Best Bills' Memory?

[The Red King]

Well, the free agency whirlwind is dying down, and a lot of people are getting antsy about the draft, so I figure why not start a positive thread that has nothing to do with the offseason to help distract us all?  The idea is simple, post your favorite Bills' memory here.

 

Mine is the Greatest Comeback in NFL History, though not necessarily for obvious reasons. 

 

I was born here in Buffalo, but when I was 2 1/2 years old, the plant my dad worked at closed.  He was offered a chance to transfer to one of two cities and took it, so we moved to Omaha, NE.  My dad raised me a Bills fan, which was tough.  Buffalo was not a good team (this was the late '70s, early '80s) and Omaha really wasn't close enough to an NFL city to be a devoted fanbase, so all of my friends and classmates all jumped on a different trendy, bandwagon team each year, then promptly gave me grief for sticking with Buffalo.  My dad taught me loyalty, how being a fan meant sticking by your team, good or bad.  When the '90s hit my dad and his fellow transfers even went half-in on a satellite dish for a local bar so we could all watch Bills games.  The kicker was watching them lose Super Bowls XXV and XXVI.

 

But then things aligned.  I was set to graduate high school in '92.  That same year, the company offered my dad a buyout.  He was close to retirement anyway, and the timing meant a move would not disrupt me academically.  So he took it, and we moved back to Buffalo.  First thing dad did was buy us season tickets for the Bills, in a group with a number of his other retired co-workers.  It was wonderful, we'd all meet at one co-worker's house, pile into his urban assault vehicle, swing by to pickup pizza and wings at Blasdell's, then get to the stadium good and early so we'd have time to tailgate before the game.  Sure enough, the Bills made the playoffs, looking for a third straight Super Bowl appearance.  It would be my first live playoff game.  Little did I know what I was going to experience.  Of course, this wasn't any ordinary playoff game.  This was The Comeback, Oilers at Bills, one week after Houston wrecked the Bills in the regular season finale, costing them the AFC East title and forcing them into a Wild Card spot.

 

The first half went much the same, the Bills got stomped, and after the second half opened with a pick-6 my dad was convinced it was over.  I remained the eternal optimist though, and when Beebe tore down the sideline I excitedly nudged my dad and told him "Look!  They're going to come back.", he gave me a tired smile and a "Yeah, right."  Then the impossible happened and Buffalo clawed their way back in, yard by yard, point by point.  Now you have to understand my dad was a quiet, reserved man.  The only time I really saw him emote was when watching football or hockey, and that was normally just in small bursts when he got overexcited and shouted something out.  This game was different.  It wasn't a small burst.  As the game went on, as the comeback mounted and the crowd somehow got louder, my dad let his guard down.  He started to grin, get more excited, go wide-eyed like a kid.  He would cheer and high-five people around him, talk to his former co-workers.  But...what sticks with me to this day...is all the excitement, the nudging and such...it was mostly with me.  Like all of us, he was sharing this experience with everyone around us, but...primarily with me.  I knew my father loved me, I had lived my life with him.  I knew how he said it, showed it.  But this, it's hard to put into words.  He was happy about the comeback, yes, but I could tell he was happiest because he was sharing it with me.  Football was always a bonding experience for us, but in that moment, at that game it became so much more.  I got to see him with his guard completely down, something that had not happened before, and would not happen after.  And in that time, I got to see how much having me with him at the game meant to him.  When the winning kick went through, the raw emotion was overwhelming.  Of course we tailgated after the game.  Hell, we didn't leave the parking lot until around 9 PM.

 

That's my best Bills' memory.  And now I get to carry on in his place.  Thought I was out of luck when my son showed no interest in sports, but then my daughter surprised me.  She's been watching the Bills' faithfully the last couple years.  Celebrated her 10th Birthday last year and she asked to go to her first live Bills game.  Her birthday fell on a Sunday, discovered they were actually playing a home game that day, so I ended up taking her.  She loved it, even though the Bills got crushed.  Brought back memories of my dad getting me into football, and the game above.

 

So, to all of you, if you had to pick one, what are your favorite Bills' memories?

[nickrage]

51-3

[KGun12TD]

Nov. 20th, 1994 - My first Bills game at the Ralph. It was also Andre Reed's career day as a Bill - 15/191 and 2 TDs. It was amazing to be a Bills fan that day. WOW! The Bills won 29-20 vs. Green Bay!

