The Buffalo News : Sports

Idon’t watch a lot of tennis, but Wimbledon always grabs my attention for two reasons: Roger Federer and the Williams sisters.

Toughness is defined by the ability to withstand great strain without tearing or breaking, to be strong and resilient, rugged and resolute.

Itook a great deal of pleasure writing this column. Having grown up a Los Angeles Lakers fan, it was with extreme joy that I watched them dispatch the Orlando Magic to capture another NBA championship.

They had lived with the memory for nearly a year, spent countless nights examining what had happened, how it could happen. Who lets a 20-point fourth-quarter lead get away at home in what amounts to a divisional title game? How does one ever make sense of that?

Nobility ran rampant in the Buffalo Bills locker room Sunday afternoon as the defense attempted to exonerate the offense for the second-half whipping inflicted by the Houston Texans. Defenders blamed themselves for Houston's 22 fourth-quarter points. They insisted there's no excuse for allowing the Texans to put a 22-minute stranglehold on the football in the second half.

Quarterback controversy? There is no quarterback controversy. There's an offensive line controversy and there are defensive controversies. And we all know that based on the decade-long results that there are most definitely head coaching and front office controversies. But a quarterback controversy? No. Sorry. That's far too easy pickings.

Never mind the one-piece sticks with the trampoline effect, goalie pads that look like basement doors, Herman Munster shoulder pads and anything else that contributed to the evolution of hockey. Nothing changed the face of the NHL, quite literally, over the past half century more than the goalie mask.

Ryan Miller knew long before the season began that not all of them would be pretty. The Sabres would have nights when their legs would become heavy and their game would flat-line for reasons not entirely clear. It's bound to happen over the course of an 82-game schedule in the NHL.

Exact numbers weren't available, but estimates from Las Vegas had casinos losing some $10 million combined last Sunday after gamblers wagered on heavy favorites in a stream of blowouts. Apparently, it was the worst day on record for bookmakers when it came to the NFL.

Lindy Ruff didn't bother addressing his team after this one. The Sabres were outplayed, outworked and outclassed in Friday night's 5-2 loss to the Flyers. Ruff let them talk it out among themselves. Evidently, Mike Grier did most of the talking.

I'll be honest. I missed him Wednesday night. In the aftermath of the Yankees' 27th World Series championship, I found myself wishing for one of those classic scenes of George Steinbrenner, exulting in front of the TV cameras as his team sprayed champagne in the victorious locker room.

Last July, after Martin Biron became a free agent, he drove his wife, Anne Marie, and three children from Philadelphia to Buffalo. Biron got off Interstate 90 at the Pembroke exit so he could take a nice, leisurely drive through the country roads.

Q: Do you think Dick Jauron wanted to cut Langston Walker? — Bill Austin, Buffalo

The bottom is falling out of the NFL this season.

Making the switch from the 4-3 defense to the 3-4 defense comes with a lot of collateral damage, and it's not a one-year process.

PHILADELPHIA — Back in April, former Buffalo Bisons star Ben Francisco became the answer to a trivia question when he scored the first run in the new Yankee Stadium. He told me after that game he didn't realize the significance until his phone was flooded with text messages when he came into the clubhouse.

While the big games continue on the field, there's a huge one playing out off the field as well. You've probably never heard the name Aroldis Chapman but by this time next year, you may know all about him.

NEW YORK — There were huge cheers Friday night in Yankee Stadium when the borough-sized HD Jumbotron showed a video montage of the franchise's best moments in ALCS history. One of the biggest roars came as Aaron Boone's 11th-inning home run off Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield soared into the left-field stands to win Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS.

One of the reasons that I've never been a big fan of Fox play-by-play man Joe Buck is that he rarely says anything memorable after the final out in a World Series.

The New Millennium, which no longer is very new, has not been kind to today's visitors, the Houston Texans, or to their hosts, the Buffalo Bills. The Texans, who first hit the field in 2002, received the usual NFL thumb in their eye via the expansion draft and haven't fully recovered from it. The Bills' wounds of this receding decade have been almost exclusively self-inflicted.

Another week, another trio of annoyances from a guy who prides himself on having a little Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") in him.

It's too early to make any quarterback changes based on one game. However, Ryan Fitzpatrick did show some abilities that have been lacking. He releases his passes faster, handles the pass rushes and blitzes better, scrambles better, and finds his receivers well.

Dear Mr. Wilson:

Here we are in the middle of the second season of baseball— the playoffs.