Do you remember the first football game you went too?

[Dr. K]

Bills vs. Houston Oilers, 1966. Bills won on last minute 67-yard pick six (on Houston QB George Blanda) by cornerback Haygood Clarke. You could look it up. 

[26CornerBlitz]

The 1st game attended that I remember really well was the 1968 home game against the NYJ where Namath threw 5 picks.

[vorpma]

1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

I had to wait until my 3rd game to finally see the Bills score a point!

1971 Home opener against the Cowboys.

We lost but it was a great high scoring game!

That was an awesome game; both teams lit up the scoreboard!

[reddogblitz]

I can't remember the exact game/opponent, but it was around 1963 or 1964.  The Cowboys had a deal where you could sit in the end zone for $1 at the Cotton bowl.  So I saved up my money several times and went with Aunts/Uncles/Grandfather.

 

One game I remember in particular was my Aunt was a big fan Hall of Famer running back/defensive back Mel Renfro.  But then Mel got hurt in the game running the football.  He never played RB after that.

 

First Bills game was in probably 1995 or 1996 against the Jaguars.  I remember in that game, I think it was the Attica HS Band, came out on the field and got in their formation for half time.  It was really cold.  But there was some injured player on the field.  So they had to wait.  By the time they hauled the player off, half time was over and they had to go back their seats.  Bummer.

Edited December 7, 2017 by reddogblitz

[26CornerBlitz]

1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

I had to wait until my 3rd game to finally see the Bills score a point!

1971 Home opener against the Cowboys.

We lost but it was a great high scoring game!

 

49-37.  I was also at that game. 

[vorpma]

20 minutes ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

The 1st game attended that I remember really well was the 1968 home game against the NYJ where Namath threw 5 picks.

I remember that game, since it at home the blackout was in effect but my neighbor had what was called a "rotary antenna" and picked up the game in North Tonawanda from Rochester  channel 10 clear as heck. The Bills won and we loved it because we beat the system!

[reddogblitz]

Just now, vorpma said:

I remember that game, since it at home the blackout was in effect but my neighbor had what was called a "rotary antenna" and picked up the game in North Tonawanda from Rochester  channel 10 clear as heck. The Bills won and we loved it because we beat the system!

 

In Dallas it was called a "Cowboy Antenna".

[Gugny]

October 26, 1997.  Bills/Broncos at Rich Stadium.  Cold, rainy, miserable day in which neither my Broncos fan buddy nor I were prepared for bad weather.  I brought a girl who I'd met about a week earlier.  Nice looking blonde.  She and my buddy's girlfriend tailgated with us, then went shopping and picked us up after the game.  Was a great weekend, but the Bills lost in OT.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199710260buf.htm

 

 

[Freddie's Dead]

First NFL game I went to also, Jim Kelly's debut against the Jets in 1986.  We lost, but the play I'll never forget was when the Bills had the ball on the Jets one yard line.  Joe Klecko purposely jumped the snap count and decked Kelly.  The Bills at least reacted, unlike this last week against Gronk.  The PF only cost the Jets half a yard, so Klecko got away with one.  Hated Klecko's guts ever since.

[nucci]

September '69 vs Broncos

[billsintaiwan]

Greg bell beat the cowboys. I froze my ass off.

[ALLEN1QB]

The first Bills game I went to was in the early to mid 70s I think it was against the Jets in buffalo . My brother-in-law took me he drink too much got sick and had to leave at halftime lol

Edited December 7, 2017 by PIP

[Formerly Allan in MD]

It was a Kenmore High (only one than) game in the '50s when we had the wonderful George Davis at running back.

[Gugny]

Note:  There are some old ass mother!@#$ers up in hurr.

[ColoradoBills]

32 minutes ago, vorpma said:

That was an awesome game; both teams lit up the scoreboard!

 

30 minutes ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

49-37.  I was also at that game. 

 

Wow, forgot it was that high scoring.

The biggest thing I remember about the game was Marlin Briscoe became my favorite Bill that day!

[tommyfrank]

My first game was in 1974 against the Miami Dolphins, I was 9 years old.  I still remember a couple of things:

 

1. A banner hanging from the upper deck that said " The Juice will pour in 1974".

 

2. Watching warm ups by the railing behind the Bills bench.  A couple of players came over and started shooting the crap with me.

 

3. I think it was Mercury Morris getting  a nice wrestling body slam on the field.  He got up took two steps and went back down again.

 

4.  Getting yelled at by a couple Bills fans on the way out of the stadium because my dad bought me both Bills and Dolphins pennants. 

[Chadwick Bay Chad]

Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills -Last game at War Memorial  17-17 tie

[BobbyC81]

Bills hosted the St Louis Cardinals in 1971.  Alvin Wyatt returned a punt for a TD.

