1982 Vikings at Bills

[Gregg]

Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and Fran Tarkenton with the call. The Bills fall behind big early but rally for a thrilling win.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by Gregg

[T&C]

You had a name here before "Gregg"... what was it?

[Fleezoid]

 

[eSJayDee]

I was there!  1st Bills victory I saw in person (after seeing about 8 losses ).  Last game before the strike IIRC.

[WotAGuy]

I was there.  Our van got broken into in the mud lot.

[Buftex]

I was there too. The Bills looked great, then the strike happened, and the wheels fell off for about 5 years...good ol days

[PonyBoy]

Wow! That pre-game talk was so short! Ok, they turn around, boom, heres the kickoff.

 

Hard to believe the pre-game , half time analysis were so brief. Those days are long gone.

[Bills fan since 87]

9 minutes ago, PonyBoy said:

Wow! That pre-game talk was so short! Ok, they turn around, boom, heres the kickoff.

 

Hard to believe the pre-game , half time analysis were so brief. Those days are long gone.

 

I miss the simplicity.  Also, 30 minute pre game shows were JUST fine.

Edited June 8, 2023 by Bills fan since 87

[ProcessTruster]

was there as well, thanks for posting.  vague (:)) but good memories !

[Ned Flanders]

17 hours ago, Bills fan since 87 said:

 

I miss the simplicity.  Also, 30 minute pre game shows were JUST fine.

Same here; all I need to know are weather and injuries.

[Buffalo Super Fan]

6 hours ago, Ned Flanders said:

Same here; all I need to know are weather and injuries.

I miss pre cable television days when Monday Night Football was a big deal. MNF doesn’t belong on ESPN it needs to be back on ABC television to get more viewers interested that may not be all that interested between the two NFL teams playing that night. If ABC isn’t interested then shop it to NBC, CBS or FOX. That is what has changed Monday night regardless of the teams was a big deal on the big three networks now big four networks today. On ESPN cable when MNF went there it ruined MNF at the time I thought it was a bad idea because the viewership went down from free television in my opinion. Go Bills! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[AuntieEm]

8 minutes ago, I am leaving for good said:

I miss pre cable television days when Monday Night Football was a big deal. MNF doesn’t belong on ESPN it needs to be back on ABC television to get more viewers interested that may not be all that interested between the two NFL teams playing that night. If ABC isn’t interested then shop it to NBC, CBS or FOX. That is what has changed Monday night regardless of the teams was a big deal on the big three networks now big four networks today. On ESPN cable when MNF went there it ruined MNF at the time I thought it was a bad idea because the viewership went down from free television in my opinion. Go Bills! Let’s Go Buffalo 

 

   You got to wonder who thought it was a good idea.  Very easy to figure that the numbers would fall because not everyone has cable even before the rise of smartphones and streaming, not everyone bothers with paying for cable so it would certainly drop ratings for that alone.  Unless they thought they could negotiate a lower price for future contracts.  

 

Almost wish they would just have games on Sundays and stop with the variable scheduling.

 

[phypon]

Anyone else want to go out and buy an 82' Buick Century, a chainsaw, and some Big Red gum after watching that?

[stevestojan]

Whenever I see these old clips I struggle to remember: was the score really not always on the screen or are these just cropped to not show it? 
 

I was two years old for this particular game, but even as I start remembering my first games, do I recall that we had to wait for the score to show up if we missed parts of the game? 
 

 

[Albany,n.y.]

1982 was my last year in WNY.  I was living in Kenmore, but I couldn't go to the 1st 2 games because I had recently had my appendix out.  The 1st 2 games were blacked out on local TV.  For the opener, I found a UHF French speaking station that was showing the Bills game, so I turned down the sound & put the radio on & listened to the Buffalo radiocast.  The next game was the one above.  Whatever the cable company was at the time they imported the game from Syracuse & put it on our cable in Buffalo.  So even though both games were blacked out, I got to watch both of them in my apartment.  By the time the strike ended, I was able to go to the Miami game.  Even though I went to many more home games, the Miami game was my last as a resident of WNY.  I left for good that December.  

[Utah John]

I was surprised to see Ahmad Rashad playing for the Vikings.  In my mind he'll always be a Bill, with that one great season, particularly the miracle victory over the Raiders.  He missed the next season with an injury and then was gone.  I'm not sure if the Bills traded him but he ended up going from Seattle to the Vikings.  

[Jukester]

Thanks for the blast from the past. Talkin Proud instead of the Shout Song.  I was 11 and if I remeber right, my parents made me go to bed. I sneakily listened on the radio. 

[Utah John]

Compared to today's announcers, the MNF crew (for this special Thursday night game) was pretty useless.  Gifford did OK calling the plays, but Tarkenton and Cosell added nothing to the understanding of the game.  I think they were all unprepared, probably coming off a Monday night game before this one.  How many times did they mention Joe Cribbs not being there due to a holdout, or Shane Nelson being gone due to a knee injury?  This was worse than listening to the Manning brothers kibbitz during a game these days.  

 

I had forgotten how much bigger Rich Stadium was in those days.  And it was nearly sold out, pretty good for a weeknight game with school/work the next day.

