The whole story and History behind Ketchup, the Superstition and Bills Tradition.

[BigdaddyinOrlando]

Thanks for sharing, the wife and I were there and witnessed our first Hammers lot experience on Sunday in the rain and had so much fun! Did the bowling ball shot and we stood nearby as the condiments rained down! Had the time of our lives and loved every minute of it and the people that were there! On top of staying the weekend in East Aurora for the weekend, we had a time we will never forget! Hope to make a game next year at home but definitely will be going to Carolina and probably Atlanta! Let’s go Bills and keep riding this wave!! So much love and appreciation for all you fans and posters!!

[GASabresIUFan]

…I like mine with lettuce and tomato Heinz 57 and French fried potato, a big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer…..

[Wacka]

Lived in the  SF Bay area for~ 20 years. When he would come to Niners ad Raiders games, we would tailgate and wir\h him and get him the tickets to the game.  First time I met him was in Phoenix 25 years ago. Did the bowling ball shot then. Also met him again twice in  San Diego.  Earlier than that, I may have been on the same plane as he was from Oakland to Seattle. I remember the flight crew  asking the person who checked a bowling ball to coH

He has a great memory. I went to Hammers lot at the Philly game about 5 yeats ago. I told him that I last met jim about 15-20  years ago in SF and Oakland.He says "weren't you in Biotech?".which I was cback then.  

He also attends the draft every year along with  Mark Vader(from this board) and Cowgirls Fan (a Dallas fan also on this board).

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

…I like mine with lettuce and tomato Heinz 57 and French fried potato, a big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer…..

... Good God almighty! which way do I steer...

[T master]

On 12/30/2024 at 12:50 PM, JP51 said:

I am not sure if anyone cares or is interested in knowing... but I will write it and if no one cares we can delete it... but it is such a fun niche in Bills tradition...

 

It was 2 days before Christmas in 1990, the Bills were playing a huge home game against the hated Dolphins... So, all traditions and superstitions were on full display... no one willing to break any one of them. Kenny J (Pinto Ron) had a tradition of eating a Hamburger cooked on a shovel with ketchup before every game... only... this game... Kenny forgot his ketchup... he came to me in a panic... "JP51!! you have to find me some ketchup!!! " so I went to the tailgate next to us and told them and they went into the Mobile home and produced a 12 oz bottle of Heinz ketchup...  I came back to Ken with the ketchup and said... how about I get on the hood of the Pinto and squirt the ketchup on your burger that way... Kenny said Brilliant... so, to no fan fare or anything I got on the hood of the Pinto and squirted ketchup towards the burger... well. 20mph winds had different ideas as none of the ketchup was going on the burger... but all over Kenny .... and the cheering started...  I literally had to get down off of the Pinto and shake the last vestiges of Ketchup on the burger to keep with tradition...  We won...

 

Next week Kenny comes with a 36 oz bottle of ketchup and says we have to do this again... so up I went... and used the "Blind and Blast" technique... nail his glasses so he couldnt see... then blast him with Ketchup.... and a tradition was born... as time went on we moved to a 64oz bottle, and crowds of people chanting Ketchup Ketchup Ketchup... news crews coming to film etc... then one day (me being about 235lbs at the time the roof of the 80 Pinto dented.... worried about the sustainability of the roof and wanting to continue the tradition... in the offseason Kenny tore the underside of the Top out and reenforced it with steal... (true Story lol) 

 

as time went on, Mustard and relish and other condiments were brought in and you have the ceremony in its present form... 

 

And that my friends is the rest of the story....  

 

And now it is part of the attraction of Bills Mafia and seen on many NFL commercials when talking about the Bills Mafia & their tail gate experience .

 

Only in Buffalo can squirting ketchup & jumping threw tables be part of a proud Bills traditions ... 

 

GO BILLS !!! 

[JP51]

41 minutes ago, T master said:

 

And now it is part of the attraction of Bills Mafia and seen on many NFL commercials when talking about the Bills Mafia & their tail gate experience .

 

Only in Buffalo can squirting ketchup & jumping threw tables be part of a proud Bills traditions ... 

 

GO BILLS !!! 

