“The Elmira Express” in his heyday.

I had last night marked off on my calendar for months, if not longer. In my mind, it was a night long overdue in the name of true story turned Hollywood cinema.

Just think……

Just think of what the reaction would be today if a noted American athlete dropped dead from an incurable disease at the age of twenty three. Dead just eighteen months after winning the Heisman Trophy(breaking racial barriers in doing so), just over a year after being the top pick in the NFL draft, the main cog in bringing his school its only national title ever in football.

We’ve seen the hype that took place after the tragic loss of Len Bias back in 1986 and how his memory lingers on enormously in the minds of basketball fans even now. Anyone who knows anything about baseball can recite the words “I consider myself…to be the luckiest man…on the face of the earth…” in reference to Lou Gehrig, who also was struck down way too early in life by an incurable illness.

Yet by comparison the story of Ernie Davis has been an afterthought in the world of sports, undeservedly. And hopefully the release of the major motion picture - “The Express” will go a long way in keeping Davis’ place in history intact.

The movie features Rob Brown in the lead role of Ernie Davis, and headlined by Dennis Quaid in the role of Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder. The film is grounded in the portrayal of the relationship the two men had and the high racial tensions that existed at the time.

Personally(full disclosure - I grew up near the same town as Davis did and attended an inconference rival high school of his, as a sports fan I’ve had his story hammered into my head since grammar school) I believe the movie portrayed the personality of Davis well. While being amidst the civil rights movement of the sixties, Davis was never one to speak up loudly about the issues but simply one to let his play do the talking. And while race played a role at times in his college/pro career(Cotton Bowl/Redskins trading his draft rights), I thought the movie completely overplayed that aspect and should have focused more on the events occuring after his leukemia diagnosis was revealed and the heartbreak that surrounds someone leaving life far too soon.

That said I still ate it all up, loving the fact that finally Davis was getting some long overdue recognition outside of central New York(In Syracuse, where the Carrier Dome’s trophy room is named after him and Elmira - where he is buried and a statue of Davis sits outside his old high school) and Cleveland…where the Browns retired his number despite never playing a down.

Local notes of interest - not featured in the movie….did you know??

Ernie Davis was drafted by the (then AFL) Buffalo Bills and was offered more money to sign for the Bills than with Cleveland.

The last game that Ernie Davis ever saw action in was in the 1962 All-American Bowl at “The Rockpile” in Buffalo.

And just one more note: here’s an article Davis penned for the Saturday Evening Post that was published just weeks prior to dying in May of 1963. It was more or less his own “Lou Gehrig speech” and a good read.

The movie opens nationwide next Friday. See it and give an unbiased comment about it if you wish.

-pjf

THIS is the Shea Stadium that I remember as a young lad.

With all due respect I have for that other New York baseball stadium. It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Shea Stadium today.

For me personally, it is where I saw my first major league game as a wide eyed seven year old. The house was packed on that day(Jacket day promo, I believe) and I remember that because we were sitting in the very top row of Shea. I could turn around and see the parking lot through the wire fencing atop the facility.

I went a few more times(about ten or so) through the years as Shea went through changes. I still remember when that giant scoreboard ad was a giant message board. Remember the exterior with the old red and blue panels. When the “Big Apple” beyond the center field fence was a brand new cool thing. And that Jumbotron in left was once a breakthrough in technology as well. What? A videoboard at a stadium….in color….get out???

Yeah, I’m dating myself. I know. But while all the hype is going to that hyperbolic venue in the Bronx, it’s easy to forget that Shea too, was the home of some incredible memories. Even for us in Buffalo…..

Where did Buckner let the ball roll through his legs? Yep…

Where did OJ Simpson become the only NFL back to rush for two thousand yards in a fourteen game season? Uh-huh.

Where did the greatest underdog story in American (pro)sports history occur? You bet!

Who didn’t love Robin Ventura’s grand slam(single) in the fifteenth inning in deluge in ‘99.

For an offbeat moment….does anyone remember the guy that flew into a World Series game on a parachute with a “Let’s Go Mets” flag. I sure do. Hillarious!

Where a black cat may have assisted the Mets in their 1969 run to the playoffs.

