Remember Josh Reed? If you’re a fan of Louisiana State football, you probably have fond memories of the onetime Tiger great. Reed completed his LSU career in 2001 and still holds SEC single-game and season receiving yardage records. He won the 2001 Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top collegiate receiver.

If you’re a Buffalo Bills fan, your memories are probably a little less rosy. In eight seasons from 2002 to 2009, Reed collected 284 receptions for 3,284 yards and 10 touchdowns, making him (statistically) one of the top 10 receivers in Bills history. However, he was reviled by fans for his seemingly frequent drops, his prominent position on several abysmal Buffalo offenses and his inability—despite that stellar college career—to ever break out of his journeyman status in the National Football League. In his final season—2009—Reed eked out a single TD for a team that, had it received some kind of offensive spark, may have been a playoff contender.

But whatever—players come, players go. We love them, we hate them, we never hear from them again. What’s the big deal about Josh Reed?

Here’s the big deal about Josh Reed: a fan post over at the excellent Buffalo Rumblings site unearthed a Josh Reed interview from March 2011 in which the former Bill lobs a couple eyebrow-raising bombs at the city of Buffalo and Bills fans. In this TigerFeed post, Reed is pretty clear about his feelings for the Queen City:

It might be different in other cities but you know, Buffalo is in Western New York. It, really as far as the layout, the landscape and the area was kind of like the South, in New York. It’s not anything like the city. It’s real laid back in the country, but the people are horrible. As far as getting in trouble in Buffalo or socially, there’s nothing to do. You go to practice and go home. In eight years we never made the playoffs and didn’t have much success, so the fans are brutal. They sit here and say they have the best fans and have the best food. No. Coming from Louisiana where you have great weather, you can go outside 90 percent of the time. The people here are just friendly; you don’t even have to know somebody. If you say,’Hello,’ they’re going to say, ‘Hello,’ back; they may even start up a conversation. Up there, you say, ‘Hello,’ they’re like, ‘What do you mean, hello?’ It’s just like if they’re so miserable up here, then move.

Well! Sorry for ruining the whole NFL experience for you, Josh. In fairness, Reed was a Louisiana guy (a native of Lafayette) who had to endure some mighty trying times in the Bills organization. On the other hand, those times were mighty trying, in part, because Reed never developed into a legitimate threat. Everyone has a little blame in the situation.

We could bluster and rage about his pointed digs (DO YOU HAVE NO APPRECIATION FOR LATE 19th CENTURY ARCHITECTURE, JOSH? OR OUR FOUR DISTINCT SEASONS?), but whatever. It’s water under the bridge, Josh, and we hope you catch (err, attend) a playoff game up here this season when Fitzy and SJ13 are carving up defenses and Super Mario is crushing QBs like picnic ants. It’s the new Buffalo—we live to forgive.

Photo from Zimbio.com.