Best Bills' Memory?

[row_33]

winning at The Meadowlands in December 1990, proving the Bills were the #1 team in the NFL, until they choked it away to the same Giants in the SB.

 

that short window was the only time the Bills were the best in football.

 

 

[DrDawkinstein]

1986 to 1996. All of it. (Except 4 games)

[SoCal Deek]

I’ve been a fanatic for a little over 50 years so there are too many memories to count or list but the most recent one that comes to mind is recorded in text messages between me and my son in law.

 

I had literally just finished sending the text that Andy Dalton was freaking horrible when we threw the touchdown pass heard around the WNY World last New Years Eve. Just seconds later we each texted each other that Andy Dalton was the best player ever!! Then ran around our respective houses screaming like mad men!

 

Go Bills

[HOUSE]

1972 - I slipped & spilled my beer leaving the concession table which received a standing ovation and cheers from the crowd

 

I then received many free beers from people I don't even know......THIS WAS HUGE

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by HOUSE

[Foxx]

4 hours ago, The Red King said:

...  This game was different.  It wasn't a small burst.  As the game went on, as the comeback mounted and the crowd somehow got louder, my dad let his guard down.  He started to grin, get more excited, go wide-eyed like a kid.  He would cheer and high-five people around him, talk to his former co-workers.  But...what sticks with me to this day...is all the excitement, the nudging and such...it was mostly with me.  Like all of us, he was sharing this experience with everyone around us, but...primarily with me.  I knew my father loved me, I had lived my life with him.  I knew how he said it, showed it.  But this, it's hard to put into words.  He was happy about the comeback, yes, but I could tell he was happiest because he was sharing it with me.  Football was always a bonding experience for us, but in that moment, at that game it became so much more.  I got to see him with his guard completely down, something that had not happened before, and would not happen after.  And in that time, I got to see how much having me with him at the game meant to him.  ...

what a great memory to have. some never get to know or see true feelings.

 

mine was the comeback game as well. we sat in the nosebleeds but it didn't matter. just being there in that atmosphere was the best. it was funny looking over the top railing after the third quarter and seeing everyone who left at halftime climbing the fence to get back in so they could actually see what was history in the making.

 

a close second would have to have been the  AFC Championship game later that same year against the Raiders. we crushed them. it was so friggen cold that day, you had to have a cozy on your beer or it would freeze. as it was,  it looked like Niagra Falls coming out of the tab. 

 

really good memories that playoff run. about the only thing better would have been to cap it off with a SB victory.

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Foxx

[K-9]

4 hours ago, DCOrange said:

My two favorite memories:

 

1. This past season's playoff game in Jacksonville. My mom is the biggest Bills fan in the family. One of her biggest dreams was to take her boys to a playoff game before we all moved away. I moved to DC almost 2 years ago. The Jaguars game was literally on her birthday, so we all surprised her and got tickets to fly down and go to the game and I met them all down in Jacksonville. Obviously it sucked that they lost, but it was such a great experience and I know it meant the world to her to be there.

Awesome story. Great perspective for everyone to appreciate.

[BuffaloHokie13]

I know it's more recent, but the 2011 home win against the Pats* is it for me. When the clock hit 0:00 the entire stadium was buzzing with excitement, but it was also quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Everyone kind of just stayed where they were and took the moment in. Awesome experience.

[Jay_Fixit]

I made this really good tuna salad sandwich during a regular season game in 1996 I think.

 

That was a great sandwich.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Jay_Fixit

[reddogblitz]

I have no idea what the Bills organization's best memory is.  (Bills')

[BuffaloBaumer]

Every Home Opener at 8am

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

Handing a guy $1500 cash in Tampa and getting 3 tickets for SB XXV.

 

Walking into my hotel lobby outside Minneapolis the evening before SB XXVI and finding Marv Levy, Bill Polian, and the Bills checking in.

 

Being at the first game in Rich Stadium, preseason game against the Redskins.

 

First Bills away game - 1989 playoff against the Browns, witnessing the birth of the K-Gun

 

1974 win over the Raiders on MNF - 3 TDs in the last 2 minutes.

