Opining on Bills fans, Tim Brown's accusations of racism, etc.

I used to occasionally wonder about the committment of Bills fans. I don't any more. The reports that nearly 50,000 of them have signed up for season tickets is pretty impressive, considering this team hasn't made the playoffs in a decade. Clearly, the fact fans have to pay for seven rather than eight home games is a factor, as is the sense that the team is only years removed from moving its entire schedule to Toronto. Still, Western New York football fans have put their money where their mouths are.

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Tim Brown's assertion that Raiders owner Al Davis told him he hated African-Americans from Notre Dame back in 1988 seems a little hard to believe. Al is a lot of things - including strange - but there's nothing in his background to suggest he is a racist. If anything, he was far ahead of his fellow NFL owners when it came to race relations. He hired Art Shell to be the first black head coach of the modern pro football era and also hired the first Latino-American coach in Tom Flores.

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I think we would have been better off if Roger Clemens and Dick Cheney had just kept their traps shut.

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Silence, though, hasn't been golden with regards to banished slugger Manny Ramirez. It's nice that he is going to apologize to his teammates, but I think he needs to hold a press conference and apologize to the fans, too.

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I've long advocated the No-Huddle be a part of the Bills gameplan, so I'm happy to see them work on it this offseason. I'm not saying it has to be the primary offense, the way it was with Jim Kelly and the K-Gunners during the Super Bowl years, but there's nothing wrong with it being used as a change of pace. I think it will utilize Trent Edwards' superior decision-making skills and alleviate some of the pressure from the Bills' totally revamped line.

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You have to admire Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals. Despite being mired on a rotten team that nobody cares about, he's hit safely in 30 consecutive games.

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Here's wishing Brooks Robinson many years of good health now that he's successfully on the other side of radiation treatments for his prostate cancer. The Baltimore Orioles Hall-of-Fame third baseman is one of sport's best ambassadors. A truly nice guy.

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Let the soap opera begin. VH1's cameras will be in Buffalo next week to start filming their reality series involving the life of Terrell Owens. A nation waits with bated breath.

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I was happy to see Fred Jackson receive a contract extension with the Bills. The versatile free-agent running back from Coe College (Marv Levy's alma mater) has done everything the team has asked of him - including return punts - and he and Dominic Rhodes will be integral contributors to the Buffalo attack at the start of this season when Marshawn Lynch has to serve his suspension.