God Bless Jim Kelly

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I give a lot of my friends and family a really hard time about being fans of the Bills and Sabres.

I do it because they really, really tie their emotions to it and I sort of like being on the other side of any issue. I'm sure that I've infuriated a whole bunch of people.

I thrive on that.

Yet I've always been a tremendous fan of all the sports. I watch the Bills and the Sabres still. I know of all of their moves. I get frustrated with their lack of direction because it shouldn't take 20 years to rebuild anything.

But where I get really misty about all of it is when I think of the Bills in the early 90's.

They went to, and lost 4 straight Super Bowls.

There certainly is some angst involved, but a lot of pride too, and one of the things that really fired me up back then was when someone picked on Jim Kelly.

He was great. Hall-of-Famer. He doesn't need me to defend his play.

Yet Kelly and Mattingly retired the same year. I remember thinking that my childhood was over because as an adult I wouldn't have such hero-worship anymore.

And that has been true.

Yesterday they announced that Jim has cancer.

Now it's a little strange because I've met Jim quite a few times through the years. He threw passes to my kids - who all dropped 'em - I'm friends with his wife, Jill, who is one of the best human beings I've ever met. Jill wrote a wonderful foreword to my book House of Miracles and she made me look a lot better when we hit the pages of the Buffalo News.

They have a wonderful family.

When Jeff was sick, Jill was there for me. When it didn't work out so well, Jill made sure I had a number of books that could help me through.

I sent Jill a note yesterday, and she responded in her usual faith-filled manner.

There will be a lot of people who said well-wishes to the Kelly family.

They've seen so much and been through some real tragedy.

Here's hoping that God Will Bless them through this battle.

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