Todd Pratt’s NLDS winning home run in 1999…..Mike Piazza’s home run in the first game after 9/11. The “Ya Gotta Believe” Mets of 1973….a mediocre team that nearly won the whole thing.

Ahhh, yes 1973…the year that that (alleged) double murderer slashed and dashed across a football field in a season like no other for a running back. And speaking of Bills players named Simpson. What about Bill Simpson’s game sealing interception at the goal line in a 1981 playoff game at Shea? The interception stalled an incredible Jets rally as they had come to within four points of the Bills after trailing 24-0 at one point.

And Endy Chavez’ catch in Game 7 of the ‘06 NLCS…..what should have gone on to become the greatest catch EVER(had the Mets won the game)

Could go on and on….It’s tough to say goodbye to an old friend.

Here’s to a Mets win today and a stay of execution for a couple of weeks.

-pjf

I love coming to the Ralph. What can I say?

For some reason, I look past the heavy intoxication of the fans, the crappy way that they treat opposing teams fans, the constant sight of security intervening in out of control affairs…everything. And I just watch the game as if no one was around me, realizing how fortunate I am to be able to live in one of thirty or so areas in this country which has the highest level of football on the planet. Pretty cool, eh?

Today I took Andrew along with me to the Ralph and met up with Peter Sharp and his friend Paul from Canada, we’ve met “Sharpie” through our occasional meetups with fellow road trip pal Sean McDonald Being gracious hosts that we were we introduced them to the world of roast beef on weck, and they responded in kind by providing authentic Canadian brews for our little shindig.

On to the game. I had some interesting conversations with the family(fellow Bills fans) in the days preceding, and they all came to the same conclusion about it.

” Classic trap game, they better be careful”. I winced, realized it had all the makings, and hoped they’d be wrong. They weren’t.

In the first half, the Bills were sloppy on O. Dropped passes, wasted opportunities for points, and Jason Peters doing his best imitation of a matador added up to a halftime deficit for the Bills. In the second half it was topped off by Roscoe Parrish’s absolutely boneheaded decision to field a punt at the goal line which set off a chain of events that led to a Raider TD that put the game in their control. Parrish was probably thinking of his press clippings about how awesome’s he’s been at that moment.

The Bills O finally seemed to come to life at this point, and a TD narrowed the gap. But a big play TD for Oakland shortly thereafter should have put the game away for the Raiders. And in past years it would have.

But not this year, it was all Bills from there on out. A touchdown, a defensive stop, and a field goal as time ran out gave the Bills a dramatic 24-23 win. The type of win that sooooo many other teams have hung on the Bills in past seasons.

Other stuff of note.

If Lane Kiffin hasn’t been fired for his lack of rapport with Al Davis, he should be gone for not making any attempt to stop the clock in the final minute. Force the Bills to run a couple more plays, maybe the Raider D holds and they get time for a last shot. Nah…

Nice to see the Greatest Bill of All Time(sez me!) finally get his name on the Wall. Don’t know what the rules are as far as eligibility, but the fact that his name didn’t up immediately after his NFL retirement is a damn travesty.

Jason Peters better get back in game shape, quickly. He was a disgrace early on.

I love Trent Edwards, but he has GOT to start performing in wet weather. Fortunately for him the next two games should be indoors(St. L, Ariz).

Go ahead, repeat to yourselves……Your AFC EAST LEADING Buffalo Bills!!! Sounds pretty damned good. Doesn’t it

The Army/Akron game was on our schedule for today, but we ended up canceling the trip. The Erie County Democratic Committee scheduled their reorg meeting for Saturday, and my presence there was required at first, but the expected challenge for the committee’s chairmanship didn’t come off, so no way in hell was I going to waste my time going to that shindig.

Pete headed down to NYC for his cousin’s wedding, and I went to Puck Drop at the arena. Tomorrow we’re doing the Bills/Raiders game at RWS… some friends are coming in from Ottawa so tailgating and some good Buffalo grub is on tap!

And the back of that line is getting farther and farther away.

Donte Whitner promised us a playoff berth, and if the Bills should be fortunate enough to land a home game this postseason, this is expected to be one hot ticket. After all, the Bills should cross the 55,000 season ticket threshold, and with a smaller stadium post-renovation, that leaves fewer single tickets than the last time the Bills hosted a playoff game in 1997. Now take care of league requirements and tickets for sponsors and advertisers, and, natch, that number goes down even further.

