The Bills aren't just some product you buy

[ofiba]

I can pinpoint a moment about 5-7 years ago, that epitomizes what the Bills mean to me. It was after the Bills super bowl run, and the team slowly began to get worse. Back in these days, my family hadn't yet sprung for NFL sunday ticket, so each Sunday we waited and hoped that the Bills would be shown in our viewing area. On this specific Sunday, we were out of luck. Some other game was going to be on. Disappointed once again, we prepared ourselves of another Sunday of frequent update checking. Then, an idea came to my Dad. He had just got a TV tuner for has laptop and he must have been eager to use it because he cooked up the hairbrained scheme to drive an hour to Binghamton to get into the Bills viewing area. In the Bills area we would be free to watch the game as we pleased. Dying to see the Bills game, I agreed.

 

That day, my Dad and I huddled in our Honda Civic glaring at a fuzzy computer screen not as a couple of losers that could have just drove 10 minutes to a sports bar, but as Bills fans. It didn't matter who we played (Bears), or if we won (we did), what mattered is that Bills fandom runs through our blood, and it's something that can't be denied. We don't watch the Bills games because they are a great team, we watch them because we are compelled to. We grew up with them. We've watched in excitement while they've demolished teams. We've watched in shame as they were killed. Why do you think so many of you are here today after nearly 10 years of mediocrity. Because you have no other choice. So whine and complain and threaten to sell your season tickets, but in the end, you know where you'll be next season. You'll be sitting in front of you TV screen cheering for the Bills, yelling at the refs after the inevitable bad call, and celebrating with your buds after each touchdown. See you guys in Buffalo for our eventual super bowl celebration.

[rockpile]

Great post!

 

I always liked the Bills as a kid and shook Tom Day's hand when I was eleven years old. What made me realize how hooked I was happened at a game in the Rockpile. The expansion team Cincinatti Bengals, led by Greg Cooke came to town during a classic Buffalo Blizzard. I sat in the covered end zone, and the stadium lights were on. There were times that the scoreboard disappeared in the blinding snow. At halftime there was several inches of snow on top of the blanket on the lap of me, my Dad, and my brother. Remember this was in the covered end zone.

 

I sat there sipping hot chocolate thinking how COOL this was!

 

Oh yeah, the Bills won.

 

I can pinpoint a moment about 5-7 years ago, that epitomizes what the Bills mean to me.  It was after the Bills super bowl run, and the team slowly began to get worse.  Back in these days, my family hadn't yet sprung for NFL sunday ticket, so each Sunday we waited and hoped that the Bills would be shown in our viewing area.  On this specific Sunday, we were out of luck.  Some other game was going to be on.  Disappointed once again, we prepared ourselves of another Sunday of frequent update checking.  Then, an idea came to my Dad.  He had just got a TV tuner for has laptop and he must have been eager to use it because he cooked up the hairbrained scheme to drive an hour to Binghamton to get into the Bills viewing area.  In the Bills area we would be free to watch the game as we pleased.  Dying to see the Bills game, I agreed. 

 

That day, my Dad and I huddled in our Honda Civic glaring at a fuzzy computer screen not as a couple of losers that could have just drove 10 minutes to a sports bar, but as Bills fans.  It didn't matter who we played (Bears), or if we won (we did), what mattered is that Bills fandom runs through our blood, and it's something that can't be denied.  We don't watch the Bills games because they are a great team, we watch them because we are compelled to.  We grew up with them.  We've watched in excitement while they've demolished teams.  We've watched in shame as they were killed.  Why do you think so many of you are here today after nearly 10 years of mediocrity.  Because you have no other choice.  So whine and complain and threaten to sell your season tickets, but in the end, you know where you'll be next season.  You'll be sitting in front of you TV screen cheering for the Bills, yelling at the refs after the inevitable bad call, and celebrating with your buds after each touchdown.  See you guys in Buffalo for our eventual super bowl celebration.