 

Free agency signings of Chris Spielman, Takeo Spikes, and Mario Williams

Edited April 11, 2018 by JÂy RÛßeÒ

[Bills4everNY]

7 hours ago, nickrage said:

51-3

Same here.

[The Red King]

3 hours ago, Foxx said:

what a great memory to have. some never get to know or see true feelings.

 

mine was the comeback game as well. we sat in the nosebleeds but it didn't matter. just being there in that atmosphere was the best. it was funny looking over the top railing after the third quarter and seeing everyone who left at halftime climbing the fence to get back in so they could actually see what was history in the making.

 

a close second would have to have been the  AFC Championship game later that same year against the Raiders. we crushed them. it was so friggen cold that day, you had to have a cozy on your beer or it would freeze. as it was,  it looked like Niagra Falls coming out of the tab. 

 

really good memories that playoff run. about the only thing better would have been to cap it off with a SB victory.

 

 

Nothing wrong with nosebleeds, that's where we were, too.  Once people started leaving, we debated moving down to lower seats, but it just didn't feel right.  The upper seats were where we had sat all season, and worked well enough for us!

 

The Raiders were actually two years prior.  I was still in Omaha and remember watching the game at the bar we normally went to.  I still chuckle when I think back.  When Norwood missed that extra point I was thinking "I hope that doesn't come back to haunt us!"  51-3...yeah, it was about as haunting as the Scary Movie franchise. ;-)

 

If I recall, after The Comeback, we went to Pitt and beat them, then went to Miami for the AFC Championship, avenging ourselves on the dasterdly Dolphins that had the audacity to swipe the AFC East championship from us the last week of the season.

[BuffaloRush]

First off this is an AWESOME F’N topic.  Thank you for posting.

 

My favorite memory is the Comeback but your write up was much better than mine would be.

 

New Year’s Eve this year was a lot of fun.  I remember being really nervous that the Bills would lose the game at Miami and then was shocked to see Cincinnati win to get us in the playoffs.  I was with my family and we were all celebrating.  

 

But a more obscure pick for me was opening game in 1996 when the Bills played the Giants in Buffalo.  My dad wasn’t a huge football fan, but he always liked the Bills as they were the hometown team.  We didn’t always watch games together on a Sunday afternoon, but this was a SNF game on TNT so we watched.  I remember watching the Bills pull off the win in OT on a Steve Christie FG.  We were high flying and celebrating.  Not really the most memorable game, but certainly a great moment!

 

Moments like these are great examples of why we hung around during that terrible 17 year stretch. 

[PrimeTime101]

1988 overtime victory over the Jet and being one of many people trying to rush the field and watching the goal posts get dismantled.

[Irv]

McDermott power slamming Belicheck through a burning table.  I'll never forget it.  

[Beast]

Bills beating the Jets at Shea in a 1981 wildcard playoff game.

 

That was the last win I experienced with my dad who died before the next season started.

[Buffalo Boy]

9 hours ago, The Red King said:

Well, the free agency whirlwind is dying down, and a lot of people are getting antsy about the draft, so I figure why not start a positive thread that has nothing to do with the offseason to help distract us all?  The idea is simple, post your favorite Bills' memory here.

 

Mine is the Greatest Comeback in NFL History, though not necessarily for obvious reasons. 

 

I was born here in Buffalo, but when I was 2 1/2 years old, the plant my dad worked at closed.  He was offered a chance to transfer to one of two cities and took it, so we moved to Omaha, NE.  My dad raised me a Bills fan, which was tough.  Buffalo was not a good team (this was the late '70s, early '80s) and Omaha really wasn't close enough to an NFL city to be a devoted fanbase, so all of my friends and classmates all jumped on a different trendy, bandwagon team each year, then promptly gave me grief for sticking with Buffalo.  My dad taught me loyalty, how being a fan meant sticking by your team, good or bad.  When the '90s hit my dad and his fellow transfers even went half-in on a satellite dish for a local bar so we could all watch Bills games.  The kicker was watching them lose Super Bowls XXV and XXVI.

