A great Buffalo Bills milestone will be achieved at today9s game against the Cleveland Browns.

No, we9re not making any bold predictions about the struggling Bills football team.

The milestone will be in the stands, when Rochester9s Ken Johnson— aka Pinto Kenny—walks through the Ralph Wilson Stadium gates. It will mark the 250th straight Bills game the 52-year-old Johnson has attended.

Not the 250th straight home game. Johnson has attended every Bills regular- season and playoff game, home and away, since the 1994 season opener.

Do you think the Bills9 current decade of futility has him down? Hah!

"Not at all," Johnson said. "I9m certainly in denial. Every season I absolutely believe we9re going to win the Super Bowl. I think all good football fans have to be in denial."

Actually, Johnson9s passion for the Bills was borne out of futility. It was the late 1960s and the team was miserable. Johnson9s family members often would give up and stop watching the televised games by the second quarter. This offended young Kenny.

"I9d get mad at them for giving up, and I9d sit by the TV and watch the whole game," he recalls. "I started really getting passionate about the games more because people were giving up."

Loyalty, it9s obvious, is one of Johnson9s great virtues.

If the road game is a 10-hour drive or less, Johnson drives. More and he usually flies. Two years ago, however, he drove to all the road games, including the ones to Miami and Jacksonville. In 2004, he drove to Seattle. Took him 41 hours.

Johnson said he never has come close to missing a game during the 16- year streak.

"One time in Green Bay I had a 103 fever and it was the end of December, but I still made it to the game," Johnson said, referring to the 1997 finale. "That was Steve Tasker9s last game. And I was sitting in the end zone right in front of him when he got thrown out."

"I have some fail-safe rules built into my routine to make sure I don9t miss a game," Johnson said.

One of Johnson9s self-imposed rules: He always wakes up Sunday morning within a taxi drive of the stadium.

Another: "If I9m flying I always fly out early enough so that if something goes wrong with the plane or I somehow wind up on a no-fly list (he9s joking), that I still have time to rent a car and drive to the game."

Johnson has been the subject of numerous television features, which document the unique tailgating rituals.

Since 1989, Johnson has come to every home in a 1980 Ford Pinto— hence his nickname. It has 186,000 miles. He grills food directly on the hood of the Pinto but not on conventional pans. Bacon is grilled on a saw. Chicken wings are deep fried in an army helmet. Burgers, hot dogs and other foods are cooked on shovels, rakes, hubcaps, all sitting on top of charcoals.

Only in America.

Johnson doesn9t leave anything to chance with his Pinto, either. It9s going just as strong as its owner because he keeps refurbishing it.

"Over the last two years I redid the unibody; I got all new sheet metal for the underneath of the car," he said. "This year I went to a junk yard and bought all the parts for the front end."

"You can9t go to an auto parts store anymore and get parts for a 1980 Pinto," he said. "So in my basement I9ve accumulated a Pinto auto parts store. If anything ever needs to be replaced on the car I have it—starter, carburator, distributor, radiator, engine plugs, bolts, windshield glass, hoses, a steering column, coils, everything."

The Pinto Kenny gang can be found in Lot 1 near Pole 5. His streak of attending home games is at 210, dating to the 1984 season. A fair number of Bills fans, no doubt, could top that total. But there might not be another fan in the country who can top Johnson9s consecutive-games streak.

He is the iron man of fans.

"Whenever I decide to stop, I9ll probably keep going one more year just to make sure," he said.

Marvin who?

Colts QB Peyton Manning has four straight 300-yard passing games this year and his receiving corps is rolling with WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dallas Clark leading the way. Second- year WR Pierre Garcon has become the deep threat in place of injured Anthony Gonzalez. Rookie WR Austin Collie is getting it done running solid routes from the slot. The Colts have not missed 37-year-old Marvin Harrison at all. In fact, there9s reason to think Harrison held the offense back a bit last year. Manning has selfless guys in Clark and the young wideouts. He is free to spread the ball around at his discretion, and he doesn9t have to worry about keeping Harrison happy, which seemed to be an issue at times the past couple years. Manning has completed 70.8 percent of his passes and has been sacked just twice.

LeBeau and Lions

Since the Browns are in town, we9ll take the opportunity drive way off the road and rub an ancient personnel gaffe in their nose. In 1959 they drafted Ohio State cornerback Dick LeBeau in the fifth round, 58th overall. By today9s standard that9s like a late second-round pick. But they cut him. The Browns had a first-round pick ( Jim Shofner) at one corner and a good player ( Bernie Parrish) at the other. Nevertheless, it was a mistake, because LeBeau went on to intercept 62 passes, which still ranks seventh all-time. He9s a Hall-of-Fame finalist this year. Le- Beau was the Browns9 last cut in 959 and was signed to Detroit9s taxi squad. He was activated after seven weeks and played 14 years.

LeBeau, the Steelers9 defensive guru, goes back to Detroit this week to face the Lions.

"In those days they actually called it the taxi squad9 because I think it originated that the guys that did that drove taxis," LeBeau recalled this week. "And I fortunately came after that brigade, but I learned the defense, practiced, and then they activated me."

Onside kicks

Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas will visit the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society at 7 p. m. Tuesday to talk about skill development, safety, and various levels of football play. This event is designed for young football players, parents, and coaches. On display will be memorabilia from Thomas9 career in the museum9s Bills 50th season exhibit. Cost to attend is the regular museum admission, which is free for members and ranges from $6 for adults to $2.50 for children 7 to 12.

The three teams that changed offensive coordinators before the season (Buffalo, Tampa and Kansas City) are 1-11.

Buffalo native Sean Ryan, the St. Joe9s and Boston College product, was signed by Kansas City to add blocking to the Chiefs9 tight end position. But he already has 11 catches, two for touchdowns.

Milestones ahead for Brett Favre, who joined the 40-something crowd Saturday: Only one quarterback in NFL history has made the Pro Bowl at age 40 or older ( Warren Moon in 1997 with Seattle). None has started a playoff game. However in January 1971, Oakland9s George Blanda was 17 for 32 for 271 yards at age 43 in a 27-17 loss to Baltimore.

Even after the Packers9 loss to the Vikings on Monday, Packer fans voted 66 percent in favor to the question of whether Green Bay did the right thing in parting ways with Favre last year, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.