Seachange attitude towards Bills fans

[snafu]

1 hour ago, Olliemets said:

I converted in 1984. Grew up on LI, rooted for Jets. Watched SB 3 as a 10year old and loved Joe Namath.

 

Went to school upstate late 70s and attended a bunch of games in Buffalo. I always loved the scene and the Bills became a team I followed. After Leon Hess and Jets screwed the fans and moved to New Jersey I was pissed and vowed never to support them again. LI Fans who couldn't get Giant Tickets built that franchise in the 60s and were abandoned for a 4 hour rt through NYC over 2 bridges to be a tenant in someone else's stadium, with nicer bathrooms.

 

I joined the Bills "Bandwagon" during a 2-14 season. Visited friends, went to the Dallas game in the rain and getting rewarded with a win and Grumpy Tom Landry running off the field. Knocking off the Cowboys was like winning the Super Bowl. From that day on I was all in. 

 

Live in Hudson Valley now and make at least 1 trip a year to WNY.  First game 9/26 vs Washington.

 

 

 

 

Living on LI and I've come to realize that Bills and Jets fans are Bizarro-World brothers.  We've had a lot of the same problems over the years.

The best thing was the color rush game when colorblind people couldn't tell the teams apart.

 

 

 

 

[gdabillsfan]

Interesting topic.My Nephew has lived in Ma. for the last 15 years or so, and he says the same thing about the Bills getting love from the folks up there now. It used to be (when we fielded poor teams) we were just looked at as 2 easy wins on the schedule.

Of course the relevance here is we are good again, and being hyped by the National media, so as that goes, we gain respect. I think as NE improves their roster, rivalries will heat up (as long as the Bills remain good), and maybe it will be like Miami/Buffalo rivalries from the past.

 

[Don Otreply]

We are cool now, who wouldn’t want to o be us??? 
 

Go Bills!!!

[Chandler#81]

2 hours ago, Rigotz said:

I think there are 3 reasons for the change you've seen:

 

1) Bills fans finally have a brand name. "Bills Mafia" sounds great and is easy to reference nationally.

2) The GM has a catchy name that has become synonymous with development of young talent, with the biggest proof being our franchise QB.

3) The team's prior struggles were well documented and everyone loves a zero to hero story.

 

That's a formula for a well liked and well respected team nationally.

We're also in the bubble right now where people don't feel threatened enough by the Bills to hate them. 

If the Bills win 2 or more Super Bowls, people will begin to turn on them. That's how it works.

This.

3 hours ago, foreboding said:

I tell all my Phins buddies down here that I am accepting Bandwagon fan applications.

You’re charging a fee, right?

[Ray Stonada]

Great post, OP. It's nuts to think of the Bills with bandwagon fans, especially in New England! One of my favorite uncles moved from Buffalo to Albany and then to Boston. He's the nicest guy ever, but at some point in the late 90s he became a Patriots fan. It hurts me to this day. 

 

I also think the whole country has done a 180 on Buffalo. When I was growing up, seemed like everyone thought of us as provincial rubes from a snowbound cave.

 

Nowadays, when Buffalo comes up, seems it's all about how authentically awesome and real it is, a place that never lost its identity and sold out.

 

Both are kinda true! 😂 

[SNICE]

“So now I live in Massachusetts and I wear a Bills hat everywhere.  Almost every time I go out I hear "Lets Go Buffalo!"  Even New England fans are telling me how much they always respected Buffalo....how good the Bills are, etc.  What is going on lol?  It's like bizzaro world”

 

I got a friend from Mass and he says the same thing.  Easy to do when your team as dominated the division for 2 decades with 6 rings.  Big change with that attitude after the Bills dominate them for the next 20yrs.

 

 

[Olliemets]

3 hours ago, snafu said:

 

 

Living on LI and I've come to realize that Bills and Jets fans are Bizarro-World brothers.  We've had a lot of the same problems over the years.

The best thing was the color rush game when colorblind people couldn't tell the teams apart.

 

 

 

 

Absolutely.  Both Franchises in the Land of Misfit Toys for decades. I traded one set of problems for another, although the early 90s were great despite the Super Bowls.  At least as a Bills Fan I could root for Giants when they played NE in the 2 Super Bowls. Jet fans live in the Giants shadow here, even when Giants are struggling.