 

But then things aligned.  I was set to graduate high school in '92.  That same year, the company offered my dad a buyout.  He was close to retirement anyway, and the timing meant a move would not disrupt me academically.  So he took it, and we moved back to Buffalo.  First thing dad did was buy us season tickets for the Bills, in a group with a number of his other retired co-workers.  It was wonderful, we'd all meet at one co-worker's house, pile into his urban assault vehicle, swing by to pickup pizza and wings at Blasdell's, then get to the stadium good and early so we'd have time to tailgate before the game.  Sure enough, the Bills made the playoffs, looking for a third straight Super Bowl appearance.  It would be my first live playoff game.  Little did I know what I was going to experience.  Of course, this wasn't any ordinary playoff game.  This was The Comeback, Oilers at Bills, one week after Houston wrecked the Bills in the regular season finale, costing them the AFC East title and forcing them into a Wild Card spot.

 

The first half went much the same, the Bills got stomped, and after the second half opened with a pick-6 my dad was convinced it was over.  I remained the eternal optimist though, and when Beebe tore down the sideline I excitedly nudged my dad and told him "Look!  They're going to come back.", he gave me a tired smile and a "Yeah, right."  Then the impossible happened and Buffalo clawed their way back in, yard by yard, point by point.  Now you have to understand my dad was a quiet, reserved man.  The only time I really saw him emote was when watching football or hockey, and that was normally just in small bursts when he got overexcited and shouted something out.  This game was different.  It wasn't a small burst.  As the game went on, as the comeback mounted and the crowd somehow got louder, my dad let his guard down.  He started to grin, get more excited, go wide-eyed like a kid.  He would cheer and high-five people around him, talk to his former co-workers.  But...what sticks with me to this day...is all the excitement, the nudging and such...it was mostly with me.  Like all of us, he was sharing this experience with everyone around us, but...primarily with me.  I knew my father loved me, I had lived my life with him.  I knew how he said it, showed it.  But this, it's hard to put into words.  He was happy about the comeback, yes, but I could tell he was happiest because he was sharing it with me.  Football was always a bonding experience for us, but in that moment, at that game it became so much more.  I got to see him with his guard completely down, something that had not happened before, and would not happen after.  And in that time, I got to see how much having me with him at the game meant to him.  When the winning kick went through, the raw emotion was overwhelming.  Of course we tailgated after the game.  Hell, we didn't leave the parking lot until around 9 PM.

 

That's my best Bills' memory.  And now I get to carry on in his place.  Thought I was out of luck when my son showed no interest in sports, but then my daughter surprised me.  She's been watching the Bills' faithfully the last couple years.  Celebrated her 10th Birthday last year and she asked to go to her first live Bills game.  Her birthday fell on a Sunday, discovered they were actually playing a home game that day, so I ended up taking her.  She loved it, even though the Bills got crushed.  Brought back memories of my dad getting me into football, and the game above.

 

So, to all of you, if you had to pick one, what are your favorite Bills' memories?

This touched me Brother.

Ive  sharedon here before the only time my father was really a Dad to me was taking me to Bills games. First one was the Bills beating the Fins for the first time in a decade when I was 9.

My boy John also showed no interest in football until he started playing in 8 th grade and then it’s all he talked about. 

SPECIAL story my man!!!! Thanks for sharing.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Baker Mayfield winning 7 Super Bowls.

 

 

[Foxx]

11 hours ago, The Red King said:

 

Nothing wrong with nosebleeds, that's where we were, too.  Once people started leaving, we debated moving down to lower seats, but it just didn't feel right.  The upper seats were where we had sat all season, and worked well enough for us!

 

The Raiders were actually two years prior.  I was still in Omaha and remember watching the game at the bar we normally went to.  I still chuckle when I think back.  When Norwood missed that extra point I was thinking "I hope that doesn't come back to haunt us!"  51-3...yeah, it was about as haunting as the Scary Movie franchise. ;-)

 

If I recall, after The Comeback, we went to Pitt and beat them, then went to Miami for the AFC Championship, avenging ourselves on the dasterdly Dolphins that had the audacity to swipe the AFC East championship from us the last week of the season.

yeah, thanks. the memory banks for specifics aren't what they used to be.