Is watching this amazing team a little bittersweet for you due to the loss of someone?

[SoMAn]

Yes.

Last year both my dad and my best friend lost to cancer. 

 

My mom and dad took us to several games in late 60's at the Rockpile, going directly to the games from church, still wearing our white button-down shirts and polished Buster Browns.  Our seats were 4 rows from the field.  Those experiences were field-of-dream memories passed from father to son in which the love of Bills football was manifested and still lives on.

 

The friend is someone I knew vaguely through other friends, but we got to talking at a parents-out-of-town house party about 40 years ago, and bonded over our affinity for the Bills. We became best of friends. I was his best man when he got married.  He was the reason I ended up in Atlanta in the mid-80's.

 

In 1986. we drove from Atlanta to Buffalo for the season opener against the Jets - Kelly's first game.  Stayed all week and left the following Sunday morning to catch the game that was halfway home in Cincinnati, Kelly's second ever game. 

 

He was back in NY for last several years where his wife had gotten a job.  I spoke to him hours before he passed last Christmas.  He was weak and could hardly speak, but we always ended with an 'I love you' and the last words he struggled to say to me before hanging up were 'go Bills'. 

 

Good original topic. Thanks for letting me share.

[Juice_32]

I’ve lost Bills fan brothers and sisters, but I believe they are still watching. It’s definitely surreal for the Bills to be this good after such a long stretch of suffering.

[Big Turk]

Yes, my Mom...used to watch games with her every Sunday since I was a kid, save about a 12 year period where I was out of the area, but then used to call after the game to talk with her about it.  She passed away a little over 4 years ago and never got to see the Bills become the powerhouse they have, but she would be thrilled to see it.

[Gunner]

12 hours ago, Arkady Renko said:

Just wondering if the joy of last night had a tinge of sadness and regret for anyone else who has lost a close Bills fan recently.  I was overjoyed last night but all of a sudden this sharp pain hit me after the initial excitement wore off.  

 

One of my great joys growing up was watching the Bills with my father during the Super Bowl years.  He wasn't a Bills fan originally (was actually a Colts fan until they moved) but I converted him to the closest team that I selected as a kid.  He eventually cared almost as much as me.  He died this spring after a horrendous ordeal with cancer in the midst of all the COVID terribleness.  He lasted less than a year after his diagnosis.  

 

We watched the MNF game against the Patriots last year in the emergency room.  We never got to watch another Bills game together.  He was in the hospital for the next month or so and we weren't allowed to visit him or enjoy the playoff run with him.  He could hardly communicate during this time.  He rallied in February but then crashed suddenly a couple months later.   I obviously want the Bills to win it all, but it just sucks that this might be the year for the Bills and I won't be able to share it with him.  

 

Sorry if this is too real or brings people down but if someone else is dealing with this know that you are not alone.  

I know the feeling. My 24 year old son died while in the Army last year. Biggest Bills fan you could imagine. Not being able to talk Bills football (after all the crap years he lived through) does takes away from it. Bills AFC East champs 1995. He was born in 1996. He died in June 2020. Bills AFC East champs 2020. Crazy.

[2003Contenders]

Yes, OP, I am sorry for the loss of your father. And as others have also posted similar losses, know that I grieve with you as well.

 

I lost my beloved wife earlier this year, back in March. They say that time is the magical healer -- and that is true. It still hurts everyday, but my son and I are in a much better place than we were 7 months ago.

 

When we married almost 20 years ago, she was a Washington fan. She converted to becoming a Bills fan for me -- and mostly had to endure all those hard times during the 17-year drought. She actually grew to love the Bills -- and was especially fond of Josh Allen.

 

Her birthday is coming up this week, and I would like to think that the big game on Sunday night against KC was in honor of her. 🙂

[foreboding]

My Dad would have loved this Bills team...

[Returntoglory]

Great post. 

 

My Mom passed away this past March from Covid at the age of 86 3/4 ( as she loved to say to people when asked her age ).

 

Mom was a huge Bills fan. She was also a crafter and made many amazing Bills themed crafts, including Macramé chairs. 

 

I miss our calls before, during and after each Bills game but I know she's looking down and rooting as hard as ever for " Her team".

[Do The Reich Thing]

Yup... My Dad was as diehard a Bills fan as they come. He's the reason I'm a diehard today. Had season tickets and came to every game from Atlanta, worked his ass off 40+ years, and passed 1.5 months after he retired a little over two years back. I always think about how much he would be loving this. Especially after we were so terrible for two straight decades. He knew Josh Allen was the guy, just wish he was here longer to experience how great he has become. 

[goldenboy81]

I have lost but not recently 

 

Just wanted to say sorry for everyone's loss and the pain that goes with it.

 

I hope you all get to see that someone again one day. 