But lookee here and see who gets next dibs. Yessiree, our beady-eyed, flapping-head good friends to the North who plunked down the big bucks for club seats up in Toronto, that’s who!

“Priority access to purchase Bills Playoff tickets in Buffalo (limited inventory)”

Memo to Billsfan: BOHICA!*

-Andrew Kulyk

*bend over here it comes again*

The Celtics had everything go their way in Game 2. Officiating was somewhat one sided if you believe the free throw shooting stats(38-10). Paul Pierce played on his (allegedly) injured knee and scored 28 points. And a huge off the bench contribution from Leon Powe helped mightily in stretching a late nine point third quarter lead to an early fourth quarter gap of twenty four.

Powe provided for Boston what any club needs to win a title….a big contribution from a player not expected to be in such a situation to assist a club’s big guns(big 3 in Boston’s case) and provide ample rest for them that will keep them fresh as the series goes on. Powe’s burst of 21 points on this night seemed to be the boost that would allow Boston to coast to an easy Game 2 win.

But it didn’t.

It simply set the stage for the best player in the league to stage a Laker comeback which fell just a bucket or so short of becoming lodged in the annals of history. Kobe chipped in eleven points and the Lakers knocked down four three pointers in cutting a twenty four point lead with eight minutes to go down to just two with under fourty seconds left.

Later with the Lake Show down four, the disappointing Sasha Vujacic launched a lame three that missed badly and sealed a 2-0 series lead for Boston as the teams head west for the next three games. (Yep, they change the travel format for the finals only, time to ditch this I say.)

Only three times has a club trailed 2-0 in the Finals and rallied to win, last being the ‘06 Heat(fluke, just sayin’). And that Miami team is the only home club to win the three middle games(3,4,5) since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format in the early 80’s. Not that I want to crown the Celtics now, but history shows that it’s not looking good for LA right now.

But I will say this now, LA will bring it back to Boston. Time will tell if there will be one or two games there.

Other random thoughts on my mind(hoops related or otherwise)…I really bitched out the Celtics pyrotechnic crew for their lame pre game video. The fine folks of ESPN/ABC are at the opposite end of the spectrum with their goose bump/spine tingling/near tear jerking intro to the Finals. Major goose bump moments when hearing the voices of the late Chick Hearn and Johnny Most.

Dominik Hasek retired??? Should we start a pool to see when he changes his mind? And added bonus for what team he suits up for?

Seriously though, this was the greatest player to wear a Sabres jersey(Note: I didn’t say greatest player that was also very exciting to watch - #11 fans). Only player in franchise history EVER to win an Hart Trophy/MVP, not to mention several Vezina Trophies. The man was the biggest reason that the Sabres were a consistent postseason team and Cup contender.

And the fact that he did this during an era of severe league financial instability in which teams like Buffalo had no real chance to bring in any real assets to assist them in competition only adds to his legacy.

Hopefully the bad blood between Hasek and the Sabres and fans will dissipate soon(It’s. Been. SEVEN. #@$%ing. years.) so that he can have his rightful spot in the HSBC rafters with the French Connection, Patty La La, McAdoo(hey, he’s in MY HSBC rafters) et al.

Bills are over 52K in season ticket sales?? Two thoughts:

1. Yuck Fou Toronto.
2. Nice to see that people picked up on my idea. Just sayin’.

The Belmont - the most predictable two minutes in sports. Boy did we get suckered in to thinking we’d actually see a Triple Crown winner. Frank Robinson and Carl Yastrzemski are probably sipping champagne to celebrate the moment.

-Peter Farrell

I’m gonna do it.

Something I’ve never done since I showed up in Western New York in the immediate aftermath of the Super Bowl Years.

I’m gonna do my part to try to keep this team in town, because dammit I don’t know how else to do it. For me, the best way is to get me season tix for the Bills.

Yes, I can hear the naysayers now….”WHAT!!! Why are you lining Ralph’s pockets with your money after the way he trashed our city!!!” Brings me to my first point:

Buying Bills season tickets doesn’t line his pockets any more than say…Jerry Jones’ pockets. The NFL’s division of weekly ticket revenue is pooled 60/40 amongst all home and road teams in the league and not just the Bills and the visiting teams at the Ralph that season. You can thank Arizona’s Bill Bidwill for this, it was the NFL’s way of compensating him for losing his biggest draw(Dallas) when the NFL realigned its divisions for the ‘02 season.