Edited April 11, 2018 by KGun12TD

[BuffaloBillyG]

Best memory: My first game live and in person. It was against the Jets and Joe Cribbs ran all over the place.

 

Worst memory: Taking the obvious 2 off the table, Ronnie Harmon drops the ball in Cleveland.

[K-9]

2 minutes ago, nickrage said:

51-3

I always wondered what happened to that guy in the Raiders jersey waving the Iraqi flag. 

[BuffaloBillyG]

1 minute ago, K-9 said:

I always wondered what happened to that guy in the Raiders jersey waving the Iraqi flag. 

He became Benjamin Allbright.

[section122]

6 minutes ago, No Place To Hyde said:

Ronnie Harmon drops the ball in Cleveland.

 

First year as a Bills fan!  This play should have been my warning to get out lol

 

Best memory for me:

 

really hard to narrow but I might just put this New Year's Eve in that position.  The Bills did what they needed to and then the Bengals miracle.  17 years of suck gone out the window.  I talked trash all week to my Giants, Niners, and Cowboys fan friends.  Regular text messages of "who do you guys have this week?."  The locker room videos all week, Kyle's pure joy, all of it.  It was one of the best weeks of being a Bills fan for me.  

 

 

[Royale with Cheese]

When I was 12, I attended my first Bills home game.  It was 1995. 

The Bills beat the Chiefs 44-10 I think.

 

My dad and I were waiting on the players to walk out to get autographs.  Jim Kelly walks out and the a crowd just consumes him.  I wiggle my way through and give him my card.

As he's walking and signing the cards...I end up behind him.  He signs mine and being that he's 6''3...I couldn't reach up to his hand because I'm getting swallowed by the mob of other fans.  Someone else takes the card.  I'm heartbroken.

 

I follow Jim all the way to his RV's.  Once Jim walks in, everyone left except me.  I had teary eyes and a guy walks up to me and asked what happened.  I told him and he said "well I'm Jim's brother....let's take care of this".  He puts his hand on my back and walks me into Jim's RV.  When I walk in, the first two people I see are Jim's parents.  I was frozen and they just smiled at me.

 

Jim's brother walks to the back of the RV where Jim is sitting.  Jim's brother then walks up to me and grabs my hat off my head, gives it to Jim and he signs it.  I didn't see Jim in the RV but could hear his voice.  His brother walks back to me, puts the hat on my head and said "hope this makes your day" and then walks me out.  I was the happiest 12 year old in the entire world at that time.

[DCOrange]

My two favorite memories:

 

1. This past season's playoff game in Jacksonville. My mom is the biggest Bills fan in the family. One of her biggest dreams was to take her boys to a playoff game before we all moved away. I moved to DC almost 2 years ago. The Jaguars game was literally on her birthday, so we all surprised her and got tickets to fly down and go to the game and I met them all down in Jacksonville. Obviously it sucked that they lost, but it was such a great experience and I know it meant the world to her to be there.

 

2. I don't even really remember the game, but one year for my birthday, we had a group of like 15 friends get tickets to drive from Rochester and there happened to be a blizzard that day. The drive probably took about 5 hours due to the weather and you could barely see anything on the field but just getting there was one of those things I'll never forget.

[rodneykm]

The Oilers comeback. My step dad is a huge, huge Cowboy fan and loved giving me grief when Buffalo got beat. When we were down at half time boy did I hear it.

 

 

When we won....all I did was smile.

[Marv's Neighbor]

AFL Championship game.  12/26/64.  BILLS 20 Chargers 7.

 

Color TV was still relatively new.  We got a room at some Holiday Inn, w/color TV, off the Thruway in Rochester, because the game was blacked out in BUF.  .  When the game ended, the hotel went wild!  Don't know how many BILLS fans were there, but there were a lot.

[Wsam4031]

1989 Jets game when we tore down the goalpost! Was sitting in the upper deck and somehow the one side of the goal post made it right up over our head as we passed it around. I was 9 years old but was such a cool memory and made me a lifelong bills fan from that day. That was my first game

[cd1]

 

This is mine as well.

Edited April 11, 2018 by cd1

[BigdaddyinOrlando]

51-3 was incredible. Remember it like it was ystdy still!

[xRUSHx]

15 minutes ago, cd1 said:

 

This is mine as well.

By far one of the best memories ever with a close second the greatest comeback ever. 3 more to go, 2 more to go. Man I miss those years, funny looking back remembering all the fans that wanted to get back in after they left at halftime. 

