Gugny Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Bills/Giants Super Bowl. Flipped a quarter. Said if it landed on heads, I'd root for BUF. Tail - NYG. Also said that I'd stick with the team, from that day forward, for the rest of my life. ***** quarter. 1
blacklabel Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Born and raised in WNY, whole family was into the Bills. As a kid, I picked teams with fun colors (at least to me) so I liked the Bengals for a minute and was really bummed when they lost in SB XXIV, and then some kids in school started liking the Raiders so I went that route until 51-3 and after that it was Bills all the way. 1
BringBackFlutie Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 1 hour ago, BritBill said: First started watching the game when I was 10/11 which coincided with the Super Bowl teams of the early 90's . I was hooked by the childish thought the Bills would be playing in the big game very year and it'd be just a matter of short time they'd be champions. Wrong. Despite what happened I never once thought about jumping ship. I decided I wouldn't go to any of the London games until the Bills first played in one. I had to wait a few years for that. Good things come to those who wait. We'll be alright soon. I actually grew up thinking that the Super Bowl was the only game the Bills played, and that they just did it every year. 2 minutes ago, blacklabel said: Born and raised in WNY, whole family was into the Bills. As a kid, I picked teams with fun colors (at least to me) so I liked the Bengals for a minute and was really bummed when they lost in SB XXIV, and then some kids in school started liking the Raiders so I went that route until 51-3 and after that it was Bills all the way. I feel like this was just a case of you having a good enough confirmation to follow the team you should have all along. I transplanted to VA (from Rochester), long ago, and I met a girl from Binghamton, who was a Bengals fan. She just liked their colors and Carson Palmer. She eventually learned to love and watch Bills games with me. About a year into the relationship, she had all Bills gear, and just sort of switched over, since it never made sense for a WNYer to like the Bengals anyway. 1
SinceThe70s Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Dad from Chicago, Mom from Boston, I'm a life-long Long Islander. When I first got interested in football the Jets and Giants had no star power (Namath was on his last legs) but the Bills had OJ and played in my home state. A choice was made that I don't regret. My kids are Bills fans too. I nudged them towards it, but if they had gravitated to another team I would have been fine with it....except for Jets or Pats, either of those would have required an intervention. 1
HuSeYiN_NYC Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Born and raised in Queens, N.Y. so I should have been a Jets or Giants fan but I remember the Bills having the strongest team in video games so I would always pick them and when I found out my godbrother was a Bills fan, I officially chose them as the team to root for cuz I used to look up to him as a youngster. Games used to affect my life in my 20s and early 30s like if we lost on Sunday, I didn't really feel good til about Wednesday but I'm 40 now... Now if we lose it's whatever. I'm excited for this upcoming season nonetheless. 2
blacklabel Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 7 minutes ago, BringBackFlutie said: I actually grew up thinking that the Super Bowl was the only game the Bills played, and that they just did it every year. I feel like this was just a case of you having a good enough confirmation to follow the team you should have all along. I transplanted to VA (from Rochester), long ago, and I met a girl from Binghamton, who was a Bengals fan. She just liked their colors and Carson Palmer. She eventually learned to love and watch Bills games with me. About a year into the relationship, she had all Bills gear, and just sort of switched over, since it never made sense for a WNYer to like the Bengals anyway. Haha, yeah I was 7 or 8 years old when I was on the Bengals (and then Raiders) bandwagon. Once 51-3 happened my family wouldn't let me live it down and at that point the Bills were simply the most entertaining team in the league so it was a lot of fun to switch over. 2
Jay_Fixit Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Liked their uniforms while watching on TV as a 9 year old in 1989 from over here on the west coast. 2
Christie's Kickers Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) My dad always had the Bills on TV every Sunday for away games and a life-long season ticket holder (until 2017--he'd had enough), and my family got caught up in the "Talkin' Proud" mania in the early '80s. But I was completely hooked when he took me to my first game in 1981--the Hail Mary TD that beat the Patriots in the last seconds. We had seats at that end! www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJNNLuwNMw Edited March 20, 2019 by Christie's Kickers 1
Cripple Creek Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 My great, great uncle @Chandler#81 introduced me to the team shortly after my birth. 1 1 2
technobot Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Late-comer to NFL fanaticism over here. I will blame my father, who is an immigrant. We would watch hockey together, and in late public school I started watching some football with him. When asked who his favourite player was, he answered "Jim Kelly". I would ask a ton of questions because the game was totally confusing to me. He would get annoyed, and it turned out it was because he didn't understand the game either! My best friend in high school broke the game and rules down for me. I've always supported the local heroes, and although Canadian, Buffalo was as close as Toronto and thus became "my team". I will say this... getting to the Bills "late" (i.e. mid 80's) I watched them become good, then dominant. As a neophyte sports fan, I thought they would be good forever, and they would obviously end the Super Bowl curse sooner rather than later. Nothing prepared me for the drought... 1