Hence, a 50$ ticket is divvied 30$/20$ and then those numbers are split by the amount of games played that week. Hmmmm….Ralph gets less than 2$ of my ticket money out of that half a hundred? Suddenly I don’t feel as worked up as I probably should be.

The season ticket base is a way in which fan support can best be measured. While more than half the league’s teams sellout their games on season tickets/and/or leave a small float for public sale the Bills have always had a low season ticket base(yes….47k is low by league standards, even if good by ours). A Ralph sold out on season tix(and hopefully a waiting list) would send the strongest message that Joe Fan could possibly send to the NFL and those arrogant rich folk in Toronto that want to steal our team that F*CK NO..we don’t want this team to go anywhere!!!!

Think something like that hasn’t happened before? It has, and very recently as well.

Think 2005, think New Orleans. The overwhelming destruction of Hurricane Katrina had left the Superdome in shambles and the Saints to head to parts elsewhere to play the ‘05 season.

Of course, amidst the devastation and destruction one would have thought that owner Tom Benson would have rallied with the rest of the city in rebuilding New Orleans by adamantly stating that the Saints would stick around in the meantime.

No. In a move that would make Ralph look like Robin Hood, Benson thought that the immediate aftermath of the biggest natural disaster in American history would be the PERFECT time to bang the drum to yank the Saints right out of town to San Antonio(his hometown). Anywhere but the Bayou.

Of course, fans of the Gulf Coast went ballistic hammering on Benson in similar fashion that we are now with Ralph Wilson. They also did something else:

They sold out the Superdome for all home games prior to the season for the first time in the history of the franchise. Benson be damned! We want this team here!

Fans there could have easily thrown up their hands, told Benson to go to hell and swear that they’d never attend another Saints game. Lord knows those people had(and in some cases still have) FAR more important things to deal with at the time than finding cash to see their shitty NFL team play.

But that simply would have made Benson look right in attempting to bolt town. And staying away from the Ralph will do the same for Wilson and the Toronto cronies that look down their noses at us.

At best, we get our wish and the Bills stay around for years to come…at worst, we see the final years of Bills football in Buffalo and we go down in this struggle, but dammit…. we do not go down quietly and with nothing but our best efforts.

TSN is reporting that the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the CFL want no part in marketing Bills tickets to their season ticket holders.

As was announced last week, the Buffalo Bills have received final clearance to hold 8 home games in Toronto’s Rogers Centre over the next five seasons. As part of the plan, 5000 tickets would be made available to Ti-Cats season ticket holders. Other reports are citing the team’s concern over ticket prices. Some seats might be going for as high as $250 per ticket, with a prepay requirement for all eight games.

Ti-Cats owner Bob Young had this to say:

“We feel that bringing NFL games to stadiums in Canada without a comprehensive agreement between the CFL and the NFL will lead to unintended consequences, not all of them good.”

Gee, ya think?

So maybe all of Southern Ontario ISN’T all a ga-ga over the Bills coming to play their games up there. Kudos to Bob Young for taking a tough stand to protect the integrity of his franchise and his territory.

Nothing like opening up today’s Buffalo News, reading about the Bills and getting my blood to boil.

The Old Geezer chimes in about his team’s plans to play one game a year in Toronto, and how it is a done deal and all set for the next five seasons. Yeah, I had a problem with this whole idea when it was first announced, like who was going to reimburse the taxpayers of Erie County for the loss of revenues and the positive financial impact that comes to the community from each home game. Evidently nobody among our elected officials raised this issue, so it must be OK with everybody… hey… who needs sales tax revenue, bed tax from those filled hotel rooms, when you can just give away a game and play it up in Toronto.

Then the Old Geezer has the nerve to blurt out this comment:

“When I was making the presentation to the owners, I said, ‘I’m tired of standing on a street corner with a tin cup asking you guys to support us,’ ” Wilson said.

