Kirby Jackson

I have a weird feeling that today is the day that Knox gets involved.

The main reason is accessibility of tickets. In the early ‘90’s places like StubHub didn’t exist. It was WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY harder to get tickets. I started attending road games during the drought and we were always well-represented. We traveled as well as anyone then. Now, it’s a whole different level. There is a noticeable gap, in every city, between Bills fans and every other fan base. It’s wild. I lived in New Orleans for 14 years so we saw LOTS of different fan bases come as their “destination game.” Pittsburgh, Dallas and SF always had lots of fans. They are NOWHERE near as organized as Bills fans either. Every Bills fan knows where to go 2 nights before, the day before, the night before and the tailgate. It is one giant pre-planned trip.

It’s a little bit of both. I travel, often, for Bills games (although I’m not there this week). We typically have a LARGE group (always 20+) and it’s a mix. It’s probably 90% traveling, but not all from Buffalo. That % drops a little in certain cities (haven’t been to them all) with people that relocated there (NY, Miami, Cleveland, Boston, Charlotte, Atlanta, Tampa). If I had to guess that 90% probably holds true most places. There are a LARGE contingent that travel from somewhere. In LA, it was FILLED with Bills fans that had relocated west, not necessarily LA though. When I lived in New Orleans we always went to Houston for example because it was only a 4-5 hour trip.

Oh great!! These guys always give Brady all of the calls!! Doomed!!!

…if you asked “the Ravens fan version of you” (homer that always feels attacked) they would say, “the media gives Josh Allen too much credit.” Stop whining and take a step back. Both guys are amazing. Both deserve tons of praise. You do not need to discredit the other to prop up Josh. His play has earned him plenty of accolades and attention. Lamar deserves all of the praise he is getting right now. This is the OLD Bills fan thinking and it used to piss me off when we were bad. “Why does everyone think Brady is so good? He cheats.” They guy has been to 10 Super Bowls. We don’t need to drag others down to feel better about ourselves. Have some confidence in your team. It’s okay to admit that others are good. That doesn’t make you less of a fan.

It’s okay to not like a rival. I hated Marino as well. I despise Tom Brady. He has played in 10 Super Bowls. It’s not okay to LIE about how good they are to seemingly make our guy look better. People complaining about other stars getting props is weird/insecure. We need to be better than that. We can argue the merits of Allen without pretending that Lamar/Mahomes aren’t also elite. I’m not sure where race entered this conversation? PLEASE do not try to randomly bring race in as a way to say that “race has nothing to do with it.” That was an uncomfortable place to take this conversation for no reason at all… If you or your sons can’t appreciate the play of Lamar, Allen, Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes then I feel sorry for you. I didn’t say “LIKE” them. I said “APPRECIATE” their accomplishments. Please refrain from using those words interchangeably.

This is one of those weird, insecure, old-Bills posts that I thought we were beyond? It was the same with Mahomes in the past. It is okay for multiple people to be phenomenal. Lamar being good doesn’t mean that Josh is bad. We don’t need to downplay his historical accomplishments to prop up Allen. His play speaks for itself. These guys are both elite players and we all should appreciate watching them play the game that we all love.

Don’t know if this has ever been on here, but the Bills tried HARD to trade up to draft Devin Duvernay. They couldn’t make it happen and drafted Gabe Davis 30 picks later. Fun little fact

Morse and Hyde for me. They are in the middle of the field and running their respective sides of the ball. We can’t underestimate the importance of intelligence. Those are 2 of the smartest players on the team that cover for others because they’re always in the right place.

A few thoughts: - @eballis the man!! Appreciate the hospitality. - the safety was an unlucky break - Zack Moss should never play (despite the long run). His feet are too slow. He can’t get into the hole. - Miami is good - The Bills are way better than the Dolphins - I liked the anger/disappointment after the loss. They might have needed that. I legitimately thought 20-0 was on the table. They needed EVERYTHING to go wrong to lose. That’s encouraging. - I didn’t think that Josh was great yesterday. There were a couple of decisions that had me cringing. - The young secondary was fine. - Officiating was questionable. - This was Miami’s Super Bowl. - Josh Allen should sneak every single time the Bills need less than a yard. He weighs 240 lbs

I actually want to take my retraction a step further. This is MAYBE crazier than Nashville. The Bills fans are EVERYWHERE!! This is insane

I’d like to issue a retraction. We are here. We are everywhere. At this point, it is comical. We are in our own tier. It is us and then everyone else (with a chasm to whoever is next). If the Bills play, we go. It is that simple. Enjoy this ride!!

It doesn’t feel crazy to me (comparatively). The airport to LA felt way busier. There are a bunch of Bills fans, as always, but it doesn’t feel like Nashville (for example).

You’re my hero!! I’ll see you soon and travel safely

I did not see a thread (candidly I did not look that hard). Mods, if there is another please merge. I am heading out in like 2 hours but haven’t bought my game tickets yet. One of the guys (not a Bills or Miami fan) probably won’t go if it rains. He’s soft. At any rate, I was wondering where my fellow Bills fans are sitting? I have some friends sitting in 350 so we may try to go near them. There are always lots of Bills fans upstairs.

