What made you a Bills fan?

[JohnNord]

On 5/31/2024 at 5:26 AM, BuffaloBillyG said:

Looks like we made it through another week! One week closer to the Bills/Cardinals home opener and the first (possible) step to Super Bowl Glory.

 

And again, I give kudos to those that asked some really thoughtful and thought provoking questions this week. Still, many more topics that can be covered. Looking forward to it.

 

For this week's Friday question of the day I would like to keep it easy and light. One of my personal favorite questions to ask people is simply "why". For many it's just something you're born into through family. For others it's a geographic thing. Yet others are fans of this team and have no ties to the area. No family that roots for the Bills. So the question of the day is:

 

What led to you being a Buffalo Bills fan? 

 

For me, I actually have my Mom to thank for it. She was a single mother in the 80s when it wasn't as widely normal to be such. With me at home she was raising a little boy with no male role model in the picture. She wanted me to have as normal an upbringing as other boys, so one thing she did was learn everything she possibly could about football.

 

And I grew up every Sunday with Sunday Sauce on the stove and the Bills game on watching football with my mother. She actually grew to be a big Bills fan and even took me to my first game. She let me pick 2 friends from school to bring and we were off to see the Joe Ferguson and the Bills take on the Jets. One of my fondest memories of childhood was during that game as I watched my Ma make a Jets fan that was being loud and obnoxious actually tear up and leave the game in the 3rd quarter. Yup. That was my Mom. She's been gone now for almost 28 years, and WHEN the Bills finally hoist that Lombardi, she will be the first person I think of.

 

So, what's your story? What are you the way you are (a Bills fan, in this case).

 

 

Long story short….growing up in Buffalo it was a fandom handed down to me from my family/community 

 

But more specifically what drew me in was the 1988 season when the Bills were good for the first time that I could remember.  People in Buffalo were very excited about the team. The playoff win against Houston was one of the first games I can remember really looking forward to.   So many superstars on the team and nearly a decade of sustained success.   

[BillsPride12]

6 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

Long story short….growing up in Buffalo it was a fandom handed down to me from my family/community 

 

But more specifically what drew me in was the 1988 season when the Bills were good for the first time that I could remember.  People in Buffalo were very excited about the team. The playoff win against Houston was one of the first games I can remember really looking forward to.   So many superstars on the team and nearly a decade of sustained success.   

Pretty cool to think about how many new diehard fans have been broken in since the 2019 season.  Still living in the area I have witnessed a whole new wave of Bills obsessed people who couldn't have cared less about the Bills during the drought lol. 

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, amprov56 said:

Great post, remember the tavern thing ha ha!

 

Different times then. Taverns were neighborhood watering holes. One on practically every corner. Shot and a beer. Since many also served food like fish fries seeing kids in there was not a big deal.

[amprov56]

7 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Different times then. Taverns were neighborhood watering holes. One on practically every corner. Shot and a beer. Since many also served food like fish fries seeing kids in there was not a big deal.

The best food I ever ate - family restaurants on Oliver Street, North Tonawanda; and they were all family friendly!

[amprov56]

 

[BillnutinHouston]

Stupidity

[Kwai San]

I was born in the Philly area.....never really latched onto the Eagles.....kinda liked the Raiders.....fast forward to me moving to Rochester NY in 1981 for college.  Many of my frat bros were Bills fans......I actually went to a monday night game once, maybe 1981? with my brothers where some A$$clown decided to climb out onto the wire holding the kicking net up.  For the life of me I can not remember who they played other than the crowd was chanting fall fall fall fall.....idiot finally made his way back to the setas are and security proceded to pummel the living crap out of him!!

 

Fast forward to 1985.  A work buddy was ALL over the Bills and asked me if I wanted to go to the Bills opener game, Jests I believe.  I looked at him laughed and said the bills SUX, why on earth would I wanna go to the game?  He pleaded to my inner drunk and said - "For the Tailgate"!  Good gawd if that didn't do it.  I was a single seat ticket guy for awhile....Kelly signed, I was a season ticket guy.....for 22 seasons, 10ish of them in the Kelly Club seats.....a few more single games sprinkled in after the club seats got stoopid expensive and the heated seat was a huge question mark, and then I moved to So Flo.  I walked into a bar in Sarasota in 2018 and it was snowing SIDEWAYS....I grabbed my wifes arm and I said "look honey, right there is the only snow I wanna see, is on my TV."  Havent seen any snow since 2018.  Honestly tho I have not missed one game since moving to So Flo.  Even when I was down in Key Weird, multiple times, I managed to see the games.

