BuffaloBillsFan1972 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 It's depressing to talk about the current team, so let's turn back the clock in advance of the 20 year anniversary of "The Comeback." I'm writing a story about this game and would like to incorporate some stories about how fans experienced the game. Everyone in WNY old enough to remember this game has a story about that day. I was at the game and almost left at 35-3- Thank God I didn't! What's your story? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campy Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I was in my early 20s, and it was 8 days after my mother lost her battle with cancer, 36 days after my father lost his life in an auto accident. My parents were both big Bills fans and I couldn't help but think that maybe, somehow, they played a role in the outcome of that game, if for no other reason, to provide me with a few moments of joy in what had been a pretty crappy holiday season. I'm not saying they did, but back then, thinking they may have certainly gave me some comfort. I know, strange, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsFan1972 Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 I don't think that's strange at all. We live and die with the Bills in WNY and it's easy to see how a game like that could have helped you through a really hard time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschmoove Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I had a ticket to the game but gave them to my brother who went with my mother and his friend. My girlfriend and I went to the movies instead. Went in knowing the Bills were down, came out to a lobby of people hi-fiving. I gave up a ticket to the best Bills game ever to watch a movie I don't remember with a girl who I broke up with after she started doing too much acid. Damn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meathead Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 the day before i had just moved into a new house and by the time we were done i only had time to set up the bed and go to sleep. i lived in rochester and had to leave early the next morning to meet my family and be able to tailgate together, so everything i owned was still sitting there in boxes. when houston got that pick six to start the second half i told my dad i was gonna leave the game to go home and unpack. he easily convinced me to just let it sit a few more hours and have fun getting drunk and dancing in the endzone. why not right? thank god Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marauderswr80 Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 My buddy Tim had tickets to that game he had 2 extra ones.... Just before the game a guy approached him and asked for tickets, my buddy says 50 bucks they are yours! Guy says i dont have money, i have a brick of weed...my buddy is straight as an arrow too! He says ok fair deal.... My buddy returns home after the game to sell the brick of weed to his hippie friend...yea it wasnt weed, it was just a crap load of different green leaves compacted together!!! To hear my buddy tell the story is priceless! He reminds me of kramer on seinfeld! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagon Circler Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 I had to run some errands for my wife at halftime which took longer than I expected. When I walked in my wife said "don't bother watching. Houston scored again (a pick six). I sat down on the couch and said in jest, "no I'm gonna keep watching because to be a Bills fan is to NEVER GIVE UP". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillsFan1972 Posted December 27, 2012 Author Share Posted December 27, 2012 (edited) Good stuff, guys, thanks. After the Bills won that one, I remember how we were called a "team of destiny." I also recall how some people wanted Frank Reich to continue on as the starter, even after Kelly was ready to go again. Looking back, it was a total team comeback, but the fact that they were missing Kelly, Biscuit and Thurman for most of the second half makes it even more remarkable. Reich was a great guy and a pretty darn good QB too. He could do no wrong in the 2nd half of the game. Edited December 27, 2012 by BuffaloBillsFan1972 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaccof Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Went through my usual pre-game routine (watching Bills highlights from '88 - a Team, a Town a Dream); got into my game time seating position and before I knew it they're down 21-3. My wife askes me why I'm torturing myself and I ignore her. Now it's 28-3....at this point I say "screw it", get changed and head to the golf course (I live in VA). By the time I get there it's 35-3 and I'm feeling pretty good about giving up on the Bills (first time that I can remember). As I make the turn after nine holes I go into the club house to get a beer and there's no one in there but the bar tender and he's got the game on. I ask him what's going on with the game and he says the Bills just scored to make it 35-31.....now I'm crapping myself. I jump in my car to come home with the game on the radio and the Bills score to go ahead 38-35 and I'm am literally near tears....I get home, wife, kids and her mother are out shopping, I'm home by myself and by this time Houston is about to kick the tieing FG.....of course the Bills win in OT and I'm running around the house screaming, called my best friend from high school (in WNY) and we scream and yell and when my wife gets home I'm in the garage nearly in tears telling her about the "greatest come back in NFL history....." She was unmoved (she's from Philly)...