The dual nature of being a Bills fan of my age

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

the problem is you bought into Orton. for that alone you should be discouraged.

 

FWIW lose the Orton Avatar and move on.

 

A couple points of note:

 

1) Having an Orton avatar doesn't connote "buying in." If you'll note the note ABOVE my avatar, it's more of a pornstache thing.

 

2) No. I think I'll keep the avatar just for the fact it twists your frilly pink panties.

 

Good day, sir.

Edited December 22, 2014 by joesixpack

[The Frankish Reich]

Well, one thing it does prove is this: we certainly wouldn't have been worse off just sticking with Fitzy the last 2 years, using the draft pick on someone other than EJ, and saving the money we're still paying Fitzy and now paying to Orton as well ...

Yeah, and that's what's so frustrating here. Always a day late and a dollar short. They decide Fitz is a franchise QB and pay him big time, and as a consequence don't draft a QB until the weakest QB class in recent memory. Then they force the issue and take EJ. Then they can't treat EJ as the sunk cost he is and do the obvious thing and draft Bridgewater. I know, I know, everyone will defend the Sammy pick, and he's been as advertised. But Bills management and fans need to face facts. Ask this question: would the Bills be better off going into 2015 with Bridgewater at QB, a 1st round pick, and no Sammy? Or this: would Minnesota even dream of trading Bridgewater for Sammy straight up right now? We overthought things again, and whiffed again.

[Wagon Circler]

I am actually getting worse as i age(52)...just the opposite as you LOL.This Simmons column spelled it out perfectly. http://espn.go.com/e...=simmons/020204

 

The fear(irrational as it may be) that I will be in the ground before this team wins a Championship makes every stupid decision, screwed up play, bad call etc just send me through the roof. I dont want no stinking continuity ...i want freaking wins against 2-12 teams!

 

I am getting to be that guy I said i would never be...the one that is no fun to watch a game with. That sucks

There already. I think the design of the running plays stink.

[NickelCity]

I got frustrated when I looked at the Raiders game all week long after our big win and just knew we would blow it, but somehow managed to get emotionally invested, as per usual. I trick myself into believing I'm more detached with every year, until a "big game" rolls around and I get wrapped up in it.

Edited December 22, 2014 by NickelCity

[BillsFan-4-Ever]

A couple points of note:

 

1) Having an Orton avatar doesn't connote "buying in." If you'll note the note ABOVE my avatar, it's more of a pornstache thing.

 

2) No. I think I'll keep the avatar just for the fact it twists your frilly pink panties.

 

Good day, sir.

using Orton for a pornstache is even funnier

 

keep on plowing joe

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

keep on plowing joe

 

I have your permission?

 

OH HAPPY DAY!

[1B4IDie]

Encouraged: Meaningful Football in week 16.

Sammy Watkins looks for real (Eric Ebron looks like "just a guy")

Defense is Championship caliber.

 

Discouraged:

Every team in the AFC West dominated the Bills (Maybe not KC)

The team has a DIII offense.

There is no NFL caliber QB on the roster ensuring more years of coming up short.

The Defensive line is going to age out or Free Agent out before the team has a QB.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Why So Serious?

[Nanker]

You know, as i reflect on the topic i realize one thing about ME has changed. This team, this game, used to be my life. It just isn't any more. I can't possibly bring myself to be so emotionally invested in any one thing. I enjoy the wins, but I no longer truly grieve the losses. It's just not worth it. Maybe that's why I look at this season as a success. Because, in the end, for the first time in more than a decade this team was something resembling relevant in December.

 

Maybe next year is the year. Maybe it isn't. One thing I do know, however, is I'll be watching the games with the same level of interest as this year. That is to say, sort of interested.

 

I'm with you Joe. Moving to Princeton helped me to disengage from not only The Bills, but the NFL in general. I watch very few games any more. The only time The Bills are on TV here is when they play the JESTS or the Jints or the Iggles, or they're on a National game (excuse me for a minute while I finish my belly laugh... I just crack myself up sometimes).

 

The older I get, and I'm older than most that post here, the less emotionally invested I am in each year's squad. I'm always hopeful though, and still enjoy their wins whenever they happen. Someday, maybe. Some day...

 

Go Bills!

[Marv's Neighbor]

Been a fan since day 1 of the franchise. I've traded; reasoned, furious and frustrated for Resigned, a long time ago.

 

I can't change where I was born, and despite living in a bunch of NFL cities over the past 45 years, I could never support any other team...so I'm stuck with whatever comes our way. Not happy, but stuck none the less!

[26TrapDraw]

The first 24 hours after having our season slammed closed are always the toughest. But I cant agree that there is little to be optimistic about for next year.

 

We're 2-3 players (a couple of OL and a QB) away from being a very strong team. We've been on an upswing and have our best record in 10 years. We have a #1 defense that carried this team and can continue to do so as the FO fixes the couple of holes that remain.

