[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

Had a great time! So much for the cheap Sabers tickets, though. We walked around for 45 minutes into the start of the game, and tickets were going for a couple hundred $$$ per! These weren't the Conference Finals, were they? Spent a lot of time at Pearl Street. That was great having the free train from our hotel down to the arena area.

 

Game Day was great, and everyone was cool. I was surprised at how many Lions fans were there. Of course it had to rain on our one game we go see in Buffalo. Of course it would. I love the Ralph! Some Bills fans we met said not to get excited about it, because it's very plain, but I like it. It's simple old-school football. Not a lot of frills. Long lines for the boys room, though! The practice facility is great on game day. We don't have anything like that. Sat down and watched the round-table discussion.

 

We looked for Sheldon Road to find the Robot's parking lot, but we couldn't find it. Then we thought we were pulling into the Hammer lot, and ended up in the wrong one.

 

Congrats on your first win. I promised, and the Lions delivered. I knew, KNEW, they would not tie that game. The Lions were in NO danger of winning that game. They were playing out the same script they've perfected over the years. Do just enough to keep fans interested and let them down in the end.

 

Thanks for a great weekend, Buffalo! Great fans, great city!

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

Hey, we can blow a huge lead as well (Dallas MNF, New England etc)and have sucked for a long time too. You don't get to have all the fun.

 

Well, we might not have all the "fun", but Lions fans have the "lion's share" of it. We're the franchise no one even thinks about, because we're so bad. We're not even good enough to make fun of; just insignificant.

 

 

As for listening to sports talk I assume you mean WGR. Worst sports talk on the planet! Only station I've ever heard where hating the city and sports teams are a requirement for employment.

 

I think that's more common than we think. They're the same way in Detroit; not all of them, but some of them. They hate on our college and pro teams, it seems just to get a reaction. It gets old.

 

PTR said it right - "As for wearing your gear, you'll be fine as long as you don't act like a douche." Cant believe someone advised not to wear your gear....

 

Let us know how it was, though I hope everything for you was great except for the game!

 

I will report back when we return. We are VERY humble at away games. There's no other way for a Lions fan to be. Well, there's "ashamed" too I guess.

 

Ya if that's the case i would recommend The Pearl Street Bar and Grill, or as previously mentioned some of the bars right near the HSBC arena. (Pearl street is about 3 or 4 blocks away, some other bars already mentioned are closer)

 

would also recommend to show up tailgating early in the 8am time area just to take in the full scene and not feel rushed.

 

off the top of my head most often have problems with fans from cocky teams or rivals that we play a lot ex (jets/dolphins/pats/steelers/raiders etc..) not often i've really seen random fans from non rival teams just minding their own business getting confronted or anything. it's usually the obnoxious pats or jets fan trying to egg people on that doesn't end well. I can't imagine problems with Lions fans, if anything we can sypathize with you guys.

 

I hear Jets fans are bad. There were some "colorful" ones at the game on Sunday. Philly seems to have the reputation of the worst fans. I've heard of people visiting Eagles games with kids and getting pounded! Our plan is to try to score cheap seats for the Sabers game Saturday night, and if we can't, just hang around the area. Sunday, we'll definitely head down early and experience all we can. I hear it takes a while to get in the Ralph, so you need to head in with enough time to get to your seats by kick-off. Here's a story we always laugh about. We went to Chicago a few years ago where, as everyone knows, they are an hour behind on Central Time. So, you wouldn't think we would make the mistake of thinking kick-off was at 1:00 Chicago Time, do ya? Who would be that stupid? They must head in late a lot there, because we were in a crowd heading in. We were walking up a ramp, and we heard the game going on, and then it occurred to us - CENTRAL TIME!!! It's just ingrained into our heads that early games start at 1:00.

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

Looking back through the thread, I see you mention being in Section 109, that one is seats. You can use the link below to see the views from that section....

 

Bills Seating Chart

 

Geez... I even looked at this view a while ago. I should have known to look at the view from the seats. Thanks!

