Tell Me About Average Bills Fans

[GunnerBill]

I am definitely not an average fan. I have never been to Buffalo and the story of why I am a fan features an escape from the Nazis, a shop in Poland and a jacuzzi in California. Seriously. 

 

I have been a fan since 2002. I would say I have been a serious fan since 2008. Since 2010 I have failed to watch just 1 game live - our last trip to New Orleans which came in Marrone's first year. I was at Wembley watching the 49ers pulverise the Jags at the time. 

 

I pretty much know every player on the Bills first and second string and could, at least at some level, break down their strengths and weaknesses. I listen to every presser McDermott does (and believe me that takes effort... love Sean to bits but man his pressers are dull) this place is my refuge during the working day when I need to think about something other than my job for a bit and I stay up until the early hours of the morning UK time to get a look at that UDFA corner in a pre-season game. 

 

Add to that I fill my spring with hunting around the internet for film on division II guards I saw make one play at the East - West Shrine game. 

 

I am not average. I am not normal either. But who wants normal? Normal is boring.

[gdabillsfan]

8 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

I found myself wondering what an average Bills fan is like.  I don’t consider myself average.

 

When I was a teenager in the 60s, I was a serious fan.  I knew everything about the Bills.  Then I left Buffalo and ended up in Connecticut.  Got married, got a job, had kids, so by the 80s, I was in Bills blackout.  There was no quality coverage of the Bills easily available, they weren’t on TV very often, no internet, and I was busy with other things.  There were, I’m sure, plenty of weekends where I didn’t know if the Bills had won or lost until I read the Monday morning paper. 

 

I got more serious in the 90s, of course, watching the Bills every time they were on TV.  The Kelly years forced me back into more serious fandom.  I continued that way until about 2004, when I discovered fan forums on the internet.  I realized that I could stay current with the Bills even from Connecticut. 

 

Then, in 2005, I went to a game.  I hadn’t been to the Stadium in 20 years.  One game, and I was seriously hooked.  A year or two later, I had season tickets.  Sometime around then, the Rockpile Review started. 

 

I’d call myself a serious fan.  My simple measure of a serious fan is someone who can name all the starters, can name at least some of the balance of the roster, and knows the back story of many of the players.  That is, a serious fan knows more about Josh than he grew up on a farm in California.   Maybe a better measure of a serious fan is someone who doesn’t go more than a few days without checking in to see what’s happening with the team, and that means in March, in June, 365.

 

There aren’t a lot of Bills fans in Connecticut, there isn’t a good Bills bar for the few to gather and watch the games.  When I run into a Bills fan, more often than not, they’re a serious fan like me. 

 

So, I hang out on this forum, and I get to talk to a lot of other serious Bills fans, some who know a lot more about the team than I do, but even those who may know less that I know still know a lot.  I think of us and others like us as the hard core. 

 

I’m guessing there are plenty of average Bills fans in Buffalo, people who care a lot about the team and care whether they win, people who watch most of the games, but they will miss a game here or there because the wife wants to shop for furniture.  People who don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the details.  People who can’t name the entire offensive line, let alone the backups.  People who if pressed can name only a half dozen players on the team. 

 

My guess is that there are more than a few season ticket holders who don’t think about the Bills in depth like people on this forum.  My guess is that there are plenty of people who go to the games faithfully, people who are thrilled when Allen goes deep to Diggs, but people who are stumped if you ask them who starts at defensive tackle. 

 

So, I’m asking you if you know average fans.  What are they like?   Maybe more importantly, what’s wrong with them?

 

Wow, 2 posts in the same day for me after years of none. I must be feeling loquacious, so here goes.

 

FANDOM

 FROM CASUAL FAN

TO DIE HARD

(And no, I am not shouting)

 

 

Anyway, just like you Shaw, I loved the Bills when I was a kid growing up in Rochester. I moved to Phoenix in the late 70's, and then to Anchorage,Ak., and back to Phoenix, where I stayed until the 90's. I was for the most part a casual fan then, catching a game whenever the were on national TV (which wasn't very often)

I started to seriously get into the Bills again in the very late 80's, early 90's because my Dad would always talk them up every time I would call home during football season.