 

Im not jumping with joy today by any means, but for the first time in more than a few years Im not ashamed of this team at the end of the year.

Ok Doc so aside from the very doable aquisition of good OL players this offseason where will we find the savior QB?

the answer is we won't and the running drought will goto 16. we deserve better than this **** every year

[BMWR100RT]

I enjoy this banter more than the game last Sunday. I have to say that I am only hopeful because we have new ownership that has been pretty quiet. If Mr Wilson was still aboard, I am not sure how I would feel. I wrote that it was justice that the end of the RCW era would end in a loss to the hapless spawn of Al Davis, but there it is. I am obviously at the amusement stage of it all, because investing emotionally in this mess is too much.

 

I used to go to games. This year I went to the Dolphins only because we finally have a new owner. They confiscated signs that said anything Pegula and I guess I get that. But that era couldn't end fast enough. I am too competitive myself to understand owning a team to make money but not win. To me he was a modern PT Barnum with the Owens signing as proof. I thank Ralph for keeping the team in WNY, but not for management of his "product", which by action the Bills were to him.

 

I feel like its a new day!

[transient]

The first 24 hours after having our season slammed closed are always the toughest. But I cant agree that there is little to be optimistic about for next year.

 

We're 2-3 players (a couple of OL and a QB) away from being a very strong team. We've been on an upswing and have our best record in 10 years. We have a #1 defense that carried this team and can continue to do so as the FO fixes the couple of holes that remain.

 

Im not jumping with joy today by any means, but for the first time in more than a few years Im not ashamed of this team at the end of the year.

 

DrD, this was the way I was expecting to feel after they lost to NE* to finish 9-7. After losing to a 2-12 team with playoffs on the line I'm of the mind that the whole "culture has been changed" announcement by Brandon was premature BS, and I do feel ashamed of this team, moreso than years when they were clearly a bad team. This, combined with the horrid performance of Orton down the stretch, makes this feel like a wasted season to me. In that Raiders game, they managed to undo all of the good that had been done over the course of the season with one loud proclamation of "Same Old Bills!!"

[Martifal]

I enjoy this banter more than the game last Sunday. I have to say that I am only hopeful because we have new ownership that has been pretty quiet. If Mr Wilson was still aboard, I am not sure how I would feel. I wrote that it was justice that the end of the RCW era would end in a loss to the hapless spawn of Al Davis, but there it is. I am obviously at the amusement stage of it all, because investing emotionally in this mess is too much.

 

I used to go to games. This year I went to the Dolphins only because we finally have a new owner. They confiscated signs that said anything Pegula and I guess I get that. But that era couldn't end fast enough. I am too competitive myself to understand owning a team to make money but not win. To me he was a modern PT Barnum with the Owens signing as proof. I thank Ralph for keeping the team in WNY, but not for management of his "product", which by action the Bills were to him.

 

I feel like its a new day!

I agree Ralph was the big reason behind the current 15 season absence from the playoffs, there seems to be a cyclical nature to the NFL where every team pretty much rebuilds for a playoff run every 7 or 8 years. In 2006 when we should have been shaping into some kind of a playoff contender Ralph hired Levy as GM, we had Steve Fairchild as our Offensive coordinator with Jauron as the coach. Other than Perry Fewell in retrospect looks like a staff designed to fail, in fact, I believe it was, in 2006 Ralph was in full blown small market teams can't be competitive in the NFL mode trying to get profit sharing from the large market teams. I don't believe Ralph had any interest in putting a winning team on the field as long as he was fighting for that money, which has now resulted into a league leading 15 year absence from the playoffs. 15 years is to long to go without putting something positive together and I believe it's why even the hardiest of long term Bills fans feel a sense of detachment that we would have never anticipated coming out of the early 90s Super Bowl era Bills organization. Edited December 28, 2014 by Martifal

[Fan in San Diego]

I've been following the Bills since 1963, and it hasn't gotten any better. For crying out loud, I snapped at my mother yesterday after Orton's second interception, and she's 90 years old. Does that make any sense?

 

When I was spending a mission year in Peru in 1991-92, a few months after Wide Right, the country was being terrorized by the Sendero Luminoso, a radical group trying to overthrow the government. They used kidnapping, assassination, shakedowns, etc. and would blow up the power lines to throw Lima into chaos. One night I was driving back from a dangerous shantytown, during a blackout, and got lost. Two men with ski masks, dressed in black, stepped in front of the car and motioned me to stop. I figured this was it, these were the terrorists, and they were going to kill me, or at least steal the car, in which case the pastor would kill me. Turns out they were special police forces, guarding police headquarters. Unbeknownst to me I was driving the wrong way down a one-way street right toward the police h.q., and they thought I was a terrorist! The last thing I thought after I'd stopped the car and they cautiously approached, guns drawn, motioning me to roll down my window, was "God, I only wanted to see Buffalo win one Super Bowl before I died."

 

I know, that's sick.

 

But if we could just win one Super Bowl...

 

cool story