Where were you during "wide right"?

[RevWarRifleman]

On my couch with my date.

[Captain Hindsight]

Probably shitting my pants. I was 1 haha

[Lurker]

3 hours ago, Billsatlastin2018 said:

Great, Super Bowl caliber story! 

 

LOL!  makes me think of my SB XXVI story.

 

Whoo Hoo!  We got two tickets to the Minneapolis game vs. the 'Skins through the season ticket holder lottery.   My uncle had been in Minneapolis over the summer and as a flyer, reserved a hotel room near the stadium on the if come.   So we had a real cheap place to stay, booked a real cheap flight on a private charter that opened up at the last minute from Buffalo to Madison, WI (Bob and Cindy Rich were on it) and rented a car to get the rest of the way there.   

 

Total cost for room and transportation for the whole week was about $500, so we lived it up and had a blast.  Minneapolis was a great host city and had a a really good setup.

 

The tickets were these huge things with holograms on them.    A co-worker had gone to the Giants game the year before and then had his tickets framed for his office wall, which I wanted to do as well.  So rather than folding them and putting them in my pocket, I gave them to the wife to put in her purse so they wouldn't get damaged.

 

We took the shuttle bus to the Metrodome and everyone piled off except my wife and these two dudes who crowded around her as she asked the driver "Where's the stadium?" Which was like saying "is water wet?" since we were parked right in front of it.   Turns out, the two guys picked her purse and got the tickets and her wallet, because when we got to the gate she goes, "do you have the tickets?"    

 

After many, many, many, many F-bombs and screeching at the sky standing in front of the stadium, we decide on a plan.  She runs off to report the theft to the police and I go looking for scalpers.    I eventually landed a pair of seats -- they turned out to be Miami Dolphin player tickets (each NFL player gets tickets to the game, per NFLPA rule) that were then re-sold back to a ticket broker.    I paid $400 for the pair which was about five time more than the originals. 

 

But **** it, there was no way I was going to miss the game.  The Football Gods just have to be on the side of the Bills after the way today was going down and the way they lost the year before.  Right?

 

It seemed so once we got inside.   We ended up with better seats than the Bills season ticket holders got (about the 40 yard line in the upper deck, rather than the end zone corner).  Great sightlines!   This is going to be good, even if most of the people we sat with were just there for the game and weren't rooting for either team.

 

Well, we had a good time for about five minutes.    The game was over by the middle of the second quarter and I had to sit there melting down with people who didn't care about the outcome either way.    

 

We got back to Buffalo without a hitch.   About two weeks later, the Minneapolis police called and said that someone had found my wife's wallet (absent the cash and credit cards) and they mailed it back to her.

 

That was my one and only Super Bowel (yes, that's the way I choose to remember it).    With each passing year, we laugh about it a little more and shake our heads at what could have been. 

 

And I've never given any kind of tickets (Bills, Sabres, concert, movie, airline) to my wife to hold ever since...

[Nihilarian]

10 hours ago, Lurker said:

 

LOL!  makes me think of my SB XXVI story.

 

Whoo Hoo!  We got two tickets to the Minneapolis game vs. the 'Skins through the season ticket holder lottery.   My uncle had been in Minneapolis over the summer and as a flyer, reserved a hotel room near the stadium on the if come.   So we had a real cheap place to stay, booked a real cheap flight on a private charter that opened up at the last minute from Buffalo to Madison, WI (Bob and Cindy Rich were on it) and rented a car to get the rest of the way there.   

 

Total cost for room and transportation for the whole week was about $500, so we lived it up and had a blast.  Minneapolis was a great host city and had a a really good setup.

 

The tickets were these huge things with holograms on them.    A co-worker had gone to the Giants game the year before and then had his tickets framed for his office wall, which I wanted to do as well.  So rather than folding them and putting them in my pocket, I gave them to the wife to put in her purse so they wouldn't get damaged.