468603[/snapback]

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

I can pinpoint a moment about 5-7 years ago, that epitomizes what the Bills mean to me.  It was after the Bills super bowl run, and the team slowly began to get worse.  Back in these days, my family hadn't yet sprung for NFL sunday ticket, so each Sunday we waited and hoped that the Bills would be shown in our viewing area.  On this specific Sunday, we were out of luck.  Some other game was going to be on.  Disappointed once again, we prepared ourselves of another Sunday of frequent update checking.  Then, an idea came to my Dad.  He had just got a TV tuner for has laptop and he must have been eager to use it because he cooked up the hairbrained scheme to drive an hour to Binghamton to get into the Bills viewing area.  In the Bills area we would be free to watch the game as we pleased.  Dying to see the Bills game, I agreed. 

 

That day, my Dad and I huddled in our Honda Civic glaring at a fuzzy computer screen not as a couple of losers that could have just drove 10 minutes to a sports bar, but as Bills fans.  It didn't matter who we played (Bears), or if we won (we did), what mattered is that Bills fandom runs through our blood, and it's something that can't be denied.  We don't watch the Bills games because they are a great team, we watch them because we are compelled to.  We grew up with them.  We've watched in excitement while they've demolished teams.  We've watched in shame as they were killed.  Why do you think so many of you are here today after nearly 10 years of mediocrity.  Because you have no other choice.  So whine and complain and threaten to sell your season tickets, but in the end, you know where you'll be next season.  You'll be sitting in front of you TV screen cheering for the Bills, yelling at the refs after the inevitable bad call, and celebrating with your buds after each touchdown.  See you guys in Buffalo for our eventual super bowl celebration.

468603[/snapback]

 

I agbgree this true. Likewise for me it was a game I could/should have gone to as it was THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED and the bills were at home against the Oilers, it was not sold out and i woulda/coulda gone.

 

Ywt, this was unplanned and the usual gang was not going, I would save a few nickels (inconsequesntial to me actually compared to the joy of going), but I also had made commitments to my lovely wife (which is consequential to me) to use significant parts of that day around the house to get some things done).

 

We agreed that while she was downstairs getting the household books in order (she is smart enough not to trust me to arrange stuff that makes a difference) I would be upstairs with the game tuned in on the radio doing work in my home office for some DC-based clients (who at least pretend to make a difference in the world which certainly does not compare in import to keeping our household books in order).

 

At any rate, I listened in pain and agony as we fell further and further behind during the first half. Still having grown up in Chicago where I entered sports viewing by rooting for the '69 Cubs (who I am still devoted to to this day my Die-Hard Cubs Fan Club Card with a starting date in my birth year in the 50s when i was born is still in my wallet though I joined in the 70s) as the sprung to in an "insurmountable" league lead only to do an el foldo to the Amaxin' Mets of that year) I was used to rooting when my team was down and out.

 

Yet when they almost immediately gave up a TD on a return by the Oilers, even plucky me who took the Bills into my heart when I married a Buffalo gal (who actually used to go to Bills games until she witnessed my psychosis of devotion and began to develop whiplash from shaking her head watching games with me), turned off the radio in disgust and charged downstairs to share my lamentations (which got a hug from her rather than the usual headshake).

 

Yet, I trooped bacl upstairs, looked at the radio sitting silently, looked at my tape deck where cueing up some oldies might make me forget some wounds, and looked at my compueter and then turned back on the game. In the moral equivalent of those who demonstrated the same quandary and fears, but true mettle driving back to the stadium and scaling a fence when they weren't let back in (at least I did not abandon them in a loss, but my going up and downstairs and turning back on the radio was a limited test) showed some real devotion after they failed a test by leaving.

 

At any rate, the devotion of those who came and never left, the devotion of those who left and scaled the fence to get back in, and even the heartfeltdevotion of those of us who turned of the game in disgust but turned it back on are signs this is more than just a sports team for many of us.

 

I must admit my first reaction to your story was that a "real fan" would go to the game, but actually these are real fans, but other real fans also share the game on a fuzzy TV with their dad, share a hug with their wife before they tune back in to hear us win one for the gipper, or crowd into Niagara Square the day after our first SB loss and let Scotty Norwood know that we all shared the wide right miss together and because we were together it was OK (well mostly OK but couldn't he have kicked this very long but makeable FG a little to the left goshdarnit).

 

Still I find my thoughts dealing with a league that used to be a sport that also happened to be a business and now is a busiiness that happens to be a sport.