[Don Otreply]

Band wagon fans for all sports have existed nearly as long as the sports themselves, so being upset about “bandwagon fans” is just plain silly,

 

I used “silly” so I wouldn’t get even more demerits on my account…, you’re welcome Mods…, 😁👍

 

Go Bills!!!

[BADOLBILZ]

6 hours ago, eball said:

 

LOL -- as if that actually happened.  In reality, most diehard fans realize this is entertainment and a product over which they have no control so they make a decision to root for the team and hope the decisions are correct, rather than continuously bash the decision-makers and say "I told you so" when those decisions don't work out.

 

Let's see -- do I gripe and complain about what my team is doing even though nothing I do or say changes anything, or do I acknowledge the flaws but still maintain a sense of hopeful optimism?

 

I love the discussions over football decisions, strategy, and coaching.  I've never wanted a board of shameless homers with blinders on.  I just don't like all of the negativity about things over which a person has no control.  "Blaming" fans for the on-field product?  That's a silly statement.  I blame certain fans for embarking on crusades or belittling others who may not follow the game as closely as they do.

 

In my personal situation I was a ST holder for 27 seasons -- living out of state (GA, then NC) for the last 24 of them -- and it was getting harder and harder to unload tickets to the games I couldn't attend (5-6 per year).  In December of 2016 -- after more than a year and a half of the Rex Ryan fiasco -- I finally said "enough."  I wrote a letter to the Pegulas expressing my displeasure and decided from now on I'll buy tickets to the games I want to attend and save myself the hassle and frustration of out of state season tickets for a floundering franchise.  It didn't make me less of a fan, it was a simple business decision.  If I lived in Buffalo I'd have kept my tickets -- period -- and I'd have been at every game.  My good friends -- both here in NC, and those in Buffalo -- are still astounded I held on to tickets while living down as here as long as I did.  It's true, I didn't renew after the McDermott and Beane hirings were announced, but my mind had been made up and that money was going to be spent elsewhere.  Those weren't proven guys and for all I knew the same crap was going to continue, but that never changed the reality I'll be a passionate Bills fan for as long as I'm breathing and the team stays in WNY.

 

Getting back to the point of the OP's comments, I too have noticed and am enjoying a newfound acknowledgment from others of the Bills' success.  My "1BFLO" vanity license plate gets far fewer snickers than it used to.

 

Go Bills.

 

 

 

 

What's with you and trying to jump into threads to pretend "nobody said that" or "that never happened"............you weren't even part of any of these conversations.😂

 

@PromoTheRobot spent years shaming quitters like you(he drives just as far and has extra tickets, not just his own).   And of course, would really lay into local fans who weren't buying BS like "cash to the cap".   Point out a type of Bills organizational ineptitude and he'd be the first to point out that "Detroit is worse" and what a bunch of ingrates Bills fans were.    It was entertaining. 

 

As for your reasoning for quitting.........you posted on TSW that you quit because you were fed up........the part about the "business decision" was a later add on after I started busting your balls about it.    Shoulda' lead with that........quitters never win. 😉

[BigAl2526]

I guess you could say I'm a bandwagon Sabres fan.  I'm currently on the curb telling the driver he needs to give me some tangible reason to pay attention to the Sabres before I hop on the wagon again.  That might take a couple years at least.  I've been Steady Eddie as a Bills fan for 52 years though.  I held out hope through some very dark times.

[eball]

10 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

you posted on TSW that you quit because you were fed up

 

Yes, and I reiterated that here; it was combination of factors that any sane person can understand.  If you want to call that “quitting” as a fan be my guest, but it’s ridiculous.  Name me the season ticket holders who live more than 500 miles away and kept their tickets for as long as I did.  Name the fans who spend the $$ to travel to the games I do.  You keep throwing my @ in your posts because you’re a dick, but your assertions are a joke.

 

[machine gun kelly]

Allen makes this team fun.  Bandwagon fans come usually to dynamic, exciting offenses and they make the ESPN highlights each week.  I moved down here to Tampa 6 days before the Giants SB, and it was fun, and a ton of Tampans became Bills fans for the next several years.  The Bucs sucked back in the early 90’s until Dungy’s team took off towards the end of the decade.  They faded like most bandwagon fans do when we regress.