 

We took the shuttle bus to the Metrodome and everyone piled off except my wife and these two dudes who crowded around her as she asked the driver "Where's the stadium?" Which was like saying "is water wet?" since we were parked right in front of it.   Turns out, the two guys picked her purse and got the tickets and her wallet, because when we got to the gate she goes, "do you have the tickets?"    

 

After many, many, many, many F-bombs and screeching at the sky standing in front of the stadium, we decide on a plan.  She runs off to report the theft to the police and I go looking for scalpers.    I eventually landed a pair of seats -- they turned out to be Miami Dolphin player tickets (each NFL player gets tickets to the game, per NFLPA rule) that were then re-sold back to a ticket broker.    I paid $400 for the pair which was about five time more than the originals. 

 

But **** it, there was no way I was going to miss the game.  The Football Gods just have to be on the side of the Bills after the way today was going down and the way they lost the year before.  Right?

 

It seemed so once we got inside.   We ended up with better seats than the Bills season ticket holders got (about the 40 yard line in the upper deck, rather than the end zone corner).  Great sightlines!   This is going to be good, even if most of the people we sat with were just there for the game and weren't rooting for either team.

 

Well, we had a good time for about five minutes.    The game was over by the middle of the second quarter and I had to sit there melting down with people who didn't care about the outcome either way.    

 

We got back to Buffalo without a hitch.   About two weeks later, the Minneapolis police called and said that someone had found my wife's wallet (absent the cash and credit cards) and they mailed it back to her.

 

That was my one and only Super Bowel (yes, that's the way I choose to remember it).    With each passing year, we laugh about it a little more and shake our heads at what could have been. 

 

And I've never given any kind of tickets (Bills, Sabres, concert, movie, airline) to my wife to hold ever since...

This reminds me of my trip to Tampa stadium for that first SB. When we got there we parked far away and took a bus to the stadium. While walking near the stadium entrance a young man with his wife was carrying one of their two children on his back piggy back style. As he got near the entrance he started getting hysterical. Put his daughter down and started saying to his wife loudly that he had lost the four SB tickets in his front shirt pocket. He then started running back the way they had come. Never did stick around to find out if he found them on the ground...

 

On another note, some jackass tried to bring a pistol into the stadium that day. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Nihilarian

[Do The Reich Thing]

I was fertilizing an egg getting ready to make my appearance in the world

[jimmy10]

Junior high school, watching at home.

[Neo]

My mom’s small apartment ...  Kenville Rd?  My wife and our 18 month old and newborn.  Years later, life took me to Tampa.  I toured The Sombrero with a civic group.  At the end of the tour, I walked out to the 38 yard line, looked down at my right foot, and looked up ...  to the goal posts.

 

A lifetime is a million moments.

Edited December 26, 2019 by Neo

[ALLEN1QB]

I was heading upstairs  before the kick. I had a Giant's fan in my house and did not want to hear him since Norewood did not kick very well on grass I had a feeling he was going to miss. Little did we know at that time the nightmare was just starting!

[Buffalo Barbarian]

7 hours ago, WotAGuy said:

Kneeing in front of the TV, praying

 

Hate it when God says no

 

 

[WotAGuy]

46 minutes ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

Hate it when God says no

 

 

Worst part, it was a “Yeeeeee....No, Nope.”

[Albany,n.y.]

1 hour ago, Lurker said:

 

LOL!  makes me think of my SB XXVI story.

 

The tickets were these huge things with holograms on them.    A co-worker had gone to the Giants game the year before and then had his tickets framed for his office wall, which I wanted to do as well.  So rather than folding them and putting them in my pocket, I gave them to the wife to put in her purse so they wouldn't get damaged.

 

 

Here's the good news:  There were no holograms on the XXVI tickets (look at the ones you had that got you into the stadium), as there were on the XXV tickets.  So unless you had special tickets the tickets you lost weren't real.  

