How do you measure your devotion to this franchise?

[SoCal Deek]

All I can say is ‘wow’! Skin in the game? You are aware that many of people on here don’t live anywhere near WNY...right? But next time I’m in town I’ll be sure to check with the author to see if it’s OK if I go to ‘his’ stadium and watch ‘his’ team.

[IDBillzFan]

I think how much money someone spends on their team is a terrible measuring stick in the sense that you or I are not as big a fan as, say, Pinto Ron.  I'm not going to feel badly about not spending money to see the Bills play Arizona. Financial priorities are different for everyone.

 

From my cheap seats, fandom is better measured by how closely you follow the team, all year long. At my last job I worked with a guy who insisted he was a Bills fan, but every Monday he'd greet me with "How'd the BIlls do this weekend?" I've met older Pats* fans who never heard of Steve Grogan. But I meet Packer and Steeler fans who can cite their team's last 10 draft picks, where they pick in April, and what positions they'd like to see addressed.

 

I'm not saying you need to be Encyclopedia Brown. I'd like to think the basic true fan watches/follows every weekend; keeps an eye on teams in the division, has a jersey or two, and maybe even some Zubaz.

[Bob Lamb]

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Fandom is something that's shared.

 

The game itself is just a product........you can consume that anywhere.

 

As you get older you realize that the point of going is almost entirely to be among your friends/fellow fans who you go to those games and/or tailgate with.

 

When you don't go you basically are telling those friends you have more important or better things to do.........which is fine if you do.........but if you are staying home to rake leaves or something then you probably aren't that big of a fan.    That's fine too.  Be you.......just know it goes fast and don't expect those people to keep asking.

 

Tomorrow is our last tailgate of the year and I won't feel choked up about that at all because the next tailgate will be here in the blink of an eye.........one of the best things about hitting your 30's is after that time flies!

 Your 30's ?

[BADOLBILZ]

Just now, Bob Lamb said:

 Your 30's ?

 

It seems like yesterday!?

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

should of just said by years.

 

bandwagon fans jump off when things are not good. I'd say those bills fans that have hung on through the good, bad and the ugly, are certainly devoted.

 

it's why bills fans are right there at the top as far as devoted fans to their team go.

 

in my opinion of course.

Edited December 29, 2018 by DaBillsFanSince1973

[Jay_Fixit]

I’ve been a fan since I was 8. I’m 38 now.

 

Love team just as much as I ever have. And once the Bills start winning, I’m gonna call out every bandwagon fan I see.

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

My questions is: does going to the game, buying season tickets, or investing in the team in any financial way, make you a bigger fan than someone who watches at home and has little to no skin in a the game? 

 

Nope.  As long as you root for them to win, you're as big a fan as Pinto Ron.

[row_33]

1 hour ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

I used to have seasons for years, but had to give them up based on life (house, marraige, job, dog). 

 

My questions is: does going to the game, buying season tickets, or investing in the team in any financial way, make you a bigger fan than someone who watches at home and has little to no skin in a the game? 

 

I have had this argument with a friend of mine who goes to every home game. He offered me up tickets twice this year, to which I wasn't able to go. His response is always "dude, what happened? You used to be such a die-hard fan!?" 

 

I still watch every game, listen to WGR, read a ***** ton of articles and feel as devoted as ever. So to me, not attending games doesn't make me feel like less of a fan, especially since I went for years.

 

Thoughts? 

 

You are doing fine!

 

there’s a narrow balance between praise and criticism for being at the game or having more important things to do

 

if you have given $$$ for even a single season of these past 20 pony loafs, you are a golden fan

 

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by row_33

[LSHMEAB]

8 minutes ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

should of just said by years.

 

bandwagon fans jump off when things are not good. I'd say those bills fans that have hung on through the good, bad and the ugly, are certainly devoted.

 

it's why bills fans are right there at the top as far as devoted fans to their team go.

 

in my opinion of course.

At this point in time, there's no such thing as a bandwagon Bills fan.

[row_33]

6 minutes ago, Jay_Fixit said:

I’ve been a fan since I was 8. I’m 38 now.

 

Love team just as much as I ever have. And once the Bills start winning, I’m gonna call out every bandwagon fan I see.

 

We can rent out our ID here to bandwagoners showing up with new accounts, when it gets rolling in 2023

 

 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

8 minutes ago, LSHMEAB said:

At this point in time, there's no such thing as a bandwagon Bills fan.

well, you may of been too young or not even thought of yet or maybe you were but there were plenty of bandwagon fans in those playoff/sb years. but you're right, it's been a good 20-25 years since they've had any reason to jump back on.

 

hence years defining devotion. 

Edited December 29, 2018 by DaBillsFanSince1973

[Nanker]

Football is an integral part of our culture and is like a religion to many. If you’re a real fan of a team then you’d no sooner switch to being a fan of another team than a Catholic would convert to become a Protestant. 

