You know how you know when things are going really bad and that the fans are turning against you, when an unemployed 18-year-old raises over $1400 through the Internet to buy time on a billboard telling Buffalo Bills team owner Ralph Wilson that “It’s time to clean house, RALPH.”
Ryan Abshagen from New Freedom, PA who organized the campaign said “I honestly never thought it would ever be this big. Fans are disgruntled. It’s out there. It’s big. People are going to hear about it.”
Starting next week the ad will flash up to 3,000 times a day on a billboard overlooking I-190. In addition to the message to Wilson will be a checklist of who the fans want fired, head coach Dick Jauron, chief college scout Tom Modrak and VP of pro personnel John Guy.
Last week’s miserable outing against the Browns, where for the second time in three weeks the team was unable to muster a single touchdown was the final straw for many fans. One group of fans stood up with matching T-shirts spelling “FIRE DICK NOW,” while the always enjoyable paper-bag headed fans were also in attendance.
Abshagen came up with the idea initally after the 38-10 drubbing by the Dolphins on Oct. 4 and began soliciting donations, but after the Browns game, and thanks to some publicity via the local news he raised $1125 in three days, giving him enough to rent another billboard or to extend the ad another week.
“We don’t hate anybody,” Abshagen said, when asked about how the message might be interpreted. “The donors and myself included, we don’t mean any harm or wish to insult anyone. We simply just want to get our voice out as fans.”‘
I for one hope more and more fans become this proactive and put their bitching to good use. In the meantime, let’s just marvel at how cheap billboard time is in Buffalo, we should all get together and get some Slanch Report billboard time.
[Yahoo!]
The Slanch Report 
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