Like one of the other people in this thread, I thought Minnesota was great.  Minneapolis & St. Paul turned the cities over to the Super Bowl fans.  There was no need to even rent a car with the shuttle buses going into both Minneapolis & St Paul, opening the HHH dome for fans on Saturday to get around the stadium & get souvenirs that I didn't have to carry with me on gameday, the ice palace in St Paul, NFL Experience in downtown Minneapolis, shuttle buses to the game from the motels, etc.  Best of the 4 Bills Super Bowl cities.    

Edited December 26, 2019 by Albany,n.y.

[Lurker]

23 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

Here's the good news:  There were no holograms on the XXVI tickets (look at the ones you had that got you into the stadium), as there were on the XXV tickets. 

 

Wow!   That's right.  I remember now that I was pissed they didn't look as good as the year before, since I really wanted to frame them.    The fog of time fills in some interesting blanks as the years go by.   

 

But I do remember they were huge and wouldn't fit in my wallet without folding them.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have given them to wifey.    Sigh...

[Neo]

28 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

Here's the good news:  There were no holograms on the XXVI tickets (look at the ones you had that got you into the stadium), as there were on the XXV tickets.  So unless you had special tickets the tickets you lost weren't real.  

Like one of the other people in this thread, I thought Minnesota was great.  Minneapolis & St. Paul turned the cities over to the Super Bowl fans.  There was no need to even rent a car with the shuttle buses going into both Minneapolis & St Paul, opening the HHH dome for fans on Saturday to get around the stadium & get souvenirs that I didn't have to carry with me on gameday, the ice palace in St Paul, NFL Experience in downtown Minneapolis, shuttle buses to the game from the motels, etc.  Best of the 4 Bills Super Bowl cities.    

I went to Minneapolis, too.  What a gracious city.  I remember Saturday night.  We partied at a “Bills” bar, stayed late, then trotted to a shuttle stop.  Imagine our condition.  A woman volunteer approached, asked some questions, and told us we’d missed the last shuttle.  We looked around, silently, in those pre-Uber days.   She talk out her walkie-talkie, strolled around for a few minutes, and said “I’ve got one coming”.  A few minutes later, a big shuttle bus pulled up and the four of us climbed aboard for a private twenty minute bus ride to our hotel.

[HenryJones]

At the game!  As a 7 yr old.  I thought we may had made it, bc all blue and red rose up, but looked at my dad and his head was down and shaking no.  It’ll live with me forever (Or, until we win it).

[Augie]

I was with people in the living room of our house in Hilton Head. A bunch of people, including a female coworker from my wife’s office. She arrived saying “who is everyone cheering for?” When my wife explained things to her she said “who’s the other team? I want them!”  I knew we would have troubles right then and there.  

 

I spent the rest of the night trying NOT to do anything that would have called me into the commissioners office. She was actually about my size (and I’m not tiny), but I don’t think that would give me a pass with the Commissioner, or the Big Boss in the sky. 

[SoCal Deek]

Gathered around the TV in California with family and with a six month old on my knee, until I went down to my own knees for the kick! That kid’s now 29 with a toddler of her own....and so goes the circle of life. (And as others have said I really wasn’t crushed by the miss. I just KNEW it was the beginning, not the end, of something big.)

[Buffalo Barbarian]

1 hour ago, WotAGuy said:

Worst part, it was a “Yeeeeee....No, Nope.”

 

the weird part was i had this sinking feeling he was going to miss it, and it wasnt some Bills doom and gloom nonsense as i expected to fully win that game, just something told me he wasn't going to make it . I was so mad when he missed i wanted to destroy something but i held it together because i wasn't going to be that guy with no self control.

 

 

[reddogblitz]

9 hours ago, class_of_2012 said:

 

For me, I was working as a student employee at the dining hall at the University of Rochester. They had the game on a big screen TV there, but I couldn't really watch since I was cleaning tables. I did take a few seconds to watch when Norwood made the attempt. I would have celebrated big time that night, but it wasn't to be.

