What made you a Bills fan?

[Mark Vader]

9 hours ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

Was born into it. Who in their right mind would choose it?

 

Look no further.

 

Born, raised and still living in Northern California, I grew up as my family were all 49'ers fans, except me.

 

I guess I wanted to be the rebel and choose whichever team I wanted to cheer for. At one point I was a Dolphins fan. 

 

I watched a lot of college football, too. Even though I wasn't a fan of the Miami Hurricanes, I really liked Jim Kelly.

 

When he eventually began to play for the Bills, I started paying attention to the Bills, as nearly impossible it was for a person on the west coast at that time.

 

I began to learn more about the team, and by 1986-87 I was a full fledged Bills fan, and have been ever since.

 

Never jumped ship after the Super Bowl losses and the drought. I never will. GO BILLS!!!

[Augie]

40 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

Look no further.

 

Born, raised and still living in Northern California, I grew up as my family were all 49'ers fans, except me.

 

I guess I wanted to be the rebel and choose whichever team I wanted to cheer for. At one point I was a Dolphins fan. 

 

I watched a lot of college football, too. Even though I wasn't a fan of the Miami Hurricanes, I really liked Jim Kelly.

 

When he eventually began to play for the Bills, I started paying attention to the Bills, as nearly impossible it was for a person on the west coast at that time.

 

I began to learn more about the team, and by 1986-87 I was a full fledged Bills fan, and have been ever since.

 

Never jumped ship after the Super Bowl losses and the drought. I never will. GO BILLS!!!

 

The bold brings up an interesting point. We take for granted all the constant coverage the NFL gets these days, but there was a time when it was very difficult to follow your team if you were out of that market. So many people have left WNY as Bills fans, then struggled to find ways to keep up with them. 

 

I used to go to Chili’s for lunch on Tuesdays because they would have a USA Today on the bar and the sports section would have a sentence or two about every team. We had no internet. I would go to awful, dark and smoky bars to watch on a projection screen. If any light came in you couldn’t see anything. It wasn’t this easy to be a BIlls fan back then……and that might have been a healthier lifestyle for me!  😂 

[stevens273]

My dad took me to the Rockpile in 1970 to my first game. I was 8. A couple years later  moved to Hamburg,  Ed Rutkowski lived on the next street and Al Bemiller was my position coach in little league. Joe Delamielleure walked his dog to one of our practices. 

Dad took us to watch the construction of Rich Stadium. My mom was County Executive Ned Regan’s executive secretary and she brought me some trinkets from the ribbon cutting for the new stadium. 
My sister graduated college and Jack Kemp hired her and moved her to DC. I never met him. 
Still live and die with them. 

[Eastport bills]

10 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I have told this story before, but my grandad was Czech, fought in the Polish army in WW2. He was captured by the Germans and put in a prisoner of war camp but managed to escape and make it to France where he was hidden by the resistance and eventually made it to London after the war. He eventually met my grandmother, they married, had kids (including my mum) and then at 61, just before I was born, my grandad had a massive heart attack and died. My grandmother would still go back to Poland and Czechoslovakia (as was) every few years to visit his family and in the early 90s was in a shop with her friend in Poland, overheard English speaking voices and got talking to an American brother and sister who themselves had family history in Poland and were back researching it. They ended up going for dinner, became friends and in 2002 we visited them in California where they now live for a family holiday. It was August and there was a Bills pre-season game (Lions, who else) on the TV and despite living in Cal they were from Buffalo and the guy is a huge Bills fan. So my dad (who had watched bits of the NFL when it first came to British tv in the 80s) and I sat down with a beer to watch the Bills game with him. I was hooked instantly, from a single, pretty ropey pre-season game. In those first few years as a student about to go of to university watching the games was impossible so I'd just follow the scores online. But in 2006 or 2007 Yahoo had a link up with the NFL and did an international streaming service. It was ropey as hell, buffered all the time, and the picture quality was terrible... but I subscribed. Then after a year the NFL took it in house improved the service and developed International GamePass and I think since 2008 I have missed one regular season game (Saints in 2013 under Marrone because I was at Wembley watching the 49ers instead). 

Nice story. You’re a legitimate fan l that has bled internally along with the rest of us .

[Eastport bills]

I was an 8 year old visiting my sister during Christmas vacation at UB.  We went to a game at the rock pile and watched Kemp, Gilchrist  and the awesome Bills defense dominate the Babe Parilli led Patriots. After that, I was hooked.

[BillsPride12]

I was and born and raised and still reside in WNY to this day so I guess it comes naturally.  It was my Uncle who really got me hooked though.  He had season tickets throughout the entire Jim Kelly run from 86-96 and always had so many incredible stories from being at all the games during the glory years and was a part of the tearing down the goalposts you see in my profile pic.  He even has a piece of the goalpost to this day! I was just a little kid back then but the whole thing seemed fascinating and larger than life to me as an elementary schooler.  I'm a little bit more jaded on the NFL these days but I'll always be a lifer when it comes to the Bills.

[oldmanfan]

Ralph Wilson.  He put his team in Buffalo, was at their first game as a 4 year old, and there you go.

[Chicken Boo]

The name and logo. 

 

6 year old, Marylander me was hooked.  

[Albany,n.y.]

I grew up in Long Island and my father didn't know how to get Giants or Jets tickets, so I never went to a football game as a kid.  Then I went to Fredonia & heard such horror stories of the Rockpile I was afraid to drive my car to the stadium. So I didn't go to a game until Rich Stadium opened.  That, plus the fact that we'd all go to the TV set in the lobby area of our dorm on Sundays and watch the Bills hooked me.  I eventually lived in the Orchard Park in 1977 & walked to the 1st 2 games, but they were so bad & I wasn't making much, so I'd listen to all the games on my radio (blacked out on TV).  I moved back to Buffalo in 1980 for 3 years & went to most home games, and in Dec 1982 I left permanently, 1st going back to LI, then Albany.  Once I moved to Albany I started going to a lot of games & from 1991-2006 never missed a home game other than preseasons.  I don't go to many games anymore because as you can tell from my story, I'm old.  I still watch every game on TV & at places with Sunday Ticket. 