whatdrought Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Grew up in WNY... It just happened. I love football and the Bills were the local team. My dad was a Steelers fan (raised in Pittsburgh) but tolerated the Bills. We moved when I was 14 but by then it was too late. I tried to explain to my wife the other day how it surpasses fandom and becomes almost a part of identity, or a part of who I am. I've never been an adult living in WNY but my connection via the Bills (and in a lot of ways, via other fans like you) makes that area feel like home. I get irrationally angry when I see idiots flaming the Buffalo area while I have almost no memories of it (at least memories that understand the social importance of location). I'd move back in a heartbeat if NY wasn't such a messed up state in general. I have flirted with the idea of changing allegiances, I feel like I have a good excuse between not living there and never seeing them be anything but terrible (became a fan in 2003) but I can't stop but return to the Bills. Even during the Rex era, which was probably as "done" as I've ever been with the Bills, my lack of interest led to me just not watching a lot of football and when I did watch, I still watched Bills games. All that to say, there's something in the blood... 2
RichVP Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Growing up I watched a few games but never followed a team. Liked the 49ers and Bucs but mainly because I liked the color red and I was a kid. After 9th grade or so I never watched or followed football until I started college at RIT. I was placed into a room with two hard core Bills fans. I watched a game with them. I remember Losman connecting with Evans blowing the top off a defense a few times in the game and the Bills won after they were not winning recently that season. I think it was the 2007 season. After that my roommates forced me to watch every game with them in hopes they'd keep winning. Since then I have been a Bills fan. Because I was forced to be. -Rich 1
HomeTeam Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 For me, I only had the TV with the bunny ear antenna, so we would only get 3 channels. One of them being channel 9 CTV (from ON, Canada) and they would always show the Bills every Sunday. I began watching sometime during the JP Losman era. Sort of been a comfort thing to do on a Sunday ever since. Making the playoffs, and the way we made it a few years ago, was fairly special. I'm hoping we get some more great moments to cheer for in the near future. Go Bills! 2
707BillsFan Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 I want to say born and bred, but there was some free will too. When my parents moved from Buffalo, they settled in the Bay Area. The Raiders were in their hay-day, winning a Super Bowl in '77 and again in '81. They also had their summer camp in our hometown, Santa Rosa. It was fun, riding our bikes down to the hotel where they trained...watching them and getting autographs. I even won a Oakland Raiderette trash can at their end of camp fan-fest one year...that was a beautiful trash can. In the end, the Bills blood in my veins was too much. I could never really get behind the local teams. I had to support my WNY roots here in CA.
KD in CA Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 The Juice ? I bet I wore my #32 mesh jersey every day the summer I turned 7. 1
BillsBlue Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 2 hours ago, JPL7 said: I am sure many of you were born and bred into Bills fandom, but there is always more to the story than that. I would be interested in hearing how we all became Bills fanatics. I was born and raised in Ohio. The Bills were on local TV quite a bit in the late 80's in Columbus, so I became a Bills fan when I was about 5 just by seeing them all the time and loving Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas. 30 years later, I am still a diehard. I have been to Buffalo numerous times over the years for games and travel to many Bills road games in the region. I love the city of Buffalo! Anyway, what is your story? My mother was a scotia ny native who attended buff state and met my dad(hometown boy in buffalo) who also attended buff state and i was the product of late nights at the pink flamingo lmfaocopter, so i was born into it as my dads side of the family live in buffalo/ the burbs of buffalo, i was 6 for the first of the 4 falls i grew up watching us go to bowls from 6 to 10 and then became a rabid fan for life haha 1
aristocrat Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 My Grandma and my Dad. Had seasons during the big years and went to all the big games. Just have those snapshots of memories with my Dad you know? Those little 5 second memory windows. Now Dad is gone and I've got my son and daughter to raise up the right way. They've been to Sabres games but not Bills yet. That's what it's all about man. Thank God their mother loves football as I have some friends who's spouses hate football and don't understand spending watching it. Despite her Patriot fandom we have some great Sundays and I just want everyone to know that she is one Patriots fan that will not be breeding more Patriots fans so I bit the bullet there. 2
WyoRN Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) Was probably predestined as I was born in Cody WY, the town that Buffalo Bill built. Watched the Bills off and on since OJ, but never truly became a fan of any NFL team until the Bills drafted JA. Edited March 20, 2019 by WyoRN 2
Captain Hindsight Posted March 20, 2019 Posted March 20, 2019 Dad's company had season tickets and nobody would take the december games so my dad took my siblings and I. Sat 5-10 rows behind the dolphins bench during a playoff game chanting "Dannnny Dannny" is what got me hooked Another time I was sitting with my dad outside in what is now the Jim Kelly club. Freezing cold day and my dads boss saw him outside and came to bring us into one of the suites. The glass was tinted and I was afraid I wouldnt be able to see the game. So my dads boss offered to buy me anything I wanted inside if I would go sit with him. I walked around the whole place, look at all the jerseys, foam fingers, hats ect. and finally settled for an order of French Fries I think my dad was convinced I was either too polite or an idiot in that moment. I was probably 6 or 7 years old 1
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