 

It is still more a devotion to me, but it is impossible for this fan to ignore the transiency which now rules the league under the salary cap, the owners sharing the big money with the players as the were forced to do after they essentially destroyed the NFLPA in the mid-80s lockout, but then met the reality that they needed the NFLPA if they wished to survive and that actually they made far bigger bucks as partners with the players rather than beatng the crap out of them in some mano-a-mano set-to.

 

The business dealings simply have too big of an effect with what goes on on the field for me to ignore. Though I tend not to get any enjoyment out the ICE-like pleasure of taking multiple positions on the same issue and then claiming perfect knowledge when one occurs, I do put far too much time and attention into the business side of the game.

 

I've tried to warp this business distraction into my devotion rather than simply ignoring this reality which rules the game. One side-effect of this though is it has really taken me away from the true innocence and devotion I used to feel for the game to still be devoted to it but in a much more mercenary kind of way which I think reflects itself sometimes in the actions you seem to feel disdain for.

 

Its hard for me to blame the owner or the players for following the American way of making as many dimes as the market will bear though. Also, when all except for one of 24 consecutive games are likely to be sellouts and thus I can watch them with the fringe and the bathroom nearby, it becomes a little hypocritical (obviously no rule against that on TSW or as a fan) for me to have much disdain for the mercenary side of this game I do love.

 

Thanks for triggering the memories with your post though!

[aussiew]

I wallow in the innocence, devotion and emotion of this team.

 

I never turn off the TV or leave a game early. Sink or swim, win or lose....I'm there. Just can't help it.

 

Nice post FFS

[granitestatebillsbackers]

"This is about more than entertainment. A winning team is a drug, a fix, a communal high. Sports sociologists have a name for it: BIRG. It is an acronym for Bask In the Reflected Glow. When the team does well, its fans feel good about themselves. That is why people invest in sports teams emotionally (and financially, with jerseys, caps, tickets and, yes, better TV sets). "

 

Maybe that's why I am feeling so crappy about shelling out $80 + shipping for a McGahee away jersey and a throwback pennant for over my son's crib. I was thinking it was all the depressing posts on TBD!

 

Esmonde's column is definitely food for thought. I wonder if we all were expecting to return to that amazing feeling of backing a winner and BOOM! we got a dose of reality.

 

In the end, even with all the back and forth about what's right and wrong with the team, we are all Bills fans. And the next win, regardless of who is at QB or how it comes about, is going to feel damned good!

 

GO BILLS!

[34-78-83]

I am the same way. I will always root for and support the team no matter if I agree with all the moves they've made.

[granitestatebillsbackers]

Excellent post!

 

I started paying attention to the Bills at age 5, when Dad would have Van Miller on the radio (WBEN). I learned to do addition and subtraction--in part--when I learned how the whole downs and yardage thing worked. ("If it's second and 6, how many yards have the Bills gained?")

 

When I was in second grade, Butch Byrd and Al Bemiller visited my school for a Father/Son Sports Night. I remember being amazed at how huge they looked.

 

Like a lot of other fans, I was there in the late Sixties (my first NFL game at the Rockpile was vs. the newly-minted Bengals). I was there when the Bills picked up O.J. and suffered through the 70s.

 

When I was in high school, I took a job with the company that had the contract to clean up Rich Stadium after the games because part of the deal was that you got into games for free. The highlight was getting tagged to shovel off yard markers during a December game vs. the Vikings.

 

I moved away from the area to the heart of Patriots country in the mid-Eighties, but always went to Foxboro for the Bills-Pats games (back then, you could hardly find a Pats fan, and could walk up to the ticket window gameday and buy a great seat).

 

This season, I started driving an hour on Sundays to spend time with a small group of Bills fans at a sports bar that's usually packed with Pats fans, but also a respectable number of Steelers backers and a sprinkling of other teams' fans. It's just good to see the Bills colors once in a while. When I can't make it, I listen to the hometown call on Sirius.

 

You are right. Once a Bills fan, always a Bills fan. I wouldn't trade being a Bills fan for any other team in professional sports.

 

The glory days will come again.

[Sound_n_Fury]

Esmonde's a tool. Nobody points a gun at you head and tells you how to spend your money.

 

Typical blame shifting....

[scribo]

Thanks for starting this thread, ofiba. It is exactly what we all need right now.

