JPL7 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I am sure many of you were born and bred into Bills fandom, but there is always more to the story than that. I would be interested in hearing how we all became Bills fanatics. I was born and raised in Ohio. The Bills were on local TV quite a bit in the late 80's in Columbus, so I became a Bills fan when I was about 5 just by seeing them all the time and loving Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas. 30 years later, I am still a diehard. I have been to Buffalo numerous times over the years for games and travel to many Bills road games in the region. I love the city of Buffalo! Anyway, what is your story? 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Born and bred. Thanks a lot, dad. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal Deek Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Wait just a dang minute!! I didn’t know I had a choice. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCbillsfan Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 The Bills drafted OJ and my dad bought season tickets. We left Buffalo in 1978 but still a Bills fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wppete Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Born into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 My dad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweats Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 We used to sit around the bar on Sunday afternoons betting on the games. I lost a lot of money on the Bills in the 80’s, but man when the Bills hit the he 90’s, I made a killing.........until the Super-bowls and then I lost my shirt again. Aye Carumba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBillies Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Going to Rich Stadium one time as a kid. Hooked for life. Nothing like game day in Buffalo. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSE Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I was on Main street and saw a Buffalo Bills ticket office. I thought I was buying tickets for a wild west show. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukbuffalo Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 UK fan so had no emotional attachment to any team. When I started watching NFL 5 years ago, a friends dad who has been watching NFL 30 years , suggested the bills. This is due to the hard working blue collar nature of buffalo in comparasion to my own town Burnley. Needless to say I’m now hooked and try my best to engross myself in everything Buffalo Bills where possible 8 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigdaddyinOrlando Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Born into it in 1969! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 It was down to The Bills and Lions. The Lions had some good points but the Bills really wooed me in their presentation JK #bornintoit 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 1 minute ago, ukbuffalo said: UK fan so had no emotional attachment to any team. When I started watching NFL 5 years ago, a friends dad who has been watching NFL 30 years , suggested the bills. This is due to the hard working blue collar nature of buffalo in comparasion to my own town Burnley. Needless to say I’m now hooked and try my best to engross myself in everything Buffalo Bills where possible I don't watch much soccer. But when I do, it's arsenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peace Frog Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Left Buffalo in 1977 (only followed the Sabres then; it's all dad watched), started following the Bills after they beat Houston in the playoffs in 1988 (and lost to Cincy in the AFCCG) when I was in college, and moved back to Buffalo at the end of the 1989 season. Went to my first Bills game in 1990 against the Jets (TD from Kelly to Mueller, last play of the game). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy days Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) I was in middle school in Oregon in the early 90s when the Bills were the hot ticket.... I jumped on the bandwagon and was never able to jump off.... never wanted to jump off Edited March 20, 2019 by BoldBully 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juice_32 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 17 minutes ago, LeviF91 said: Born and bred. Thanks a lot, dad. Same, my dad basically gave me no choice. I, in turn, am returning the favor to my kids. It builds character, or something like that. 2 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 moved to Buffalo when I was 4 (in 1966). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerJ Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I started out as a Browns fan. That was the team I could watch on the family's black and white TV. Leroy Kelly was my favorite player. Then the Bills drafted and signed OJ Simpson, and I was hooked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wiz Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 6 minutes ago, ukbuffalo said: UK fan so had no emotional attachment to any team. When I started watching NFL 5 years ago, a friends dad who has been watching NFL 30 years , suggested the bills. This is due to the hard working blue collar nature of buffalo in comparasion to my own town Burnley. Needless to say I’m now hooked and try my best to engross myself in everything Buffalo Bills where possible Just now, TigerJ said: I started out as a Browns fan. That was the team I could watch on the family's black and white TV. Leroy Kelly was my favorite player. Then the Bills drafted and signed OJ Simpson, and I was hooked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Just now, The Wiz said: Dude. Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mabden Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 The first football game I ever watched was the Ice Bowl game. I loved the Packers Helmet/Logo and colors. Their players had just as colorful names, Starr, Dowler, Nitschke. I was an instant fan, especially since they won. At that time, I did not even know Buffalo had a team. It wasn't until OJ Simpson was drafted by the Bills, that I found out. My first exposure to anything Bills was during Simpson's rookie year. I watched a Saturday afternoon sports show on the Buffalo Bills hosted by Irv Weinstein. The theme was, OJ to the right, OJ to the left, OJ up the middle, first down! After that I started listening to the games on my transistor radio, been following ever since. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Avon Lake now Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I was actually an NFL fan in the 60s watching a lot of Browns games on local TV. My older brother was a Bills fan, but I really didn't become a big fan until I moved to Buffalo in 1977. I went to several games in those years as ticket prices were cheap and the stadium was a lot of fun. When they started winning in 1980, I was hooked. I also became a Sabres fan around the same time. I moved away from Buffalo in 1983 and never lost my love for the Bills and Sabres. I love following my team on this site although I don't post much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watkins90 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 My parents are big Bills fans but the Bills weren’t my first team. When I was real young I just liked whoever won the Super Bowl. I became a Bills’ fan during the Music City Miracle. That’s when my Fandom started and hasn’t stopped since. It was 17 years of pain, but I’ll never waiver!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffAlone Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Born and bred. And as anybody growing up near Buffalo knows, its all we do. There was no escape, nor desire to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeastMode54 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I ate a lot of paint chips as a kid. Jk Jk. I try to explain it that I rooted for the under dog. I.m not from Buffalo, I'm from Yonkers. And my dad is from Ireland, and knew, and still barely knows anything, about American sports. I'm 38, and when I was old enough to understand the game and play sports myself, the Bills were playing the Giants. Everyone from where I was from was rooting for the Giants, but I went the other way and decided I'd support the Bills. And I haven't turned back since I was 10. