a serious retrospect of being a BILLS FAN

[rocwocka]

I left Buffalo in 2002 which was the year the Raiders played in the Super Bowl and hopes were high that they would continue to challenge. That was a pivotal year for the Raiders as they lost in the Super Bowl to their former coach, Jon Gruden. In a great irony, Gruden was only allowed to leave one year earlier after Al Davis pulled off what looked at the time like a master stroke, getting $8 million, two first round draft picks, and a second round pick from Tampa Bay in exchange for Gruden. Virtually everything Davis has done since then has turned to feces.

 

After the Super Bowl loss the team declined rapidly. In that time they've witnessed the Randy Moss fiasco and have watched high draft picks spent on the likes of Robert Gallery, JaMarcus Russell, Darren McFadden, and Darrius Heyward-Bey as well as a coaching carousel that has seen 5 head coaches in the last 7 years and only 29 wins (barely 4 wins per season). The Bills have 47 wins during that same period.

 

The media has written off Al Davis. The huge consensus is that the game has passed him by and that he's at the root of the Raiders' problems. He's often mocked on talk radio. Making things worse is the Raiders practice of denying media credentials and the (sometimes physical) confrontation of beat reporters who write or report unfavorably on the team. The team will also deny player access to local media outlets that are critical of the team. The Raiders comes off like a poorly run and vindictive mom and pop store. Bush league, incompetent, and increasingly bizarre.

 

I would say that much of Raiders Nation are die-hard fans similar to Bills fans. These fans are in the utter throws of despair. Like ourselves, their lives are degraded in quality by the quagmire of mediocrity that the Raiders are stuck in. Al Davis is widely viewed as a man who's lost his marbles and the main culprit for the team's demise. For most, he's now reviled. A few fans are in denial and believe that Davis will lead them back to the promised land. And most casual Raiders fans have reverted to almost complete apathy.

 

It's really a remarkable meltdown for a team which was once one of professional sports' winningest and proudest franchises. In eight years they've gone from Super Bowl to laughingstock in spectacular fashion.

Not a word do i disagree with...

[don_of_manhattan]

i have long been a Bills fan in an area of NY that boasts mostly annoying, non-informed Giants and Jets fans. This is part of my being, i think - you know, dealing with the adversity of being a fan of a long time loser, in the pit of fair-weathered fans. Jim Kelly always reminded us of the "resilience" of our Buffalo Bills, and that has always stuck with me. i do not think i would be a better man if we had won the big one, even once... i do believe that i probably wouldn't be able to appreciate my team as much... strange? i think we as Bills fan share a common thread of rooting for the under dog, full well knowing that our hearts were only going to get torn out at some point. in living in westchester, ny (about 20 minutes from Yankee Stadium, where i bartend) i went through a period, a couple seasons ago, where our team came out hot (4-0). every winning week going into the books, i would start getting more comments from the usual haters along the lines of "man, you know, i've always liked those Buffalo Bills.... you know they're the only REAL NY team!". i found that people were trying to jump on the band wagon, to try to TAKE MY TEAM FROM ME. i was distressed, i didn't remember what it was like to root for a "winner" (BTW - i'm not a Yankees fan - at all - i don't even like baseball). that game against the Cardinals, we got crushed - i'm sure we all remember 'the concussion'. that game was what i was waiting for - the bubble to pop, that second shoe to fall, the jig was finally up. as the losses started to pile up, the haters reverted back to their ways. always one to search for the silver lining, i realized that I GOT MY TEAM BACK! i know that i'm always optimistic, you know... hope springs eternal, but if we field another bag of dog sh*t this year, i won't flinch, i'll just sit back every week and root for the couple of guys that stand out and imagine what it would be to have a team full of them. always a BILLS fan.

 

BTW, if you're ever in White Plains, NY, stop by Gryphons (49 Mamaroneck Ave), i also bartend there. i'll be the one with the BILLS hat on.

So true. I live in Jersey and hope to get up there sometime.

[rjg1993]

i agree completely to the original post

 

and i guess ill throw out my own story of growing up in michigan. sports suck here. no ones real fans. my friends think im crazy for driving out to training camp every year and having a few signed jerseys in my basement. im like a superfan here among complete bandwagon fans. when i go to buffalo i feel stupid and a bad fan compared to all the real men there. its completely different. detroit is absolutely no comparison to the buffalo.

 

besides i havent seen a lions hat or shirt in months. i dont even know if they have ANY fans. and people say the bills should move to LA or toronto.

[Adam]

Kick me around for saying this all you want, but its all the same to me, whether they win a superbowl or not. I've been in the sports world for over a decade now- as a spectator, coach, writer, official and SID. A quote I really, really liked is this "Its not always all about winning, its about showing up each and every time."

 

Before you start to think that comment is about 'just giving your best', look at it a little closer. When everyone does their job, knows their assignment, ignores everything else and gets things done- that is when you really are able to compete and win. You don't go out there to win, as that isn't a true objective- it is actually a distraction.

 

I will just keep enjoying the games and competition. That's what sports are really all about.

[TDO'Kearney]

So true. I live in Jersey and hope to get up there sometime.

You guys get bandwagon jumpers? I'm in Jersey and I don't get any fans jumping to the Bills, but my Bills gear basically serves to attract other ex-Buffalonians to talk to me about how they left Buffalo because there are no jobs but they'd move back if they could.