Cuomo should get on his knees in Buffalo

I grew up in Buffalo in the 1970s and ’80s, bad times for Bills fans. When I left college in 1990, the team immediately reached the Super Bowl, but lost when Scott Norwood’s last-minute goal attempt on the field went right. The Bills returned to the Super Bowl in the 2000s, junior and senior, but lost every time. In 1995, when I was 23, Bills won the division, but lost to Pittsburgh in the second round of the playoffs. Little did I know that I would be 48 years old when my team won AFC East again.

Suffering is an integral part of being a Buffalo sports fan, as is loyalty. Eventually, with the exception of the Green Bay Packers, I can’t think of a team more closely tied to his city’s identity and wealth than the Bills. In an otherwise hellish year, the team and its faithful – affectionately known as the “Bills Mafia” – finally have reason to be hopeful and proud.

The coal in the Bills stockings is the absence of fans at the stadium. Governor Andrew Cuomo sent mixed signals about the opening of Bills Stadium all season. On September 30, he said he would tour the stadium and meet with the team’s management to “discuss” reopening issues. By Nov. 6, he backed down and said Dr. Zucker – whose medical care order had killed at least 6,200 people – told him he would be “reckless” to allow fans to return to the stadium. (outdoors), which has a capacity of over 71,000.

The governor never came to visit the stadium, but recently said that “he will not like anything more” than to participate in a playoff at Bills’ house. He insisted that Dr. Zucker’s Health Department must light any agreement to open the stadium, including a cautious proposal to admit about 6,700 fans.

Even that may not be enough. Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz recently threw cold water on the proposal. The Democrat scolded Bills’ fans for greeting his team at the airport and tricked reporters into asking if he would agree to allow fans at the stadium to say, “Set your priorities.” Maybe football is simply not his game. At the end of September, he was photographed on a golf course with 16 other people, all without masks. “I just forgot to wear one,” he said after the photo was published. Mr. Poloncarz will receive advice from the handsome compensation Gale Burnstein, who earned $ 166,319 in overtime and vacation pay from March through Dec. 4 as county health commissioner – in addition to her $ 202,312 salary.

Bills Mafia has science on its side. Only one fan case was reported that gave positive results for Covid-19 after a game on the 13 NFL stadiums that allow fans and that was a few months ago at the opening of the season in Kansas City. Others may have been infected and not reported this, but clearly the games did not approach the events with overload.

Many officials, including Mr Cuomo and Mr Poloncarz, appear to be enjoying the new powers they have assumed during the pandemic. But they will never be able to show their faces in western New York again if they decree that the stadium must remain closed to fans. That may be why the governor gave it to Dr. Zucker.

Bills fans suffered four consecutive Super Bowl losses, a 17-year playoff drought (2000-16 seasons) and a 25-year division title famine. We know the risks of Covid-19 and we also know that we have not had a playoff match at home since December 1996. It is time for politicians and health bureaucrats to kneel down and allow us to reunite with our team on stage.

Mister. The seminar was a former diplomat and author of the book “Federer’s Steps: The Pilgrimage of a Fan in 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts”, which will be published in March.