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritBill Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 First started watching the game when I was 10/11 which coincided with the Super Bowl teams of the early 90's . I was hooked by the childish thought the Bills would be playing in the big game very year and it'd be just a matter of short time they'd be champions. Wrong. Despite what happened I never once thought about jumping ship. I decided I wouldn't go to any of the London games until the Bills first played in one. I had to wait a few years for that. Good things come to those who wait. We'll be alright soon. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny3000 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 My Uncle married a lady from Kenmore when I was a little kid. My family is mostly Giants & Jets fans, but they're actually bigger baseball fans - Yankees & Mets. So there wasn't a lot of football team-related pressure. My Uncle & Aunt from Kenmore lived with my Mom and I in a 2 family house. My Aunt's brother going to Buff State would spend summers living in our basement. He taught me how to play chess - when I lost I'd have to make him a pb&j sandwich. He also brought me to my first Bills game in Buffalo in 1994 and made me a Bills fan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris heff Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 My father had season tickets from the start. Went to a lot of games at the Old Rock Pile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teef Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 born into it like most. i'm forcing it on my children as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoHuddleKelly12 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Grew up right by East Brady, PA. Became a rabid Bills fan for life in the middle of Steeler country, by following Jim Kelly whose welcome sign to East Brady made a big impression on me as a little kid, and I haven't left the fold since. Also, my roomie in college was from Amherst, and I helped he and his dad shovel snow one year at their place, so I count myself an honorary citizen after that, lol. Finally, my youngest was born on the same day as Allen's first road start and win, the instantly infamous "leap" game in Minnie, so she as the good luck charm that day, will now have the honor of always being reminded of that by me as she grows up. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPL7 Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 3 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said: Grew up right by East Brady, PA. Became a rabid Bills fan for life in the middle of Steeler country, by following Jim Kelly whose welcome sign to East Brady made a big impression on me as a little kid, and I haven't left the fold since. Also, my roomie in college was from Amherst, and I helped he and his dad shovel snow one year at their place, so I count myself an honorary citizen after that, lol. Finally, my youngest was born on the same day as Allen's first road start and win, the instantly infamous "leap" game in Minnie, so she as the good luck charm that day, will now have the honor of always being reminded of that by me as she grows up. Love that! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Born in Buffalo. The BILLS started when I was still in school. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DallasMac Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Born into it. All my family is from Buffalo and most still live there. Earliest memories were the Bills Superbowls. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodneykm Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Not a Buffalo born guy, sadly. I've been asked this question so many times throughout my life ( and living in SC you get it a lot if you wear the gear around ). I've honestly never had a good answer for it because I'm not sure why? I just....do and I've never cared for another team my entire life. Something about the Bills drew me in back when I was a kid and I've loved them every since. If Buffalo ever leaves Buffalo that will be the end of the NFL for me. There simply is NO way I could ever pull for any other team. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jletha Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 My mom forced it upon me haha. But wouldnt want it any other way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thurst44 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) I was essentially born into Bills fandom, but in New York City. My whole family was from Buffalo area: my dad in Lockport, my mom in Kenmore. My dad, uncle, and aunt were all fans going back to 1960, and all moved to NYC at some point in the 1970s. In 1980, at 7 years old, I remember being in a car and the Bills were on, and I asked my aunt (who I idolized) a bunch of questions about them and got excited and then and there decided I was Bills for life, to the point when I was lost in the woods at age 12 in Western New Jersey (at the sort of camp who would lose kids in the woods) and all I cared about was that I heard Kelly was going to sign and hoping my Walkman's batteries would survive just long enough so I could hear it (they did, I did). If there was any doubt of permanence, I wound up going to UB and my first game was 51-3. My aunt sadly never got to see them win (but she did get, against all odds, to see the Red Sox win, staying lucid long enough -- by one day -- to see their 2013 victory), my uncle and dad still have a chance (although my dad is half-hearted). I have missed very few games since coming back to NYC area in 1998, going to Bills bars and in the last years having DirecTV Sunday Ticket. My wife has got into them, not to a superfan level, but enough that she has bought multiple jerseys for our dog. Edited March 20, 2019 by thurst44 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Guapo Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Grew up in Alabama, and as you can imagine, there was little to no coverage of the NFL in the 70’s and 80’s. I didn’t watch the NFL at all. College roommate in the late 80’s was from Western New York and a huge Bills fan. Spent my college Sunday’s drinking beer and watching the games with him. After college, I still found myself watching the Bills and drinking beer on Sunday’s. It was then that I realized I was a fan. Never looked back. My wife, son and nephew are all huge fans. Had seasons from 2001-2011, but let them go when I quit traveling for work and started to actually pay for airfare and hotel. We still make it to a home game every year, and if the opportunity is right, we will go to an away game. Looks like that opportunity will be in Nashville this year. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan1959 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Born into it. Passed on from my father and, in turn, passed down to my son - and now being passed on to my grandson. The gift that keeps on giving... Poor bastards 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One Buffalo Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Grew up in Central NY, I remember watching the Bills in the late 80's, first game I distinctly remember was the 1989 AFC Championship loss to Bengals. Then of course the 1990's and on from there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritBill Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) Can I ask, just out of interest, how many Bills games people have been to? It seems more acceptable in the US for fans be TV fans where as in the UK supporting a team (soccer) but not going to games is frowned upon and used a ridicule against you. Edited March 20, 2019 by BritBill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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