d fleece ya!! In a," you thought I was bad, Newsflash, I’ll hide how good I am" way!!

but my point was that booing doesn’t make a team any better.

I’ll be sure to bring up MRW of the Bills’ blog’s thesis that pleasing customers is not in anyway relevant in running a business to my professor on Wednesday. Textbooks are overrated anyway.

I’m sorry, i just don’t understand your unconditionally love and accept them or leave them attitude with this franchise and I never will. Buffalo’s contempt for their fans goes far deeper than this one incident or singular disagreements over personnel between the fan base and the paid decision makers. At this point, my support for this team is based more on support for this beleaguered fan base than the players, coaches, or team logo. I take incidents like yesterday’s personally. While I agree that in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t a major issue, it’s a pattern of contemptuous behavior from this since Tom Donahoe was hired that leaves me sore. If Gailey thinks the best way to rally the troops is to pit the team against the fans, I’m betting it will backfire. Just one opinion.

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.

Brian, it’s a snowball effect with the behavior of OBD. Sorry to harp on this minor issue, but I disagreed with 95% of what was written in defense of Gailey in this thread. I’ll move on and thanks for the coverage.

When is it ever justified that a person has to be subjected to others neg. rants an verbal attacks? I’d trust in Chan’s intelligence and assume he handled it appropriately, non- issue, football please…

if they are decent human beings, they will remember it. If not, nothing will change them anyway and at least they dont have an autograph.

they dont allow clocks in Vegas, so time is relevent. And if your a Bills fan, 4 years can seem like 10.

Grrr…