birtmc.com

Western New York is rightfully proud of its contributions to the culinary world. When our local favourites turn into world-renowned cuisine, we deserve to celebrate that. In 1985, the first BurgerFest was held in Hamburg to celebrate a century of burgers. Hamburgers – which owe their name to the town in which they were created – are widely believed to have originated at the Erie County Fairgrounds when the sausage stand run by Frank and Charles Menches ran out of pork, so they sold ground beef patties instead. Although locals know to just call them “wings” (or at most, “chicken wings”), 2002 saw the inaugural National Buffalo Wing Festival come to the city to celebrate its most iconic dish. Inspired by Bill Murray’s insatiable character in the film Osmosis Jones , Drew “Wing King” Cerza acted fast to make the then-mythological event a now-spectacular reality. Of course, we have other foods that are uniquely ours and widely appreciated (at least regionally, although the presence o...

This isn't the first time I've said something like this. As a result of my foray with FC Buffalo and getting my first taste of soccer experience as a high schooler, I decided to more closely follow several other squads as well: Bedlington (RIP), Liverpool, Western New York Flash, the U.S. National teams. And in Major League Soccer, I chose to adopt the Portland Timbers as my favourite. Inspired by their decades-long history in the NASL, the vocal and vibrant Timbers Army, the tifos and chants that adorned Jeld-Wen Field, and their built-in hatred for fellow MLS-newcomers Seattle and Vancouver, plus the fact that they'd existed for nearly 40 years with no trophies seemed like the perfect fit. And for a time, it was. But along came Minnesota United. Entering league play in 2017 (in a 5-1 loss at Portland, may I add), the "Loons" didn't carry the same weight of tradition as the Timbers. However, the colours, nickname, logo, and my personal familial ties to the st...

Good morning, and welcome to hell. Yesterday, a report emerged that Ohio University has initiated and engaged in conversations with the Sun Belt Conference about the possibility of exiting the Mid-American Conference to join the SBC. Before we go in-depth as to why that’s an asinine idea to think, let alone say out loud, let me make my stance on this crystal clear: This is a bad idea. While the MAC has flown the flag over Power 5 opponents for several years, let us pray it does not become the image above the conference's epitaph.   And for the sake of being up front, this piece will be focused primarily through a football lens, because despite the implications a move like this would have on basketball, soccer, softball, and every other sport, football is what is driving these unilaterally shortsighted, selfish, and greedy moves by athletic departments and schools across the college sports landscape. According to the article that initially revealed the news, Ohio is the only named M...