I moved back to Rochester in 94, to be closer to my mom, as Dad had passed away in 91, and she needed the help.

It was around then I found the BBMB, and really became a diehard, and thanks to posters like Shaw, Wyo,and many others I learned more than I ever knew about the Bills and other things (thanks again Shaw for the Rockpile Review and for all the hard work you put in with the Ball Burglars). Some of the discussions on that board were the greatest threads, especially when they were talking Oline strategies,etc. I relocated here after BBMB shut down, and really don't post hardly at all, but I read these boards everyday and believe these forums are one of the best ,as NFL message boards go, but I digress.

8 hours ago, I am the egg man said:

If you scream and swear at the Bills or refs like they hear you, while watching the game on TV, you are an average Bills fan.

I must be above average, when the Bills are on, my wife, the dogs and some of my neighbors all run away.

Go figure.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

There are tons of neutral, average Steelers fans in my neck of the woods. I assume that's the same for every NFL region.

 

Come to think of it, two of my brothers are definitely "average" Bills fans. My third brother is serious, and I am hardcore.

[TailgateChef]

Most of the fans I know are "average":  they know around half the starters, they attend a few games a year (some even have season tickets), and they follow the coaching and GM hires.  I would say the majority of us on this forum are not average.  We have, as some described, "the Sickness".  I would say we're all pretty pleased that there really is no cure:  one Super Bowl victory will only make us hungry for another.

[Augie]

7 minutes ago, TailgateChef said:

Most of the fans I know are "average":  they know around half the starters, they attend a few games a year (some even have season tickets), and they follow the coaching and GM hires.  I would say the majority of us on this forum are not average.  We have, as some described, "the Sickness".  I would say we're all pretty pleased that there really is no cure:  one Super Bowl victory will only make us hungry for another.

 

And the Jags are so jealous they have no words…..  

[rockpile]

I guess I am an average fan, with some high points.

 

My father was a founder of the Buffalo Bills Boosters Club, Inc. in 1960. I wear his Boosters coat to snow games. 

 

I went to many games at the Rockpile. I was escorted out of one game for throwing snowballs at the Dolphins. 

 

I went to games during the 80's drought.

 

I watched the comeback game standing in a bar to the finish.

 

I have been with TBD since day one.

 

I have been to all but one or two TBDAHOTs and camped out at Hammers for several.

 

I am a cofounder of the WNYTBDGPS.

 

But I am not great at names and Jersey numbers. I do not go crazy about the draft, although I did get suite tickets in 2001 for the draft.

 

I am a Lot One Pole 6 veteran.

 

I do not post at TBD as often as I used to, but I enjoy the comments of those who have something to say.

 

I took the stage the year there was a band on game day and sang Funk 49 by the James Gang. There is something kind of cool hearing your daughter yell "Mom, Dad's on stage singing with the band. "

 

So I am an unusual average fan, I guess.

[Buffalo716]

MALE

5'11 

235 lb 

Likes red meat 

Labatts blue 

Sleeves probably cut off

 

FEMALE 

5'4 

155lb 

Likes tequila, clear liquor's 

Likes kielbasa 

Multiple tattoos 

Bills leggings 

 

Your average Bills fan 🤣😬😎😏 

 

Love you all

 

 

(This is full on sarcasm too) 

 

We are the best in the world

 

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Buffalo716

[Cusefan66214]

I'd say about 85 percent of male bills fans are serious

About 85 percent of female bills fans are average

 

 

 

 

 

[Shaw66]

11 hours ago, Cusefan66214 said:

I'd say about 85 percent of male bills fans are serious

About 85 percent of female bills fans are average

 

 

 

 

 

Although I try to avoid gender-based generalizations, I'd have to say this may be as good a take as any.   As I've thought about the question, I've kept coming back to the men generally being serious about the Bills and the women being interested by not so knowledgeable.   Of course, there are plenty of exceptions, but I'd guess it's a relatively valid generalization.  