 

Hey, we can blow a huge lead as well (Dallas MNF, New England etc)and have sucked for a long time too. You don't get to have all the fun.

 

Well, we've had a lot more "fun" than you have over the years. At least you've been to Superbowls. We'd give anything to make it to the final game of the year.

 

As for listening to sports talk I assume you mean WGR. Worst sports talk on the planet! Only station I've ever heard where hating the city and sports teams are a requirement for employment.

 

See you at the game.

 

PTR

Yup. See you this weekend! And I would say the same thing about Detroit talk show hosts. They love to bag the home teams, college and pro. Seems they just want to get a rise out of everyone.

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

Hey, one more thing I meant to ask... Does your stadium have seats or benches? Until we went to Lambeau last year, I would have assumed seats, but I have to ask. I'm thinkin' seats.

 

So we're heading off to Buffalo Saturday morning coming off a great game this past weekend. Only the Lions find a way to lose a game they're ahead in 20-10 with 4 minutes left. We're prepared for another loss. That's just how we roll. I've been listening to your sports talk on the net lately to get a feel for the fans. It sounds like there's a bit of conflict about whether it would be better to win or lose with 2011 draft picks on the line. This is how we feel every year about this time. No need for you to waste time on this dilemma. It's out of your control. Lions have it all under control and will give the Bills their first win.

 

You have no idea how sucky Lions Nation is, year after year after year after year...

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

I would really suggest heading down towards HSBC Arena before the Sabres game, there's usually a lot of crowded bars and you can probably scalp some cheap tix for $15-$20. Plus you'd be out of the game by about 10 which leaves plenty of time to party the night away. Enjoy!

That sounds great, and if we could get tickets on the cheap like that, even better.

 

If you're in your 40's, then Chipewa is not the place for you. That's a college section of town. There are a ton of bars, but gets pretty crazy as the night goes on. You might want to take a walk through to check out the scenery and have a few drinks early during the Sabres game, but I wouldn't spend the majority of the night there. Your best bet is Elmwood, Allentown, or near the HSBC arena. Hit Jim's Steakout for a late night snack and the Towne for breakfast, you will not be disappointed! For Dinner there are a lot of great restaurants, I've actually heard good things about the restaurant in the Holiday Inn. But Gabriel's Gate, Mother's, Fat Bob's, Colter Bay, or Cole's are all good.

 

As far as tailgating without a grill, just stop at Wegman's before the game and get a sub and some snacks. Their subs are outstanding and huge and yes, beer is sold at 8am, so no worries. I haven't been out in downtown Buffalo on a Sunday night in years, I have no idea what kind of crowd they get. But the bars around the Stadium are busy for a few hours after the game, so that may be your best bet.

 

What section are you guys in?

 

That is really good to know about Chippewa, because we don't want to get caught up in a college scene. We'd be way out of place there. Just looking for pub/sports bars type places, and it sounds like the Sabers game and around the arena is promising.

We're in section 109, row 9. These are almost identical seats to ours at Ford Field. Our season tickets are on the 30, row 19.

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

Will you guys be bringing your girlfriends??

 

They weren't our girlfriends, really!! We just met that weekend!

 

Oh, that made Lions fans proud. We weren't near that section and never saw the commotion. We saw it on the news for the next 2 weeks! That sort of thing happened multiple times every game back at the Silverdome, because that was the worst stadium in pro sports, and everyone was miserable just being there. This was an isolated incident at Ford Field.

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

Okay! Everything sounds great. I hope we're sitting around people as friendly as what I'm seeing here!

 

We'll be in section 109 - row 9 - seats 1 & 2.

 

If there's anything good about having an awful team to road trip for, it's that we've lost wherever we've gone and the fans don't take out a loss on us. We were winning at one point in Chicago 2 years ago, and that's when we got real quiet and sat low in our seats.

 

I've seen the opposite at Ford Field. Visitors egging on Lions fans in our own house and getting abusive. NOT-A-GOOD-IDEA!!

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

More great ideas. Thanks!