[sonyab1974]

On 6/10/2023 at 1:10 AM, Albany,n.y. said:

1982 was my last year in WNY.  I was living in Kenmore, but I couldn't go to the 1st 2 games because I had recently had my appendix out.  The 1st 2 games were blacked out on local TV.  For the opener, I found a UHF French speaking station that was showing the Bills game, so I turned down the sound & put the radio on & listened to the Buffalo radiocast.  The next game was the one above.  Whatever the cable company was at the time they imported the game from Syracuse & put it on our cable in Buffalo.  So even though both games were blacked out, I got to watch both of them in my apartment.  By the time the strike ended, I was able to go to the Miami game.  Even though I went to many more home games, the Miami game was my last as a resident of WNY.  I left for good that December.  

 

Oh thank you for sharing your story! Where did you move to?

[BigDingus]

Geez, that last drive was silly. It seemed like Vikings players were trying to avoid going down out of bounds to conserve clock... Even if chances to drive downfield were slim, I'd be furious if I were a fan 😅

[Albany,n.y.]

15 hours ago, sonyab1974 said:

 

Oh thank you for sharing your story! Where did you move to?

1st I moved back to Long Island for 5 years to work for the state & then on to Albany for the past 35 years.  

[Albany,n.y.]

On 6/10/2023 at 7:29 AM, Jukester said:

Thanks for the blast from the past. Talkin Proud instead of the Shout Song.  I was 11 and if I remeber right, my parents made me go to bed. I sneakily listened on the radio. 

After Talkin Proud the Bills used "We Can Make It Happen" for a while & then switched to Shout.  Back in 1993 the Bills got into a dispute with the owners of the original Shout song & made a new Shout song.  They played it in preseason and the fan backlash was so strong, the Bills were forced to pay more money & bring back the old version (Yes, Ralph was even cheap on songs).  At the Super Bowl in Atlanta in 1994, the 1st time the Bills scored, they played the wrong Shout song. Then someone gave them the right version later in the game.  

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/why-the-bills-make-you-wanna-sing-shout-and-no-other-song/article_a9012af4-6d02-11ed-927a-efe30de7d3a7.html

 

The song is probably irreplaceable: In 1993, when the Bills decided it was too expensive to pay for the Isley music, the team briefly replaced it with a redone version of another golden-oldies hit, Ernie Maresca’s “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out).” Fans revolted within weeks, and “Shout!” returned. 

 

We Can Make It Happen went something like this:

We can make it happen, cheering on the Bills now.  Buffalo makes it happen, climb on the Bills fan wagon. I do believe in Buffalo, I do believe in Buffalo, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do. We can! 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Albany,n.y.

[RoyBatty is alive]

To me, that was a terrible era in Bills history, post OJ and pre Kelly.  Boring football with the god awful Buffalo Jills and the Talkin Proud song blasting..

[Albany,n.y.]

22 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

To me, that was a terrible era in Bills history, post OJ and pre Kelly.  Boring football with the god awful Buffalo Jills and the Talkin Proud song blasting..

Actually, the team was pretty good.  The game was part of the Chuck Knox era. They were coming off 2 straight winning seasons and when they won that Monday night game they went to 2-0.  The season fell apart after they returned from the strike.  Then Knox left after the 1982 season.  Things were still looking up in 1963 when the Bills started 5-2 under new coach Kay Stephenson before Joe Ferguson just hit a wall in his career and things got bad for the next 2.5 seasons until Kelly arrived.   

[Jukester]

4 hours ago, Albany,n.y. said:

After Talkin Proud the Bills used "We Can Make It Happen" for a while & then switched to Shout.  Back in 1993 the Bills got into a dispute with the owners of the original Shout song & made a new Shout song.  They played it in preseason and the fan backlash was so strong, the Bills were forced to pay more money & bring back the old version (Yes, Ralph was even cheap on songs).  At the Super Bowl in Atlanta in 1994, the 1st time the Bills scored, they played the wrong Shout song. Then someone gave them the right version later in the game.  

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/why-the-bills-make-you-wanna-sing-shout-and-no-other-song/article_a9012af4-6d02-11ed-927a-efe30de7d3a7.html

 

The song is probably irreplaceable: In 1993, when the Bills decided it was too expensive to pay for the Isley music, the team briefly replaced it with a redone version of another golden-oldies hit, Ernie Maresca’s “Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out).” Fans revolted within weeks, and “Shout!” returned. 

 

We Can Make It Happen went something like this:

We can make it happen, cheering on the Bills now.  Buffalo makes it happen, climb on the Bills fan wagon. I do believe in Buffalo, I do believe in Buffalo, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do. We can! 

 

 

Wow, drawing a complete blank on “we can make it happen.”  That was when I was away at college so makes sense. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Jukester

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

This game was like watching Mind Craft but even more pixilated. 

[Albany,n.y.]

9 hours ago, Jukester said:

Wow, drawing a complete blank on “we can make it happen.”  That was when I was away at college so makes sense. REPLY:  I found this in a 1986 program. I had a larger image as I took this photo, but the file was too big & I had to do some stuff just to get this.  

Edited June 13, 2023 by Albany,n.y.