Parenting Lessons from Bills Fans who grew up during Super Bowl losses(article)

[BRH]

1 hour ago, eball said:

Message we should all take near and dear to heart:  ENJOY THE RIDE

💯

 

I was in college for the first two, unemployed for the third, and at my first job for the fourth.  At that age, I had already experienced the Talkin’ Proud years and gone through excruciating playoff losses - Ron Smith’s catch and the delay of game - and the absolute nadir of the back to back 2-14 years.  So when the SBs came I was already old enough to appreciate what I was seeing, and I knew it wouldn’t last forever.  Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt to lose those games, but I think it would have been worse if I was a little kid and hadn’t already experienced lean years.  I will never forget the feeling at halftime of the Raiders game, up 41-3 and knowing that we were finally going to the Super Bowl.  I’ll never forget my dad and I hugging complete strangers in a bar during The Comeback.  I’ll never forget being in the stands for the KC game, recovering from the flu, when we pissed ‘em off and went to four.   I absolutely enjoyed that ***** ride.  My son is 20 now and lived through most of the drought, so, like me, he appreciates what we have now more than kids 10 years his junior who have never known anything but the Bills being in the playoffs.  I haven’t had to teach him to enjoy this ride. He knows. 
 

Edited January 21, 2023 by BRH

[Pete]

Im 53 and have been a huge Bills fan since I was 5.  My generation of Bills fans knows 2-14 very well.  0 for the 70s vs dolphins.  My family moved to New England 1979.  I have been getting my balls busted ever since for being a Bills and Sabres fan (my college friends are all Bruins fans- they hated Mike Foligno lol)).  All this ball busting, all this suffering and heartbreak, it strengthens my fandom.  Sometimes I run into a Bills fan now, and I cry tears of happiness that Bills Mafia finally gets a real Super Bowl contender.  I think of Tim Russert.  I think of all the great Bills fans that aren't alive to celebrate with us..  Right now I am in Massachusetts. My GF knows how much I love the city of Buffalo. The Bills keep me connected.  Josh Allen has his message to Bills Mafia when we win the SB already written.  I will be so joyful for Buffalo!  I get chills thinking about it.  LETS GO BUFFALO!

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Pete

[Dan Darragh]

16 hours ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

not able to read it. paywall. nyt doesn't need my $.

 

Amen brother.

The world would be a better place if NYT stuck to articles like this one.