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

[SoMAn]

2 hours ago, Simon said:

 

Agreed.

Mustard and mayo are the only acceptable condiments on a burger.

Right?! I’m glad somebody gets it.

Hot dogs too. Mustard. 

[Simon]

1 hour ago, Jauronimo said:

You had not considered just handing him the bottle of ketchup?

 

[JohnNord]

5 hours ago, 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....  

 

What is Kenny like in real life?  Some of the traditions he created are just so strange and out there.   The cooking food on car hoods and shovels etc.  where does that come from?

[JP51]

1 hour ago, stevewin said:

Don't sell yourself short - "how about I get on the hood of the Pinto and squirt the ketchup on your burger that way" is not a thing most mere mortals dream up on the spot

Nope bacon lettuce and tomato on my burgers 

2 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

 

What is Kenny like in real life?  Some of the traditions he created are just so strange and out there.   The cooking food on car hoods and shovels etc.  where does that come from?

So this is a scientific engineer who is smarter than I will ever hope to be. Kind and caring zero pretense and loves ideas that are so out of the norm that he just gravitates to them. Excellent Dad husband super positive and optimistic don't know anyone who ever had a bad thing to say about the man. Generous fun loving and VERY eccentric 

1 hour ago, BillsPride12 said:

I don't care what anybody says....It's an awesome tradition

 

Congrats to Pinto Ron on 500!

I enjoyed it cause I didn't get messy what people don't know is he brings a change of clothes to the game of the exact or similar to what he wears and changes after 

[JP51]

6 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

 

What is Kenny like in real life?  Some of the traditions he created are just so strange and out there.   The cooking food on car hoods and shovels etc.  where does that come from?

The traditions evolved he started the pancakes on the shovel and burgers chicken wings in the army helmet. Pete started the Pizza in the filing cabinet and it just went on and on the more insane the better

[JP51]

16 hours ago, Rubes said:

I must have missed it over the years but I never did hear the story of how Kenny came to be known as Ron.

 

So way back in the 90s Joe Cahn from Athlon sports magazine came to do a piece on this "Crazy Bills tailgate party" He came to the party and did everything, Bowling Ball shots, Drank the wine from the stomped on grapes from the year before, ate off the hood, witnessed Ketchup all of it... he interviewed Kenny and some of us and got his names wrong... so when the article came out he referred to Kenny as "Pinto Ron" and it just stuck... .  and that is how Kenny became Pinto Ron... 

 

fun fact, Joe Cahn had so much fun he came back about yearly for a few years..

Edited December 31, 2024 by JP51

[BillsPride12]

24 minutes ago, JP51 said:

So way back in the 90s Joe Cahn from Athlon sports magazine came to do a piece on this "Crazy Bills tailgate party" He came to the party and did everything, Bowling Ball shots, Drank the wine from the stomped on grapes from the year before, ate off the hood, witnessed Ketchup all of it... he interviewed Kenny and some of us and got his names wrong... so when the article came out he referred to Kenny as "Pinto Ron" and it just stuck... .  and that is how Kenny became Pinto Ron... 

 

fun fact, Joe Cahn had so much fun he came back about yearly for a few years..

I remember Joe Cahn and the awesome tailgating blogs he used to do around the NFL and Colleges in the early 2000s.

 

Sadly I believe he passed away some years ago correct?  

[JP51]

7 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

I remember Joe Cahn and the awesome tailgating blogs he used to do around the NFL and Colleges in the early 2000s.

 

Sadly I believe he passed away some years ago correct?  

I believe he did... he was a fun down to earth guy.. but a real character  and you know what it may have been the late 90s but it could have been the early 2000s cause the party moved to the main lot from the side lot when they got rid of the bubble and built the field house... 

Edited December 31, 2024 by JP51

[BillsPride12]

3 minutes ago, JP51 said:

I believe he did... he was a fun down to earth guy.. but a real character  and you know what it may have been the late 90s but it could have been the early 2000s cause the party moved to the main lot from the side lot when they got rid of the bubble and built the field house... 

I never met him..but I enjoyed his work

 

RIP Joe 

[CA OC Bills Fan]

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed getting this history!

 

I'd like to hear if others agree with something I recently told my daughter's boyfriend. He's grew up in Chicago and is a Bears fan. He's actually turning into a bit of a Bills fan ever since I took them to the playoff game against NE a couple years ago. I told him that we have the huge reputation of crazy tailgates (i think most non-Bills fans know about jumping through tables but not so much about Pinto Ron, etc.) mostly from the drought years. Now that the Bills are good again, it's more about the game and less usable jumping. It's like what else could we do for all those years but drink and do crazy shxx. Now the games actually matter!

 

Am I wrong? 

[JP51]

8 minutes ago, CA OC Bills Fan said:

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed getting this history!

