KikO M G Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I was born in New York City into a baseball household. Yankees all day. By the time I moved to Albany for college, baseball was my only sport. I would watch the Super Bowl, sure, but I didn't feel like I had a team I identified with in the NFL. I was the very definition of a "casual fan." While at college, I met my future wife who was from Rochester. The first Bills game I watched was the weekend we made our way out to Rochester for me to meet her parents. My girlfriend's father and I bonded over the Bills. Of course, I didn't have much to contribute to the conversation at first so I just listened to him talk about his team. The detail with which he understood its strengths and weaknesses. The complexities of the game. I related to the passion he had for the Bills because it mirrored the passion I had for the Yankees. I thought it was great that the Bills were the only upstate New York team from any of the 3 major sports, because at that point my home was in Albany and I knew I was never going back to NYC. The Bills lost that Sunday, but I loved watching my first game. Back in Albany, I began to follow the team in the newspaper (almost never televised here), and it was an odd realization that they were not a good team. After all, I was used to my team being a winning franchise. In the years that followed, my love of the NFL grew to the same level as my love for the MLB. I found it a very humbling and grounding experience that, after the Yankees' success in the baseball season, the Bills would struggle. I also never knew was it was like to root for the little guy after being born into a Yankee family, and I found it fulfilling in an odd way. The depth of sadness with each Bills' loss and each lost season was something I never experienced with the Yankees, always knowing how lucky I was to be a fan of such a successful franchise. I have tried to explain this dichotomy to my kids. Young kids, of course, just want to root for winning teams. My 2nd grader has friends who are Yankees fans, Miami Heat fans and Patriots fans. It's hard for him to watch the Bills go 6-12 year after year, but I have explained to him that devotion to your team means you love them whether they win or lose. And it makes the winning so much sweeter if you stick by your team when they lose instead of just switching to the next good team. We are a Yankees household. And we are a Bills household. My son wears his Bills shirt proudly each Sunday and gets his face painted with a Bills logo at the craft fair. There are not a lot of Bills fans in this area. The stores are filled with Giants and Jets merchandise only. We find each other by bumper stickers that we display proudly, and come together in the sports bars on Sunday afternoons. And many years later my father-in-law and I still bond over the Bills. Except now it's me who drives the conversation. "It figures we finally get help in the secondary and our quarterback goes down." "When are we going to catch a break?" "If Pryor and Hoyer can come out of nowhere, why can't Thad Lewis?" "I have a gut feeling we are going to win this game." "This is the year we shock the world." "GO BILLS." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowery4 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Nice story, yeah being a Bills fan can give you a lot of character. Then when they finally turn it around and win some, it feels super and worth it. Kind of like being up to a real challenge and finding some success in your own life does. They really need to WIN a Superbowl though, I have been a fan longer than I can remember (according to my Dad who used to drag me to the Rockpile when I was a toddler). The Bills and I are the same age even. They need a championship and so do I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolishDave Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Nice story dude. Welcome to the fraternity. And remember, the Bills aren't the only NFL team from upstate NY. They are the only team from NY period. Don't those other two supposed New York teams actually play in New Jersey? Real New Yorkers only have one NFL team. (High five) Go Bills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Senator Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 16 and 3 baby!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
transient Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 As a fan who born into this hell, I should call CPS on you for the good of your children's mental health. My first memory of the Bills was the Wildcard game that they beat the Jets in '81. I was 9. Too young to appreciate the fact that it was their first playoff win since the '60s. Apparently not too young to appreciate the win was something to remember. I have mixed emotions about that day. I may have been a bit less frustrated long term if I'd stayed in my room (I think I had gotten in trouble, and was given a choice by my mom of staying in my room or sitting in a chair in the kitchen so my dad could keep an eye on me; in hindsight, I should call CPS on my mom for cruel and unusual punishment ). If I hadn't been in the kitchen that day (evening, if I recall) watching the game on a portable TV with my father, I would have had to find something else to bond with him over (maybe something ultimately a little less maddening). I would also probably have an entirely different group of friends, which if I was saying this directly to them, I would say would be ideal and they'd know I was kidding - my relationship with my dad and my friends are the best things to come out of this godforsaken mess of a franchise. I can't complain too loudly, though. I can't remember the '70s, but I'm old enough to have had a lot of fun and gotten into a lot of trouble through the late '80s/early '90s run. As I'm typing this, I can also understand why younger fans who missed the '90s seem so pissed right now... I can't imagine being a fan with only memories from the mid-late '90s on, never yet getting a sense that this franchise CAN actually succeed. Here's to hoping this '13 version is on a trajectory similar to that '86 or '87 version. I know we'd like some immediate success, but there's something to be said for watching a toddler learn to run, as well. Too bad Van Miller isn't here to tell you to fasten your seatbelts. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris heff Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I made a deal with the Devil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metzelaars_lives Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I was born in New York City into a baseball household. Yankees all day. By the time I moved to Albany for college, baseball was my only sport. I would watch the Super Bowl, sure, but I didn't feel like I had a team I identified with in the NFL. I was the very definition of a "casual fan." While at college, I met my future wife who was from Rochester. The first Bills game I watched was the weekend we made our way out to Rochester for me to meet her parents. My girlfriend's father and I bonded over the Bills. Of course, I didn't have much to contribute to the conversation at first so I just listened to him talk about his team. The detail with which he understood its strengths and weaknesses. The complexities of the game. I related to the passion he had for the Bills because it mirrored the passion I had for the Yankees. I thought it was great that the Bills were the only upstate New York team from any of the 3 major sports, because at that point my home was in Albany and I knew I was never