 

Funny. Your experience is simular to mind except I was working at a McDonald's in Lewisville TX. I was not a Buffalo fan yet but I also worked at Xerox so I knew a lot of people that were so was rooting for Buffalo. We didn't have a TV though so I would ask people if they had a score.  Thought Buffalo was going to win.

[John from Riverside]

I was still in the Air Force and was working a part time job as a mover......we were in Los Anglees moving furniture inside of a big adminstrative bldg and the game was on.....saw the kick and wanted to vomit

[wagon127]

I can remember waking up the next day, asking my parents if we won the superbowl. I dont think i was able to stay up for the whole thing, until it was 49ers vs. chargers. The only routing interest i had, was that the 49ers would score 49 points. I won.

[BradyGaga]

Holding hands in my living room with ten members of family praying for the win. Right after the missed kicked I remember my dad running to the bathroom and puking for about 30 minutes. I was 9 and didn’t read into too much, just thought it was weird and gross, and he was being dramatic.

 

Twenty five years later my dad finally came clean and told me he bet $10,000, our entire savings, on the Bills to win. Idiot.
 

Go Bills!

 

 

 

[DuckyBoys]

Watching it with a few buddies all of whom were rooting against the Bills (disgruntled 49er and Dolphin fans)  Needless to say I didnt get much sympathy It didn;t seem that big of a deal to lose that one but each year after that got tougher and tougher to take Who was to know the cluster bomb that the next 20+ years would bring

[Beast]

I travelled back to the Buffalo area to watch the game at my mother’s home. My childhood buddy and his wife were there with me. When the kick left Norwood’s foot, I jumped in the air and when I saw it going wide, I swung my fist and lost my balance in mid air....and landed directly on my back.

 

My buddy, his wife and I then went to a neighborhood bar. The bar was full....and it was practically silent. It was as gloomy.

 

I talked to another buddy a couple weeks later and we were talking about the Norwood miss and how the fans at Niagara Square cheered for him. My friend told me those same fans would be bitter towards Norwood if the Bills didn’t win a SB soon. He wasn’t completely right but I think there are more fans that are bitter about Norwood than we know because you are looked at as a rotten person if you are bitter.

 

Me? I’m good with Norwood.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Binghamton Beast

[RobbRiddick]

I was in tears 

[Artem Lipatov]

I was a schoolboy in Soviet Union in 1991and knew nothing about American football and Bills team. I heard about Buffalo only due to Mogilny ran away to Sabres and it was a huge scandal in Soviet sports. 

[Peace Frog]

Watching in horror from my dad's den in West Seneca.  

[The Firebaugh Kid]

13th birthday. 

Chinese food.

Cried cried and cried some more. 

[Patrick Duffy]

I was filming in a movie called "Daddy" back then. Here is a scene....

 

 

[gomper]

Went to a party for the first half. Spent the second half at the now closed Mexican Joe's in Amherst.  Not too many people there. Kick went up and it looked like it was hooking in only to veer sideways.  I fell into the cigarette machine.  Walked home a mile in a snowstorm.  I only had three drinks but I slept for 12 hours.  That game took a piece of my soul.

[iinii]

13 hours ago, Tatonka68 said:

I was at the Stadium in Tampa surrounded by NY Giant fans. ?

You win 

[Locomark]

I was living out of the area. So went to a bar with about ten people. None of whom were Bills fans. We got to the bar a few hour before kickoff. Big mistake!! By halftime there were way too many drinks served and most of the people started rooting for the Giants just to piss me off....bleck!! So my wife and I left and watched most of the 2nd half at home. I stood up and began to walk away upon the start of the kick, although I watched it go wide, because I knew he would miss. Norwood had a weakness on grass fields at distance and he proved it again. 

