first_and_ten Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 The Bills are saving their money now - so that next year they can sign Andrew Luck... they also have to finish last. With our luck (no pun intended) they will finish 31st
John Cocktosten Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 If us optimists leave, the Bills are the Los Angeles Clippers. I'll take it!! The Clippers made the playoffs back to back in '05-'06! Speaking of the Clippers, if Ralph = Sterling does Buddy Nix = Elgin Baylor?
thebandit27 Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 We are kindred spirits, Yoho. I'm with you all the way… and it would take a huge catastrophe for me to not enjoy the season. I'm expecting the Bills to take a big step towards respectability this year but hey, maybe I am delsusional. If I am, I don't care. I'm a happy person, my life is good, and I love the Bills. None of that is gonna change. This x bazillion
OCinBuffalo Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 "Was it over when...ze Germans...bombed Pearl Harbor?" (This is a 2 for 1 movie quote, whoever gets both right first gets a ). Hey, I love the optimism. This who we are, for Pete's sake, and certainly not something to be seriously negative about...unless...you have different "needs". Like it or not, we now have shades of fandom. It would be easier for everybody if we didn't. There is an eternal battle between competitiveness and community for Bills fans especially. We want our team to be competitive yes, but we also want to enjoy the entire experience on the whole with the rest our community of fans, win or lose. Notice I said fans, not customers. Not so for many other teams, where community is merely...status, that lasts as long as you keep buying the right tickets, and where competitiveness is measured by the image of the team in the media, and whether that image can be transposed to a team's customers(not fans). Look at the Tampa Rays: they are good. They win. Few attend games because few of the people of that area would be caught dead in St. Petersburg. It's bad for your image. Is there anyplace in WNY you wouldn't go to watch a Bills game? How about on the planet? Unlike in many other places, we actually have to try and square our genuine need for the Bills to be competitive, for football, not image, reasons, against our genuine wish to be an inclusive, positive community. Unfortunately, some of us have bought into the destruction of that entire paradigm. Where being an actual fan = being poor and/or an idiot. Specifically, the fandom we all grew up with, and is on full display by the OP, has been actively targeted and hit, repeatedly. But the good news is: the OP is still hanging and banging, regardless. This is why posts like this rule, because it reminds us that real fans still exist. That, even as their place on game day gets smaller and higher up in the seats, it is the real Bills football fan, and not the charity?(don't you mean marketing?), client juicing, corporate/state employee greasing, Disneyfied "partnering programs"...that are the reason these teams exist all.
BiggieScooby Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Yoho, can't fault you for being optimistic. Whatever happens this season we all want our team to win. I'll take 7-9 if it meant playoffs (like Seatle did last year)!
Chandler#81 Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 "Was it over when...ze Germans...bombed Pearl Harbor?" (This is a 2 for 1 movie quote, whoever gets both right first gets a ). Hey, I love the optimism. I'm going with Animal House & Roger Rabbit. Is there a half-smiley face?
Nervous Guy Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 For some Bills fans rooting for the Bills and being optimistic is not an optional alternative. I am a Bills Fan. I have been so since 1960 when my World War II vet dad let me know how the original All America Football Conference screwed the Bills (the 2nd most successful franchise in the league) and accepted the Browns, the 49'ers and the Colts into the NFL and dropped the Bills. I have been a die hard ever since. I will be an optimist every year. I will find the silver lining in every cloud. I will hope that this year is the year that it all comes together. I am convinced that this year that Merriman, Williams and Dareus will turn this season around. I was convinced that Monte Ledbetter would turn the season around in the late 60's. For those of you that want to lament that we have not made the playoff for ten years and that the franchise will not turn around until the owner dies, the management changes or karma blesses us, you are missing out on the wonderful feeling of optimism that begins every season. Am I fooling myself? Maybe. But the great thing is I wont know until we see how it plays out and until then I am an optimist. I am one of the crazies that spends a large portion of my disposable income on Bills tickets. Guess what, it is people like me that have kept the Bills in Buffalo. So, forgive me for hoping for the best. Sorry for not doing the woe is me routine. If us optimists leave, the Bills are the Los Angeles Clippers. BRAVO!!! This pretty much sums up me.
