The famous Pumpkin game. 1988 Bills at Jets

[Gregg]

Some highlights

 

 

1:03:14 - Jets booed off the field at halftime trailing 31-7

1:35:27 - Bills and Jets players watching a brawl in section 140

1:45:30 - the "We want Pumpkin chants" begin

1:46:31 - return of the Pumpkin

1:48:54 - FIRE!!!!

 

Bills win 37-14

 

One of the wildest atmosphere's I was ever at. Fights everywhere in the stands.

 

 

 

 

The atmosphere was the rowdiest game I have been at. It was this game that got beer sales banned after halftime. All of these years later that rule still applies.

[njbuff]

I was there too.

 

Great time to be a Bills fan.

[Bills fan since 87]

Every now and then when I am watching a game I find myself wishing for the old days before graphics were all over our screen.

 

Then I watch old games like these (I remember this one) and wonder how I ever dealt without the score/time not being constantly on my screen.

 

If you tune in late or come back from a beer run to the fridge there could have been 3 touchdowns scored.  Who knows?  There could have been an injury and only 5 seconds came off the game clock, who knows?

 

Still prefer the old announcers though

[JP51]

I will never forget the fire in the stands...I remember laughing... they were burning the stands.... lol 

[Mike in Horseheads]

6 hours ago, Gregg said:

Some highlights

 

 

1:03:14 - Jets booed off the field at halftime trailing 31-7

1:35:27 - Bills and Jets players watching a brawl in section 140

1:45:30 - the "We want Pumpkin chants" begin

1:46:31 - return of the Pumpkin

1:48:54 - FIRE!!!!

 

Bills win 37-14

 

One of the wildest atmosphere's I was ever at. Fights everywhere in the stands.

 

 

 

 

The atmosphere was the rowdiest game I have been at. It was this game that got beer sales banned after halftime. All of these years later that rule still applies.

None of your time marks worked for me?

[delectrolux]

Man, broadcast graphics have come a LONG way in almost 40 years...

[Just Jack]

 

 

Same here.  You need to add about 35 minutes to each time stamp...

 

1:03:14 1:38:04 - Jets booed off the field at halftime trailing 31-7

1:35:27 2:13:40 - Bills and Jets players watching a brawl in section 140

1:45:30 2:23:42 - the "We want Pumpkin chants" begin

1:46:31 2:24:50 - return of the Pumpkin

1:48:54 2:27:08 - FIRE!!!!

 

47 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

None of your time marks worked for me?

Edited July 11 by Just Jack

[julian]

There’s fans who’ve been around longer than myself, watched more games than myself, but I’ve paid close attention to this franchise for a long time and I know of plenty of games that have earned nicknames and are well recognized by NFL fans in general.

 

This is the first time I’ve heard of the famous “pumpkin game”

 

I may have not seen this game as it was right at the time I started paying attention, but I’ve never heard of the nickname either.

[TBBills Fan]

I remember watching this one!

[pennstate10]

About 9 yrs later I took my 7 yo son to his first Bills game.  Against Jets, Oct or Nov I think.

 

He sees two 50+ yo guys arguing, one says "s*** my d*** you f******".

They proceed to get in a fist fight (really more pushing and slapping) and end up kicked out.

 

He asks me what happened.    I tell him the guy in the green jersey drank too many adult cokes.

 

Was I being dishonest?

[Gman10]

Kenny O'Brien, Jim Kelly, Elway, Marino all from that 83 draft. That has to be one of the best QB draft years ever. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

7 minutes ago, Gman10 said:

Kenny O'Brien, Jim Kelly, Elway, Marino all from that 83 draft. That has to be one of the best QB draft years ever. 

Throw in Tony Eason and Todd Blackledge and ya had 6 qbs in 1st round

 

[shane nelson]

I was there, just moved to NJ from Toronto.  Wild and crazy night, clearly had second thoughts lol.  Will never forget that night.

[That's No Moon]

27:29 - very young Matt LeBlanc selling Fruitful Bran

 

I watch this game at least once a year online and each time I forget how much I hated Eric McMillan.

[Rubes]

Man, I remember watching this game in my living room in college. The guys who lived right below us were Jets fans, and I made a lot of noise that night.

 

Didn't recall how little they ran Thurman in the first half. It was all Mueller and Harmon.

 

Fun fact, early in the broadcast there was an ad for a cereal called Fruitful Bran, which had the actor who played Joey in Friends.

 

[Bill from NYC]

I was there. It was unreal. Girls were getting molested and drunks were shouting various obscenities at them. One was going up the stairs and started to cry.  At halftime, almost every woman left.

 

A guy lit a chair on fire. It was blazing and when security came their extingusher didn't work. When he left to get another one, some nut pissed on it.

 

Morganna the stripper streaked the field.

 

Bills fans were getting beaten and bloodied (I was luckily in plain clothes). A HUGE pumpkin balloon was being punched around the stadium. When it fell onto the field the stadium erupted and shouted "We Want Pumpkin." Security actually threw it back and drunk fans continued to punch it around. I saw one guy miss and punched another fan and knocked him cold.

 

At one point the game stopped and the players were watching the fans fight. Cornelius Bennet was staring into the stands in disbelief.

 

After halftime most fans left. I stayed for a while and we moved down to Row 1 in the Mezzanine at the 50 yard line. Then it was time to go. 

 

I was never at a sporting event that was 1% as crazy as that night.

Edited July 12 by Bill from NYC

[That's No Moon]

42 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

I was never at a sporting event that was 1% as crazy as that night.

This game is counterargument number 1 when someone talks about how bad spectators are these days.

[hikerprof2]

I think this is the first Bills game I ever saw on tv, and it hooked me as a fan. I was a sophomore at UB, from downstate but I'd never been a big football fan. A local Buffalo guy named Jerry was in our dorm and he said "you gotta watch this team."  36 years ago. How time passes.

[Utah John]

3 hours ago, Bill from NYC said:

I was there. It was unreal. Girls were getting molested and drunks were shouting various obscenities at them. One was going up the stairs and started to cry.  At halftime, almost every woman left.

 

A guy lit a chair on fire. It was blazing and when security came and their extingusher didn't work. When he left to get another one, some nut pissed on it.

 

Morganna the stripper streaked the field.

 

Bills fans were getting beaten and bloodied (I was luckily in plain clothes). A HUGE pumpkin balloon was being punched around the stadium. When it fell onto the field the stadium erupted and shouted "We Want Pumpkin." Security actually threw it back and drunk fans continued to punch it around. I saw one guy miss and punched another fan and knocked him cold.

 

At one point the game stopped and the players were watching the fans fight. Cornelius Bennet was staring into the stands in disbelief.

 

After halftime most fans left. I stayed for a while and we moved down to Row 1 in the Mezzanine at the 50 yard line. Then it was time to go. 

 

I was never at a sporting event that was 1% as crazy as that night.

Just watching the game now, the announcers only gave you a small taste of what was going on.  A guy pissing to put out a fire?  That's gotta be some kind of record for a non-soccer sporting event.

[Sweats]

Was that the game with the "he's giving him the business in there" penalty?