[Toledo Bill]

6 hours ago, The Poojer said:

might not be the first, but the first i went to 'by myself'.  In the early 70's i loved Fran Tarkenton....Minnesota came to Buffalo for a snow game(Chuck Foreman hurdled over a snowball that was thrown).  I was in 7th Grade at AV Zogg MS in Liverpool.  My folks let me leave school early, put me on a greyhound, made me sit directly behind the bus driver.  Took the bus to buffalo, my Aunt and Uncle picked me up.  We went to the game in their season tickets, and there i was in my Purple and Gold toque.  I loved the Bills, but Tark was my man!  One of my fondest memories

 

Was that the game a fan hit Foreman in the face with a snowball, also?

 

http://www.twincities.com/2014/10/15/vikings-chuck-foreman-still-struck-by-75-snowball-fiasco/

 

[RyanC883]

I believe it was actually a Bills v. Colts game in 1990 v. the Indy Colts opening Day.  Started a tradition of going to the first home game w/ my Dad that we have more or less followed to today.  

[26CornerBlitz]

Does the thread title mean you went to the game with someone? 

Edited December 7, 2017 by 26CornerBlitz

[K-9]

1 hour ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

The 1st game attended that I remember really well was the 1968 home game against the NYJ where Namath threw 5 picks.

Tom Janik says hi. I was a gopher in the press box at the time. All of nine years old and lovin life.

[JohnC]

39 minutes ago, Gugny said:

Note:  There are some old ass mother!@#$ers up in hurr.

They are not old. They are just extremely mature. 

[Stenbar]

I grew up in Dallas Texas so my first game was in the season of 1977.  The Cowboys vs The Eagles. We sat on the 45 yardline 10 rows behind the Eagles bench.  I still remember every second of that day.  Tony Dorsett scored his first touchdown, an 84 yard run down the sideline to secure the win.  Harold Carmichael threw his helmet on the sideline in disgust.  My first Bills game was against the Raiders in 1983. We sat in the tunnel endzone and Marc Wilson was the qb.  I remember thinking to myself, man this crowd is a thousand times louder than any Cowboys game I had ever been too.  I instantly fell in love and not soon after that I became a Bills fan for life.  I took a lot of heat from my Cowboy friends during our Super Bowl losses for being a traitor..LOL

[RJ (not THAT RJ)]

October 1976, Bills lost to the Colts, 31-13. I was 9. It was Jim Ringo's first game as coach, since Lou Saban had quit a few days earlier. OJ caught a TD pass. Bills went into that game 2-3, but ended the season 2-12. Ah, memories...

[Fadingpain]

Honestly I can't pin it down to a specific game! 

Would have been in the 1980s during the Joe Ferguson era, almost for sure.

 

I do have a lasting memory in my head, though, of going through the "tunnel" out to the seats and the full size of the stadium emerging before me for the first time.  My immediate reaction was "It's much smaller than it looks on TV" and I remember thinking things like an extra point or short field goals were a total joke for a professional, as an extra point (back then) was so freaking close; how could you miss?

 

Another memory I have from long ago is being down in the front row and noticing the massive crown in the field.  The field in that stadium is (or at least was) much, much higher in the middle than out toward the sidelines, for water drainage.  When you are down there the curve of the field is very noticeable.  That is totally lost on TV.

 

 

 

 

 

[707BillsFan]

My first NFL game? I know it was in the 70's...always a 49er / Rams contest. My mother used to work for State Farm and they got free tix to the 49er / Rams games each / every year. They had to give 49ers tix away pre-Montana. My first Bills game was also in SF,  last game of the season in '80. Bills needed a win to FINALLY get into the playoffs. They beat SF and Montana w/ a gimpy Fergy. Don't recall a huge celebration though. I just remember it raining and my dad was miserable and kept wanting to leave before the final tick of the clock. We toughed it out though...

[Bob in STL]

I was a kid.  It was 1964 in the Old Rockpile in Buffalo, NY.   I went with my Dad and my Uncle.  Crazy fans everywhere.

 

It was October and we beat the Jets. We were undefeated, like 7-0 or something.   We won on a 4th quarter comeback by our backup QB, Daryl Lamonica.  Jack Kemp went down and fullback Cookie Gilcrest was held in check for the first time all year.   We got a big game from rookie half-back bobby Smith.  Our flanker Elbert "Golden Wheels" Dubenion had over 200 yards. 

 

Lou Saban was our coach.   We won the AFL Championship over the favored San Diego Chargers.  Back then we really could beat the crap out of teams.   We had the best defense in the AFL and they were even better the next season. 

 

10 AFL Pro Bowlers out of 22 were Bills that year.   We could have had a few more.  

 

It was a different game and different time but yeah, I was hooked. 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by Bob in STL

[eball]

Yes, I also remember my first football game.