 

According to the Football Girl, 47% of NFL fans are women.  https://thefootballgirl.com/women-now-make-up-47-of-all-nfl-fans/  That's up from 40% eight years ago.   Searching Google, I found something that said the NFL has the highest percentage of women fans of any major sport.  The Steelers apparently have the highest percentage of women fans among NFL teams.  

 

So, if you're 85-15 conclusion is correct, and if 47% of Bills fans are women, then out of 1000 fans, 530 are men and 450 are serious fans, and 470 are women and 70 of them are serious fans.  

 

But I'd guess that what others have said is true - that the fan base grows as the success of the team grows.  The down-and-out teams have relatively smaller fan bases, and they have a higher percentage of serious fans.  I'd also guess that in those down-and-out fan bases, there's a higher percentage of men in the fan bases.   That is, as the team becomes successful and the fan base grows, it's because women are joining the fan base.   That's why, for example, the Steelers have a lot of women - it's a long-term successful franchise, or at least has that reputation. 

 

If all of that were true, that would mean that five years ago the Bills fan base was mostly men.  The women were just putting up with the fact that their husbands had the sickness.   Since there were more men rooting for the Bills than average, a higher percentage of the fans overall were serious fans.   It may still be true today, but I'd guess that now it's beginning to change.  Now, the fan base is growing, and it's growing by adding women.   

 

It makes sense from my personal experience.   I've told this story before, but it's relevant here.  As the Bills were getting good in the late 80s, I kept telling my wife that the Bills were getting good.  She'd say, "yeah, yeah, I've heard it before."  Then, in 1990, around the middle of the season, I reminded that I'd told her if the Bills ever go to the Super Bowl, I was going.  "Yeah, yeah."  Every couple of weeks, I'd remind her, and every couple of weeks, "yeah, yeah."  Finally, when the Bills won in week 14 to go 12-2, she said, "If you go to the Super Bowl, can I go too?"   That's an average fan.  

 

Another example.   My daughter grew up in a Connecticut in a Bills household in Connecticut.  She knew from an early age that her father was wacko about the Bills, and her two older brothers got the sickness from their father.   She wasn't an NFL fan generally, but if she was hanging with the family on Sunday afternoon and the Bills were being broadcast in Connecticut, she was watching the Bills.  Fast forward to today.  She lives in Boston.  One of her best friends from college is from Elmira, and her friend's father always followed the Bills and bought season tickets maybe five years ago.  This season, my daughter asked me to buy six tickets to the home opener so she and her friend and their boyfriends and some other couple could go to the game.  She's a classic woman being drawn into the fan base.   She doesn't understand the game very well, she knows maybe a half-dozen players, but she's now a fan.   My 12-year-old grandson is a much more serious Bills fan than she is, and he's been serious since he was 5.  

 

 

[Buffalo716]

7 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Although I try to avoid gender-based generalizations, I'd have to say this may be as good a take as any.   As I've thought about the question, I've kept coming back to the men generally being serious about the Bills and the women being interested by not so knowledgeable.   Of course, there are plenty of exceptions, but I'd guess it's a relatively valid generalization.  

 

According to the Football Girl, 47% of NFL fans are women.  https://thefootballgirl.com/women-now-make-up-47-of-all-nfl-fans/  That's up from 40% eight years ago.   Searching Google, I found something that said the NFL has the highest percentage of women fans of any major sport.  The Steelers apparently have the highest percentage of women fans among NFL teams.  

 

So, if you're 85-15 conclusion is correct, and if 47% of Bills fans are women, then out of 1000 fans, 530 are men and 450 are serious fans, and 470 are women and 70 of them are serious fans.  

 

But I'd guess that what others have said is true - that the fan base grows as the success of the team grows.  The down-and-out teams have relatively smaller fan bases, and they have a higher percentage of serious fans.  I'd also guess that in those down-and-out fan bases, there's a higher percentage of men in the fan bases.   That is, as the team becomes successful and the fan base grows, it's because women are joining the fan base.   That's why, for example, the Steelers have a lot of women - it's a long-term successful franchise, or at least has that reputation. 

