Seachange attitude towards Bills fans

[Pete]

So I have lived in New England since 1979, and have worn Bills gear ever since.  For 40 years, I ran into Bills fans a few times a year randomly, and caught a lot of teasing and ballbusting all along.  Well last year, much more often I would hear "nice Bills hat" or"go Bills!" much more often, the teasing stopped. 

 

So now I live in Massachusetts and I wear a Bills hat everywhere.  Almost every time I go out I hear "Lets Go Buffalo!"  Even New England fans are telling me how much they always respected Buffalo....how good the Bills are, etc.  What is going on lol?  It's like bizzaro world

 

One thing that will happen when we win SB, there will be bandwagon fans.  And I will miss, that if you met a Bills fan pre-2019- they were most certainly genuine, real deal Bills fans, loyal, and proud.   That stood by their Bills, after decades of heartbreak.  In the cold, wind, snow, rain- it didn't matter- we had fun and we cheered our Bills!

 

A lot of NFL fans are rooting for Buffalo to win their Superbowl.  That will be amazing when Buffalo finally wins! 

 

 

[snafu]

There are probably a lot of fans from the last bandwagon years who are still around. 
All are welcome as far as I’m concerned. I tell all my Jet fan friends that we accept converts.  
 

[May Day 10]

Nothing wrong with bandwagon fans.  Im sure the Bills will accept any one of them.  

 

I get when fan bases try to reject 'new' or bandwagon fans when things are going well.  Especially here in Buffalo.  I remember this constant debate when the Sabres had their runs in 06 and 07.  

 

If we were in NYC and Mets fans and they were good for a few years and suddenly we were seeing people who put their Pinstripes in their closets to buy a Mets t-shirt, then it would be a bit annoying.  Buffalo teams need all the support/money they can get.

[PromoTheRobot]

In 4 years we have gone from BBFS to discussing trading away our good players because we think we have too many.

[RoyBatty is alive]

8 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

In 4 years we have gone from BBFS to discussing trading away our good players because we think we have too many.

It would be interesting to see if the 2nd team 2021 Buffalo Bills with Trubisky could beat the starters of the 2017 team, i bet it would be close.

Edited August 23, 2021 by RoyBatty is alive

[foreboding]

1 hour ago, snafu said:

There are probably a lot of fans from the last bandwagon years who are still around. 
All are welcome as far as I’m concerned. I tell all my Jet fan friends that we accept converts.  
 

I tell all my Phins buddies down here that I am accepting Bandwagon fan applications.

[Rigotz]

I think there are 3 reasons for the change you've seen:

 

1) Bills fans finally have a brand name. "Bills Mafia" sounds great and is easy to reference nationally.

2) The GM has a catchy name that has become synonymous with development of young talent, with the biggest proof being our franchise QB.

3) The team's prior struggles were well documented and everyone loves a zero to hero story.

 

That's a formula for a well liked and well respected team nationally.

We're also in the bubble right now where people don't feel threatened enough by the Bills to hate them. 

If the Bills win 2 or more Super Bowls, people will begin to turn on them. That's how it works.

[ProcessTruster]

Bills look very competitive this year for sure.   Let's see how they do once the lights come on.   A rash of injuries to key players can trash a season pretty quickly..   Heck, a bunch of key players could still be unvaccinated (Josh, others) and go down with Covid for 2-3 games, that could cost you a couple games (maybe even playoff games)  right there.  

 

Last year is over; they absolutely look great, but hey, let's go play a few regular season games.   Then you'll know what you have.   and then you still won't know what you have as Covid could take out some unvaccinated key guys at any time.  

 

 go bills.

Edited August 23, 2021 by ProcessTruster

[Greg S]

7 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

I think there are 3 reasons for the change you've seen:

 

1) Bills fans finally have a brand name. "Bills Mafia" sounds great and is easy to reference nationally.

2) The GM has a catchy name that has become synonymous with development of young talent, with the biggest proof being our franchise QB.

3) The team's prior struggles were well documented and everyone loves a zero to hero story.

 

That's a formula for a well liked and well respected team nationally.

We're also in the bubble right now where people don't feel threatened enough by the Bills to hate them. 

If the Bills win 2 or more Super Bowls, people will begin to turn on them. That's how it works.

 

I would also add to your list...Josh Allen. He is one of the most exciting players to watch in NFL. Living in NJ many of my family, friends, co-workers are Jets fans and they basically tell me the same thing. They hate Allen because he is a Bill but they love watching him play as the Bills are an exciting team to watch.

[Coastie]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

 Almost every time I go out I hear "Lets Go Buffalo!"  Even New England fans are telling me how much they always respected Buffalo....how good the Bills are, etc.  What is going on lol?  It's like bizzaro worl

 

 

I get the same here in Kentucky. I whipped into the Chicken Koup for some wings the other day and the guy running the drive through saw my T-shirt and goes "Hey Bills Mafia! You guys are gonna be good this year."

Edited August 23, 2021 by Coastie

[JMF2006]

More proof the world is coming to an end  

[BADOLBILZ]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

In 4 years we have gone from BBFS to discussing trading away our good players because we think we have too many.

 

And now that the team is actually winning you don't have to irrationally blame the fanbase for the losing and mediocrity anymore.

 

Turns out,  it was the GM/HC/QB situations after all! 