Tin cup? TIN CUP??? You rotten piece of crap! You have made hundreds upon hundreds of millions on the backs of this community in your life. You held this community hostage in the 70s, threatening to move to Seattle unless you got us to build you a stadium to your liking. When Congress forced the NFL to change the rules on home game blackouts, YOU were one of the stalwarts who didn’t want ANY home games broadcast on TV. Heaven forbid you lose even one sale on a $6 beer or a $4 bottle of water from a no show. You sent Vince Tobia into bars and restaurants to terrorize and extort them because they had the audacity to beam your games via satellite. You tried to extend your extortion racket into bars in Canada but got skunked at the border. And now you have the nerve to talk about a TIN CUP? Maybe you need to spend one night sleeping the streets or a homeless shelter to understand what real poverty is like.

When asked about the future of the Bills in Buffalo, a subject which is at the heart of raw nerves and anxiety for many here in Buffalo, the Old Geezer replies:

Wilson, asked about the fears of Bills fans that this might be the first step in losing the team to Toronto, said, “They can think whatever they want. I can’t speculate the future.”

Nice answer, Old Geezer. Thank you for assuaging all of our concerns about our football team. Since you will be raking in all that revenue in Canadian currency, make sure you trade it all in for $1000 notes, which are still available in Canada. That way you will be able to cram that much more loot in your coffin when you meet your maker.

Today’s guest column in the Buffalo News pretty much nails my feelings on why I rarely go to football games at RWS anymore.

There is a culture of violence at Buffalo Bills games which, contrary to conventional wisdom, does not occur to any great extent at other NFL venues. It is all fueled by alcohol, drugs, binge drinking at tailgates, and a general mindset that misbehavior and outrageous conduct is acceptable and even cool.

There is one take where I beg to differ with the writer…

The Bills have made a huge investment in security and policing fan behavior, and their intolerance of it inside the stadium is commendable. The Bills have pleaded with fans to clean up their act.

Oh really? Dressing more guys in green jackets and waving batons has solved the problem??? Me thinks not. What the Bills have done is build nice dugout suites and club lounges, and erected an impenetrable wall to keep the Great Unwashed away from their premium customers. Everyone else is left to fend for themselves. What the team should be doing is developing more family friendly tailgate events, music, contests, etc in the lots to discourage the kind of conduct that is going on out there now. What the team should be doing is setting up sobriety checkpoints around the stadium perimeter. Anyone holding a ticket in one hand and swigging beer with the other doesn’t get in to the stadium. Period.

I applaud the Buffalo News for publishing names of those arrested for game day infractions. The media should do more. The Chris Hansen “To Catch A Predator” model, shaming the perps before the viewing public, might make belligerent fans think twice about their conduct. In today’s day and age of technology, establishing a text message mechanism to report misbehaving fans by seat location, and a rapid response by security, sounds like a no brainer.

My advice to families attending sporting events around these parts still goes - Sabres, Bisons, Bandits, UB football. But for now, definitely not the Bills.

OK, so I’d rather see a new home for the Bills go from the ground up and like many others I believe downtown would be neat. However, another renowned AFC franchise that plays in a stadium built in the early seventies is taking the renovation route like we did but in a more comprehensive fashion than was done here nearly a decade ago.

Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium is in the early stages of a 375M$ renovation project that will be completed in time for the 2010 season with monies coming from a 3/8% sales tax increase as well as 125M$ coming from the Hunt family themselves.

Some links to more info and pics here, and here, and here for the complete report.

Another older venue that underwent a complete facelift was Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. While it was a great old school venue, it was also in great need of modernization and the good folks of Northeast Wisconsin, taxpayers as well as Packer shareholders alike plunked down about 300M$ make this a reality. The renovation was complete in time for the 2003 season.

Of course, we think this is also a good reference to check out the New Lambeau with….

If this is the route to go with the Bills and their facilities. Do it all the way instead of the half ass job of the late nineties….second major scoreboard, wider concourses for fans in both levels. Major entry plaza @ Southwestern and Abbott, more places to stand and view the game from. The top of the upper deck, while a nice idea was a bad location. I suggest making the space above the endzone suites and below the scoreboard a plaza/viewing area.

Just a few suggestions and ideas….have at it!

I check out ElmwoodBuffalo Rising pretty regularly - the city development articles are enlightening, the food stuff OK, and the rah-rah-riness is always served with extra sugar. The most entertaining part of most of their pieces come from the commenters - the regulars on that site have got to be the stupidest collection of knuckleheads ever.