If your suggestion is, “you paid a lot for those seats, do whatever the hell you want” we are in agreement. I’m not responsible for those around me. They can either stand to see or watch on the monitor above. That’s a “them” problem, not a “me” problem. I generally don’t stand of those around me aren’t but often I want to.

I have no issue with it. The people that sit around me don’t stand the whole time so you have to be very mindful of those around us. It’s kind of annoying. I’d rather not have to worry about anyone else.

Bill Simmons ushered in an era of “boisterous fans with an audience.” Guys like Kyle Brandt (despite his family connections) wouldn’t exist without Simmons. He mattered 20 years ago. The tortured fan routine (as @QCity said so well) was interesting. He “couldn’t catch a break” and would whine about it. It made for a good read. Now his view is irrelevant. He doesn’t have the one thing that made him famous in the 1st place. He has done a great job as a producer. He has developed some programming that people care about. Simmons deserves a lot of credit for creating interesting sports documentaries. In terms of his football knowledge, it is basically nil. There are VERY few Patriots fans that know the game. They did not grow up with it. They were always Red Sox fans killing time in the off-season. In Boston, football was always a distant, distant, distant 4th. That has changed some since Brady got there. Simmons did not grow up with the game like we all did. Sunday’s did not matter to them like they did to us. That’s not an insult; it is reality. That’s where a lot of our disdain for Pats fans comes from. They didn’t deserve the last 20 years. We deserve that. Other fan bases would be WAY easier to tolerate having that kind of success (like the Chiefs for example). Those people care so much more about their team (both good and bad) than Pats fans. They were always the least-passionate fan base in the league. Simmons knows basically nothing about the game except that Brady is good and his team won a lot. He didn’t suffer with Millen, Grogan and Eason. They just didn’t care then. I just don’t care, at all, what he thinks about football. I don’t respect his knowledge or appreciation for the game. He knows the NBA but is such a whiny homer that he loses perspective on reality. His opinion there doesn’t matter there anymore either. The Red Sox are garbage so no one cares what he has to say about baseball. When they were interesting, he had an audience. Simmons is a “used-to-be” figure in the sports world. He’s a younger Mad Dog. His schtick is tired and opinions meaningless. I, for one, and glad that he doesn’t have the platform that he once did.

I don’t necessarily believe that. You either have to recruit nationally or have a great area to recruit from. The Pokes have Texas. Nebraska has nothing and this generation didn’t grow up with them mattering. Now, if the alums decide to go crazy with NIL, maybe they can matter again. They can never be a power again but they can maybe be like Oklahoma State or Notre Dame or Wisconsin. They can be a fringe top 10ish team in the perfect world. They should follow what Texas 8&4 has tried to do. They just spend, spend, spend and hope to close the gap with Alabama. It hasn’t happened yet but maybe it will 🤷🏻‍♂️.

I was BSing with a bartender at Pressure Drop a few weeks ago. He is an ASU alum and was talking about what a disaster the program has become. Herm had every chance to make that a good program and he simply didn’t care enough.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/weigh-in I agree with your post. He was interesting until 2004 when the Sox won. His voice hasn’t mattered since. His role as a producer is way more important than his voice as a sports personality. He’s a guy from Boston that used to write a column on ESPN. It was like 20 years ago now. He went out to LA to try to do his own thing and made a bunch of money. He’s a nobody.

I wonder what Bill Simmons thinks? 🤔

Count me in the “underwhelming minority.” I will be surprised if the Bills don’t win the Super Bowl. I believe that they might be historically dominant (like the ‘07 Pats but with a title). That team had a +315 point differential which is by far the best ever. That is attainable. I believe we are WAY beyond “in the hunt” for the Super Bowl. I believe that he Bills would be AT LEAST A 7-point favorite on a neutral site vs. every team in football. They are significantly better than every other team. If they don’t win, it will be a disappointment. It’s okay to feel this way. We don’t need to pretend that isn’t the case to protect our feelings if the goal isn’t met. Expect greatness

This has NOTHING to do with anything other than he is Josh’s buddy. The Bills keep him around to keep Josh happy. At one point the Milwaukee Bucks were using roster spots on BOTH of Giannis’ brothers. It wasn’t because there weren’t better players. They were fine to be the last guys on the team to keep him happy. That is Tanner Gentry. He will always be around. Don’t read anything else into it.

I lived outside of WNY for 15 years since he was relevant. I spent 4 years in Boston when he was “The Boston Sports Guy.” He is irrelevant now. He produced a couple of good documentaries (like the Andre the Giant one). I’ve forgotten more about football than Bill Simmons will ever know. He doesn’t matter anymore on the national scale. Sorry if that hurts your feelings… I didn’t say that he wasn’t successful. I said that his voice doesn’t matter in the sports world anymore (he still has SOME juice within the NBA but not like he did). It doesn’t. He had a huge audience back in the day. People were looking for him to “weigh in.” He is irrelevant now and we are all better of for it.