Share a time when a Bills outcome (final score) was ruined for you

[BillsFan619]

I’ve been in a career where I typically have to work on Sundays. So, I usually have to DVR every Bills game.

 

So, I’m used to having to dodge scores and tell people not to say anything to me before I watch the game. Obviously I’ve had the final score ruined on multiple occasions but there’s one that stands out.

 

In the first year I was married, my wife and I got away for the weekend and I asked one of my friends to record the game for me so I could watch it when I get back. Literally, almost the moment I walked through the door my friend tells me that he was sorry because the bills lost a heartbreaker. I was like, bro, why did you just tell me the score of the game??? That’s why I asked you to record the game.

 

If I recall correctly, he goes on to tell me something like that he didn’t think I would mind because he’s the type of person that likes to read the last page of a book first before he reads the rest.

 

That little tidbit would’ve been nice to know beforehand, ya think? Even though I am a much bigger fan than my wife, especially back then, I think she was more upset than I was (at least vocally). Being the diehard fan that I am though, I still had to watch the game even though I already knew the outcome and that they were going to lose. Ever watch a game hoping that somehow the outcome would be different once you watched it? 🤣

 

OK, your turn to share your pain. Share a time where a Bills outcome was ruined for you. And, did you still watch the game?

 

Go Bills!

[mikemac2001]

I can’t remember exactly 

 

but the ESPN app did a pop up notification that we missed this kick I believe it was this game - but we actually made it I was pissed 

 

https://www.nfl.com/games/titans-at-bills-2018-reg-5

[GunnerBill]

I have watched every game bar one live since 2008. 

 

It happened plenty in the early 00s when I would find out the Bills score by watching the highlights run down at HT in the UK MNF coverage.

[BillsfaninSB]

Many times when people text me.  Very frustrating.   I will turn off the phone if I’m only behind an hour or so watching the game which I like to do to zip past the commercials. 

[Aussie Joe]

Your friend sounds like a bit of a knucklehead...

 

I  always at least follow the game live on my phone ( and the game thread here which is always entertaining..) if I cant watch it... the majority of games are on at 4 in the morning though so its not like I have anything else I am doing at that time...

[elroy16]

Not a full game, but I had the Jeff tuel int TD ruined by the scrolling bar. I stream so am a little bit behind during games. I usually have a smaller TV showing red zone or another game. I usually pause the second TV for a minute so it's not behind, but sometimes I flip around and don't do that.

 

Bills were at the door step, I glance at the other TV, see TD, we'll that's disappointing but sweet, then chiefs TD, wtf... Oh mother f&$#. 

 

Was quite the range of emotions. I use a cardboard box to cover the bottom part of the TV now. 

[BillsFan619]

25 minutes ago, BillsfaninSB said:

Many times when people text me.  Very frustrating.   I will turn off the phone if I’m only behind an hour or so watching the game which I like to do to zip past the commercials. 

Yeah, my phone is definitely “hiding” in my room when I can eventually watch it. Before I can watch it, if I’m able to, I’ll put my phone on “Do not disturb”.

2 minutes ago, elroy16 said:

Not a full game, but I had the Jeff tuel int TD ruined by the scrolling bar. I stream so am a little bit behind during games. I usually have a smaller TV showing red zone or another game. I usually pause the second TV for a minute so it's not behind, but sometimes I flip around and don't do that.

 

Bills were at the door step, I glance at the other TV, see TD, we'll that's disappointing but sweet, then chiefs TD, wtf... Oh mother f&$#. 

 

Was quite the range of emotions. I use a cardboard box to cover the bottom part of the TV now. 

Oh wow! That would’ve definitely been a range of emotions within just a few minutes.

[CA OC Bills Fan]

Love the topic OP!

 

Until this year, for the past many years I've been DVRing the games and watching later. Most weekend days I volunteer refereeing or coaching youth soccer. In California it's quite easy to not know the scores of games, no one cares about football there. But, I normally would call my parents on Sundays, frequently before I'd have time to sit down and watch the games. I remember one game against the Fish, can't remember the year. My mother called and during the conversation I told her I was going to sit down and watch the game after I hung up. My mother said that it's a great ending, I'll enjoy it. Then when I got angry, she said "What, I didn't tell you anything." I still watched the game but after that I refused to talk to her before watching the game. If she called, I wouldn't talk to her and just said I'd call back later.

[BillsFan619]

2 minutes ago, CA OC Bills Fan said:

Love the topic OP!