Coach Tuesday Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Really like where the OP is coming from, it's the definition of being a fan. That said, while being a fan isn't a choice, reaching into your wallet and handing your hard-earned dollars to Ralph Wilson IS a choice. And it's time fans stopped making that choice, because it's extending the problem. To anyone who argues that we need to support this team financially so it doesn't move (which is not what I take the OP to be saying), I say that you are the problem, you deserve what you get, and you have no right to complain about anything. If it's truly a binary choice - stay and suck, or move and flourish, I for one would rather they left town. But in truth, unless and until that happens, I too am a fan for life, but one who is keeping his dollars in his pocket and waiting patiently for a new owner.
BuffaloBaumer Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 I believe we all have some of the OP's passion and optimism for this team or we would not be on a Buffalo Bills message board. The thing that really, REALLY Ps me off though is when this organization time and time again displays the idiotic and inept ability to reward players that don't deserve it. Last year it was Kelsay, forever it was Modrak and now this Fred Jackson thing just shows how incompetent they truly are....Get a freaking clue management or get out of the organization...I honestly feel that I could make better decisions on the first teamers than they do.
K-9 Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Really like where the OP is coming from, it's the definition of being a fan. That said, while being a fan isn't a choice, reaching into your wallet and handing your hard-earned dollars to Ralph Wilson IS a choice. And it's time fans stopped making that choice, because it's extending the problem. To anyone who argues that we need to support this team financially so it doesn't move (which is not what I take the OP to be saying), I say that you are the problem, you deserve what you get, and you have no right to complain about anything. If it's truly a binary choice - stay and suck, or move and flourish, I for one would rather they left town. But in truth, unless and until that happens, I too am a fan for life, but one who is keeping his dollars in his pocket and waiting patiently for a new owner. I would hope that you don't watch them on TV or listen to the games on the radio, either. If you do, you are helping to drive those revenues as well. Wouldn't want you to put money in RW's pocket without realizing it. GO BILLS!!!
Coach Tuesday Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 I would hope that you don't watch them on TV or listen to the games on the radio, either. If you do, you are helping to drive those revenues as well. Wouldn't want you to put money in RW's pocket without realizing it. GO BILLS!!! I understand - but it's indirect. I know it's not much of a distinction, but I draw the line at buying tickets and concessions. They just don't deserve my direct dollars.
Bill from NYC Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 For some Bills fans rooting for the Bills and being optimistic is not an optional alternative. I am a Bills Fan. I have been so since 1960 when my World War II vet dad let me know how the original All America Football Conference screwed the Bills (the 2nd most successful franchise in the league) and accepted the Browns, the 49'ers and the Colts into the NFL and dropped the Bills. I have been a die hard ever since. I will be an optimist every year. I will find the silver lining in every cloud. I will hope that this year is the year that it all comes together. I am convinced that this year that Merriman, Williams and Dareus will turn this season around. I was convinced that Monte Ledbetter would turn the season around in the late 60's. For those of you that want to lament that we have not made the playoff for ten years and that the franchise will not turn around until the owner dies, the management changes or karma blesses us, you are missing out on the wonderful feeling of optimism that begins every season. Am I fooling myself? Maybe. But the great thing is I wont know until we see how it plays out and until then I am an optimist. I am one of the crazies that spends a large portion of my disposable income on Bills tickets. Guess what, it is people like me that have kept the Bills in Buffalo. So, forgive me for hoping for the best. Sorry for not doing the woe is me routine. If us optimists leave, the Bills are the Los Angeles Clippers. This is a great post, and I admire your way of thinking. Many of us (myself included) probably get into the Bills a little too much. This explains the despair when they repeat the same moves that put the team in this bind that it is in. But as bad as they are, I look forward to every draft and every season. Even this one.
NishP Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Your the man...... I love real fans, I'll never give up or disown my team! I get nervous before every game..
Beerball Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Really like where the OP is coming from, it's the definition of being a fan. Sez who? I say that the optimist is less of a fan that the realist. Try sitting in my shoes for 52 years. Lost season after lost season. Blown draft picks. Horrible trades. Inability of the bean counters to keep their hands out of the football side of the business. I could go on, but you catch my drift. And year after year where am I? Behind the Buffalo Bills. Meanwhile the pollyannaish fans see every day as sunny, every season as successful whatever the real outlook, no matter the final score. You tell me...who's the REAL fan? I say it's me.