 

Like Marv said where would you rather be than right here right now???  I had a AWESOMESAUCE of a ride while I lived in Rottenchester.  I am happy I am outa there but still a BILLS fan will many many many other transplants down here with me!!!!

 

GO BILLS!!!!!

[strive_for_five_guy]

I was 8 years old and my Dad took me to Bills hosting the Raiders in Primetime in 1990.  Think a Nate Odomes pick 6 was one of the key plays of the game and win.  The Bills of course rattled off a ton of other exciting wins that season, only to finish with the heartbreaking FG miss by Norwood.  Combine that with three more consecutive SB losses and I’ve been obsessed with eventually winning a SB since.

[Southern_Bills]

From south Alabama but the early 90s team got me, was a ton of fun to watch at 8-14 years old. Then I was too loyal to swap lol.

Edited June 2 by Southern_Bills

[Kornfed]

4 hours ago, Kwai San said:

I was born in the Philly area.....never really latched onto the Eagles.....kinda liked the Raiders.....fast forward to me moving to Rochester NY in 1981 for college.  Many of my frat bros were Bills fans......I actually went to a monday night game once, maybe 1981? with my brothers where some A$$clown decided to climb out onto the wire holding the kicking net up.  For the life of me I can not remember who they played other than the crowd was chanting fall fall fall fall.....idiot finally made his way back to the setas are and security proceded to pummel the living crap out of him!!

 

Fast forward to 1985.  A work buddy was ALL over the Bills and asked me if I wanted to go to the Bills opener game, Jests I believe.  I looked at him laughed and said the bills SUX, why on earth would I wanna go to the game?  He pleaded to my inner drunk and said - "For the Tailgate"!  Good gawd if that didn't do it.  I was a single seat ticket guy for awhile....Kelly signed, I was a season ticket guy.....for 22 seasons, 10ish of them in the Kelly Club seats.....a few more single games sprinkled in after the club seats got stoopid expensive and the heated seat was a huge question mark, and then I moved to So Flo.  I walked into a bar in Sarasota in 2018 and it was snowing SIDEWAYS....I grabbed my wifes arm and I said "look honey, right there is the only snow I wanna see, is on my TV."  Havent seen any snow since 2018.  Honestly tho I have not missed one game since moving to So Flo.  Even when I was down in Key Weird, multiple times, I managed to see the games.

 

Like Marv said where would you rather be than right here right now???  I had a AWESOMESAUCE of a ride while I lived in Rottenchester.  I am happy I am outa there but still a BILLS fan will many many many other transplants down here with me!!!!

 

GO BILLS!!!!!

I was at the game you described in 1981 and sitting in the endzone where the guy climbed up the cables to the net as you described. Was against the Raiders and the Bills had the game until Art Thoms (Raider D line) picked up a fumble n returned for a TD with a couple minutes left in reg. Fergy won the game throwing a TD to Amhad Rashad for a great come back victory. ....... Yeah..... me n my buddies were partying hard but the guy climbing the cable made us look Einesteinesque. .... And that was hard to do!

[mbowman14]

Born, raised, and still reside in central PA (split of Eagles/Steelers fans predominantly). First sports memory as a kid is ‘86/87 Penn State upsetting Testaverde/Irvin Canes in Fiesta Bowl. I followed Shane Conlan to the Bills and have been hooked since. Funny how much more Bills gear has popped up in my area over the last 5 years. 

Edited June 2 by mbowman14

[Mike R]

Growing up in wny, none of my family were Bills fans. I loved playing sports and the season when OJ broke the rushing record is when I became hooked. I was only about 9 years old but remember every morning walking to school I would run like OJ avoiding cracks in the sidewalk and juking left and right. I do admit I lost interest during the Hank Bullough era. (I think that’s his name). The Bills were horrible.

But as soon as they became competitive again, I was a die hard fan since.

Its a curse I have passed onto my kids and my wife. 
I just want them to win one Super Bowl. Unfortunately I think they blew that chance with 13 seconds. They should have beaten the Giants in their first Super Bowl appearance. They were clearly the better team and got completely out coached. They partied too hard and were unprepared.

