Long time lurker, maybe not best idea to post something after a night of ruminating and not sleeping. Anyhow...
I've been a Bills fan probably longer than most people reading this have been alive. Did not grow up in WNY, but had Joe Ferguson posters in my room and the first Bills game I actually saw in person had Vince freaking Ferragamo at QB. The question posed by this thread inevitably leads one down the path of comparisons over the course of a lifetime.
I've been to far too many engagements where I was in the minority, flying the banner of Bills Fandom in hostile terrority and suffering the insults and derision of whatever bandwagon Pats, Chiefs, Cowboys, etc fans were dishing it out. I've seen epic Bills losses in the regular and post season through the eyes of an optimistic kid, a passionate an emotionally invested young adult, and now as an older man who feels resigned to a fate of futility.
When the kick missed, which I fully expected after the 2nd and 9 incompletion, I was pretty numb and reserved. Maybe it's conditoning or maybe because losses are a more overwhelming in this era of sports fandom. It's a culture of smack talk hot take trolling that just doesn't appeal to me. You dont get to decompress or obectively assess what you experience. Sure, a good back and forth among friends can be fun, but to me, the business of harnessing others anger and misery into clickbaits for a ubiquitous and 24/7 industry of pseudo journalism is a hellish landscape that continues to spiral into a dystopia of personal attacks among people emoldened by a keyboard who have never actually met. Yuck.
Compounding it is the fact that I've passed this curse down to my kids. Adds to the disappointment for sure.
So, yeah, comparatively speaking,I'm a but more low-key, but also a bit older, not necessarily wiser, and conditioned to this in a Stockholm syndrome sorta way.
I'll go back to watching all this from the lurker's cheap seats for now, but for all TBD members, keep it up! This site is an incredible source of football knowledge and wit. Keeps me sane for sure.
Long time lurker, maybe not best idea to post something after a night of ruminating and not sleeping. Anyhow... I've been a Bills fan probably longer than most people reading this have been alive. Did not grow up in WNY, but had Joe Ferguson posters in my room and the first Bills game I actually saw in person had Vince freaking Ferragamo at QB. The question posed by this thread inevitably leads one down the path of comparisons over the course of a lifetime. I've been to far too many engagements where I was in the minority, flying the banner of Bills Fandom in hostile terrority and suffering the insults and derision of whatever bandwagon Pats, Chiefs, Cowboys, etc fans were dishing it out. I've seen epic Bills losses in the regular and post season through the eyes of an optimistic kid, a passionate an emotionally invested young adult, and now as an older man who feels resigned to a fate of futility. When the kick missed, which I fully expected after the 2nd and 9 incompletion, I was pretty numb and reserved. Maybe it's conditoning or maybe because losses are a more overwhelming in this era of sports fandom. It's a culture of smack talk hot take trolling that just doesn't appeal to me. You dont get to decompress or obectively assess what you experience. Sure, a good back and forth among friends can be fun, but to me, the business of harnessing others anger and misery into clickbaits for a ubiquitous and 24/7 industry of pseudo journalism is a hellish landscape that continues to spiral into a dystopia of personal attacks among people emoldened by a keyboard who have never actually met. Yuck. Compounding it is the fact that I've passed this curse down to my kids. Adds to the disappointment for sure. So, yeah, comparatively speaking,I'm a but more low-key, but also a bit older, not necessarily wiser, and conditioned to this in a Stockholm syndrome sorta way. I'll go back to watching all this from the lurker's cheap seats for now, but for all TBD members, keep it up! This site is an incredible source of football knowledge and wit. Keeps me sane for sure.