Edited April 11, 2018 by xRUSHx

[Canadian Bills Fan]

Every single time I open my car door in the parking lots and smell the BBQ and the laughter and chatter of fans and seeing families and friends throwing the football around

[ddaryl]

1 hour ago, nickrage said:

51-3

 

I was at that game.... The memory of Kelly throwing a pass to Andre where the ball went as high in the air as it did far down the field. Jim just tossed that ball way up and to a spot on the field that Andre eventually arrived at.. It was at that point I knew we were going to the bowl

[Stank_Nasty]

I was only in elementary school back in the glory days of the early 90's and not nearly as emotionally invested.

 

I would have to say my favorite live game memories were EJ manuel to stevie as time wound down against the panthers. at that point I thought we were really on to something with him and the ralph went nuts.... and then even though it was a loss, I made myself really soak the feeling and atmosphere down in Jacksonville this year as we got the ball with a couple minutes left and about 70 yds to go. really made sure I appreciated that scenario and the magnitude.

 

and then obviously I will always remember where I was when boyd broke loose for the td that ultimately helped us into the playoffs, the reactions and the week that followed. so far for me that's an all timer.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Stank_Nasty

[Golden*Wheels]

Honestly, lame as this may be, right now it's Andy Dalton getting us into the playoffs.

 

My sons are 10 and 6. I have been married to my wife for 12 years. They are all good Bills fans who had NEVER seen ANY real success, ANYTHING that meant a damn thing at the end of the day. But they keep the faith. Well, I got a ton of joy from my family losing our collective minds (including my mother in law, who decided just this year to start watching games with us) when Andy Dalton hit that TD pass.

 

(My ten year old isn't really a sports guy though, and when we lost to the Jags, he cried. I was really surprised because he's never cared THAT much. I said to my wife, man this really upset him, I didn't think he cared this much. She said, he's upset because he wanted you to be as happy as you were last week when we won. Damn son. Damn. )

[Stank_Nasty]

1 hour ago, Royale with Cheese said:

When I was 12, I attended my first Bills home game.  It was 1995. 

The Bills beat the Chiefs 44-10 I think.

 

My dad and I were waiting on the players to walk out to get autographs.  Jim Kelly walks out and the a crowd just consumes him.  I wiggle my way through and give him my card.

As he's walking and signing the cards...I end up behind him.  He signs mine and being that he's 6''3...I couldn't reach up to his hand because I'm getting swallowed by the mob of other fans.  Someone else takes the card.  I'm heartbroken.

 

I follow Jim all the way to his RV's.  Once Jim walks in, everyone left except me.  I had teary eyes and a guy walks up to me and asked what happened.  I told him and he said "well I'm Jim's brother....let's take care of this".  He puts his hand on my back and walks me into Jim's RV.  When I walk in, the first two people I see are Jim's parents.  I was frozen and they just smiled at me.

 

Jim's brother walks to the back of the RV where Jim is sitting.  Jim's brother then walks up to me and grabs my hat off my head, gives it to Jim and he signs it.  I didn't see Jim in the RV but could hear his voice.  His brother walks back to me, puts the hat on my head and said "hope this makes your day" and then walks me out.  I was the happiest 12 year old in the entire world at that time.

cool story. thanks for sharing. 

1 minute ago, Golden*Wheels said:

Honestly, lame as this may be, right now it's Andy Dalton getting us into the playoffs.

 

My sons are 10 and 6. I have been married to my wife for 12 years. They are all good Bills fans who had NEVER seen ANY real success, ANYTHING that meant a damn thing at the end of the day. But they keep the faith. Well, I got a ton of joy from my family losing our collective minds (including my mother in law, who decided just this year to start watching games with us) when Andy Dalton hit that TD pass.

 

(My ten year old isn't really a sports guy though, and when we lost to the Jags, he cried. I was really surprised because he's never cared THAT much. I said to my wife, man this really upset him, I didn't think he cared this much. She said, he's upset because he wanted you to be as happy as you were last week when we won. Damn son. Damn. )

my wife and I got a hotel room at a new years party that night up in erie pa. I packed my bills tie just in case they pulled it off. after we had got checked we went to a local bar to watch the game.... came back and got dressed up to party all night(with the bills tie that didn't match my suit in the least) at the banquet in the hotel and I seriously had people coming up all night and sincerely congratulating me for the duration. haha. what a night, man..... I'll remember that random bar and that new years party for the rest of my life no matter what other memories the bills make me going forward.