Indeed it's what makes us us... and the more people outside that are like what's wrong with these people the more we like it... all you can say is... if you know you know... lol if not move along 🤣 

Edited January 1 by JP51

[Stroke 17]

tHOSE OF US WHO GO BACK TO THOSE EARLY 90'S  remember the tailgate parties in lot 1 with Kenny and the crew. Every week it was something different but so much of it was the same. Early years Kenny and the Pinto was one of about 4 regular tailgaters who had tents all aligned in a row. It was my tradition to start at tent 1 and do a regular shot. Same at numbers 2 and 3 before the big finish, the bowling ball shot, sign the book grab a handful of peanuts and a wing or a hot dog all before 8 or 9 O clock.(Gates opened at 7 in those years) NOTE: One of the reasons Kenny moved to Hammers Lot was because of the later opening of the lot and the Disney style parking wouldn't allow everybody to get close and with the later opening couldn't get everything set up.

 

Some random memories from those days other than the traditional ketchup and the bowling shots.

 

1. Every year one guy would bring live lobsters from Maine. A 4 ft piece of plywood was placed at an angle, on the plywood a stripe was painted down the middle to form 2 lanes, at the end of the plywood race track were 2 pots of boiling water, 2 lobsters were placed at he top of the board and tailgaters would then bet on which lobster would win the race to the pot, winner got the lobster dinner.

 

2.Bringing that kids plastic swimming pool and filling it with grapes was crazy. Kenny would ask people who were just walking by if they would like to remove their shoes and help him make wine. THEY FREAKIN DID IT ! Men, women, kids,  young and old would take off their shoes and step into the pool to smash grapes .End of the day put the freshly made juice into a garbage bag, put in behind a tree between the lots to sip the wine at the next game.

 

3.Flat TV's were replacing the old big Zenith floor models. There's an idea for a tailgate game. Bring the TV, set it up in the lot, use the previously mentioned plywood, make a ramp to the screen. Time to bowl. New twist to the bowling ball shot. Do the shot, instead of the drop now you had to try to actually bowl with the ball across the lot towards tke TV to try to strike the screen. The kicker, the ball was so slippery it was almost impossible to hold snd roll it using the holes, The bal usually was dropped in the backswing.  Game was also played with bottles and cans.

 

4. To take care of privacy concerns when needing to relieve oneself a large box that had housed a refrigerator was brought on site and a door was cut into one side for entry. Inside was the toilet( still currently used as a cooler) surrounded by magazines and a candle. Note: nobody used the toilet it was just part of the show, but it did provide cover to pee.

 

5.For one important Dolphins game< SQUISH THE FISH" took on a life of its own. Tiki torches were placed all around the tailgate area, Fish,( I think they were suckers) were placed in the torch holder with their heads facing up, oil was placed in the mouth of the fish and then the wick inserted and lit taking on a luau look around the area. Around 11 O clock before Ketchup time the the fish were taken out of the torch holders and thrown on the ground in front of the bowling ball bar. Now doing a bowling ball shot was followed by dropping it on the fish in real squish the fish style .Editor note: It was one of my last bowling ball shots as Im allergic to fish, that and the fact that my wife drew the line of kissing her after seeing all fish parts all over the ground and the slimy bowling ball. Fun fact. I have bowled a 300 game but not with the shot ball.

 

6. I could go on but I don't want to bore you all. Seeing Kenny hit the 500 game mark and the start of the new year got me to reminiscing. Those 90's were some of the best years for us older fans and now we older and younger fans are doing it all over again. Will we win a Super Bowl, I don't know but the journey is so much fun. Watching this team led by Josh is different than the ones led by Kelly but it seems so much the same as those days.

 

I am still parking in Lot 1 where it all started,( been there since 1974) I still walk over to Hammers couple times a year to see Kenny, Scotty, Pizza Pete, the Professor and all the others but the crowds there are a little much for my close to 70 year old body. (Still wonder how Kenny keeps doing it) but I have the memories from the old days and still looking forward to new ones. When the move to the new stadium happens I will be there but I feel like I am watching an old friend die but a new  baby is on the way.

 

THEY'RE KILLIN ME WHITEY, THEY'RE KILLIN ME!

GO BILLS

 

 

[Just Jack]

19 hours ago, boyst said:

And, the engineer thing for people who are interested in coding/info is that Kenny knows the programming language of an older format seldom learned/included in new stuff but all the more still popular. He is able to work on both the old systems and new systems and is said to be one of the few in the country who can do it 

 

My first guess is COBOL, second would be FORTRAN.  I took both in College, but don't ask me anything about them. I do know COBOL programmers are in high demand.

 

 

On 12/30/2024 at 4:26 PM, JP51 said:

Who is to mess with superstition lol

 

Yet there are people here that think my karma/superstition thread after each game is stupid.  

[GottaRun]

Thanks @JP51 for the story, I started seeing this in lot 1 back in 2003, the crowds were still fairly small so I thought it had only started recently, didn't realize it started long before 2003.