 

I remember sitting on my living room floor as a little kid crying when the field goal missed. My father, mother and sister just sat there. No one looked at each other. I reached up and turned the TV off as the Gints rushed the field. I didn’t go to school the next day. I was too sick.

 

When our team was getting slaughtered by the Oilers a few years later, my family sat at the bowling alley bar, refusing to leave. We pulled our own hair out when they came back. I vowed that day to never stop watching a game until the final gunshot.

 

I firmly believe that the Bills is the most difficult team to be a fan of. There is always preseason hope. There are always glimmers of hope through the season. But that hope is almost always followed by disappointment.

 

Butt, as was so well stated in other posts above, the love of the Bills is engrained in our being. That is why I’ll be watching from kickoff through the end on Sunday.

 

Now, damn it, let's squish those stinkin' fish.

[ofiba]

Thanks for starting this thread, ofiba. It is exactly what we all need right now.

 

468886[/snapback]

 

Yeah, after reading all these gloomy posts on here, I thought it would do us some good to think about fond memories of the Bills.

[millstone twnsp nj bills fan]

Yeah, after reading all these gloomy posts on here, I thought it would do us some good to think about fond memories of the Bills.

469172[/snapback]

 

I have never posted on any board before. I have been reading TSW and the other Bills message boards for years but never felt compelled to write until now. I remember the day I really became a Bills fan. It was in June of 1977 at my high school sports banquet, the day I met Joe Delamalilure ( sp).

 

I grew up in Falconer, NY and played every sport possible. My senior year in high school I was one of three captains on our undefeated football team. I loved football. My dad loved the Bills but I was a Packer fan since they were the best team going when I was small and they were always on T.V. Well my dad was always bugging me to watch the Bills, saying how this O.J Simpson guy was so good. He wore me down to finally attend a game at the new Rich Stadium. It was against the Colts and we were one row from the top. I could see the lake over the top wall.

 

Well OJ went for like 150yds that day and I was in awe. I kept asking my dad about OJ and if it was him or the offensive line doing the good job. My dad said it was both. After that I really started to read about the Bills and the Electric Company. I became a huge fan of the whole line ( I played guard on offense). I especially loved Joe D, he was the man.

 

When he came to our school as the guest speaker I was nervous to meet him. He was the nicest person you could imagine. I talked to him after the banquet for at least a half hour, just like he was the guy next door. I knew right then that I would always love the Bills.

 

Today I live in Millstone Township N.J. I am surrounded by Jets, Giants, and Eagle fans. I of course hate the Jets most but they are all annoying. Everyone in town knows that I love the Bills. I coach baseball, pop warner football, and a travel basketball team. I wear Bills crap to every sporting event I attend.

 

I have Sunday ticket and TIVO. I have to TIVO every game since I coach so much. I haven't missed a game in like ten years. It's a family thing now. Every Sunday we all get our Bills stuff on and watch the game. My friend John that I went to UB with lives in Allentown NJ and he and his family come over every Sunday to watch with us. It's a lifelong love affair now!

 

I am sorry about the length of this, I feel like FFS. I may never post again but I felt the need to get this out. Thanks for the interesting topics over the years.

[R. Rich]

Thank you for a break from the insanity. Like many of those who have posted in this thread have said, though we don't always agree w/ the moves being made, we still support the Bills.

[JinVA]

Thank you for a break from the insanity.

469255[/snapback]

Freakin' Dolphins

 

We went through this same insanity last year before the Phins. Someone should edit this post for the now.

[ajzepp]

I have never posted on any board before. I have been reading TSW and the other Bills message boards for years but never felt compelled to write until now. I remember the day I really became a Bills fan. It was in June of 1977 at my high school sports banquet, the day I met Joe Delamalilure ( sp).

 

I grew up in Falconer, NY and played every sport possible. My senior year in high school I was one of three captains on our undefeated football team. I loved football. My dad loved the Bills but I was a Packer fan since they were the best team going when I was small and they were always on T.V. Well my dad was always bugging me to watch the Bills, saying how this O.J Simpson guy was so good. He wore me down to finally attend a game at the new Rich Stadium. It was against the Colts and we were one row from the top. I could see the lake over the top wall.