 

If if one does switch around then they’re at best, maybe a fan of the sport. 

[row_33]

There wasn’t an internet back then

 

it was black and white when you went to the game back then, colour wasn’t invented for outside 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Nanker said:

Football is an integral part of our culture and is like a religion to many. If you’re a real fan of a team then you’d no sooner switch to being a fan of another team than a Catholic would convert to become a Protestant. 

 

If if one does switch around then they’re at best, maybe a fan of the sport. 

 

Where can you go?  If you want to attend then the Lions and Browns are your choices to get tickets.

 

 

 

I believe they were a collective 0-25 for road trips on the way home from college games on Saturday....

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by row_33

[Bing Bong]

I live in Texas so screw your friend haha. I can't afford it.

 

I have a box a Flutie flakes I promise to eat next time we make a Superbowl and that Stanley cup championship Bills banner I bought from China. Terry Pegs doesn't need my money. Those poor Chinese kids that messed up and made that hilariously incorrect poster need it more. They deserve more for that genius faux pas

Edited December 29, 2018 by BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P

[Bing Bong]

2 hours ago, OldTimeAFLGuy said:

 

 

 

....pretty simple.....I'm in year 56.....so my measurement is budget for Pepto Bismol, bourbon and Depends.......and I've blown it for EVERY one of the damn 56 years...next question........

You crap yourself so you don't have to go to the bathroom during a Bills game?

 

Respect. OP: this is Bills fandom at it's finest. You can't put a monetary value on that (aside from merchandising Bills themed depends).

Edited December 29, 2018 by BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P

[row_33]

34 minutes ago, BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P said:

You crap yourself so you don't have to go to the bathroom during a Bills game?

 

Respect. OP: this is Bills fandom at it's finest. You can't put a monetary value on that (aside from merchandising Bills themed depends).

 

Not really sure about being the best, Rich was barely a third filled beginning the 4th quarter for many games in the 70s and 80s

 

 

[Beast]

I think I was a bigger fan when I was a kid and didn’t have any money to spend on them.......so maybe that answers your question?

[Bing Bong]

7 minutes ago, Binghamton Beast said:

I think I was a bigger fan when I was a kid and didn’t have any money to spend on them.......so maybe that answers your question?

That's a great answer. I can't go back to my childhood version of fandom. I was running playoff scenarios of making the playoffs at 8-8 and watching an 8-0 Browns loss thinking it was the best game ever. The nostalgia really is what makes most of us fans I have to imagine.

Edited December 29, 2018 by BarkleyForGOATBackupPT5P

[formerlyofCtown]

We spend an awful lot of time arguing and verbally abusing one another on a Bills fan site to not be diehard fans.  The answer is how much time you are willing to put into it.  Are you willing to tell other fans you are a bills fan.  I know people who stopped liking the Bills because they have struggled for a long time to put it lightly.  Truth is they where never fans even if they did go to 30, 40, 50 games.  How big of a fan someone maybe is not measurable it is how important that team is to them.  How a loss makes them feel more so than how a win makes them feel.  Anyone who thinks money is a measurement of how big of a fan someone is also probably thinks that they can buy their way into heaven.  The one who the team has the larger effect on is the bigger fan.

[thurst44]

4 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

I used to have seasons for years, but had to give them up based on life (house, marraige, job, dog). 

 

My questions is: does going to the game, buying season tickets, or investing in the team in any financial way, make you a bigger fan than someone who watches at home and has little to no skin in a the game? 

 

I have had this argument with a friend of mine who goes to every home game. He offered me up tickets twice this year, to which I wasn't able to go. His response is always "dude, what happened? You used to be such a die-hard fan!?" 

 

I still watch every game, listen to WGR, read a ***** ton of articles and feel as devoted as ever. So to me, not attending games doesn't make me feel like less of a fan, especially since I went for years.

 

Thoughts? 

I don't think this can truly be quantified. We all have our own loads in life. As for game attendance, living in the NYC area, if I get a chance to go I do, but there was a period of about 15 years between graduating from UB and a few years ago when a Bills-fan friend organized a trip to Met Life to watch opening day (we lost 48-28 but it was fun). While it coincided with the drought, that was not the reason -- I simply didn't think to go. However, my fandom grew more fanatical during that time, as this site was one of the few I'd visit every morning before starting my work day. Sundays during NFL season were set aside for Bills games. I'd go to an uncle's to listen, then the Bills bars on 42nd, then Direct TV. I'm already exchanging Fanspeak mocks with a friend. Everywhere I've worked, people have known me as the Bills fan. However, I also have very little Bills gear. I cried when they lost their first SB and when they made the playoffs last year. Does any of this make me more or less of a fan than anyone else. Who cares! It's something that brings me joy even when it's heartbreaking. Our level of fandom is our own business :). 

Edited December 30, 2018 by thurst44
posted accidentally before finishing it...