 

If all of that were true, that would mean that five years ago the Bills fan base was mostly men.  The women were just putting up with the fact that their husbands had the sickness.   Since there were more men rooting for the Bills than average, a higher percentage of the fans overall were serious fans.   It may still be true today, but I'd guess that now it's beginning to change.  Now, the fan base is growing, and it's growing by adding women.   

 

It makes sense from my personal experience.   I've told this story before, but it's relevant here.  As the Bills were getting good in the late 80s, I kept telling my wife that the Bills were getting good.  She'd say, "yeah, yeah, I've heard it before."  Then, in 1990, around the middle of the season, I reminded that I'd told her if the Bills ever go to the Super Bowl, I was going.  "Yeah, yeah."  Every couple of weeks, I'd remind her, and every couple of weeks, "yeah, yeah."  Finally, when the Bills won in week 14 to go 12-2, she said, "If you go to the Super Bowl, can I go too?"   That's an average fan.  

 

Another example.   My daughter grew up in a Connecticut in a Bills household in Connecticut.  She knew from an early age that her father was wacko about the Bills, and her two older brothers got the sickness from their father.   She wasn't an NFL fan generally, but if she was hanging with the family on Sunday afternoon and the Bills were being broadcast in Connecticut, she was watching the Bills.  Fast forward to today.  She lives in Boston.  One of her best friends from college is from Elmira, and her friend's father always followed the Bills and bought season tickets maybe five years ago.  This season, my daughter asked me to buy six tickets to the home opener so she and her friend and their boyfriends and some other couple could go to the game.  She's a classic woman being drawn into the fan base.   She doesn't understand the game very well, she knows maybe a half-dozen players, but she's now a fan.   My 12-year-old grandson is a much more serious Bills fan than she is, and he's been serious since he was 5.  

 

 

That's a pretty decent take 

 

There are definitely a lot of women Bills fans around the city , some are very knowledgeable

 

A lot like watching the support but don't really understand the rules

 

There's about 10 15% of women though, who are calling out penalties from the stands lol

 

 

[SirAndrew]

22 hours ago, Cusefan66214 said:

I'd say about 85 percent of male bills fans are serious

About 85 percent of female bills fans are average

 

 

 

 

 

I think a lot of it has to do with Bills football being such a huge part of WNY culture. I’ve noticed most other NFL games seem more like a guys day out. I know it’s changing as the league has tons of female fans, but it’s still difficult not to notice the ratio of dudes at most stadiums. Bills fans seem more apt to take the entire family, groups of friends, wives, and girlfriends to games. Many of whom might be more causal fans. 

[Buffalo716]

22 hours ago, rockpile said:

I guess I am an average fan, with some high points.

 

My father was a founder of the Buffalo Bills Boosters Club, Inc. in 1960. I wear his Boosters coat to snow games. 

 

I went to many games at the Rockpile. I was escorted out of one game for throwing snowballs at the Dolphins. 

 

I went to games during the 80's drought.

 

I watched the comeback game standing in a bar to the finish.

 

I have been with TBD since day one.

 

I have been to all but one or two TBDAHOTs and camped out at Hammers for several.

 

I am a cofounder of the WNYTBDGPS.

 

But I am not great at names and Jersey numbers. I do not go crazy about the draft, although I did get suite tickets in 2001 for the draft.

 

I am a Lot One Pole 6 veteran.

 

I do not post at TBD as often as I used to, but I enjoy the comments of those who have something to say.

 

I took the stage the year there was a band on game day and sang Funk 49 by the James Gang. There is something kind of cool hearing your daughter yell "Mom, Dad's on stage singing with the band. "

 

So I am an unusual average fan, I guess.

I would say that put you as a hardcore fan, who just doesn't care about names and numbers ..

 

Everything else you describe says you're an original Bills fan, who helped build the fan base into what it is

[Beerball]

On 8/19/2021 at 10:31 AM, Shaw66 said:

I found myself wondering what an average Bills fan is like.  I don’t consider myself average.

 

When I was a teenager in the 60s, I was a serious fan.  I knew everything about the Bills.  Then I left Buffalo and ended up in Connecticut.  Got married, got a job, had kids, so by the 80s, I was in Bills blackout.  There was no quality coverage of the Bills easily available, they weren’t on TV very often, no internet, and I was busy with other things.  There were, I’m sure, plenty of weekends where I didn’t know if the Bills had won or lost until I read the Monday morning paper. 