The Avenger Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Look - I don't begrude anyone for being an optimist. I get a good chuckle out of watching people predict that the Bills are a double-digit winning team "this year" - if only it could be true! What I really hate, though is not sunscribing to the same sort of blind optimism and being bashed for it. It seems that there is some sort of Taliban-like purity code amongst some that if you say something negative about the team you aren't a "real fan". That's a load of BS. I can't tell you how fired up I get when I express my displeasure with the way this organization has stuggled in futility for the past decade + and someone questions my more than 30 years of being a Bills fan. I won't bash you for thinking the Bills are going to go 12-4, make the playoffs and "surprise a lot of people" no matter how unrealistic I think it is, but in return I ask that the self-appointed "fan police" not bash me when I make a comment about how poorly this franchise has been run, how much talent we lack or why New England beat us by more than 30 points for the 15th time in a row - I let you have your opinion, you let me have mine.
eball Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 "Was it over when...ze Germans...bombed Pearl Harbor?" (This is a 2 for 1 movie quote, whoever gets both right first gets a ). Hey, I love the optimism. This who we are, for Pete's sake, and certainly not something to be seriously negative about...unless...you have different "needs". Like it or not, we now have shades of fandom. It would be easier for everybody if we didn't. There is an eternal battle between competitiveness and community for Bills fans especially. We want our team to be competitive yes, but we also want to enjoy the entire experience on the whole with the rest our community of fans, win or lose. Notice I said fans, not customers. Not so for many other teams, where community is merely...status, that lasts as long as you keep buying the right tickets, and where competitiveness is measured by the image of the team in the media, and whether that image can be transposed to a team's customers(not fans). Look at the Tampa Rays: they are good. They win. Few attend games because few of the people of that area would be caught dead in St. Petersburg. It's bad for your image. Is there anyplace in WNY you wouldn't go to watch a Bills game? How about on the planet? Unlike in many other places, we actually have to try and square our genuine need for the Bills to be competitive, for football, not image, reasons, against our genuine wish to be an inclusive, positive community. Unfortunately, some of us have bought into the destruction of that entire paradigm. Where being an actual fan = being poor and/or an idiot. Specifically, the fandom we all grew up with, and is on full display by the OP, has been actively targeted and hit, repeatedly. But the good news is: the OP is still hanging and banging, regardless. This is why posts like this rule, because it reminds us that real fans still exist. That, even as their place on game day gets smaller and higher up in the seats, it is the real Bills football fan, and not the charity?(don't you mean marketing?), client juicing, corporate/state employee greasing, Disneyfied "partnering programs"...that are the reason these teams exist all. While I sincerely appreciate and exemplify the OP's thoughts, this ^^^ is the post of the decade. I, for one, am sick and tired of being "beaten down" again and again by the nitwits around here who believe it is their purpose to remind us all how much our team sucks and squash any shred of optimism as if it's a cockroach running across the kitchen floor. I don't give a if Ralph is cheap or the team drafted the wrong guy in the 1st round for ten consecutive years -- or anything else I can't control. And no, nobody is forcing me to visit this forum or add my thoughts to the mix -- it's a personal choice, but one I'll be more cautious with going forward. Go Bills!
Coach Tuesday Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Sez who? I say that the optimist is less of a fan that the realist. Try sitting in my shoes for 52 years. Lost season after lost season. Blown draft picks. Horrible trades. Inability of the bean counters to keep their hands out of the football side of the business. I could go on, but you catch my drift. And year after year where am I? Behind the Buffalo Bills. Meanwhile the pollyannaish fans see every day as sunny, every season as successful whatever the real outlook, no matter the final score. You tell me...who's the REAL fan? I say it's me. I really like where you're coming from, it's the definition of being a fan.
thebandit27 Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Sez who? I say that the optimist is less of a fan that the realist. Try sitting in my shoes for 52 years. Lost season after lost season. Blown draft picks. Horrible trades. Inability of the bean counters to keep their hands out of the football side of the business. I could go on, but you catch my drift. And year after year where am I? Behind the Buffalo Bills. Meanwhile the pollyannaish fans see every day as sunny, every season as successful whatever the real outlook, no matter the final score. You tell me...who's the REAL fan? I say it's me. Sorry Beerball, but I don't think you're any more of a "real" fan than the OP simply because you're older, saltier, more realistic, etc. In my book, if you watch the team, cheer for them, follow them through the offseason, and want them to win/improve/compete/etc., you're a real fan. I'm not in favor of the "my fandom is greater than your fandom" debates. Just my 1 cent...
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