Edited May 31 by Albany,n.y.

[PonyBoy]

9 hours ago, Buffalo Boy said:

First game September 7, 1980

Bills Dolphins with my Dad as a nine year old.

Had never watched football.

He was a mean drunk…. Except at Bills games…. The only place he was actually my Dad. 
He’ll be gone 40 years this October.

And I still suffer acutely from the affliction called Bills fandom.

 

 

My first Bills game was in 1979 too. Young pre-teen, 1st time I heard my dad use the F word.

 

We parked the car far from the stadium to be the 1st ones out 🙄

He pats his coat pocket a few times and said " Don't forget the F ing tickets" 😀

He covered his mouth with a gasp & we laughed. 

Well....he broke his cherry, because I heard a couple of thousand from that moment on haha. 

8 hours ago, Gman10 said:

Man, pardon my ignorance but was OJ really that good?

 

Watch his You Tube highlights. He was fast even in slow motion. It's not old man hype, he was that good! 

[Old Coot]

1 hour ago, PonyBoy said:

9 hours ago, Gman10 said:

Man, pardon my ignorance but was OJ really that good?

 

Watch his You Tube highlights. He was fast even in slow motion. It's not old man hype, he was that good! 

You don't rush for 2003 yards in 14 games (avg. 143 yds per game) often against stacked boxes wothout being that good. Props to the Electric Company (his OL because they turned on the Juice).

My dad & I rooted for the Baltimore Colts before the Bills came to town in 1960.

 

After that our teams were AFL: the Bills; NFL: the Colts.

 

I remember attending games in the Rockpile with my dad. You'd pay a homeowner to park on his lawn because parking was a nightmare. When the Rockpile was built not everyone owned a car. My butt still hurts from sitting on those concrete bleacher seats despite the folded blankets we sat on.

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

This is easy for me.  Getting a Cookie Gilcrist autograph at the rock pile as a young kid sealed the deal for me.  I have been hooked ever since.

[Just Jack]

Never really watched football, then I went to college (SUNY Alfred) and my roommate was a Bills fan, so every Sunday we'd watch the games.  It was 1988 so it was just the right time for me to get into them. 

[Buddy Hix]

I loved sports as a kid, the Bills were the only team on television. 35 years later and I’m numb inside.

[muppy]

Lookie Lookie here comes Cookie. I've been a Bills fan as long as I can remember really

 

what really sealed the deal was being a part of the Batavia Party zone. M&T bank in Batavia would receive a block of tickets in the scoreboard endzone. This is where we would sit , often times with no one around us in inclement weather. We didn't care and it was a blast. Going to games and the tailgates, Plus just the Bills crowd in general  were and are MY PEOPLE

Edited June 1 by muppy

[Buffalo Boy]

43 minutes ago, Just Jack said:

Never really watched football, then I went to college (SUNY Alfred) and my roommate was a Bills fan, so every Sunday we'd watch the games.  It was 1988 so it was just the right time for me to get into them. 

My buddy Dale went there in that time frame. I visited and we hit up a kegger 🤢🤮😀

[Thrivefourfive]

Birthright. That I sometimes get pissy with. 

[Thrivefourfive]

1 hour ago, Old Coot said:

You don't rush for 2003 yards in 14 games (avg. 143 yds per game) often against stacked boxes wothout being that good. Props to the Electric Company (his OL because they turned on the Juice).

My dad & I rooted for the Baltimore Colts before the Bills came to town in 1960.

 

After that our teams were AFL: the Bills; NFL: the Colts.

 

I remember attending games in the Rockpile with my dad. You'd pay a homeowner to park on his lawn because parking was a nightmare. When the Rockpile was built not everyone owned a car. My butt still hurts from sitting on those concrete bleacher seats despite the folded blankets we sat on.

Florio did the easy math and stated that OJ would run for 2431 in today’s NFL. It’s cute when a runningback gets within A THOUSAND yards of that now. 
 

5 hours ago, Mark Vader said:

Look no further.

 

Born, raised and still living in Northern California, I grew up as my family were all 49'ers fans, except me.

 

I guess I wanted to be the rebel and choose whichever team I wanted to cheer for. At one point I was a Dolphins fan. 

 

I watched a lot of college football, too. Even though I wasn't a fan of the Miami Hurricanes, I really liked Jim Kelly.

 

When he eventually began to play for the Bills, I started paying attention to the Bills, as nearly impossible it was for a person on the west coast at that time.

 

I began to learn more about the team, and by 1986-87 I was a full fledged Bills fan, and have been ever since.

 

Never jumped ship after the Super Bowl losses and the drought. I never will. GO BILLS!!!

Hod, you got out of the 49ers in the early 80s.. for the Bills.. I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself. 

[Eddie]

Big Wyoming fan, so pretty obvious it was when the Bills drafted John Wendling. In all seriousness, always had a soft spot for the Bills. When Josh Allen entered the draft instead of running for governor, I was pumped to finally have a rooting interest on Sundays. When the Browns took Baker I was glad I didn’t have to be a Browns fan, thank god the Jets took Darnold. The fan bases are very similar and my Sundays are just as fun as my Saturdays and slightly less frustrating. (I know I missed the drought though)

[BigAl2526]

Simple!  Buffalo drafted O J Simpson.  That was pre scum bag O J Simpson and by the time Simpson revealed he was a scumbag my loyalty had long since transferred to the Bills.