 

I honestly don’t care as I know me, and I’ll never change.  It took me a decade to be a Bucs fan as my second team, and that’s only because I had kids, they are Bucs fans, and they are in the NFC. 

[Greg S]

14 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Band wagon fans for all sports have existed nearly as long as the sports themselves, so being upset about “bandwagon fans” is just plain silly,

 

I used “silly” so I wouldn’t get even more demerits on my account…, you’re welcome Mods…, 😁👍

 

Go Bills!!!

 

I could never understand being a bandwagon fan. What's the point. When you are a die hard fan who sticks with his team thru the good and bad it will make winning a championship that much sweeter. A bandwagon fan can't appreciate it the way a die hard does. For me its Bills, Yanks, Isles.

[RunTheBall]

New England fans are the biggest bandwagon fans in the nation. I’ve also been in NE for 19 years now. The one thing I’ve noticed the last couple years - SILENCE.

 

No one is talking Pats. It’s like they barely exist. The only talk I hear is from a few true die hard NE fans who understand the ups and downs of a franchise and were there before Brady.  If they have a few bad years they will be talking Hartford Patriots again and that stadium will be empty. Those are NE fans. 

 

Bandwagon Bills fans are annoying but that comes with success. They tend to go all in on the Bills Mafia shtick but whatever. Those of us who have been through the ups and mostly downs (including my 2 kids who have never known a good Bills team until recently) get to enjoy the sweet taste of success that a bandwagoner can never experience. Only when you’ve been through the dark days can you truly appreciate what we have now.

[Beach]

im in Virginia Beach, anytime i see Bills gear i say "Go Bills!' and have always gotten a "Go Bills" right back.  Something has changed, these new fans dont know what to do.  Just last night i said it to a guy and his reply was "Hi!".

[Don Otreply]

29 minutes ago, Greg S said:

 

I could never understand being a bandwagon fan. What's the point. When you are a die hard fan who sticks with his team thru the good and bad it will make winning a championship that much sweeter. A bandwagon fan can't appreciate it the way a die hard does. For me its Bills, Yanks, Isles.

Teams / sports are followed to differing degrees by fans, what one calls a bandwagon fan another may consider them as somewhat avid, not everyone lives and dies by what the team they follow accomplished each season. It’s s to each his own deal in my eyes. 
 

Now some wagon jumpers, “PFF” are never welcome. 
 

Go Bills!!!

[Buffalo ill]

19 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Band wagon fans for all sports have existed nearly as long as the sports themselves, so being upset about “bandwagon fans” is just plain silly,

 

I used “silly” so I wouldn’t get even more demerits on my account…, you’re welcome Mods…, 😁👍

 

Go Bills!!!

There are bandwagon fans, and there are way over the top obnoxious bandwagon fans. 

 

The former are easy enough to tolerate.  The latter make my skin crawl.

 

I live in the outer rim of Seahawks country, and the latter were some of the worst smack talking, annoying, couldn't name  more than 4 players on the team much less a player from an earlier era, ""we" invented the 12th man", #12 flags on their car window, arrogant humans I've ever had to interact and work with.

 

I haven't seen a #12 Seahawks flag on a car around here in at least 5 years, lol.

 

Meanwhile I "bandwagoned" to the Bills as the first and only team I had any emotional connection to at age 10 or 11.  I truly had no idea they were on the rise, as my decision was purely based on the charging Buffalo logo. 

 

The first Bills game I remember on TV was the Bickering Bills playoff loss to Cleveland.  I stuck with them having no idea how good they would become.

 

I was the only Bills fan at my school (most were Seahawks die hards due to their parents) or 49ers bandwagoners (soon to convert to Dallas), and I never talked trash.  However, after any televised Bills loss I would be the target of mob torment.  Mondays after Superbowls were the worst.  It really felt like it was me vs the school.

 

I was the only guy in town wearing a Bills hat in public during the epic playoff drought.  It actually started to earn sympathy and respect from coworkers, lol.  Now that the Bills are a contender, I don't act like an obnoxious jerk.  It was never my style.