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Question about the origins of The Bills Maffia


Coldfronts

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Just now, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

I have a great uncle, full blood Sicilian and at 93 still drives, does his own grocery shopping and hits the club for his glass of vino or two.

We asked him what he wants to do for his 100th birthday and he said he wants to go out and get drunk 😂

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31 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

To the best of my ability, it was some random thing that was generated by national media, which is why I never liked it.


It's not OUR term...it's someone else's.

 

Not sure how old you are, but I can assure you back when we were the class of the league (or at least the AFC) in the early '90s, NO ONE was using the term "BILLS MAFIA".

 

 

That is incorrect. See page 1 for the history of the name.

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2 minutes ago, Coldfronts said:

"clean start"  probably why they never elaboration on this...LOL

I like to tease my Brazilian friends who have a very Italian sounding last name about "fleeing war crimes" but the truth is Italians, Germans and other Europeans were immigrating to Argentina and Brazil in large numbers beginning in the late 1800s with the peak well before the second world war.

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Just now, MJS said:

I don't use the term, don't buy merchandise with it, etc. But I also do not care one bit if others like it and use it. It's not my cup of tea, but I can see why others like it.

I dont either but one Xmas I got two identical Bills Mafia shirts from my family to my chagrin.  I brought these shirts on a recent vacation and something remarkable happened: its like the seas parted everywhere I went.  Crowds at popular tourist attractions cleared out, the pool at the resort suddenly empty as soon as I roll up, and bars and restaurants emptied. We had beaches and scenic waterfalls all to ourselves for pictures and relaxation free from influencers and jerks. I checked to see if the UN recognizes Bills Mafia as a terrorist organization.  

 

Maybe it was just a string of great luck intervening for a memorable honeymoon?  Maybe it was the shirt and Bills Mafia has a fearsome international reputation?  Maybe its because I was screaming "HEYYY AYYY EYYYY AYYYYY!!!!" in everyones faces and reciting Allen's stats at them??  I don't know and I don't care.

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1 hour ago, Jauronimo said:

That is incorrect. See page 1 for the history of the name.

How is that incorrect?

He said that no one was using that term in the '90's which is 100% correct.  We called ourselves the "12th Man" or simply, "fans".

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3 minutes ago, Bad Things said:

How is that incorrect?

He said that no one was using that term in the '90's which is 100% correct.  We called ourselves the "12th Man" or simply, "fans".

And the stuff he said above the blatantly obvious regarding the origin as being a media generated nickname is completely incorrect.  That is how things that are factually incorrect are factually incorrect.  

Edited by Jauronimo
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1 minute ago, Jauronimo said:

And the stuff he said above the blatantly obvious regarding the origin as being a media generated nickname is completely incorrect.  That is how things that are factually incorrect are factually incorrect.  

Just pointing out that not everything he said was factually incorrect.

 

"Blatantly obvious"... 🙄

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We had a new co-worker start in the office a month or two ago, who just moved here from Italia.

 

I took the opportunity this morning to ask her what she thought of the term “Bills Mafia”.

In short, she just kept asking me why we would call ourselves that.  (I didn’t have an answer.)  She just couldn’t get it around her head why a fanbase would call itself that, and said it was bizarre.  

 

I tend to agree, but it is what it is.

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8 hours ago, Motorin' said:

 

No, literally every word. For instance, the word origin of Mafia is Sicilian for "bragging" or "swagger." Like hundreds of years before it was applied to organized crime. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mafia is a slang word anyway. It was to Sicilian organized crime families or clans way back when. It has no italiana meaning whatsoever. It doesn’t mean swagger. Don’t believe everything you read on wiki. BTW I am fluent in Italian and calabrese having lived there for years 

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10 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Nerds on Twitter. I don't really care myself but my grandpa is Sicilian and finds the name super offensive, as offensive as the Cleveland Indians name was to some people.

I agree. How would people feel if the Packers fan base called themselves the Green Bay Gestapo? Exact same concept as Bills Mafia, IMO.

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10 hours ago, Coldfronts said:

Did it start from a tailgating group of people at the stadium or a section of people in the stadium or did it start with an online group of people?  I know it's about the whole fan base now but I suspect it did not start that way


It all happened organically on Twitter and it’s crazy to think how it caught fire to the point that the name became associated with the team:

 

 

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11 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Nerds on Twitter. I don't really care myself but my grandpa is Sicilian and finds the name super offensive, as offensive as the Cleveland Indians name was to some people.

Are you aware that the people who find offense to the name Cleveland Indians are complete idiots?  Not the best example.

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