Memories: let’s this thread on for everybody that want to share his Bills memories

[Italian Bills]

Ok, we are during the bye and we have to find something to talk about. 
 

This time i want to just share some memories of me being a Bills fan.

 

Everything started in the 1989 (unfortunately) … when i decided to follow the sport of football and when here in Italy we didn’t obviously have what we have today with all the tv services that allow us to watch and enjoy every American sport game at whatever hour, live or not. 
 

We could watch on tv just very few games and for me, basically, they were the conference finals and the superbowl: the channel was Telemontecarlo. 
 

So here we go; i got four straight superbowl losses… it was sportingly devastating. 
 

During those years i wrote a letter to Marv Leave, i got a autographed picture of him in return with some gadget that i still have, i bought a 800 (400,000 Lire at that time) Bills coat from a club security man from Milano that i hardly known, praying him to sell it to me… it was crazy, but I AM CRAZY FOR OUR BILLS, I STILL AM AND I FOREVER WILL. 

 

Then talking through the net with another Bills fan from i don’t remember where he was from, i got a double dvd about the greatest come back ever: Bills vs Oilers, the Frank Reich’s night ! What a f…ing night it has been that night. Unbelievable. I think i cried and yelled and laughed at the same time for about a good 20/25 minutes. All alone obviously… didn’t have friends with who i could share football games at that time. 
 

Those years, also if with bad outcome, very bad, are still some of the best sports years in my entire life… and i’m saying that from a man that love sport (many) since i was 6/7 years old. 
 

And finally my first USA vacation came: of course to go there, to Buffalo and enjoy a game live in Orchard Park, Rich stadium. 
 

It was Seahawks @ Bills in a great sunny day). Bills won 27-21 and the standing said Bills 5-1.

 

I remember at the airport that, leaving Buffalo for NY, i bought 3 newspapers that i still have at home like i still have the entrance ticket of that game. 
 

That’s it… those are few memories about me as a Bills fan, where i was younger and where everything started. 
 

Hope this didn’t annoy you… and that my english isn’t so bad. 
 

I can’t wait the next time i will come there… maybe i’ll meet some of you in a great tailgate outside the new stadium. 😀

Edited October 23, 2022 by Italian Bills

[UConn James]

It was tough following the Bills just in Connecticut(!) in the early 1990s — can’t imagine what it must have been in Italy. I did summers in WNY at the maternal family’s dairy farm helping with haying & firewood and spending time with cousins, so that’s how I started my Bills fandom. Back in CT, it was the rare game on broadcast television… vs. the Patriots* or when they got prime time on the schedule. The rest of the time was just spent watching the ticker and praying for a larger number for our boys the next time it came around, and halftime & postgame highlights. Then getting the newspaper on Monday to pore over the box score statistics and maybe three sentences in a game recap.

 

We were so at the mercy of so many overlords for just getting basic access or information in those days. The internet and faster data transfer changed everything so much for the better… maybe most of all finding this place from its earliest days and following through all of the times it changed venues until SDS cemented TBD as its own entity.

 

Through the drought, I can’t begin to say how much effort and frustration it was to find games online once internet 2.0 video was a thing. And now with the age of HD streaming it’s like there’s no comparison. I just watched a UConn men’s hockey game last night on ESPN+ and it’s like… wow. Unless the power goes out or the rare time when Internet is down, kids today will never know the struggle of fandom from a distance.

 

Great to have you here from 🇮🇹!

[billsfan1959]

Hey @Italian Bills - I have lots of relatives scattered from Rome through northern Italy. I have been a die hard Bills fan since 1968, when I attended my first game at 9 years old. They were terrible that year and the game was a blowout loss. However, the experience was incredible. I have followed this team for 50+ years and have seen more bad times than good. My passion for my team has never wavered and, if nothing else, I have learned to truly appreciate the good times and to understand how fortunate we are to have #17 and a well run organization around him.

 

Enjoy, my friend, I have a feeling there are some really special times on the horizon...

[Italian Bills]

I’m sure everybody here have tons of memories to share… bad or good … it’s just pure magic be able to read them. 

[Dan Darragh]

Thank you Mr. Italian Bills.  You already know you're my favorite poster!

 

I have the same disadvantage as you, living far to the east of Buffalo (I'm in Israel).  The difference is I'm from Rochester so I'm a lifelong Bills fan going back to Jack Kemp's days.  In 1989 I moved here and wouldn't you know it, the Bills suddenly got good.

 

On the day of the AFC championship in January '91 I had no way to see the game and there was no internet yet.  Being a former Democrat & Chronicle paperboy, I had memorized the D&C phone number, and when I was sure the game was over I phoned the D&C sports desk to ask them for the result of the game.  The guy must have thought I was from Mars (I was, sort of) but then he told me that the Bills had won 51-3 and were going to the Superbowl. Fortunately that was the first year that Israel television carried the Superbowl live so I got to see it (at the cost of staying up all night and going to work Monday morning dead on my feet).

