The word "hate" doesn't really come up in professional sports very often. There are many disagreements and dislikes, but hate -- not so much. While Willis McGahee never used the word "hate," his feelings about Buffalo are becoming more and more obvious as each day passes."I couldn't wait to get out of there," McGahee said about Buffalo.So how did the former 1,000 yard back act when he heard he was being traded? Quite simply and admittedly, he acted like a child.
"I was yelling and [stuff], running through the whole house, screaming, 'Yes! Yes!'" McGahee says. "It was such a relief."I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual by coaches, players and fans alike. McGahee had become nothing more than a whining, babyish cancer. He was no more valuable to the Bills than a jewelry box is to Michael Vick.
Previously on Fanhouse:
Now in Baltimore, Willis McGahee Takes Shot at Bills
Bye Bye McGahee: Bills Trade Running Back to Baltimore
Drew Rosenhaus: T.O. Is Fine, McGahee Wants Out of Buffalo
Willis Changes His Tune: "Proud" of the Buffalo Bills
McGahee Says Bills Should Move to Toronto
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Bye, bye, Willie. Don't the door hit you on the way out. Maybe you can set a world record for immaturity and father 12 children with 12 different women this year, since you don't know how to read a play book.
Posted at 1:03PM on Mar 28th 2007 by Michael
2. It's about time this whiny litte punk is gone. I've lived in Buffalo my whole life, and the only things the city does well - drink, eat, and sports - is what Willis was knocking. I'm not surprised he couldn't find clubs and bars to go to, considering he could never find a hole on 3rd and 2. And our women? this is coming from a guy who has 3 kids with 3 different mothers! Either you're lying to yourself Willis, or you have some low standards.
Posted at 4:12PM on Mar 28th 2007 by Sal
3. Andrew Z. Galarneau of The Buffalo News regarding MaGahee:
Dear Willis McGahee, Your words to The Baltimore Sun certainly stung some people in this town, leaving them calling for you to apologize. Not me. I have to say thank you.
Thanks for putting to rest any regrets Buffalo fans may have had about seeing you gone. There was some fan disgruntlement after they shipped you to Baltimore for a couple of third-round draft picks and a roll of tape.
But you took care of that in an article Sunday in the Baltimore Sun:
“Coming from Miami, I was used to partying, going out, just having something to do every night. Restaurants, whatever. Going to Buffalo, it was like hitting a brick wall,” you told The Sun. “Like, ‘Damn!’ Can’t go out, can’t do nothing. There’s an Applebee’s, a TGI Friday’s, and they just got a Dave & Busters. They got that, and I’m like, ‘What the?’ And, you know, the women …”
“You see, when I was in college that’s what I used to thrive off of,” you told The Sun. “The better you do, the more fame you get. So you know, it was like, I was used to that. And then you get to Buffalo and no matter how you do, it’s the same. It’s no big city. You know what I did every day? I came home and played video games.”
Buffalo has earned its reputation as a thin-skinned town honestly. All those people howling on the radio talk shows and tearing up your jerseys for bar rags at Coles won’t do anything to eliminate that.
What you did for me, though, was make me giggle.
Are there any more out there like you? Any other young millionaires so drained after their exertions that they lack even the drive to point their limo at Chippewa? Nothing to look forward to after practice but a Chicken Quesadilla Grande at Applebee’s and heading home to seek solace in the waiting arms of Grand Theft Auto. What a bleak vision.
How fortunate for you, and us, that you could not muster the energy to tangle with Buffalo nightlife. To not follow in the cleat-prints of generations of Bills and Sabres before you, and find a place to soak up the adulation of fans.
You preferred the Miami nightlife, you certainly made that clear. Like when you refused to leave Miami a month early in the off-season to join most of your teammates, working out before the season started.
Who could argue with your assertion that Buffalo doesn’t boast Miami-caliber clubs? The chuckle-worthy part is that you were surprised — you being a college graduate and all — then acted like nighttime entertainment meant more to you than your day job.
You even started talking about Buffalo’s women. I suppose we’ll have to wait for nine months or so to see if you actually met any.
If you had spent a little more time in Buffalo, instead of flying back to Miami between practices, you might have gotten to know the city better.
Sure, I’m biased, because I like the place I live. But I’m not the only one — hard-eyed strangers from The Washington Post, New York Times, and even your new hometown paper, the Baltimore Sun — have been surprised by what a fine time you can have here. The Toronto Star, in a city twice as big as Baltimore and Miami together, described the Chippewa Strip as an area that “really swings at night.”
That’s one reason your inability to find a good restaurant in Buffalo remains inexplicable. It rather reminds me of your inability to find a hole on third-and- two.
From the steak at Prime 490 to the foie gras at Tempo, you can eat like a king in Buffalo. Drink like one, too, from wine bars to sleek martini dens.
If your yardstick of excellence is Dave & Busters, though, I can see where you’d feel let down. How sad you left before the Cheesecake Factory at the Galleria really took off.
But don’t worry; no matter where you go, you can always call Domino’s. I hear they have what many people outside Buffalo would consider pizza. And here’s a tip for making it in your new home: Don’t tell reporters that TGI Friday’s has the best crab cakes in town.
It was interesting to note that the same Sun story quoted one of your Miami coaches saying the best way to make Willis McGahee listen was to get to your mother.
It was heartening to hear you’re so close to your mother. Too bad she never taught you how to act when someone takes a chance on you. The Buffalo Bills organization bet millions of dollars and the hopes of Bills fans that your heart mattered more than your knee.
In the end, what you showed Buffalo was the finger.
No regrets, though. We’re Buffalo. We’ve taken every shot history and fate could deal us. Buffalo has tasted more flavors of nightmare than Tim Horton’s has doughnuts, and you know what? We’re still standing. We’re still cheering for the Buffalo Sabres, and yes, the Buffalo Bills.
You want to take shots at Buffalo? You want to make yourself seem bigger by calling us small?
Nobody expected you, or other athletes, to pretend Buffalo is Paradise, or even Miami. Just to show some common courtesy and a bit of respect for the people who pay your salary, and the town whose hopes you carry.
Thank you, Willis McGahee. At least you’ve cleared the Bills’ team doctors from blame.
All the physical therapy in the world wasn’t going to fix the most important part of you that was broken.
agalarneau@buffnews.com
Posted at 10:55AM on Mar 29th 2007 by Meg