 

Until this year, for the past many years I've been DVRing the games and watching later. Most weekend days I volunteer refereeing or coaching youth soccer. In California it's quite easy to not know the scores of games, no one cares about football there. But, I normally would call my parents on Sundays, frequently before I'd have time to sit down and watch the games. I remember one game against the Fish, can't remember the year. My mother called and during the conversation I told her I was going to sit down and watch the game after I hung up. My mother said that it's a great ending, I'll enjoy it. Then when I got angry, she said "What, I didn't tell you anything." I still watched the game but after that I refused to talk to her before watching the game. If she called, I wouldn't talk to her and just said I'd call back later.

Ah, the good old family slip. That’s a funny story, bro! “I love you, Mom, but we’ll have to talk later.” 🤣

 

My sister texted me in 2019 and said congratulations and then tried to play it off until after I watched the game. It was the season opener of 2019 when we beat the Jets 17 to 16. Because the Jets were up 16-0, I thought that maybe in she was joking. Sure enough, the bills came back and won by a point. Woohoo!!!

 

Yeah, I don’t like when people say that they haven’t “said anything” even if they give something away or showed a face that revealed something. “What, I didn’t do anything, I’m innocent!”

 

I have lived in California for going on six years now. I definitely agree with you, while it hasn’t been perfect, it’s definitely easier to get away without hearing scores in California. It was much harder when I lived on the East Coast.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

49 minutes ago, BillsfaninSB said:

Many times when people text me.  Very frustrating.   I will turn off the phone if I’m only behind an hour or so watching the game which I like to do to zip past the commercials. 

this happens to me all the time. Even a harmless text like, “whoa— are you watching this?” Puts me in a total tailspin.  

[BillsFan619]

7 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

this happens to me all the time. Even a harmless text like, “whoa— are you watching this?” Puts me in a total tailspin.  

#IFeelYourPain
 

That’s why my phone is “hiding“ now when I watch.

 

I try to put it on do not disturb before that if I can.

[ToBillsFan]

I went to Europe a few years back and had the season opener recorded for when I got back. I made it the whole 3 weeks, turned off all notifications and the day of the game I didn’t look at my phone whatsoever. I made it all the way back to the airport in Canada and my wife handed me her phone and just at that second my mother in law messaged her and asked if I was happy the bills won

 

we still joke about it to this day but I can tell you that one message almost negated my whole trip!

[Buftex]

This is a repost from about 6 months ago...too lazy, and scarred to re-live it all again!

 

 

True story...Saturday, January 8th, 2000...I am working as the manager of a Tower Records store.  Trying to be the "cool boss", I used to work on Saturday's our busiest day of the week. My ulterior motive, it allowed me to watch the Bills games on Sundays, drink as much as I wanted, and then have Monday's off to sleep it off, if i needed to.

 

But, as luck wold have it, the Bills are playing a Saturday wild-card game.  No big deal, I figure.  I will record the game on my expensive VCR, using extra HQ tape. All I gotta do, is make it through the day with nobody giving me any score updates. I went in at about 6am, instead of my normal 8:30am, just so I could get out a little earlier.  Hey, I'm the boss after all!

 

 My store is in Austin, Cowboys country... it was a busy day, but I made all the way to the end of my shift, without knowing what happens to the Bills that day. I was ready to make wings when I got home, stocked the fridge with beer...I was so pumped for this game.  I felt like the Bills were returning to the Super Bowl that year. 

 

All my employees know that the Bills are the only thing as important as music to me, at that point in time.  I had warned all of them, not to let me know, through the course of the day, if they happened to hear anything about the game.  It is mostly college age hipsters, they don't give a rats ass about football...I wasn't concerned.

 

Just as I am stepping out the door, my adrenalin pumping, this sweet guy (mentally challenged) I had hired to help out,  walks in the store for his closing shift.  He holds out his hand for a high-five, and says "Congrats on the Bills! They won!!!".... I was so pissed... but I couldn't get mad at him.  I just said "Thanks Jon" and headed out, as I had planned. I was totally deflated. Could feel my face getting hot.  Back in those days, especially, Bills football was my reprive from all the other miserable ***** going on in my life...knowing the Bills won, kinda stole all my thunder. As I drove home, I started thinking..."crap..I got up so early, now I am just tired."  Knowing the outcome of the game, I figured, what the hell I'll go home, take a little nap, and then watch.