 

Like Mr. Italian Bills I had nobody to celebrate with (my sons were too young to appreciate it) but now all these years later I have NFL Gamepass which gets me all the games live or archived, and my youngest son is 32 and a huge Bills fan so I have someone to watch the games with and celebrate with.  Also one of my old camp counselors from the 1960s lives near me and follows the Bills so we have our own little Bills bar in my basement.  (You're all invited for the next big game.)

Edited October 22, 2022 by Dan Darragh

[KDIGGZ]

Is Matt Milano your current favorite player? My grandpa is from Sicily and he loves seeing players from Italian descent on the field.

[Italian Bills]

8 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

Is Matt Milano your current favorite player? My grandpa is from Sicily and he loves seeing players from Italian descent on the field.

Honestly right now i do not have a true idol favorite player…  believe me i love all of them. 
 

It would be easy for me to say JA17, or Diggs, or Miller, or T-White… Milano also is a very good player and a solid one.. but my hearth goes to all our players and coaches, i want more than everything that this Franchise get to the SB and finally finished it all the job ! 
 

From 1989 to this days is 33 years of waiting, hoping, suffering and everything. 
 

WE DESERVE, THIS FAN BASE DESERVES, THIS CITY OF BUFFALO DESERVE THAT HOLY TROPHY !

27 minutes ago, Dan Darragh said:

Thank you Mr. Italian Bills.  You already know you're my favorite poster!

 

I have the same disadvantage as you, living far to the east of Buffalo (I'm in Israel).  The difference is I'm from Rochester so I'm a lifelong Bills fan going back to Jack Kemp's days.  In 1989 I moved here and wouldn't you know it, the Bills suddenly got good.

 

On the day of the AFC championship in January '91 I had no way to see the game and there was no internet yet.  Being a former Democrat & Chronicle paperboy, I had memorized the D&C phone number, and when I was sure the game was over I phoned the D&C sports desk to ask them for the result of the game.  The guy must have thought I was from Mars (I was, sort of) but then he told me that the Bills had won 51-3 and were going to the Superbowl. Fortunately that was the first year that Israel television carried the Superbowl live so I got to see it (at the cost of staying up all night and going to work Monday morning dead on my feet).

 

Like Mr. Italian Bills I had nobody to celebrate with (my sons were too young to appreciate it) but now all these years later I have NFL Gamepass which gets me all the games live or archived, and my youngest son is 32 and a huge Bills fan so I have someone to watch the games with and celebrate with.  Also one of my old camp counselors from the 1960s lives near me and follows the Bills so we have our own little Bills bar in my basement.  (You're all invited for the next big game.)

So you are from Rochester but moved in Israel long time ago ? Wowwww… 

 

Like me you had hard time following the games on tv the prior years. 

[AlfaBill]

I lived in Calabria in the early 2000’s. It was really difficult to get specific games on tv. I had a satellite set up and would watch whatever games were shown, always late at night. I remember rooting for Brady in the first SB🤮because I liked Bledsoe. My brother would send my recorded Bills games by mail to watch. 
I visited Buffalo for a game in which The Pats destroyed us with JP at the helm. I became a fan when they played the Giants in SB 25. 

[djp14150]

9 hours ago, Italian Bills said:

Ok, we are during the bye and we have to find something to talk about. 
 

This time i want to just share some memories of me being a Bills fan.

 

Everything started in the 1989 (unfortunately) … when i decided to follow the sport of football and when here in Italy we didn’t obviously have what we have today with all the tv services that allow us to watch and enjoy every American sport game at whatever hour, live or not. 
 

We could watch on tv just very few games and for me, basically, they were the conference finals and the superbowl: the channel was Telemontecarlo. 
 

So here we go; i got four straight superbowl losses… it was sportingly devastating. 
 

During those years i wrote a letter to Marv Leave, i got a autographed picture of him in return with some gadget that i still have, i bought a 800 (400,000 Lire at that time) Bills coat from a club security man from Milano that i hardly known, praying him to sell it to me… it was crazy, but I AM CRAZY FOR OUR BILLS, I STILL AM AND I FOREVER WILL. 

 

Then talking through the net with another Bills fan from i don’t remember where he was from, i got a double dvd about the greatest come back ever: Bills vs Oilers, the Frank Reich’s night ! What a f…ing night it has been that night. Unbelievable. I think i cried and yelled and laughed at the same time for about a good 20/25 minutes. All alone obviously… didn’t have friends with who i could share football games at that time. 
 

Those years, also if with bad outcome, very bad, are still some of the best sports years in my entire life… and i’m saying that from a man that love sport (many) since i was 6/7 years old. 
 

