Western New York's 10 Greatest Teams
10. 1973-75 Buffalo Bills. 3 seasons, 26-16, but only 1 Playoff berth, in 1974 -- the only postseason game of O.J. Simpson's career. The 1970s Bills had the misfortune to play in the AFC East at a time when the Miami Dolphins dominated it every bit as much as the New England Patriots have in this past generation.
9. 1980-81 Buffalo Bills. Back-to-back Playoff berths, the team's 1st Division title in 14 years (1980), and its 1st postseason win in 16 years (1981 -- of course, against the Jets). But they stumbled into mediocrity in 1982, and went 8-40 from 1984 to 1986. Of course, that allowed them to pile up the draft picks that built their early 1990s AFC dynasty.
8. 1995-99 Buffalo Bills. A sub-.500 season in 1994 allows this period to be considered separate from the one of 1988-93. 5 seasons, 4 Playoff berths, and the 1995 AFC East title, but only 1 Playoff win. Marv Levy's gang still had something left in them, but they were getting old. "The Music City Miracle" of January 4, 2000 would be the Bills' last Playoff game for 18 years.
Before clinching a Playoff berth on the last day of last season, the Bills were the only team in the "big four" sports not to have clinched a Playoff berth in the 21st Century. But they made it. They almost certainly won't make it this season, but there could be more for this team.
7. 1973-76 Buffalo Braves. They made 3 straight NBA Playoffs, something the franchise now known as the Los Angeles Clippers would not do again until 2015. But they only won 1 Playoff series, against the Philadelphia 76ers in 1976, and wouldn't make the Playoffs again until 1992.
6. 1996-2001 Buffalo Sabres. 5 straight Playoff berths, an NHL Northeast Division title, 2 trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, and a Conference Championship in 1999. They got slightly closer than the 1975 edition, taking Game 6 to overtime. It's worth remembering, though: Even if that goal had been waved off, the Sabres would still have had to win that game and then beat the Stars in Dallas in Game 7.
5. 1974-81 Buffalo Sabres. 7 straight Playoff berths, 3 NHL Adams Division titles, 2 trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Bills' 1st berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. They gave the Philadelphia Flyers a better fight than the Boston Bruins had the year before. But they couldn't get back until 1999.
4. 1988-93 Buffalo Bills. This is the most talented team in the history of Western New York sports, but not the most accomplished. 6 straight Playoff berths, 5 AFC Eastern Division titles, 10 postseason victories, 5 trips to the AFC Championship Game, and 4 AFC Championships. But they lost the Super Bowl by margins of 1, 13, 17 and 35 points (not in that order). It was a great achievement to keep getting back, but they could never finish the job.
3. 1949-57 Syracuse Nationals. Okay, Syracuse is in Central New York, not Western New York, but I'm counting it. 8 straight Playoff berths, 3 regular-season NBA Eastern Division titles, 9 Playoff series won, 7 Eastern Division Finals reached, 3 NBA Finals, and the 1955 NBA Championship -- still the last World Championship won by a team in New York State but not in New York City.
2. 1945-55 Rochester Royals. Rochester definitely counts as "Western New York," Although it says something that the NBA put Syracuse in the Eastern Division and Rochester in the Western Division. Syracuse, State College and Harrisburg are where America's Northeast begins to turn into its Midwest.
8 straight Playoff berths, 3 regular-season NBA Western Division titles, 4 trips to the Division Finals, 3 National Basketball League Finals berths, the 1945 NBL Championship, and, after moving to the NBA in 1948, the 1951 NBA Championship.
But the NBA could not be sustained in small cities. So, in 1957-58, the Rochester Royals moved to Cincinnati (then the Kansas City Kings in 1972 and the Sacramento Kings in 1985), and the Fort Wayne Pistons moved to Detroit. In 1963, the Syracuse Nationals moved to become the Philadelphia 76ers. The days when the teams from mid-sized Midwest cities like Anderson, Indiana; Moline, Illinois; and Waterloo, Iowa could be absorbed into the NBA were over.
1. 1963-66 Buffalo Bills. 4 straight Playoff berths, 3 AFL Championship Games, and the 1964 and 1965 AFL Championships. These are still the only 2 times that a major league sports team from Buffalo has gone as far as the rules of the time allowed them to go.