There's something profoundly romantic about rooting for the perpetual underdog. And make no mistake, in the eyes of the world, Buffalo will always be the underdog, no matter what we might convince ourselves of otherwise. When I'm around sports fans--usually, for example-- Patriots and Steelers fans, I get told about how many rings my team doesnt have. I listen to "fans" who don't really know what its like to be a fan, in all due respect. Their identity is being homers for shallow corporate poster children like TB12 or the current flavor of the month dynasty. In the age of instant satisfaction, anonymous trolling and all too easy bandwagon and tribe hopping, most people don't really know what its like to struggle, be a loser, and identify with a team that well, you just can't stop being a fan of. I've met a lot of Bills fans who are united around a simple premise, "just give me one before I die, so I can get some closure on this team".
And that's exactly what it is, its a fraught relationship. Unrequited love. The elusive ideal--the very close but extremely far away light at the end of the tunnel. And while we become prisoners of the moment and work ourselves up into a frenzy about coaching decisions or players that let us down, there is something pretty remarkable about this team. And that is the simple fact that we have a 25 year old Quarterback who not only is elite, but *is* Buffalo. Allen puts his heart and soul into the game the same way Bills fans do. His background story, being a bust, working and never giving up *is* Buffalo. Its poetic. Just like I said earlier, its a profoundly romantic struggle. An odyssey of sorts. We might not ever see the Lombardi but if we ever see it there will be no folding table safe in the Tri State area, and no Labatt Blue keg untapped. And when people laugh and mock the best fans in the NFL, probably in all of professional sports, when we tell them "this could be our year", we just smile and know that one time that might actually be true.
But until then, no one, and I mean no one, circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills.