It’s about time that Western New York went on the offensive.
Decades (or is it centuries?) of bullying have to end at some point.
The bully, of course, is you, Downstate New York.
We know how you operate. You don’t know we exist—that is, unless your kids come up for the schools. Then they leave, always with a snide remark to make about the place.
You send your prisoners, too.
Attica Prison riot, anybody?
Heck, even Nas knows about that.
You snicker at the retail, your covert classism being overt as hell.
You obsess about the snow, as if you’ve discovered some sort of tropical paradise.
And through it all, Western New York—in all its kindness—roots for your teams, which by the way really suck. If you’re so smart and important, shouldn’t you be able to fix that problem?
But I digress.
It’s 2025, the era of Trump 2.0, and alliances mean nothing.
We’ve been looking around and doing some math.
Take a glance at Lake Ontario and draw a line from Rochester to Buffalo—that’s almost 2.2 million people. Then keep going past the border and curve around the western edge of the lake—that’s another 10 million or so.
It turns out that 12+ million people, when working together, can accomplish a lot.
Western New York and Canada, naturally, have known this for a while.
From 2008-2013, the Buffalo Bills played one home game per year in Toronto. To this day, 10-15 percent of Bills season ticket holders are Canadian. The Bills even have a relationship with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. Looking for gear? Go to Toronto.
The Triple A team of the Toronto Blue Jays plays in Buffalo. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the actual Toronto Blue Jays played in Buffalo.
Buffalo and Toronto share public media through a binational organization called Buffalo Toronto Public Media.
The Tragically Hip, aka Canada’s band, has an active tribute band—in Buffalo.
Residents of Fort Erie (Ontario) shop—and work—you know where.
And that gets me to now, October 2025.
Your beloved New York Yankees just played the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series.
Here’s what Western New York had to say about the matchup.
The Blue Jays won, going on to beat the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series.
In other words, the team from Canada is in the World Series. Here’s a reminder.
As a final point of mention, it turns out that one of the team’s key contributors, Ernie Clement, grew up in Rochester (New York).
So after years of being the butt of your jokes, Downstate, we here in the middle of nowhere have three words for you:
GO BLUE JAYS!
P.S. You can still send your college students and prisoners.
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