going back to NYC. The Bills lost that Sunday, but I loved watching my first game. Back in Albany, I began to follow the team in the newspaper (almost never televised here), and it was an odd realization that they were not a good team. After all, I was used to my team being a winning franchise. In the years that followed, my love of the NFL grew to the same level as my love for the MLB. I found it a very humbling and grounding experience that, after the Yankees' success in the baseball season, the Bills would struggle. I also never knew was it was like to root for the little guy after being born into a Yankee family, and I found it fulfilling in an odd way. The depth of sadness with each Bills' loss and each lost season was something I never experienced with the Yankees, always knowing how lucky I was to be a fan of such a successful franchise. I have tried to explain this dichotomy to my kids. Young kids, of course, just want to root for winning teams. My 2nd grader has friends who are Yankees fans, Miami Heat fans and Patriots fans. It's hard for him to watch the Bills go 6-12 year after year, but I have explained to him that devotion to your team means you love them whether they win or lose. And it makes the winning so much sweeter if you stick by your team when they lose instead of just switching to the next good team. We are a Yankees household. And we are a Bills household. My son wears his Bills shirt proudly each Sunday and gets his face painted with a Bills logo at the craft fair. There are not a lot of Bills fans in this area. The stores are filled with Giants and Jets merchandise only. We find each other by bumper stickers that we display proudly, and come together in the sports bars on Sunday afternoons. And many years later my father-in-law and I still bond over the Bills. Except now it's me who drives the conversation. "It figures we finally get help in the secondary and our quarterback goes down." "When are we going to catch a break?" "If Pryor and Hoyer can come out of nowhere, why can't Thad Lewis?" "I have a gut feeling we are going to win this game." "This is the year we shock the world." "GO BILLS." Not me. When I was a kid in the 1980's, my favorite teams were the Buccaneers and the Canucks. Because they had the weirdest uniforms, they sucked and no one else liked them. I was obviously a Bills and Sabres fan too, but those were my very favorite teams until I was a teenager and realized that your team represents your home town and that it was about more than just the uniform. But to this day, Trevor Linden was/is my favorite hockey player ever and I have an incredibly old school framed poster of his hanging in my office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KGUNBILLS Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 16 and 3 baby!!!!! wouldn't that be something to celebrate! I don't know if I could handle that much success after 13 g.d. years of misery. I keep telling my kids that the Bills use to be good. I always get the same response...... "yeah right dad" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 16 and 3 baby!!!!! Your posts are like smelling salts to a dazed boxer. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Hammersticks Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I made a deal with the Devil. And the devil said "done, but you have to be a devoted Buffalo Bills fan for the rest of your life." "Bwahahahahah!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Short version - never watched football before going to college (fall 1988), roommate was a Bills fan so every week we had to watch them. Jumped on the bandwagon, haven't gotten off since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockee96 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 My story: I used to collect sports cards when I was in elementary school. In 1989, my mother bought me a Thurman Thomas rookie card...I never heard of this guy, but I wanted to watch him play on TV hoping that he would be pretty good so that one day, my card would be worth a lot..... Right when I started watching him play, the Bills started their Super Bowl runs....I fell in love with the team, through the heartbreaks, the joys, and the pain. The Bills taught me about character and perseverence. I've always felt out of place as a fan because I've lived in Southern California all my life, and nobody appreciates the Bills here... But I have a deep love for the Bills....I will be going to the KC game with my wife to celebrate our 1st year of marriage!! -Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KGUNBILLS Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Your posts are like smelling salts to a dazed boxer. GO BILLS!!! I can't stop laughing at you comment. We have all been dazed for far to long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
transient Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I made a deal with the Devil. Strange deal. You know, the devil taking a little piece of your soul one loss at a time. Hope you got something good in return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cville81 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 My parents forced the Bills on me when I was young, so I my youthful rebellion included not liking the Bills. After I moved away from Western NY, I realized that the team was part of where I came from and who I was. I threw my hat in the Bills ring after Rob Johnson's 3-13 season and have been a Bills fan since. I'm pretty sure it's my penance for being a Yankees fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 And many years later my father-in-law and I still bond over the Bills. Except now it's me who drives the conversation. "It figures we finally get help in the secondary and our quarterback goes down." "When are we going to catch a break?" "If Pryor and Hoyer can come out of nowhere, why can't Thad Lewis?" "I have a gut feeling we are going to win this game." "This is the year we shock the world." "GO BILLS." I just had a sip in your honor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I made a deal with the Devil. Oh....to get your soul back? That's not a bad deal. What'd you get when you originally traded it away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerball Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 My story: I used to collect sports cards when I was in elementary school. In 1989, my mother bought me a Thurman Thomas rookie card...I never heard of this guy, but I wanted to watch him play on TV hoping that he would be pretty good so that one day, my card would be worth a lot..... Right when I started watching him play, the Bills started their Super Bowl runs....I fell in love with the team, through the heartbreaks, the joys, and the pain. The Bills taught me about character and perseverence. I've always felt out of place as a fan because I've lived in Southern California all my life, and nobody appreciates the Bills here... But I have a deep love for the Bills....I will be going to the KC game with my wife to celebrate our 1st year of marriage!! -Thomas one for you too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yungmack Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 (edited) Nice, nice story. Thanks. Edited October 13, 2013 by yungmack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PearlHowardman Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Me? I live here in the 'Cuse so naturally the Bills are my NFL team. But SU comes first for most here in CNY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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