[JP51]

6 minutes ago, GottaRun said:

Thanks @JP51 for the story, I started seeing this in lot 1 back in 2003, the crowds were still fairly small so I thought it had only started recently, didn't realize it started long before 2003.

Yes early 90s in the lot by where the field house now is back when we had the bubble

[Preds]

On 12/30/2024 at 1:50 PM, JP51 said:

I am not sure if anyone cares or is interested in knowing... but I will write it and if no one cares we can delete it... but it is such a fun niche in Bills tradition...

 

It was 2 days before Christmas in 1990, the Bills were playing a huge home game against the hated Dolphins... So, all traditions and superstitions were on full display... no one willing to break any one of them. Kenny J (Pinto Ron) had a tradition of eating a Hamburger cooked on a shovel with ketchup before every game... only... this game... Kenny forgot his ketchup... he came to me in a panic... "JP51!! you have to find me some ketchup!!! " so I went to the tailgate next to us and told them and they went into the Mobile home and produced a 12 oz bottle of Heinz ketchup...  I came back to Ken with the ketchup and said... how about I get on the hood of the Pinto and squirt the ketchup on your burger that way... Kenny said Brilliant... so, to no fan fare or anything I got on the hood of the Pinto and squirted ketchup towards the burger... well. 20mph winds had different ideas as none of the ketchup was going on the burger... but all over Kenny .... and the cheering started...  I literally had to get down off of the Pinto and shake the last vestiges of Ketchup on the burger to keep with tradition...  We won...

 

Next week Kenny comes with a 36 oz bottle of ketchup and says we have to do this again... so up I went... and used the "Blind and Blast" technique... nail his glasses so he couldnt see... then blast him with Ketchup.... and a tradition was born... as time went on we moved to a 64oz bottle, and crowds of people chanting Ketchup Ketchup Ketchup... news crews coming to film etc... then one day (me being about 235lbs at the time the roof of the 80 Pinto dented.... worried about the sustainability of the roof and wanting to continue the tradition... in the offseason Kenny tore the underside of the Top out and reenforced it with steal... (true Story lol) 

 

as time went on, Mustard and relish and other condiments were brought in and you have the ceremony in its present form... 

 

And that my friends is the rest of the story....  

LOVE the backstory!  Thank you for sharing. 

[BillsPride12]

7 minutes ago, GottaRun said:

Thanks @JP51 for the story, I started seeing this in lot 1 back in 2003, the crowds were still fairly small so I thought it had only started recently, didn't realize it started long before 2003.

The first time I was aware of Pinto Ron was probably late 90s by seeing some clips on NFL Films.  Early 2000's was the first time I stopped by to check it out.  It was definitely smaller scale back then, I think it was by the power of social media that caused it to really blow up in the later 2000's 

[May Day 10]

I always wondered how it started.

[JP51]

55 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

The first time I was aware of Pinto Ron was probably late 90s by seeing some clips on NFL Films.  Early 2000's was the first time I stopped by to check it out.  It was definitely smaller scale back then, I think it was by the power of social media that caused it to really blow up in the later 2000's 

Did i coerce you into a bowling ball shot lol 😆 

[Taro T]

On 12/30/2024 at 1:50 PM, JP51 said:

I am not sure if anyone cares or is interested in knowing... but I will write it and if no one cares we can delete it... but it is such a fun niche in Bills tradition...

 

It was 2 days before Christmas in 1990, the Bills were playing a huge home game against the hated Dolphins... So, all traditions and superstitions were on full display... no one willing to break any one of them. Kenny J (Pinto Ron) had a tradition of eating a Hamburger cooked on a shovel with ketchup before every game... only... this game... Kenny forgot his ketchup... he came to me in a panic... "JP51!! you have to find me some ketchup!!! " so I went to the tailgate next to us and told them and they went into the Mobile home and produced a 12 oz bottle of Heinz ketchup...  I came back to Ken with the ketchup and said... how about I get on the hood of the Pinto and squirt the ketchup on your burger that way... Kenny said Brilliant... so, to no fan fare or anything I got on the hood of the Pinto and squirted ketchup towards the burger... well. 20mph winds had different ideas as none of the ketchup was going on the burger... but all over Kenny .... and the cheering started...  I literally had to get down off of the Pinto and shake the last vestiges of Ketchup on the burger to keep with tradition...  We won...

