Beerball Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 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... I'm better dammit! I know I am! (you see what I did there pointing out the fact that we're all fans?)
BUFFALOKIE 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. Give me a break. No one said optimists are greater fans than pessimists - not the OP anyway. We are all Bills here. And Bills fans are the best. Simple as that.
Captain Hindsight Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 I dont know how you can not be optimistic at the start if the seasons. Its what fans do... BILLIEVE
Fixxxer Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 I'm better dammit! I know I am! (you see what I did there pointing out the fact that we're all fans?) hahaha
GG Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 I'm better dammit! I know I am! (you see what I did there pointing out the fact that we're all fans?) You're definitely saltier ...
Bill from NYC Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 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... Make that 2 cents. We are all different and react to things in different ways, but your description of being a fan is all encompassing imo.
PS 56 Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 I love this post. Been a Bills fan for many years myself. I will root for my team forever. I anguish at the coaching decisions, get upset when a player gets injured, and cheer at a touchdown. Its all part of the game and the enjoyment.
birdog1960 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. i too applaud you're optimism but complaining about management, or more specifically ralph wilson, has been part of my bills experience for most the 45 years or so that i can remember following the team. my dad (also a ww2 vet) and his friends were as die hard as anyone but i heard them describe wilson as a shyster more times than i can count and for as long as i remember. i find that opinion entirely justifiable and that sentiment as much a part of being a bills fan as the eternal optimism, which i admit has waned in me. loyal, long suffering bills fans deserve better and in lieu of that, are certainly righteous in their indignation.
Green Lightning Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 As bitter as I get with the FO and how things have gone, can you imagine not having the Bills around to cheer for? I mean, we can B word because this is our team. Outsiders who want to chide our Bills do so at their own risk. Short story, the Bills p*ss me off alot, but I love them. Dysfunctional, maybe. But it is what it is.
OCinBuffalo Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 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... You may not be in favor of the fandom debates, I don't think anybody is, but they are upon us whether we like it or not. Based on your definition of being a fan...you are a much better fan than many of the fans I have encountered in the "status seats" I have routinely been in during my career. It's pretty bad when you are more knowledgeable about the team you are watching, and significantly more interested in the game, than the guy who bought the seats, and it's his city. I mean, literally, STFU and watch the game. Why the hell do I want to go to a game and talk about work? I do that, at work. When I say "customers" and "partners" are replacing "fans" at the game, that's what I mean. When I say that expectations as a fan are being replaced by expectations as a guest at Disney, that's what I mean. Or worse, if the fans lose this debate to the customers, then this is going to be like the "Small World After All" ride. It will turn into what baseball has become: a social networking event whose outcome is nearly irrelevant, rather than something to get fired up about. It will be like golf: where it is all about the customers, and "to whose tent were you invited", and not the players, or the game. I'm going with Animal House & Roger Rabbit. Is there a half-smiley face? Half right. For saying Roger Rabbit :"I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
JimS 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. Amen.
BUFFALOKIE Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 You may not be in favor of the fandom debates, I don't think anybody is, but they are upon us whether we like it or not. Based on your definition of being a fan...you are a much better fan than many of the fans I have encountered in the "status seats" I have routinely been in during my career. It's pretty bad when you are more knowledgeable about the team you are watching, and significantly more interested in the game, than the guy who bought the seats, and it's his city. I mean, literally, STFU and watch the game. Why the hell do I want to go to a game and talk about work? I do that, at work. When I say "customers" and "partners" are replacing "fans" at the game, that's what I mean. When I say that expectations as a fan are being replaced by expectations as a guest at Disney, that's what I mean. Or worse, if the fans lose this debate to the customers, then this is going to be like the "Small World After All" ride. It will turn into what baseball has become: a social networking event whose outcome is nearly irrelevant, rather than something to get fired up about. It will be like golf: where it is all about the customers, and "to whose tent were you invited", and not the players, or the game. Half right. For saying Roger Rabbit :"I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul." Billy Madison
FLFan Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 You dont know that to be the end result for sure. Noone does...I would rather it be over with and lets get to the next phase of Bills football regardless of the future. Yrs of stupid decisions and terrible front office moves had hardened my feelings. Props to you for the patience and willingness to go through it longer. I go to 3 games a year regardless and support them but I would much rather move on and deal with it than keep putting it off. It is torture watching them both during the season and the offseason. What fun is it knowing ur undermanned both on the field and off it. I think Nix has a plan and he is sticking with it but in the end Wilson is the owner and something stupid will come from him and stop all progress. Its really past the time to have him own this team. Sooner or later we will have to face the truth might as well do it sooner and stop this farce of a NFL football team. Get someone who will run it right and stay if not oh well...I dont want them to move and I doubt they will the economy isnt there anywhere to build and pay for a Nfl franchise these days so my bet is they stay. If that is what you think you are free to be a fan of some other team. The OP and the many of us like him who have lived through many ups and downs, and far worse Bills team than the current (and far better) are also free to be fans and continue to hope for the best and look forward to a turnaround. It is very tiring listening to the constant unconstructive whining. My suggestion is to enjoy it while it lasts because sometime soon this team will be elsewhere. Then you can be a Pats fan full time if that is what you want.
LabattBlue Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Being a fan of the team can be defined in many ways. An extremely overly optimistic POV is no better or worse, than someone who sees the decade long mediocrity continuing. To each their own. PS I'd rather discuss football with someone who is realistic versus someone who has their head in the sand.
CodeMonkey Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Being a fan of the team can be defined in many ways. An extremely overly optimistic POV is no better or worse, than someone who sees the decade long mediocrity continuing. To each their own. Exactly! Both are fans. Blind acceptance is neither a requirement or a dis-qualifier for being a Bills fan.
bills44 Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Scrappy, on 22 August 2011 - 11:28 PM, said: I maybe looking at this all wrong, maybe the time to actually see things how they could be is more important than how they are ? Victories come in different sizes & you sir are a winner. / Senseless F-in dribble here, we blow Moses on the mountaim. crossover, between the legs, or behind the back? Good post, yoho. I'm with you.
eball Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Being a fan of the team can be defined in many ways. An extremely overly optimistic POV is no better or worse, than someone who sees the decade long mediocrity continuing. To each their own. PS I'd rather discuss football with someone who is realistic versus someone who has their head in the sand. Ahh, but there's the rub! I consider myself an extremely realistic person, but I do look for an optimistic viewpoint when it comes to the Bills. I'm nowhere close to having my head in the sand, yet I'm regularly accused of being a blind loyalist and "pollyanna." There are two types of overly "realistic" fans around here -- those who lack maturity, and those with too much of it.
John from Riverside 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. Fair enough The problem is that too many of the fans of your opinion seem to think its ok to trash those of us who choose think they could be good. Everyone is entitled to their opinion......right up until they try to force their opinion on others be degrading them for theirs and we have FAR too much of that going on this board
HARCO186 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. You know when free agency started, the league of dynasties started faling. Teams like the Rams and the Titans came out no where and went to the bowl. Just look at the Cardinals when Warner went there. Any given Sunday is true, but to say the Bills are that is far fetched to me. To say the Bills will be competitive and fun and will be in most games, I say yes. I also say two years and we can be contenders for years to come. My previous post said in 2012 we would be undefeated because when the season is over, Dec. 21 2012 the world will end... Soryy for joking but feel the Bills are on the rise bigtime and 8-8 is a good season and they will be fun to watch no less.
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