Offermann Madness
At 5:30, the line to get to the Swan Street gate and get one of the 4,000 Offermann Stadium replicas hooked all the way around Dunn Tire Park, down Washington Street and past Pearl Street on the way to Exchange. Wow. Bisons officials, by the way, point out your intrepid blogger may have, in fact, been duped by "Froggiegames" the EBay seller who purported to already have one in hand several hours before the gates opened.
The theory is that the guy, who listed Tonawanda as his location, put up his listing early so it would be the first auction to end but still isn't getting one until he gets through the gates at 6. And look closely at his picture. It's the one the Bisons have on their Web site with the date "Aug. 20" scratched out in black on the bottom right-hand corner! Pretty sneaky. (By the way, a Bisons spokesman tells me there will be a limited number available for purchase in the Batter's Box gift shop for $20 + tax -- or far less than they'll probably go on EBay.)
Anyway, it looks like the third stadium replica giveaway of the last three seasons is going to be a pretty big hit. Wonder what the Bisons are going to do next season now that there are no more stadiums left in franchise annals!
---Mike Harrington