 

I walk into my apartment, and see my phone machine blinking like crazy...I have 8 messages.  It is, no doubt, my estranged girlfriend starting ***** with me, or my brother in Atlanta calling to whoop it up...Bills on to the divisional round!!  I didn't want to listen to the messages yet...I wanted to see the game.

 

I took my "nap"...ended up sleeping about 3 hours.  I get up, crack a beer, start making my wings, and roll the video.  The game was intense...a nail biter...it was weird watching it though, knowing that the Bills win the game. The outcome had been already determind.  I'm not cursing the tv as much as I might normally, because I know we are going to win.  It has already happened.  Nail biter!  Rob Johnson marches the Bills down the field, with one shoe, and gets them all the way down into field goal range.  Chrsitie is money, nails it!  Bills win 16-15!  Great defense....

 

As the tape is rolling, the Titans try some bull#### razzle dazzel desperation play in the final seconds...are you kidding me?  A touchdown!  Wade Phillips is laughing it off, shaking his head, because he knows it won't count.  I know it won't count either, because I knew they had already won the game hours earlier.  They are looking at the replay...I am happy, the happiness of knowing....I start cleaning up as the refs are mulling it over....throwing out beer bottles, rinsing plates...I push the button on my answering machine...my brother is swearing up a storm...he is livid.  As I am trying to figure out why he is so mad (he was a Flutie guy, maybe he thinks it shouldn't have beens so close?)..but then it starts to sink in...the Bills lost....Music City Miracle!  Needless to say, it hurt even a little more that it might have if I had watched it in real time, and hadn't been given the bogus result.

I called my employee Jon, the next day, and fired him.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Buftex

[Bad Things]

NFL GamePass has screwed me over a couple times, including the AFC Championship game.

 

I've set up my account, so when I log in, the scores of the games do not show.  It's been that way for years.

 

Unfortunately, the day of the AFC Championship game... I log on, and there's the bloody final score front and centre on their webpage.  Bastards!

I still haven't even watched that game.

 

Last year there were two games when, while in the first half, the app froze and then restarted with only a couple minutes left in the game.

It costs quite a bit to have an international NFL GamePass subsciption, and they've failed me too many times.

 

I'd love to hear if there are any other places where I can watch Bills games from overseas.

[whatdrought]

Maybe I’m weird, but I can’t watch a game that happened in the past. I realize that it doesn’t change anything, but knowing that it’s over always ruins it for me and I end up looking at the score.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

27 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

#IFeelYourPain
 

That’s why my phone is “hiding“ now when I watch.

 

I try to put it on do not disturb before that if I can.

I learned this the hard way way too many times. I always tell a bunch of people beforehand too that I am DVRing it. Then, some random friend I haven’t heard from in 5 years texts me because he is watching the game. 
 

I started doing what you do— just turn it off. It’s tough though when you can’t see the game until Much later.

 

the other thing that drove me nuts Were texts during the playoff games, especially from my well-meaning non-Bills fans friends. I would watch the games live, so spoilers weren’t an issue. But I just couldn’t handle the stress and distraction of a bunch of in-game texts. I just shut my phone off. 

[BillsDude]

It was week 3 Last Year, the Bills playing home against St. Louis Rams. As I live out of state, I cannot watch the Bills games live so I use NFL Game Pass on my laptop  to watch full replay after the game ends . Anyway, to pass the time while the Bills game was playing live,  I listened on radio to the second half of another game in the state where I live, not expecting any updates about the Bills as I felt the broadcasting  crew for that game would just focus on their own game. So, I am listening to that play by play of that game and it is now  late in the 4th quarter of that game,  when all of a sudden the analyst without warning, just after a play in their game,  says something to the effect of: "Uh Oh. The Rams have been making a big comeback and just took the lead." So, instead of enjoying the upcoming Bills game, wondering how the Bills would do, I already knew by that remark that the Bills must have been leading the game big, and that the Bills were losing now with likely very little time left. I assumed then worst, that the Bills lost, so I never enjoyed on replay  the first 3.5 quarters of the game, regardless of them getting up big and playing well earlier on. I did have excitement though those last few minutes though with JA's final TD drive, so at least I guess things could have been worse.

Edited March 15, 2021 by BillsDude

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I'm a physician working on the west coast and have been rounding on weekends for over 20 years. Every turn in the rotation for me to work a Sunday I usually would have the score leaked to me by someone in the hospital.  Most of the staff knew my passion for the Bills and without fail there was usually someone telling me they looked good or bad.  Sometimes the games would be on the TV in the patient's room too.  I gave up long ago trying to keep the outcome unknown.  I don't recall the exact game, but I watched the entire 4th quarter with a patient in his room.  Just sat with him chatting and watching the game.  Bills won.  I remember that part but not any of the details of the game.   

