A Rust Belt Portrait

Peter Richmond, writing a profile on Ryan Fitzpatrick, gives Buffalo a supporting role in the story:

Things are no less depressing to the south of the city, along the waterfront, where gap-toothed warehouses and factories haunt the shore — a view that has hooked Fitzpatrick, a Sunbelt child, with its poignancy. "It's the exact opposite of where I grew up: a farming community that started booming with every chain restaurant you can imagine. The schools are all brand-new, nice schools, there's this great grid system; it's like Sim City, like you're sitting there on a computer: 'Now there are this many people, so you need a hospital and two more elementary schools.' The exact opposite of here. I love Arizona … but there's something about Buffalo. It's a community. I don't know if it's just how nice people here are, or the pride they take in being the City of Good Neighbors … but we love living here. We love it. It's by far our favorite place we've ever been."
That would include St. Louis and Cincinnati, two other past-their-prime cities that share a remarkable number of dismal historical similarities with Buffalo. It kind of makes you wonder if, in a graphic-novel alternate universe, Fitzpatrick has been predestined to visit failing American post-industrial towns until one of them recognizes his mission as Savior and anoints him.⁵
But it's been a particularly rough century-plus in Buffalo (a.k.a. "City of Light"), ever since the Pan American Exposition of 1901 tried to strut the beauty of electricity to the world by tapping into the Falls 25 miles north and draping all the lakeside pavilions in glittering bulbs, but William McKinley's on-site assassination put a damper on the festival.⁶ Then the steel left for China, then St. Lawrence marginalized the port, and the stolid, huge, red-brick, smack-downtown Statler Tower closed its doors.
Today, reinvigorated by some wise political luring of the health industry (the Bills' practice facility, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is called "The Bills Healthy Zone"), Buffalo is in the top 10 U.S. cities you want to raise a family in, according to Forbes magazine. And a local investor just bought the Statler and says he's going to spend $100 million bringing it back to life (that would be four times what it cost to build the Bills' stadium).

The next line gets me:

But American cities are generally judged by the success of their sports teams, and if the City of Light is going to recapture some voltage, it's going to need the Bills to win a few games in a very tough division.

Really?  I would guess that isn't completely accurate.  Is Seattle defined by the Mariners and Seahawks?  Is San Diego a lousy place to live?  Is Houston the definition of mediocrity?  I would guess that Buffalo would still be Buffalo if the Bills started winning, but it might make 42" of snow in 24 hours in January a bit more bearable if the Bills had a playoff game on Sunday.