Evidently, one of the commenters made it to the big time with his very own reader submission. And right from the get go, the article discussing where to place a new football stadium in this region devolves into mush and loses all credibility.

Why, you ask? I will tell you…

If you want to build a new stadium with the same size and configuration as Ralph Wilson Stadium, here is what you will get… a 70s era facility with few amenities or creature comforts, dank narrow concourses, few open public spaces, no architectural significance, and an obsolete facility from the get go. Today’s modern NFL stadium doubles as a convention facility, a retail hub, a multiuse year round structure with diverse applications. Now, take Arizona’s University of Phoenix Stadium, Houston’s Reliant Stadium or St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome and superimpose those on a map of Buffalo, and you can begin a sensible discussion. My guess is that any one of these buildings have a footprint 50-60% larger than that of The Ralph.

And as usual, the BRO family of kooks come through with their banality in fine form…

Chiknlil….Let’s find a place that is attractive, but protected from the weather. The last thing we need is the perpetuation of Buffalo as a cold wasteland whenever we are featured on national TV.
Wasn’t there a plan to put a covered stadium in Lancaster, just south of the Thruway? What happened to that idea?

Attractive and protected from the weather… How about South Beach? And yes idiot, there was an idea for a covered stadium in Lancaster… in 1969!!!

Read on…

Bison 716…I say Niagera Falls is our best bet!!! A Super Bowl is more likely to happen there, maybe the Olympics (winter-most likely) the fact that the “BUFFALO Bills” (remind you…BUFFALO) is asscociated with Niagera falls is great for our city, as long as we can figure a way to get rail from downtown to the stadium.

A Super Bowl in Buffalo? The OLYMPICS??? What medication is this guy taking?

RiaingDamp666…Why not build stadiums at all of the locations above and let The People decide which ones they want to go to. That’s the democratic way, isn’t it?

Ugh, how do you even respond to that?

I am ashamed to admit it, but I actually used to post comments on BRO. I got off that kick about a year ago at least.

Mark at our sister site All Things Buffalo offers a reasonable take on how we should proceed with the stadium plans. As usual, Mark is spot on. Then check out the comments… Steel, the flamekeeper of the BRO Amen Corner, proceeds to pick Mark apart.

Before you go running off and brokering billion dollar deals to buy and operate an NFL franchise, how about you and your idiot brothers paying all the paper product companies, food vendors, employees, utility suppliers, banks and everyone else you stiffed and left holding the bag when you shut the doors on your downtown restaurant and nightclub?

Oh, and as for you winning a seat in Congress?…Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Indianapolis!

For many years the Colts were mentioned as one of the teams on the list of “future LA stadium tenants”, but that all changed with the groundbreaking for Lucas Oil Stadium in September of 2005. This retractable roofed stadium(cost 500M$, with the Colts kicking in 100M of that) is part of a project that will also expand the nearby convention center to cover where the current RCA Dome now stands.

All this set in the midst of Indianapolis’ historic Wholesale District. Retail, nightlife, restaurants all within a short walk of Lucas Oil Field(and its sister pro sports venue Conseco Fieldhouse).

Opening kickoff at Lucas Oil Field comes in the fall of 2008, to be followed soon thereafter by a visit from a pair of Buffalo’s finest road warriors/sports bloggers.

Will the good folks of this region private and public, do or be able to do with the Bills what Indianapolis and surroundings were able to do with the Colts regarding their long term future in town? If the Bills are to stay here, this is a necessity. If not, Toronto or Los Angeles among other places certainly will.

More renditions of LucasOil Stadium here.

Hmmm, small market….new domed stadium….revitalized downtown district…..could this be a blueprint for a new Bills stadium and surroundings?

Dust off the plans and blueprints for the defunct New York Sports and Convention Center, proposed a few years back by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and build this sucker right here in Buffalo.

Imagine a world class retractable roof facility, located just east of the Cobblestone District towards the Larkin or the First Ward… a destination venue for Bills football, and doubling as a mid sized convention facility, theatre, and housing marquee restaurants and a sports muesum.

This is the answer… build it and our beloved team stays here forever. The time to begin the debate, discussion and funding options should be NOW, not when The Old Geezer dies.