[BillsFan619]

5 hours ago, Buftex said:

This is a repost from about 6 months ago...too lazy, and scarred to re-live it all again!

 

 

True story...Saturday, January 8th, 2000...I am working as the manager of a Tower Records store.  Trying to be the "cool boss", I used to work on Saturday's our busiest day of the week. My ulterior motive, it allowed me to watch the Bills games on Sundays, drink as much as I wanted, and then have Monday's off to sleep it off, if i needed to.

 

But, as luck wold have it, the Bills are playing a Saturday wild-card game.  No big deal, I figure.  I will record the game on my expensive VCR, using extra HQ tape. All I gotta do, is make it through the day with nobody giving me any score updates. I went in at about 6am, instead of my normal 8:30am, just so I could get out a little earlier.  Hey, I'm the boss after all!

 

 My store is in Austin, Cowboys country... it was a busy day, but I made all the way to the end of my shift, without knowing what happens to the Bills that day. I was ready to make wings when I got home, stocked the fridge with beer...I was so pumped for this game.  I felt like the Bills were returning to the Super Bowl that year. 

 

All my employees know that the Bills are the only thing as important as music to me, at that point in time.  I had warned all of them, not to let me know, through the course of the day, if they happened to hear anything about the game.  It is mostly college age hipsters, they don't give a rats ass about football...I wasn't concerned.

 

Just as I am stepping out the door, my adrenalin pumping, this sweet guy (mentally challenged) I had hired to help out,  walks in the store for his closing shift.  He holds out his hand for a high-five, and says "Congrats on the Bills! They won!!!".... I was so pissed... but I couldn't get mad at him.  I just said "Thanks Jon" and headed out, as I had planned. I was totally deflated. Could feel my face getting hot.  Back in those days, especially, Bills football was my reprive from all the other miserable ***** going on in my life...knowing the Bills won, kinda stole all my thunder. As I drove home, I started thinking..."crap..I got up so early, now I am just tired."  Knowing the outcome of the game, I figured, what the hell I'll go home, take a little nap, and then watch.

 

I walk into my apartment, and see my phone machine blinking like crazy...I have 8 messages.  It is, no doubt, my estranged girlfriend starting ***** with me, or my brother in Atlanta calling to whoop it up...Bills on to the divisional round!!  I didn't want to listen to the messages yet...I wanted to see the game.

 

I took my "nap"...ended up sleeping about 3 hours.  I get up, crack a beer, start making my wings, and roll the video.  The game was intense...a nail biter...it was weird watching it though, knowing that the Bills win the game. The outcome had been already determind.  I'm not cursing the tv as much as I might normally, because I know we are going to win.  It has already happened.  Nail biter!  Rob Johnson marches the Bills down the field, with one shoe, and gets them all the way down into field goal range.  Chrsitie is money, nails it!  Bills win 16-15!  Great defense....

 

As the tape is rolling, the Titans try some bull#### razzle dazzel desperation play in the final seconds...are you kidding me?  A touchdown!  Wade Phillips is laughing it off, shaking his head, because he knows it won't count.  I know it won't count either, because I knew they had already won the game hours earlier.  They are looking at the replay...I am happy, the happiness of knowing....I start cleaning up as the refs are mulling it over....throwing out beer bottles, rinsing plates...I push the button on my answering machine...my brother is swearing up a storm...he is livid.  As I am trying to figure out why he is so mad (he was a Flutie guy, maybe he thinks it shouldn't have beens so close?)..but then it starts to sink in...the Bills lost....Music City Miracle!  Needless to say, it hurt even a little more that it might have if I had watched it in real time, and hadn't been given the bogus result.

I called my employee Jon, the next day, and fired him.

Wow, bro! That has to be one of the worst ruined final outcomes I’ve ever heard.

 

No wonder you don’t want to relive it!

Edited March 15, 2021 by BillsFan619

[Orlando Tim]

My worst was the Colts game this year in the playoffs, I was watching at my parents on a stream and it was more behind than usual, it was literally at least 3 minutes behind. There is a text thread with Bills fan I am part of and when the Colts fumbled in the last few minutes one guy texts " Buffalo ball, officials got it right" a few seconds after I see the fumble. We are celebrating and then of course they come back and say it is not a fumble. My phone will be permanently away during games after that.