 

Next week Kenny comes with a 36 oz bottle of ketchup and says we have to do this again... so up I went... and used the "Blind and Blast" technique... nail his glasses so he couldnt see... then blast him with Ketchup.... and a tradition was born... as time went on we moved to a 64oz bottle, and crowds of people chanting Ketchup Ketchup Ketchup... news crews coming to film etc... then one day (me being about 235lbs at the time the roof of the 80 Pinto dented.... worried about the sustainability of the roof and wanting to continue the tradition... in the offseason Kenny tore the underside of the Top out and reenforced it with steal... (true Story lol) 

 

as time went on, Mustard and relish and other condiments were brought in and you have the ceremony in its present form... 

 

And that my friends is the rest of the story....  

 

Thanks for the history lesson.

 

Have never made it for a tailgate (would always attend games with wifey and dad and they were not in tailgating mode) but have had the pleasure of meeting Kenny several times as I was a long time regular to the WNYTBDGPS pre-home opener annual lunch at Nick Tahoe's.  Kenny, Jay, Jack, Rich, Rockpile, Aussiew, & Dan Gross were regulars to almost all of them.  And there'd usually be a couple others at that.  Haven't done one of those in a couple of years as attendance was down a lot post-lockdown.

 

Never asked Kenny about the origins of the tailgate rituals, but did ask about why he was "Pinto Ron."  Knew it was a reporter doing an article that messed up the names.  Forgot the guy was from Athlon (is that even still around?).  Kenny really is a great guy.  Hopefully he gets to another 500 games.

 

Happy New Year.

 

 

[JP51]

1 hour ago, Stroke 17 said:

tHOSE OF US WHO GO BACK TO THOSE EARLY 90'S  remember the tailgate parties in lot 1 with Kenny and the crew. Every week it was something different but so much of it was the same. Early years Kenny and the Pinto was one of about 4 regular tailgaters who had tents all aligned in a row. It was my tradition to start at tent 1 and do a regular shot. Same at numbers 2 and 3 before the big finish, the bowling ball shot, sign the book grab a handful of peanuts and a wing or a hot dog all before 8 or 9 O clock.(Gates opened at 7 in those years) NOTE: One of the reasons Kenny moved to Hammers Lot was because of the later opening of the lot and the Disney style parking wouldn't allow everybody to get close and with the later opening couldn't get everything set up.

 

Some random memories from those days other than the traditional ketchup and the bowling shots.

 

1. Every year one guy would bring live lobsters from Maine. A 4 ft piece of plywood was placed at an angle, on the plywood a stripe was painted down the middle to form 2 lanes, at the end of the plywood race track were 2 pots of boiling water, 2 lobsters were placed at he top of the board and tailgaters would then bet on which lobster would win the race to the pot, winner got the lobster dinner.

 

2.Bringing that kids plastic swimming pool and filling it with grapes was crazy. Kenny would ask people who were just walking by if they would like to remove their shoes and help him make wine. THEY FREAKIN DID IT ! Men, women, kids,  young and old would take off their shoes and step into the pool to smash grapes .End of the day put the freshly made juice into a garbage bag, put in behind a tree between the lots to sip the wine at the next game.

 

3.Flat TV's were replacing the old big Zenith floor models. There's an idea for a tailgate game. Bring the TV, set it up in the lot, use the previously mentioned plywood, make a ramp to the screen. Time to bowl. New twist to the bowling ball shot. Do the shot, instead of the drop now you had to try to actually bowl with the ball across the lot towards tke TV to try to strike the screen. The kicker, the ball was so slippery it was almost impossible to hold snd roll it using the holes, The bal usually was dropped in the backswing.  Game was also played with bottles and cans.

 

4. To take care of privacy concerns when needing to relieve oneself a large box that had housed a refrigerator was brought on site and a door was cut into one side for entry. Inside was the toilet( still currently used as a cooler) surrounded by magazines and a candle. Note: nobody used the toilet it was just part of the show, but it did provide cover to pee.

 

5.For one important Dolphins game< SQUISH THE FISH" took on a life of its own. Tiki torches were placed all around the tailgate area, Fish,( I think they were suckers) were placed in the torch holder with their heads facing up, oil was placed in the mouth of the fish and then the wick inserted and lit taking on a luau look around the area. Around 11 O clock before Ketchup time the the fish were taken out of the torch holders and thrown on the ground in front of the bowling ball bar. Now doing a bowling ball shot was followed by dropping it on the fish in real squish the fish style .Editor note: It was one of my last bowling ball shots as Im allergic to fish, that and the fact that my wife drew the line of kissing her after seeing all fish parts all over the ground and the slimy bowling ball. Fun fact. I have bowled a 300 game but not with the shot ball.