[Big Curt]

I was at home (Lower West Side) watching the game.  I was 13 going on 14 years old.  My family and I were holding hands basically praying for him to make it.  Once he missed it, I looked outside.  It was quiet.  I went to my room and cried alone so no one would see me.  The only game I have ever cried over.  I felt like I was part of the team.  That's when i knew I was a die-hard fan and that I have the curse of Buffalo Bill fandom.  To this day, I love the Bills.  Win, Lose, Tie.  I'd have it no other way. 

Edited January 1, 2020 by Big Curt
misspelling

[buffaloboyinATL]

For the record, I am sitting here flipping you off for even asking this question.  It haunts me enough without seeing new threads pop up about it. Opposing teams troll us with “wide right” I don’t need to read about it here too.  

[Todd Allan]

I was in a tent in the Arabian desert. My unit was from Fort Monmouth, NJ, so we had a LOT of Giants fans. I was one of 2 Buffalo natives in my company.

 

When there was an update on TV about a SCUD missile attack near us, our company commander came in, demanding we change the channel DURING THE SUPER BOWL, so we could watch CNN's updates about missiles. (Side note: I was in a HUMINT Military Intelligence Battalion.)

 

I was the only sergeant with the cojones to say something. I pointed out that an MI unit shouldn't be relying on CNN for intel, but my First Sergeant grabbed me and dragged me out of the tent, probably preventing an article 15. (The interuption only lasted a few minutes of game time, fortunately.)

 

After the missed kick, I walked out of the tent and watched the saddest sunrise ever. Due to the time zone difference, we had stayed up almost all night watching the game.

[nucci]

21 hours ago, class_of_2012 said:

Wide right during the Super Bowl XXV in January 1991 is kind of like the Kennedy assassination, 9/11, the assassination attempt of Reagan, or the Challenger explosion: everyone remembers where they were when it happened.

 

For me, I was working as a student employee at the dining hall at the University of Rochester. They had the game on a big screen TV there, but I couldn't really watch since I was cleaning tables. I did take a few seconds to watch when Norwood made the attempt. I would have celebrated big time that night, but it wasn't to be.

 

So where were you: at home, at school, at a bar, at a friend or relative's house??

at Tampa stadium

[Doc Brown]

Came home from grad school in Oswego back to Buffalo to watch it at a family party.  Nobody else I would rather watch it with.  The silence after the miss is something can only be compared to walking out of the stadium from the Jags WC loss in '96.  I was more angry at the Bills for putting the game in a kickers hands.  I had no doubt they'd have another crack at it though.

 

The Music City Miracle was tougher to deal with because we went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.  Effin special teams.  Even though it wasn't a Super Bowl you could just feel that it was the end of an era.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

13 hours ago, BradyGaga said:

Twenty five years later my dad finally came clean and told me he bet $10,000, our entire savings, on the Bills to win. Idiot.

I think he posts here, under various names.  He might not have that problem ‘under control’ yet.  ?

[dollars 2 donuts]

I was there.  Same side of the field, but opposite side of the stadium, and I swear to you for an instant I thought it was good and the refs were stepping forward to raise their hands up.

 

bruce Hornsby (wow, some of you just don’t know) was a couple of rows back and one section over, closer to the opposite side end zone.

 

...I love that I had better seats than him. 
 

 

[Shaw66]

I was sitting in the stadium with my wife, surrounded by Giants fans.  Our view was straight down the back line of the endzone, so we could see essentially only the left upright.  Norwood kicked it, I watched it cross over the back end of the goal line, high enough, but I couldn't tell if it was in or not.   So I looked back at the line of scrimmage to see which players were celebrating.  

 

Lots of emotions. 

[SoCal Deek]

Don’t leave us hanging Shaw! Which team was celebrating?

 

I do have to agree with an earlier post. The Music City Miracle was far more crushing to me. Wide Right felt like something was starting. Nashville felt like something had ended.