 

One more thing. Is there an area in the tailgating lots where you pay for food so we can hang out without worrying about a grill? It would be great to have a section where we could either pay a set fee and get a wrist band or just pay for food as we hang out & throw the rock around. We bring our own gear to Lions games, but bringing everything there would be a hassle.

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

I forgot to mention there is a Sabres game on Saturday night. (11/13) They play the Capitals at 7pm. The Sabres suck too so you'll be able to find tickets on the street. There is subway that runs on Main Street. Once it come above ground, around Tupper St., you can ride it free and it will take you to HSBC Arena at the end of the line. If you do hit the hockey game, go to the Pearl Street Brewery. They make excellent beer.

 

Here's another option for Saturday night. Take a Forgotten Buffalo tour. Basically an educational pub crawl. They take you to historic private clubs and gin mills and tell you a lot of history about the city while you get liquored up. They bus you around so drink up.

 

Send me a PM if you have specific questions.

 

PTR

Hey, the Sabers game sounds great... but so does this tour! So much city, so little time. We're staying until Monday, but usually Sunday night is more about recovering from Saturday night and Sunday at the game. Back in the day, we could go through to Monday, but we're in our 40's now. Not much stamina left by Sunday night.

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

Wow! Thanks for all the great replies! I'm going to print off this thread by the time we go. We'll have about 5 hours to talk about what we're going to do. I don't think I thought it through very well when we chose our hotel. But it sounds like things are spread out a lot, so maybe you can't stay downtown AND be near the statdium. One thing I've picked up here I think, is that we will plan on driving to a lot and tailgating. We just really want to experience the city and the game day atmosphere.

 

I can't, in good conscience, not wear our Lions gear. We like to represent, but we do it in a good way. I've seen that guy at Ford Field from the other team, and I never want to be "that guy". If we're guests in a city, we're going to act like guests; not provoke anyone. Actually, we got a lot of razzing when we first sat down in Chicago. By half-time, we made so many friends, people who started out giving us the business were actually buying us beers and defending us when others got vocal.

 

Someone asked what kind of bars/restaurants we like. Really, whatever is "Buffalo" and allows jeans and a jacket is good. We really like the sports bars/pubs where we can have some fun. Actually, the more casual, the better I suppose. Just some places to hang out, have a beer and talk with Bills fans.

 

Someone commented that there will probably some empty seats. LOL! We know about empty seats at Ford Field. When our season's officially over, around week 5, our stadium looks a lot more blue - because that's the color of our seats.

 

Thanks again for the feedback. I hope to get some more, but even if I don't, this has been a lot of help.

[Need Help - In Town for the Lions Game]

My friend and I have Lions season tickets (yeah, we got it bad) and take a road trip each year. Roll out the Red Carpet, folks. There's nothing more certain than when the Lions come to town. We make everyone happy wherever we go. This year we're heading to Buffalo for the game, and we're staying at the Holiday Inn on Delaware by E. North Street. I'm hoping some people can help out with 2 things.

 

Are there shuttles that take people to the stadium from this area?

 

And are there Must-Go-To bars and pubs in the area? Are there bars around the area that have any kind of shuttle deals?

 

We like to get around town on a pub crawl on Saturday and get a feel for the city. We'll wear our Lions swag, but we know the deal. Lions fans have NOTHING to be obnoxious about. We know we're the door-mat of the league. How can anyone hate on Lions fans? Usually, we're just an after-thought, but our recent 0-16 season makes us relevant for a laugh if nothing else.

 

If anyone's wondering about my user name, "corn bread" is like Cool Aide around Detroit. They keep baking it and selling it, and we keep bellying up to the table and paying for it. We've been to Chicago and Green Bay. Both are division rivals, so they can have hate for the Lions even if we're the laughing stock of the league. Chicago fans were rough, but Green Bay fans were very welcoming. I'm thinking Buffalo couldn't care less about the Lions.

 

We're looking forward to experiencing Buffalo's night life and game-day atmosphere. We'll be humble. That's all we can be. I know you must be frustrated by your season so far, but at least you're not the Lions!

 

Thanks for any help.