Games That Keep Us Connected

November 27, 2021

We’ve spoken many times about how sports… despite their many flaws… still serve the greater good. My family is pretty far flung. My kids live in Athens, GA – Detroit, MI and Missoula, Montana. It makes it tough to grab a quick cup of coffee and talk about current events.

But in Montana… I help run Kyle’s fantasy football team. For those who appreciate such things… this is a real work of art. It’s a thirty team… three-tiered relegation league. I became a hero to my son in 2016 when I helped Golden Wheels… named for the late great Buffalo Bills receiver Elbert Dubenion whose name is on the wall of fame… move from an also ran status in the second division to the elite team title in just two years.

*Kyle Pucko, with family, now resides in Montana – and still roots for the Buffalo Bills*

With two kids and a business to run… he didn’t have the time to properly put into it… while I… for lack of a better term… did. It helps keep us connected.

*Carrie Pucko, with Bill, resides in Atlanta – home of the 2021 World Champion Braves*

Down in Georgia my daughter Carrie… who grew up on SportsCenter in the morning before catching the school bus… routinely plays against me in a baseball fantasy league. Auction draft… salary caps… the whole shebang. I’m good at it. And she beats me. As a college professor should I suppose. It helps keep us connected.

*Bill with son, Nathan, at a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park.*

While in Detroit… Nathan… who is a Pistons season ticket holder… goes head-to-head with me daily picking an NBA game against the spread. We’re hitting a combined three out of five right which would win serious money in Vegas. At stake is dinner at Slows Bar BQ… our favorite Michigan barbeque joint. It helps keep us connected.
And we all root for the Buffalo Bills.

Carrie, Kyle and Nathan live a combined 3500 miles away from Rochester. And that’s a little tough. So, I am especially thankful for the games that help keep us connected.

Catch Bill Pucko every weekend on The Press Box, airing in Rochester on WHAM-13 ABC

Category: Buffalo Bills, Press Box
Tag: Athens, Bill Pucko, Buffalo Bills fans, Detroit, Missoula, Pucko family, Slows Bar BQ, Unfinished Business

Published by Bill Pucko

Bill Pucko has spent over three decades as a broadcast journalist working in television, radio and print. He was the featured sportscaster on Rochester’s YYN and WHEC-TV, awarded the Rochester Press and Radio Club’s Sportscaster of the Year Award three times and inducted onto the Frontier Field Walk of Fame in 2006. Bill is a co-founder of Classy Wolf Media, a television and video production company currently syndicating two weekly sports programs, The High School Sports Beat and The Press Box, on WHAM-TV and FOX Rochester. View all posts by Bill Pucko