   McDermott is a good coach but he will never win it all. For some reason he completely falls apart in the playoffs and goes into panic mode. Nothing good ever happens when he calls a time out. But I still love the Bills and Josh Allen and watch every game. I just have to temper my expectations because they find the most Billsy ways possible to lose the big games in the most heartbreaking fashion.

[Ray Stonada]

Being born and growing up in Buffalo!

 

Didn’t hurt that I was 13 in 1988, Thurman’s rookie year and start of our great run.

 

[loedward22]

because of these pizza hut beer mugs

 

[Gugny]

Bills/Giants Super Bowl. 
 

Flipped a quarter. 
 

Heads - I’d root for Buffalo. 
Tails - I’d root for NY. 

 

Declared that whichever team I landed on, I’d be a fan for life. 
 

Heads, it was and here I am. 

[billsbackto81]

I've never been afraid of losing. 

 

Growing up a very young teen in the 70's my dad was a Steelers fans. He was also a bit of a bandwagoner like  Yankees and Cowboy fans of the 90's. 

 

Even at a young age I always wanted to follow a different path instead of the "safe" one everyone else took.

 

In HS (1981) I was impressed by the play of Joe Cribbs and really like the Bills uniforms. Being from Connecticut I was surrounded by Jets and Giants fans ( Pats were far from relevant back then)🤣 Even back then they were some of the most ignorant and obnoxious people I've ever come across. 

 

I grew enamored watching highlights of Ferguson, Cribbs, Lewis and Butler.

 

So..........I'm still not afraid of losing, but unfortunately I'm kinda used to it.

 

Go Bills!!

[blacklabel]

Native WNYer along with family who were all Bills fans. When I was a kid, the fam would all pile into the grandparents house on Sundays to watch the game. My cousin's and I picked our favorite teams based on colors. One year I liked the Bengals but then they got beat by the 49ers in the Super Bowl and I got sad. The next year I thought silver and black was cool so I went with the Raiders. Happened to be the same year they got obliterated by Buffalo in the AFC Championship. I think by the second quarter I'd already ditched my Raiders gear and said, "Okay, I'm a Bills fan now." I was 7, I think? Sooo, that's 35 years of Bills fandom for this old crap sack. 

[NORWOODS FOOT]

My dad moved from Buffalo to NE Ohio and married my mom. When the Bills started to get good in the late 1980s and be on TV he started watching them regularly.

 

I really fell in love with the team and all the personalities leading up to that first Super Bowl. That was the first of four January nights that I snuck off to the bathroom as a kid when the clock hit zeros to cover my face with a hand towel and shed some bitter tears. 
 

The Bills used to hold joint scrimmage with the Pittsburgh Steelers towards the end of training camp. We went a few times and I got to meet all the greats (Levy, Kelly, Thomas, Reed, BRUUUCE!!! etc)

The last time we went was after the 4th Super Bowl loss. We went on the field afterwards and my dad went up to Ralph Wilson and said, “Hey Mr. Wilson, we gonna win a Super Bowl this year?” In Ralph’s perfect whiny old man voice he started to lecture my dad: “Do you have any idea what the odds are of going to a Super Bowl once? How about two, three, and four times?!” Haha… My dad was embarrassed and pissed but now it’s just funny to think about: my father got scolded by Ralph Wilson for wanting a Super Bowl win! Let that sink in!

 

 

 

Edited June 2 by NORWOODS FOOT

[HT02]

Grew up in Astoria Queens and my Dad was a Jets fan so I became a Jets fan; in 1983 the Jets moved to New Jersey in 1983 and he decided we were a fan of New York's only football team, the Buffalo Bills.   He changed back in 1985 but I fell in love with the blue collar fans and in 1989, with my first visit on a Monday night against the Bengals I fell in love with the city and the fans.  Been going to at least 3 games every year since then.  I was a season ticket holder for 12 years but dropped them in 2014 when my kids started going to college and I had to pay some large college Bills.  Would love to rejoin but they won't sell tickets to people outside of Western NY anymore.  My kids (4) are all Bills fans through and through despite growing up in Tom Brady territory and all that nonsense, perhaps my proudest dad moment.

[Freddie's Dead]

To my everlasting shame, OJ Simpson.