[Amorgus]

I won't have enough likes to pass around to all the others who have lost people.  I lost by grandmother around the Bills-Redskins Super Bowl (I drew her a pic of a Redskin cowering with a looming Buffalo in the foreground).  My father died the summer of 1994.  My brother died a few months before the playoff drought ended. I especially wish my brother held on a few years longer but his transplanted heart was 20 years old. It was already a miracle he practically doubled his lifespan and got to have a family.  I admit I wasn't too vested in the team for large chunks of the drought but it was either Bills football or no football.

 

Get that Lombardi for all that have gone before.  Let's Go Buffalo!!!

[Royale with Cheese]

I never met or knew Pancho but man, I hate he isn't seeing this.

[BillsPride12]

Great thread and topic OP.  I got a little choked up at reading through these replies and I can absolutely relate myself.  I guess it's not surprising that so many of us can when you realize it's practically been 3 decades since the Super Bowl years now.  I was just a kid back then and life was so different....so so different.  Both of my grandfathers are gone, One grandmother is gone(She hated football and was one of those why are you wasting so much of your time and energy on these bums during the drought era Bills kinda people...Man what I would give to see her see what the Bills have become now and how WNY has a total case of Bills Fever), and I had an Uncle that was married to my Dad's sister that was the big Bills fan of the Family and had season tickets during the Super Bowl years and I would be amazed at all of his amazing, cool Bills stories.  10 years ago he and My aunt got Divorced and he is off doing his own thing now, I am connected to him through Facebook we chat on there about the Bills sometimes but it's obviously just not the same.  I am thrilled with the state of the Bills right now but at the same I keep thinking about how I just wish everything else was still the same as it used to be.  It downright hurts sometimes...especially with everything else going on in this world.  In a crazy way though it is comforting to know so many of you are experiencing similar or your own personal feelings.  I think being a Bills fan helps you stay connected to your roots and I know if we end up winning the whole thing all those memories and the loved ones that are gone are going to be right there with me and I'll be crying like a baby...Our time is coming GO BILLS!!!

[BearNorth]

My dad, he left us in '09. Used to take me to the rock pile when I was a teenager.  He had bad arthritis from WW2 injuries, but gutted [esp the playoff game vs. the Patsies in '63] it out for me.  He and his brother, when they were retired got together at his retirement home in San Antonio every year for the Super Bowl. Sure they are smiling at this version of our Bills.

[Warcodered]

 

[Nervous Guy]

Yep...matter of fact I was just talking to my wife about this yesterday....as some around here know, I lost my son Feb 3 2017...such an amazing kid!!  We'd talk Bills all the time.  Some old timers around here met him several times in the late 90's, early 2000's.  My general reaction to the Bills now is much more subdued, but still very happy and proud.  Watching games is not the same without him...I have to say this team as a whole is what he always wanted us to be.   He never got to see Allen, Diggs now Sanders do what he loved..."go DEEP"!  So I sit and watch the Bills and my thoughts drift to Danny...so yes...this is great, but it is and probably always will be, bittersweet.

[The Dean]

2 hours ago, Nervous Guy said:

Yep...matter of fact I was just talking to my wife about this yesterday....as some around here know, I lost my son Feb 3 2017...such an amazing kid!!  We'd talk Bills all the time.  Some old timers around here met him several times in the late 90's, early 2000's.  My general reaction to the Bills now is much more subdued, but still very happy and proud.  Watching games is not the same without him...I have to say this team as a whole is what he always wanted us to be.   He never got to see Allen, Diggs now Sanders do what he loved..."go DEEP"!  So I sit and watch the Bills and my thoughts drift to Danny...so yes...this is great, but it is and probably always will be, bittersweet.

 

A very sad story, NG. Nervous Boy was a hell of a guy. Must be tough.

[Stanley Lombardi]

I am grateful to the OP for this sad but beautifully thought-provoking subject.  Like so many others, my Dad introduced me to the Bills (when I was ten.)  That was 1963 and I have watched every Bills game since.

He died in 1984, so the golden-era Bills (for him) had names like Kemp and Cookie and Golden Wheels and Sestak and Shaw.

When the Bills win this thing -- and they will -- and the game clock expires, I will instantly revisit a kitchen table holding a portable black and white TV, a white and red can of Genny beer and a green and gold can of Vernor's ginger ale.

[John Gianelli]

My Mom died at 96 in April. Every game, I'm still picking up the phone to call her, until I remember.

 

[Jerome007]

A common thread for lots of us. As for me, it's that my kids are 10 hours away now. I actually traveled to watch the opener and the KC game with them. Still, it sucks watching the Bills without them. Not permanent like losing someone that passed away. But of course we all want to share good times. As a Bills fans, it sure is good times right now

[RyanC883]

On 10/11/2021 at 9:04 PM, The Dean said:

For those of you who are unaware, The Senator died on Sunday, September 26th, before kickoff. I believe he is rooting the team on from wherever his consciousness has relocated.

 

Really sad.  Do you have an obituary we could read?