What made you a Bills fan?

[LABILLBACKER]

I too have told this story many times. As a 8 yr old kid born and raised in LA (La Crescenta), I loved watching the USC/ UCLA football rivalry. Especially amazing was the young running back of the Trojans. I vowed to myself to follow whatever team drafted OJ.  The love affair for the Bills grew more intense each year through good and bad.

 

On the early morning of June 13th, 1994 I was driving delivery north on San Vicente. I noticed a police car and Coroner's van next to this condo complex. Yellow caution tape was up so rather than gawk, I drove on thinking it was just another crime in LA.  Later that afternoon the news broke and it blew my mind. After suffering through 4 straight SB loses this happens....what are the odds.  Since then it's always been awkward and uncomfortable when friends ask me why I'm a Bills fan. But considering all the wonder this team has brought me well beyond the OJ era, I was meant to be a Bills fan.  And seeing the passion of my fellow Mafia brethren only validated that. 

Edited May 31 by LABILLBACKER

[Figster]

Born in Buffalo,

 

number 32...

[Toomstone.Part.Duex]

My old man used to work for Canadian Pacific Railroad (formerly D&H) in Buffalo when I was a young impressionable boy (1984-85).   He lived there while Mom and my two bros lived in Scranton PA.  He'd work 10 days on and 5 days off and come home.   Summers I'd go up and he'd show me the stadium and some of the players houses.   I'd get Bills hats and shirts from some of his co-workers and I've been a fan ever since.      

 

Funny story:    My Dad got paged to call work and ran into the first bar he saw.   He walked in and saw all these huge guys in there.  He asked to use the phone and someone sent him a beer.  He asked who sent it and the bartender pointed down the bar.   Then 4 Large men came over and he thought he was a dead man.  Asked him what he was doing there and he said where he worked and needed to use the phone quick.   My Dad then said.. "Listen, I don't want any trouble, I'll finish my beer and get out of here"   They guys started laughing and said..  "Oh man, you're safe here.  We're the Buffalo Bills"     He forgets who it was but it was 1984.  

[frostbitmic]

As a kid I was a Colts fan, then they moved to Indiana and lost me.

 

I started watching the Bills when Joe Ferguson was the QB since they were local (Rochester) and through good or bad, have been ever since.

[Shaw66]

I had a bucket list when I was young to date, at least once, a woman who was a fan of each NFL team.   I was about 25 teams into the list when I met my wife, so I'm a Bills fan.  I guess I'll never know what I would have thought of those other seven women.

 

None of that is true, but I thought it was a fun story. 

 

Born and raised in Buffalo.  

[Craig Oi]

Born and raised in Buffalo...

[Ethan in Cleveland]

9 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I had a bucket list when I was young to date, at least once, a woman who was a fan of each NFL team.   I was about 25 teams into the list when I met my wife, so I'm a Bills fan.  I guess I'll never know what I would have thought of those other seven women.

 

None of that is true, but I thought it was a fun story. 

 

Born and raised in Buffalo.  

I thought you were old enough to watch the AFL teams? 

Which cities are you missing?

Did you double dip for NYC and triple dip for LA(Rams, Raiders,  Chargers)?  What about cities like St Louis that had two different teams? 

And how did you meet that mant women from that many cities? 

This could he a thread all by itself!!!

[Shaw66]

3 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

I thought you were old enough to watch the AFL teams? 

Which cities are you missing?

Did you double dip for NYC and triple dip for LA(Rams, Raiders,  Chargers)?  What about cities like St Louis that had two different teams? 

And how did you meet that mant women from that many cities? 

This could he a thread all by itself!!!

Great post!  Yes, it could be it's own thread - fantasies about dating NFL fans.   Heck, it could be it's own forum.  

 

I dated a woman who moved from Houston to Nashville, and I never could figure out whether she counted on my list for the Oilers, the Titans, or the Texans.  So, I went out with her two more times and counted her for all three.  

 

The woman I dated in New York was large enough to count for the Jets and the Giants.  

[SoMAn]

The seed was planted in the late 60s when occasionally my brother and I would accompany our parents to a Bills game. My dad's company had season tickets* and sometimes we'd use them if no other clients or employees wanted them. The seats were on the visitor side in War Memorial Stadium, 4 rows from the field, probably less than 15 feet from where Namath, Lamonica, Unitas, etc where seated or standing.  