And finally my first USA vacation came: of course to go there, to Buffalo and enjoy a game live in Orchard Park, Rich stadium. 
 

It was Seahawks @ Bills in a great sunny day). Bills won 27-21 and the standing said Bills 5-1.

 

I remember at the airport that, leaving Buffalo for NY, i bought 3 newspapers that i still have at home like i still have the entrance ticket of that game. 
 

That’s it… those are few memories about me as a Bills fan, where i was younger and where everything started. 
 

Hope this didn’t annoy you… and that my english isn’t so bad. 
 

I can’t wait the next time i will come there… maybe i’ll meet some of you in a great tailgate outside the new stadium. 😀

 

did you go and see the London game they played?

 

My fathers side is from Sicily.  His mom came after WW1 and his dad was born here shortly after they came here around 1910.

 

my brother has gotten Italian citizenship through the paternal family history.  I can’t do it because of my job.

[djp14150]

I’ve lived outside of buffalo for over 25 years.  My sister and friends and relatives still live there.  Me and my brother live away from buffalo.  We return about 2 times a year.

 

we have pretty regularly done a Bills game in December when we are in town. My sister-in-law is from the same suburb and her brother lives there and he’s in essence a Season ticket holder.  He’s part of a large group who have had season tickets but he’s not on record of being the ticket holder.

 

in Kelly years when I was still in buffalo I split season tickets with a friend and went to 4 games a year.

 

some of the games I went to….

 

first game was the Hail Mary game by Ferguson against the ‘cheats.  I went with my brother and friends.  They want to leave thinking the game was over.  Hail Mary occured when we were outside in the lot.  
 

i went to the cowboys game in the mid 80s with a friend. Bills won in their 2-14 days.

 

i went to the first AFC championship game vs Raiders.  I slept outside at a local bank to buy tickets on Monday morning.

 

i was at Kelly’s last game…the playoff loss to the Jags.

 

my brother lives in nashville. I and a group of friends traveled to his house for the games in 2019 and 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bills2022]

My greatest Bills memory wasn't even from a Bills game.  It was Andy Dalton hitting Tyler Boyd ending the drought.  Nothing comes close so far. The NFL Turning Point video is incredible. Especially the ending in the Bills locker room. "The Buffalo Bills are going to the playoffs."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsfRAruDk7M

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Bills2022

[Beck Water]

9 hours ago, Italian Bills said:

Ok, we are during the bye and we have to find something to talk about. 
 

This time i want to just share some memories of me being a Bills fan.

 

Everything started in the 1989 (unfortunately) … when i decided to follow the sport of football and when here in Italy we didn’t obviously have what we have today with all the tv services that allow us to watch and enjoy every American sport game at whatever hour, live or not. 
 

We could watch on tv just very few games and for me, basically, they were the conference finals and the superbowl: the channel was Telemontecarlo. 
 

So here we go; i got four straight superbowl losses… it was sportingly devastating. 
 

During those years i wrote a letter to Marv Leave, i got a autographed picture of him in return with some gadget that i still have, i bought a 800 (400,000 Lire at that time) Bills coat from a club security man from Milano that i hardly known, praying him to sell it to me… it was crazy, but I AM CRAZY FOR OUR BILLS, I STILL AM AND I FOREVER WILL. 

 

Then talking through the net with another Bills fan from i don’t remember where he was from, i got a double dvd about the greatest come back ever: Bills vs Oilers, the Frank Reich’s night ! What a f…ing night it has been that night. Unbelievable. I think i cried and yelled and laughed at the same time for about a good 20/25 minutes. All alone obviously… didn’t have friends with who i could share football games at that time. 
 

Those years, also if with bad outcome, very bad, are still some of the best sports years in my entire life… and i’m saying that from a man that love sport (many) since i was 6/7 years old. 
 

And finally my first USA vacation came: of course to go there, to Buffalo and enjoy a game live in Orchard Park, Rich stadium. 
 

It was Seahawks @ Bills in a great sunny day). Bills won 27-21 and the standing said Bills 5-1.

 

I remember at the airport that, leaving Buffalo for NY, i bought 3 newspapers that i still have at home like i still have the entrance ticket of that game. 
 

That’s it… those are few memories about me as a Bills fan, where i was younger and where everything started. 
 

Hope this didn’t annoy you… and that my english isn’t so bad. 
 

I can’t wait the next time i will come there… maybe i’ll meet some of you in a great tailgate outside the new stadium. 😀

 

Thanks for sharing

 

During the Kelly/Reed/Thomas years culminating in the Superbowls and then afterwards, my family in WNY used to videotape the games and send VHS tapes priority mail.  Because most of the games were sold out I would get home and away games.  So I'd try to stay away from the scores (easier then than now) and watch on Weds. evening after work.