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sodbuster Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 (edited) I'm too young to remember the game (2 yrs old), but I watch it several times a year, usually when the Bills do something crappy. My parents got tickets the night before from the owner of our local IGA, dropped me off at Grandmas house the next morning and went. They were so amped up after the game, they forgot to pick me back up. I saw the DVD at wal mart a couple years ago around xmas time, and bought it for my dad. We watched it xmas morning, and when we were done, he gave it to me and said "You need this more than I do." How freaking depressing. I have the program from that game signed by Reich, framed, up on my wall, one of my most prized possessions. Edited December 27, 2012 by sodbuster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogman Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Three of us sat in a living room in Canisteo NY watching the game. Two of us were going home at half-time except the pizza hadn't arrived. By the time the pizza got there the comeback had just started. Pizza guy said he smelled gas in the apartment. After he mentioned it we all smelled it. We called the gas company (1-800-IGO-BOOM) . They said to evacuate the building. By that time the comeback was in full mode so we sat in a gas filled apartment and watch it. By the way we did have a gas leak and the gas repairman watched the game with us as he fixed it. I remember an on-field fist fight between Howard Ballard and I think Glenn Parker. They were throwing haymakers over a missed assignment, but the announcers didn't seem to notice it in all the chaos. Anyone else see the fight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 My father-in-law who was German was watching the game with us. He really knew nothing of American "football". When the Bills made it 35-17 or something he asked how many points for a TD. I said 7 with the PAT. He said "you know, they just might win". Yeah, whatever old man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Best Player Available Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Well you can write about the gate attendance that day. Over 476,684 were in attendance at the end. Yet the stadium still looked like it had room. Crazy stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Went through my usual pre-game routine (watching Bills highlights from '88 - a Team, a Town a Dream); ???? Town, Team, Dream didn't come out until 2000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFanNC Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 I was there with my father. I wanted to leave at halftime and he talked me out of it. I was halfway up the aisle to the exit at 35-3 when he got me to come back to my seat again. He promised we would leave if Houston scored again. When Houston scored next to tie it at 38, I asked him if he still wanted to leave. What a game, and I'm one of the few who can say he stayed and watched the whole damn thing thanks to my dad. With the joke this team has become in the past decade, this game seems like it happened even longer than 20 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaccof Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 ???? Town, Team, Dream didn't come out until 2000. Hmmm, I must have the name wrong but it's the one that starts out with Chris Berman saying "Sunday morning, Buffalo, NY......" it's the highlights from the 1988 season when they lost to Cinncyin the AFC championship....I'll have to dig that video out and see what the heck it's called....and yes, I still have a video player and no, it's not a Beta Max.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhIDunno Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 My wife at the time was pregnant but I had a ticket to the game anyways and was going to go with my sister's husband... 3am, wife started feeling "funny", 45 mins later contractions started and by 9:30am my daughter was born... when the game started, we were in a room with our new baby and the wife's uncle, who's not a Bills fan, was kind enough to come and give me updates that were scrolling across the bottem of the waiting room T.V. (didn't have one in the room yet)... After I hadn't seen him in a while, I went into the waiting room and sat and watched the updates until the Bills got within seven, then calmly walked out to the parking garage and listened to the rest of the game sitting in my car... After they won, I went back into the room and the wife asked me where I was, I told her, she just looked at me and shook her head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 My wife at the time was pregnant but I had a ticket to the game anyways and was going to go with my sister's husband... 3am, wife started feeling "funny", 45 mins later contractions started and by 9:30am my daughter was born... when the game started, we were in a room with our new baby and the wife's uncle, who's not a Bills fan, was kind enough to come and give me updates that were scrolling across the bottem of the waiting room T.V. (didn't have one in the room yet)... After I hadn't seen him in a while, I went into the waiting room and sat and watched the updates until the Bills got within seven, then calmly walked out to the parking garage and listened to the rest of the game sitting in my car... After they won, I went back into the room and the wife asked me where I was, I told her, she just looked at me and shook her head. I can see why she's no longer your wife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFanM.D. Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I was at my girlfriend's (now wife) house with her very "non-football" oriented family. They knew I was 'nuts' about football and that I'd be watching the game on their TV. I honestly remained optimistic until the pick six to start the second half and 'mentally' mailed it in at that point. Obviously...as the Bills started to come back the optimism appeared again and it was game on. I still recall fearing they would come all the way back and then somehow lose. That would have been even more devastating. Thankfully, they gave us the performance of a lifetime. By the end of the game, my future father in law, who didn't know jack about football, was giving me high fives and screaming at the TV. It's a great memory for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meathead Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 and I'm one of the few who can say he stayed and watched the whole damn thing thanks to my dad. mcfly did you even read my post but regardless, welcome my brother! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts