Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

Sad news from San Diego: John Butler, the general manager of the San Diego Chargers and, prior to that, GM of the Buffalo Bills, has died of cancer.

I never quite knew what to make of Butler as GM -- he seemed to have a good eye for talent, putting together a scouting team that constantly had the Bills selecting quality players despite the fact that all through the 1990s the Bills always had their picks coming late in the draft rounds, a consequence of their decade-plus of being one of the league's better teams (and four consecutive years of being the league's second-best team). Butler had a tendency, though, to goof up on some of the financial stuff -- giving big contracts at the same time to Doug Flutie and Rob Johnson, for example, a move that fouled up the Bills' salary cap and resulted in a massive talent-purge and a 3-13 season two years ago; and I never thought Butler had as good an eye for coaching talent as he did for on-field talent. But he was an excellent football man, and he was a major part of the success the Bills enjoyed for more than ten years, starting in 1988 and only ending in 2000, with only two losing seasons in between. And from all reports, Butler's Chargers were on the road to respectability.

John Butler was a fine football man, and he will be missed.