[26CornerBlitz]

27 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Tom Janik says hi. I was a gopher in the press box at the time. All of nine years old and lovin life.

 

Nice!  100 yard INT return.

[SoCal Deek]

48 minutes ago, Dunkirk Don said:

Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills -Last game at War Memorial  17-17 tie

I was at that game!  I remember it was freezing....but as a kid I still loved every second of it.

[corta765]

My first game was like a Bills Pats game early mid 90s when Kelly, Thomas, Reed, & Smith were still on the roster. I think he took me so I at least attended the good days and my only real memory is being in the 300s opponent sideline in like early Nov.

 

BUT my first true memory would be the Bills Bears in 2000 I was 11 we sat 300s. Flutie started the game, for some reason in the 3rd quarter Johnson was put in though. He proceeded to get injured which the crowd cheer as he went off and Flutie back on (Not our finest day Bills fans). Any way Bills were up only by a few and then we got a defensive TD to ice the game. It was really fun and I still have the gloves my dad got me from a vendor on Abbott.

Edited December 7, 2017 by corta765

[Curt]

I'm from Canada so my first football games were the CFL Montreal Alouettes at Olympic Stadium in the early 80's. First live NFL game was Green Bay at Chicago in October 1990.

[corta765]

4 hours ago, TheBrownBear said:

1983 Monday Night Football against the Jets.  Broke the record for most arrests and ejections in Rich Stadium history.

 

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/10/04/Thirty-nine-people-were-arrested-and-another-375-fans-were/4885434088000/

 

My Dad was supposed to babysit me that night (it was shortly before my 5th birthday) while my Mom was at work.  He got a call around dinnertime from my uncle saying he had two extra tickets.  He knew my Mom would be furious that he took a 4 year old to a 9:00pm game, but he couldn't pass it up.  Left a note on the kitchen table and off we went.  I remember walking through the tunnel and seeing the bright green turf for the first time and it was almost sparkling from the lights.  Stadium was absolutely packed and very rowdy.  The Bills got destroyed from the start, but I fell in love with Bills football that day because of the experience.

 

My uncle's friend was smashed before we entered the stadium.  Sometime during the first half he left to use the bathroom and never came back.  After the game we wandered around the stadium looking for him and we finally found him asleep on a toilet...lol.

 

Oh yeah, Mom was pissed when we got home!!!!

 

 

Haha this story is awesome and the ending is a 100% predictable. Only difference is if it was me with my kid my wife would've been pissed she didn't get to go which is a plus I think.

[ticketssince61]

6 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

It was 1969. Len Dawson, Mike Garrett and the Chiefs at the Rockpile. I can still hear the sound of glass beer bottles rolling down the concrete stands. Good times! 

 

 That was my 2nd game. Lost 29 to 7

In 1968 I was 6 years old.

 

I still vividly remember my father RIP saying "I think it's time you go to a Bills game. How about Joe Namath and the Jets"

 

Won 37-35. Bills had 3 pick sixes against Joe Willie - including one over 100 yards by Tom Janik.

 

That was the only game we won that year

Edited December 7, 2017 by ticketssince61

[corta765]

1 hour ago, Dunkirk Don said:

Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills -Last game at War Memorial  17-17 tie

 

It's fitting the last game there would be a tie between these two teams

[Dablitzkrieg]

My first game was the season finale in 1989 against the Jets.  The Bills needed a win to get into the playoffs.  They blew them out like 33-0

[corta765]

42 minutes ago, Fadingpain said:

Honestly I can't pin it down to a specific game! 

Would have been in the 1980s during the Joe Ferguson era, almost for sure.

 

I do have a lasting memory in my head, though, of going through the "tunnel" out to the seats and the full size of the stadium emerging before me for the first time.  My immediate reaction was "It's much smaller than it looks on TV" and I remember thinking things like an extra point or short field goals were a total joke for a professional, as an extra point (back then) was so freaking close; how could you miss?

 

Another memory I have from long ago is being down in the front row and noticing the massive crown in the field.  The field in that stadium is (or at least was) much, much higher in the middle than out toward the sidelines, for water drainage.  When you are down there the curve of the field is very noticeable.  That is totally lost on TV.

 

 

 

 

 

I remember the crown as a kid. My dad made a big point of that and how it really was a factor throwing the ball. Not sure it is anymore with the field turf and stuff

[Original Byrd Man]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

Tom Janik says hi. I was a gopher in the press box at the time. All of nine years old and lovin life.

I remember someone offering me $20 for my $4 ticket on my way into the game.  No way was I selling.  In hind sight should probably have grabbed the cash.  I believe it was the only win of the season. lol

[theAteam]

I think it was a Dolphins/Pats game at the old Foxboro Stadium about 20 years ago. I remember when I was leaving the half-finished Gillette Stadium was in the background.