 

I'd like to hear if others agree with something I recently told my daughter's boyfriend. He's grew up in Chicago and is a Bears fan. He's actually turning into a bit of a Bills fan ever since I took them to the playoff game against NE a couple years ago. I told him that we have the huge reputation of crazy tailgates (i think most non-Bills fans know about jumping through tables but not so much about Pinto Ron, etc.) mostly from the drought years. Now that the Bills are good again, it's more about the game and less usable jumping. It's like what else could we do for all those years but drink and do crazy shxx. Now the games actually matter!

 

Am I wrong? 

Well I will say this... these things got started during the Super Bowl years so it was less what else do we have to do and more just the crazy... but also... very superstitious people that pushed their superstitious OCD to an increasingly more insane, bazaar, eccentric level... so for me it was really more... the crazier the idea the better chance we had of winning... but thats just me... 

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

Imagine how life would be different if we had lost that game...

I have to say that as a Pinto Tailgate regular, I much prefer the games he doesn't do it.  Makes for a much more social experience.  Could barely move after 10AM Sunday...

[JP51]

55 minutes ago, JÂy RÛßeÒ said:

Imagine how life would be different if we had lost that game...

I have to say that as a Pinto Tailgate regular, I much prefer the games he doesn't do it.  Makes for a much more social experience.  Could barely move after 10AM Sunday...

Indeed how long have you been going? I moved and stopped somewhere around 2010...  

[Sierra Foothills]

20 hours ago, JohnNord said:

What is Kenny like in real life?  Some of the traditions he created are just so strange and out there.   The cooking food on car hoods and shovels etc.  where does that come from?

 

I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting Kenny and his wife at a tailgate at State Farm Stadium (Phoenix) in 2012.

 

What a gentleman and fun guy!

 

4 hours ago, CA OC Bills Fan said:

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed getting this history!

 

I'd like to hear if others agree with something I recently told my daughter's boyfriend. He's grew up in Chicago and is a Bears fan. He's actually turning into a bit of a Bills fan ever since I took them to the playoff game against NE a couple years ago. I told him that we have the huge reputation of crazy tailgates (i think most non-Bills fans know about jumping through tables but not so much about Pinto Ron, etc.) mostly from the drought years. Now that the Bills are good again, it's more about the game and less usable jumping. It's like what else could we do for all those years but drink and do crazy shxx. Now the games actually matter!

 

Am I wrong? 

 

I don't know but I'm pretty sheepish about the tailgate antics. The Bills fans definitely have a national reputation and it's not all good. The clownishness gets lots of play.

 

For instance:

 

 

That said, out here in Northern CA with the Niners having a down year and Josh being from the Central Valley, there are a lot of Bills converts. A couple of guys I work with wanted and received Buffalo Bills caps for Christmas.

 

[Simon]

2 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

 

 

 

 

At Dead shows we used to call that the trippin whippet blue lip shuffle 

[boyst]

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. 

[The BLUES Brothers]

Enjoyed the history lesson of Bills Fandom! 

 

I was lucky enough to witnes the reenactment before the Bills-Giants SNF game recently - The build-up was Epic-  the whole crowd was in a frenzy!

 

Enjoyed a slice of filing cabinet pizza, too! Thank you, JP51 for getting it all started!

[CA OC Bills Fan]

2 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting Kenny and his wife at a tailgate at State Farm Stadium (Phoenix) in 2012.

 

What a gentleman and fun guy!

 

 

I don't know but I'm pretty sheepish about the tailgate antics. The Bills fans definitely have a national reputation and it's not all good. The clownishness gets lots of play.

 

For instance:

 

 

That said, out here in Northern CA with the Niners having a down year and Josh being from the Central Valley, there are a lot of Bills converts. A couple of guys I work with wanted and received Buffalo Bills caps for Christmas.

 

Love it (Bills converts that is, not the YouTube)! I mentioned in the post you quoted that my daughter's boyfriend is from Chicago and is a lifelong Bears fan. I took him (as well as my daughter, wife, and son) to the NE playoff game a couple of years ago. He wanted Bills gear this year for Christmas! Not so sure I'd call him a convert, but with the Bears being sooo bad for so long and since my family are all Bills fans, he's on his way. Or, he's just trying to butter me up. 

[Ralonzo]

On 12/30/2024 at 3:58 PM, RichStadiumGuy said:

And pickles!

 

[JP51]

15 hours ago, The BLUES Brothers said:

Enjoyed the history lesson of Bills Fandom! 

 

I was lucky enough to witnes the reenactment before the Bills-Giants SNF game recently - The build-up was Epic-  the whole crowd was in a frenzy!

 

Enjoyed a slice of filing cabinet pizza, too! Thank you, JP51 for getting it all started!

Well it's really Kenny but I was glad to be a part of it! And Pete the genius he is came up with the filing cabinet Pizza sheer brilliance in my opinion and really very good Pizza as it were ... 😆