 

That was the first intoxicating exposure to the sights, sounds, smells (popcorn, hot dogs, cigars) that I came to love.  Being only around 10-11 years old, I didn't really have much understanding of the game beyond what I knew playing neighborhood football. I noticed the squads had enough players that they didn't require our standard 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi, 3 mississippi  😊

 

But a couple years later, O.J., in a breakout year under new coach Lou Saban, was in a race with Washington's Larry Brown for the rushing title. I watched and charted the race closely, hoping for some glory from the hometown team, not realizing then that it was probably the first time I was developing a sense of 'hometown' pride - the feeling of belonging to something bigger than the neighborhood crew. 

 

The following year of '73, new stadium, first Monday Night game ( I was there), OJ was a national hero, breaking Jim Brown's longtime season record of 1,864 yards (yes, I remember that, and most of the yards OJ had in each of the 14 games). 

 

I was hooked and have never looked back, even having season tickets in the 90s though living in Atlanta area.

 

*the business was a family contracting, wholesale/distribution business run by my grandfather, uncle, and father mostly. Grandfather long gone, dad and uncle left us in 2020. I hadn't thought about those season tickets at old War Memorial until a couple of years ago when my cousin called to ask if we'd be interested in retaining the seasons?

What?! You've had them all these years?!  With all those years of seniority I probably could have had my pick of seating.

 

My brother and I both declined. In hindsight, I probably should have done it.    

 

Fan forever. Go Bills!

 

[DrW]

I have told the story before. I came from Germany to the US in September 1990 as a postdoc at the University of Rochester (originally for a year or two, but in the end the move to the US turned out to be permanent). In the lab where I worked, every Monday our research came to a standstill, as everybody (except for me, but including the boss) was discussing the Bills. I started watching them on TV, but initially "American" football did not make much sense to me. Eventually, the sport and the Bills in particular grew on me, and I became a fan. 

20 years ago we moved to West Texas. There might not be many Bills fans here, but since Josh turned out to be such a smashing success there is a lot of respect in "Jerryland". And my son is a big Bills fan.

[The Frankish Reich]

1 hour ago, Figster said:

Born in Buffalo,

 

number 32...

Senorise Perry made quite an impact on you.

[appoo]

I was born in India in 1979, and immigrated to Buffalo in 1981, where my Dad, Mom, Brother and Sister were already living, as my Dad pursued his PHD at SUNY Buffalo. 

 

The Buffalo Bills & Jim Kelly were a big factor in helping us assimilate into the country, and feel like we belonged here (IHOP also helped). As a family, we rooted for the Bills every Sunday. As a family, we grew to love football, because of the Bills! Even when we moved to Scranton, PA - my Dad bought an antenna to stick on the roof so we could pick up the Binghampton CBS to watch the Bills, and when that didn't work we listened ot Murph. 

 

The Bills are my first and true love in this country. Ain't nothing gonna shake that

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

My family moved from Chicago to Buffalo in 1966 when I was 3.  

 

So... Bills = football = good.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I was born at Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo on a very snowy February day back in 1968.

[boater]

Why a Bills fan:

 

Van Miller... because the games were mostly blacked out and on the radio only. The Radio coverage was very good in those days compared to today.

 

Joe Ferguson... because all young boys look up to the QB. He was no Jim Kelly or Josh Allen, but he was still a good one.

[Augie]

I never had a chance. 

 

I was born the month the Bills were born. We had season tix to the Rockpile. I’d walk home from school with my buddy in 3rd grade to Jack Kemp’s house. My sister would babysit for Butch Byrd and we’d watch games on TV at his house. I’d trade player cards with his son. My mother played bridge with Lou Saban’s wife. We lived around the corner from OJ. 

 

But just being born in WNY is enough to have done the trick. 

 

 

.

Edited May 31 by Augie

[teef]

Like many others I’m from the area and loved watching games with my dad.  Now it’s just stubbornness. 

[Let's Go Buffalo]

I've mentioned part of this before, but I became a Bills fan when I was a young child, and my Dad was a huge Bills fan. I asked him why, and he explained to me that he was one of Steve Tasker's college teachers. As a matter of fact he was good friends with Steve's parents as well. Steve would come to visit us in my hometown, and spoke at our high school, and would always chat with my Dad on the phone to check up on each other. So, when I grew up and had a family of my own, Tasker made it possible for my family and I to come watch a home Bills game, which was the coolest thing ever. Now, nearly 40 years later, I'm a Bills fan for life! 

[Your Brown Eye]

The 'ol Red, White, and Blue colors

[KOKBILLS]

Buffalo's (Bison) were may favorite animal when I was a kid. I saw the Buffalo on the helmet when I was around 5 years old. Said "I like that team!" 

 

I grew up in LA, but both sides of the family are from Rochester (we moved back when I was 14)... When I said I liked the Bills, my Dad immediately said "Oh crap!." They bought me the kids Bills uniform the next Christmas and I still have that helmet...That was a long, long, long time ago...