 

Well OJ went for like 150yds that day and I was in awe. I kept asking my dad about OJ and if it was him or the offensive line doing the good job. My dad said it was both. After that I really started to read about the Bills and the Electric Company. I became a huge fan of the whole line ( I played guard on offense). I especially loved Joe D, he was the man.

 

When he came to our school as the guest speaker I was nervous to meet him. He was the nicest person you could imagine. I talked to him after the banquet for at least a half hour, just like he was the guy next door. I knew right then that I would always love the Bills.

 

Today I live in Millstone Township N.J. I am surrounded by Jets, Giants, and Eagle fans. I of course hate the Jets most but they are all annoying. Everyone in town knows that I love the Bills. I coach baseball, pop warner football, and a travel basketball team. I wear Bills crap to every sporting event I attend.

 

I have Sunday ticket and TIVO. I have to TIVO every game since I coach so much. I haven't missed a game in like ten years. It's a family thing now. Every Sunday we all get our Bills stuff on and watch the game. My friend John that I went to UB with lives in Allentown NJ and he and his family come over every Sunday to watch with us. It's a lifelong love affair now!

 

I am sorry about the length of this, I feel like FFS. I may never post again but I felt the need to get this out. Thanks for the interesting topics over the years.

469246[/snapback]

 

 

Thanks for sharing that....I love reading stuff like this!

[aussiew]

I am sorry about the length of this, I feel like FFS. I may never post again but I felt the need to get this out. Thanks for the interesting topics over the years.

 

Welcome to the board. And please post again anytime. You write well.

[lawnboy1977]

My evolution as a Bills fan actually came over time. My whole family is actually from Pittsburgh, so of course I grew up with a bunch of Steelers fans. When I was in grade school and high school, which was during the Bills Super Bowl run, I was actually a Steelers fan. This was rough sometimes going to school in WNY, but made it fun. I did root for the Bills when they got to the Super Bowl but after the second or third year was hoping they didn't get there.

 

It wasn't until I joined the military in 1996 and was away from home that I really became obsessed with the Bills. This was probably a result of being homesick and always having people make fun of me for being from Buffalo, which got old. You know the jokes, "What does Bills stand for", numerous choking references, etc. Ever since then I have been on the Bills forever, and will always. I am fotunate enought o live in an area where there are still Bills fans, Phoenix, and places to watch the games with those fans.

 

We stick with the team through good times and bad, highs and lows, and never never give up. Thats what being a Bills fan is all about!!

[UteBills]

My love affair with the Bills started about 5 weeks ago...I got the ticket and decided to watch a team that I usually don't get to watch...I have always been a Bronco fan...(Elway is the man) they look strong this year too.

 

I decided to watch the Bills opening weekend and they looked freakin great!!! I thought here is a team that is young and I can really embrace...WM..JP..TKO...All I could get on the internet about them was not enough...I was obsessed with this team...(still am). What happened next we all know...I will be a lifelong fan (or at least for the next week or two).

 

Thought I would share...

 

laters

[drnykterstein]

My love affair with the Bills started about 5 weeks ago...I got the ticket and decided to watch a team that I usually don't get to watch...I have always been a Bronco fan...(Elway is the man) they look strong this year too.

 

I decided to watch the Bills opening weekend and they looked freakin great!!!  I thought here is a team that is young and I can really embrace...WM..JP..TKO...All I could get on the internet about them was not enough...I was obsessed with this team...(still am).  What happened next we all know...I will be a lifelong fan (or at least for the next week or two).

 

Thought I would share...

 

laters

469348[/snapback]

Hey there. Welcome to unending pain and torture as a Bills fan. You'll love every moment of it. You'll feel cheated at every turn by every ref and every NFL official. You'll feel pride for the Bills players and sorrow for them because they deserve to win and always fall just short. Try to make it to Buffalo for a game sometime. Nothing even comes close to that as an experience.

[Peter]

Great post.

[UteBills]

Hey there. Welcome to unending pain and torture as a Bills fan. You'll love every moment of it. You'll feel cheated at every turn by every ref and every NFL official. You'll feel pride for the Bills players and sorrow for them because they deserve to win and always fall just short. Try to make it to Buffalo for a game sometime. Nothing even comes close to that as an experience.

469383[/snapback]

Thanks for the love...I would love to make the Pilgrimage out there..