 

(although the fanbase has been representing like the league's absolute best, and I think that's actually helped in some road games)

 

[Brennan Huff]

I always offer up “fan starter packs” to people. I have far too many tee shirts and hats, I can afford to give some up for the cause

[BillsFan4]

I’m just happy to be a good enough team to attract bandwagon fans!

 

It’s been decades.

[Olliemets]

1 hour ago, snafu said:

There are probably a lot of fans from the last bandwagon years who are still around. 
All are welcome as far as I’m concerned. I tell all my Jet fan friends that we accept converts.  
 

I converted in 1984. Grew up on LI, rooted for Jets. Watched SB 3 as a 10year old and loved Joe Namath.

 

Went to school upstate late 70s and attended a bunch of games in Buffalo. I always loved the scene and the Bills became a team I followed. After Leon Hess and Jets screwed the fans and moved to New Jersey I was pissed and vowed never to support them again. LI Fans who couldn't get Giant Tickets built that franchise in the 60s and were abandoned for a 4 hour rt through NYC over 2 bridges to be a tenant in someone else's stadium, with nicer bathrooms.

 

I joined the Bills "Bandwagon" during a 2-14 season. Visited friends, went to the Dallas game in the rain and getting rewarded with a win and Grumpy Tom Landry running off the field. Knocking off the Cowboys was like winning the Super Bowl. From that day on I was all in. 

 

Live in Hudson Valley now and make at least 1 trip a year to WNY.  First game 9/26 vs Washington.

 

 

[Rubes]

51 minutes ago, Greg S said:

 

I would also add to your list...Josh Allen. He is one of the most exciting players to watch in NFL. Living in NJ many of my family, friends, co-workers are Jets fans and they basically tell me the same thing. They hate Allen because he is a Bill but they love watching him play as the Bills are an exciting team to watch.

 

This is it for me, too. Even though I didn't know if the Allen pick would pan out the way we wanted it to, after watching his rookie year I was happy with it if only because he was so damn fun to watch play. He'd do something crazy every other play—crazy good or bad, but still crazy enough to say "wow, that was nuts." It was fun to watch, and he remains incredibly fun to watch (and much moreso now, of course).

 

People will think I'm nuts but I also felt a similar way toward Tyrod. He was infuriating most of the time, but every few plays he'd do something wild, which was so much more entertaining to watch than someone like Orton, or EJ. He just didn't do nearly enough of it.

 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

I spent last weekend on a beach in Southern Maine completely decked out in Bills swimsuits with my wife. Pats fans everywhere. It felt AMAZING to troll them 👏 Only comments we heard were about Allen, they are really damn jealous. 

[eball]

58 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

And now that the team is actually winning you don't have to irrationally blame the fanbase for the losing and mediocrity anymore.

 

LOL -- as if that actually happened.  In reality, most diehard fans realize this is entertainment and a product over which they have no control so they make a decision to root for the team and hope the decisions are correct, rather than continuously bash the decision-makers and say "I told you so" when those decisions don't work out.

 

Let's see -- do I gripe and complain about what my team is doing even though nothing I do or say changes anything, or do I acknowledge the flaws but still maintain a sense of hopeful optimism?

 

I love the discussions over football decisions, strategy, and coaching.  I've never wanted a board of shameless homers with blinders on.  I just don't like all of the negativity about things over which a person has no control.  "Blaming" fans for the on-field product?  That's a silly statement.  I blame certain fans for embarking on crusades or belittling others who may not follow the game as closely as they do.

 

In my personal situation I was a ST holder for 27 seasons -- living out of state (GA, then NC) for the last 24 of them -- and it was getting harder and harder to unload tickets to the games I couldn't attend (5-6 per year).  In December of 2016 -- after more than a year and a half of the Rex Ryan fiasco -- I finally said "enough."  I wrote a letter to the Pegulas expressing my displeasure and decided from now on I'll buy tickets to the games I want to attend and save myself the hassle and frustration of out of state season tickets for a floundering franchise.  It didn't make me less of a fan, it was a simple business decision.  If I lived in Buffalo I'd have kept my tickets -- period -- and I'd have been at every game.  My good friends -- both here in NC, and those in Buffalo -- are still astounded I held on to tickets while living down as here as long as I did.  It's true, I didn't renew after the McDermott and Beane hirings were announced, but my mind had been made up and that money was going to be spent elsewhere.  Those weren't proven guys and for all I knew the same crap was going to continue, but that never changed the reality I'll be a passionate Bills fan for as long as I'm breathing and the team stays in WNY.

 

Getting back to the point of the OP's comments, I too have noticed and am enjoying a newfound acknowledgment from others of the Bills' success.  My "1BFLO" vanity license plate gets far fewer snickers than it used to.

 

Go Bills.

 

 

[BruceVilanch]

3 hours ago, snafu said:

There are probably a lot of fans from the last bandwagon years who are still around. 

I'm from Oregon and I count as one, I started liking them when I was 10 because they were really good and I really became obsessed after the 4th Superbowl loss, really happy I got on the bandwagon and never got off.

Edited August 23, 2021 by BruceVilanch

[P Riv]

I see Bills bandwagoners all over now.  In Saratoga the bunting changes between Giants - Patriots (that's lots of play off appearances in the last 25 years or so).  Now there's Bills flags, hats, bumper stickers, t-shirts all over the place.  Its a love hate thing,  love to see it, but hate that band wagon phenomenon.