 

Since it's warmer here, I would often have the windows open thru Oct/Nov and my family was worried the neighbors would think some kind of abuse was going on since I would be screaming at the TV "Hit him!  HIT HIM!" "Knock it out!  Punch it!" while watching for 3 hrs, but unlike when our neighbors are screaming and we just think "Oh, there's a Hockey game" "Oh, Football is on" my screaming wasn't timed with any sporting event.

 

Having so many games on video and the ability to stop and look at the formation then rewind a couple times and slo-mo to see what happened is how I built my interest in the X's and O's of the game and the chess-match aspect of adjustments.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Beck Water

[Let's Go Buffalo]

Good posts and memories! My earliest memory was when my Dad told me that Steve Tasker is now playing for Buffalo, and we were going to be able to meet him. My Dad had taught Tasker in college, so now Buffalo was going to be the team I followed. Now roughly 35 years later that still holds true.....and living in Kansas, it's always been interesting considering there's mostly Chief fans living around me in a sea of Red....but no worries....I'm still loyal to the Blue!

[947]

I also became a die hard fan in 1989, when I was still a kid. I've never lived in Buffalo, I'm from the Chicago area. I remember all too well how hard it was to catch games in the pre-internet days, I know your pain. I was hard to find any Bills gear, I had to beg my mom to order me a Bills hat or t-shirt for christmas from a catalog & wait 6-8 weeks for it to show up.

 

I finally got to go to a game when I was old enough to pay for tickets & travel to Buffalo myself. The Bills beat the Bears with Flutie at QB. It was amazing for me, similar to your experience. After the game, I went to a local walmart & bought almost anything I found with a Bills logo on it.

[blacklabel]

46 minutes ago, Bills2022 said:

My greatest Bills memory wasn't even from a Bills game.  It was Andy Dalton hitting Tyler Boyd ending the drought.  Nothing comes close so far. The NFL Turning Point video is incredible. Especially the ending in the Bills locker room. "The Buffalo Bills are going to the playoffs."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsfRAruDk7M

 

I had so much spontaneous energy when that happened, all I could do was pace around my house going, “It’s over! The drought is done! I don’t care if they get whooped by fifty points next week, the drought is over and I don’t have to hear about it ever again!”

[rusty shackleford]

Being just a kid during the super bowl years it was hard to appreciate what those 4 consecutive appearances meant. Being about 5 when we made it to the first one, I was just assuming we always made the playoffs and getting the the super bowl was normal… it sure was a disappointment only a few years later when I really started to understand the sport.

Edited October 22, 2022 by rusty shackleford
Typo

[Italian Bills]

1 hour ago, djp14150 said:

 

did you go and see the London game they played?

 

My fathers side is from Sicily.  His mom came after WW1 and his dad was born here shortly after they came here around 1910.

 

my brother has gotten Italian citizenship through the paternal family history.  I can’t do it because of my job.

No my friend, my only live game was the one a said before.

 

If i was there i would be a season ticket holder for sure ! 
 

I love every american sport, football (Bills), Basketball (Knicks since 1986), Rangers and Yankees (but way before Indians).

 

The bad thing is that the games are played when here is late night… i can’t always go to sleep at 3/4am… 😄

[Chandler#81]

59 minutes ago, Let's Go Buffalo said:

Good posts and memories! My earliest memory was when my Dad told me that Steve Tasker is now playing for Buffalo, and we were going to be able to meet him. My Dad had taught Tasker in college, so now Buffalo was going to be the team I followed. Now roughly 35 years later that still holds true.....and living in Kansas, it's always been interesting considering there's mostly Chief fans living around me in a sea of Red....but no worries....I'm still loyal to the Blue!

Tasker was/is awesome. He spoke at a church in Dansville, where I was living at the time and brought his wife with him. There was a meet & greet afterward and we chatted a bit -mostly how much I loved him being on our team.

[Big Turk]

All alone in the moonlight...

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I've posted this story before. My greatest memory of a Bills game experience was at the Bills Jets 1988 AFC East clinching OT game.  I was there with my brother and pulled out of the stands before the game to hold cameras for Sports Illustrated.  We were on the field the entire game.  Leonard Smith walked right past me after the ejection.  My brother is in the Buffalo News goal post picture and I'm pretty sure so is my white hat (can't see the rest of me).

I was at Bills Broncos game where Biscuit debuted. Third play of his career he lined up behind Bruce. Elway saw it pre-snap and called timeout.

A few other great memories are the Bills Raiders coldest game in franchise history with my three bothers as well as last season's Bills Pats playoff game with my second son. I was there for the two coldest games in franchise history.  Marino TD streak ends was a great game too.  The crowd went nuts when Strock started warming up.

I was also at a Bills Browns Monday night game in Cleveland during medical school.  I met Al Damato the sitting US Senator after the game.