 

I got more serious in the 90s, of course, watching the Bills every time they were on TV.  The Kelly years forced me back into more serious fandom.  I continued that way until about 2004, when I discovered fan forums on the internet.  I realized that I could stay current with the Bills even from Connecticut. 

 

Then, in 2005, I went to a game.  I hadn’t been to the Stadium in 20 years.  One game, and I was seriously hooked.  A year or two later, I had season tickets.  Sometime around then, the Rockpile Review started. 

 

I’d call myself a serious fan.  My simple measure of a serious fan is someone who can name all the starters, can name at least some of the balance of the roster, and knows the back story of many of the players.  That is, a serious fan knows more about Josh than he grew up on a farm in California.   Maybe a better measure of a serious fan is someone who doesn’t go more than a few days without checking in to see what’s happening with the team, and that means in March, in June, 365.

 

There aren’t a lot of Bills fans in Connecticut, there isn’t a good Bills bar for the few to gather and watch the games.  When I run into a Bills fan, more often than not, they’re a serious fan like me. 

 

So, I hang out on this forum, and I get to talk to a lot of other serious Bills fans, some who know a lot more about the team than I do, but even those who may know less that I know still know a lot.  I think of us and others like us as the hard core. 

 

I’m guessing there are plenty of average Bills fans in Buffalo, people who care a lot about the team and care whether they win, people who watch most of the games, but they will miss a game here or there because the wife wants to shop for furniture.  People who don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the details.  People who can’t name the entire offensive line, let alone the backups.  People who if pressed can name only a half dozen players on the team. 

 

My guess is that there are more than a few season ticket holders who don’t think about the Bills in depth like people on this forum.  My guess is that there are plenty of people who go to the games faithfully, people who are thrilled when Allen goes deep to Diggs, but people who are stumped if you ask them who starts at defensive tackle. 

 

So, I’m asking you if you know average fans.  What are they like?   Maybe more importantly, what’s wrong with them?

 

I drive a BMW.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I wonder if the average fan is more or less likely to live in WNY anymore? 

I moved away in 1988. I see more road games in person than I do home games.  

 

[Bookie Man]

Avg Bills fan >= Die hard Bucs Fan

[JMF2006]

Not every fan can be a FANATIC

 

Some people are normal and don't get obsessed with sports  

 

Just saying

[The BLUES Brothers]

Any fan on here is likely to be well Above Average. 

 

Do other fans look at roster spot battles as intensely as this group of dedicated fans? I think not.

 

As for me Born in '64 - growing up in grade school - other kids liked the current Super Bowl winners but I became a fan because my Dad was a fan and been rooting hard ever since. so many great memories with this team ( grateful to attend about 50 games including Home openers, 51-3, Comeback game - have met Darryl Talley, Andre Reed, Jeff Nixon, Jim Kelly, Thurman, Fred Smerlas, Joe D, Steve Tasker, Don Bebee, Jon Fina) and looking forward to more team successes.

 

As stated by other brothers - Coming here for an update and reading is a daily routine that I always look forward to.  I don't always chime in but I don't need to - the content and updates are amazing. Thank you for all of it and Go Bills!

 

[Beast]

In my first marriage I pretended to be sick on Thanksgiving (1995) so I didn’t have to go to the in-law’s house and I could watch the Bills play in peace.

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, Beast said:

In my first marriage I pretended to be sick on Thanksgiving (1995) so I didn’t have to go to the in-law’s house and I could watch the Bills play in peace.

Beast

 

Appropos of nothing except, I think, your former avatar, what I regret most about being a casual fan in the 80s is that I never watched enough to develop an appreciation of Fred Smerlas.  I missed his career, and the careers of a few other stars in the 80s.  

[fergie's ire]

On 8/19/2021 at 10:31 AM, Shaw66 said:

 

 

There aren’t a lot of Bills fans in Connecticut,

 

There are some.  This one had really been looking forward to laying around watching the game this afternoon....but will, instead, be fleeing the coast.