 

6. I could go on but I don't want to bore you all. Seeing Kenny hit the 500 game mark and the start of the new year got me to reminiscing. Those 90's were some of the best years for us older fans and now we older and younger fans are doing it all over again. Will we win a Super Bowl, I don't know but the journey is so much fun. Watching this team led by Josh is different than the ones led by Kelly but it seems so much the same as those days.

 

I am still parking in Lot 1 where it all started,( been there since 1974) I still walk over to Hammers couple times a year to see Kenny, Scotty, Pizza Pete, the Professor and all the others but the crowds there are a little much for my close to 70 year old body. (Still wonder how Kenny keeps doing it) but I have the memories from the old days and still looking forward to new ones. When the move to the new stadium happens I will be there but I feel like I am watching an old friend die but a new  baby is on the way.

 

THEY'RE KILLIN ME WHITEY, THEY'RE KILLIN ME!

GO BILLS

 

 

First off we must have had many bowling ball shots together... and if you couldn't surmise i was the one on the top of the pinto squirting ketchup lol! Lobster races were epic smashing the TVs were insane... do you remember the potato chip ceremony? Where we opened a bag of chips in a different way each time? Cinder blocks , pullied hammers , m80s to blow them up... the tradition stopped when I procured the Cornell University marching band from their practice to march to the tailgate party playing Louie Louie and march over the chips. I think Kenny said... that one will never be topped let's finish this on a high note lol 

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

 

Thanks for the history lesson.

 

Have never made it for a tailgate (would always attend games with wifey and dad and they were not in tailgating mode) but have had the pleasure of meeting Kenny several times as I was a long time regular to the WNYTBDGPS pre-home opener annual lunch at Nick Tahoe's.  Kenny, Jay, Jack, Rich, Rockpile, Aussiew, & Dan Gross were regulars to almost all of them.  And there'd usually be a couple others at that.  Haven't done one of those in a couple of years as attendance was down a lot post-lockdown.

 

Never asked Kenny about the origins of the tailgate rituals, but did ask about why he was "Pinto Ron."  Knew it was a reporter doing an article that messed up the names.  Forgot the guy was from Athlon (is that even still around?).  Kenny really is a great guy.  Hopefully he gets to another 500 games.

 

Happy New Year.

 

 

By the way I talked to Kenny yesterday and led him to this thread he is reading it all and laughing his @ss off remembering these stories 🤣  kinda of a nice celebration for 500 games for him!

[JP51]

1 hour ago, Just Jack said:

 

My first guess is COBOL, second would be FORTRAN.  I took both in College, but don't ask me anything about them. I do know COBOL programmers are in high demand.

 

 

 

Yet there are people here that think my karma/superstition thread after each game is stupid.  

Well safe to say your karma superstions and idosynchrasies are safe from judgement with me... lol 😆 

[JP51]

21 hours ago, boyst said:

So you're Kenny's brother? From talking to him I recall it was his brother trying to squirt the ketchup on his burger from across a distance and missed.

 

And, the engineer thing for people who are interested in coding/info is that Kenny knows the programming language of an older format seldom learned/included in new stuff but all the more still popular. He is able to work on both the old systems and new systems and is said to be one of the few in the country who can do it 

 

There is a new game people are doing now - sit in a circle and when it's your turn you chug a beer.  You're only out when you run out of beer, puke, or can't chug. A group of about 20 was playing it against KC. 

 

Nope I am friend of Kenny's he has two brothers (went to school with Frank) who did come to the tailgate parties from time to time not sure if they ever got into a ketchup fight lol it's certainly possible they are all hysterical. But no ketchup was started like i wrote 

Edited January 1 by JP51

[BillsPride12]

1 hour ago, JP51 said:

Did i coerce you into a bowling ball shot lol 😆 

I don't think I needed too much coercing back in those days 😂

[JP51]

10 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

I don't think I needed too much coercing back in those days 😂

As long as I don't owe you an apology lol all good 😆

[stevewin]

3 hours ago, Just Jack said:

 

My first guess is COBOL, second would be FORTRAN.  I took both in College, but don't ask me anything about it them. I do know COBOL programmers are in high demand.

Ha same - I also took Pascal 😛

 

I have a good buddy who worked for M&T and maintanied COBOL code on IBM AS/400's for years and years (we used to joke about it bc I worked for IBM)  - he got laid off from M&T a couple years ago and now works for an insurance company doing the exact same thing.

Edited January 1 by stevewin