Attention Fair weathered Losers....

[Fan in San Diego]

If I lived in Buffalo, or even within 200 miles of the Ralph, I'd buy seasons. As it is, I pay to fly back every year for at least one or two games with my dad and sometimes the whole family. What I will say is that the turn-off at the game is the gaggle of belligerent drunks more than the product on the football field. I enjoy my beer, but I have been sort of floored at how negative the atmosphere is, and that's saying something considering this is Buffalo.

 

Love the town, love the team, but some of the people could use a major attitude adjustment. The way this team was run off the field at the last (Titans) home game was unacceptable considering they did give us more fun than we perhaps expected. Perhaps we'll be losing some of the people who perpetuate this attitude. Or, perhaps their seats will be filled with more people like them. Hope not.

 

Really looking forward to the next season, though.

 

What do you mean the team was run off the field at the last home game ? I don't remember hearing any incidents about that ?

[Lv-Bills]

I don't think tater is referring to you in this case. You being from Virginia and owning season tix are above and beyond the call of a fan. What tater's b!tching about is the fact that people in WNY make a 'Bold' statement on the board about why they no longer want to buy tickets because of Ralph, Marv, the lunar eclipse..etc.

 

If someone was to come out and say: "Look I can't afford it so I have to give up my tix." No one would bat an eyelash.

 

It's the pompous, self-serving types that come on here and go: "I want to send a message to Ralph Wilson. I refuse to renew my ticket because...blah...blah...blah"...shut the f#ck up already~!

 

No one would call you fairweather if you said: "Look I live in Virginia and I just can't afford to make the trip out." It's the people in Buffalo who quit on our team that infuriate us.

I agree with you here. And I'm still OK with where the Bills are. But if we slip into being a farm team for the rest of the NFL, I will most likely stop my season tickets in the future. And, I'm fortunate enough that I can afford to come from Virginia.

 

But, in someone like my case......30's, just gettting married (in which my fiance loves the Bills too), and probably planning a child soon.....if the Bills don't put forth the effort to be competitive, I'm not going to keep throwing my money at them and coming to their home games, when I pass 3 other NFL teams on the way up there who are actually trying to win.

 

I don't blame Ralph. I don't blame Marv. It's the game changing from an actual sport to a business. It has killed baseball, and it will kill football sooner or later. If the Bills become basically a farm team, my money will be better vested in my future child or something else.

 

I'm not at that point yet.......but I've reached it in other sports. I hope the Bills stay competitive, at the very least. I too can't fathom though, how in the hell the people in Buffalo, who can go to a game dirt cheap, can stand up there and B word about last year. The value of a Bills ticket last year was well worth the money.

[krazykat]

Attention Fair weathered Losers....

Don't talk about the team's leadership and front office like that.

[krazykat]

Funny how you just perfectly described the definition of "Fairweather Fan".

So what you would call a "good fan" is really a financier of the Bills then, huh?

 

It's called a free market. Anytime the Bills want people to buy tickets maybe they can start managing the team as if they're all drunk constantly and all caught up in their own press statements at Bills.com.

 

Funny thing though, their continued risky decisions just never seem to pay off.

 

In the meanwhile, just to show us all what a great fan you are, how about buying an extra four seats or so, or wait, better yet, just send the team a check for one, two, or five thousand dollars and tell them that you appreciate how they are running the team and you really enjoy the games as they are.

 

Then scan a copy of the cancelled check and come show us what a big and marvelous fan you are!

[DrDawkinstein]

If I lived in Buffalo, or even within 200 miles of the Ralph, I'd buy seasons. As it is, I pay to fly back every year for at least one or two games with my dad and sometimes the whole family. What I will say is that the turn-off at the game is the gaggle of belligerent drunks more than the product on the football field. I enjoy my beer, but I have been sort of floored at how negative the atmosphere is, and that's saying something considering this is Buffalo.

 

Love the town, love the team, but some of the people could use a major attitude adjustment. The way this team was run off the field at the last (Titans) home game was unacceptable considering they did give us more fun than we perhaps expected. Perhaps we'll be losing some of the people who perpetuate this attitude. Or, perhaps their seats will be filled with more people like them. Hope not.

 

Really looking forward to the next season, though.

 

i ABSOLUTELY agree with you regarding the drunken fans. or rather, the NEGATIVE drunken fans. i remember going to games in the mid-80s and there were plenty of drunks there, but everyone was pretty nice too. now, you get a group of kids who seem to have their first taste of beer in the parking lot and try to fight everyone at the game.

 

the only thing i disagree with you on is the booing at the Titans game. the way the team MIS-HANDLED the clock and horrible play calling and NOT trying to kick the field goal, it seemed like they voluntarily just gave up. remember, that game was going to keep the little spark that was our playoff hopes alive. and the team just seemed to completely shut down at the end of the game.

 

but i do agree. a good chunk of Bills "fans" need a major attitude adjustment towards the positive.

[krazykat]

Kind of agree here....if you cancel your tickets, the only people that really need to know why is the people at One Bills Drive.

And naturally, if they do decide to cancel, then they forego all rights to airing their grievances here, right?

 

I see. So this in essence becomes a forum for people who are in the sheer and utter denial of reality.

 

LOL

 

A vacuum cleaner salesman could get rich right here.

[RuntheDamnBall]

What do you mean the team was run off the field at the last home game ? I don't remember hearing any incidents about that ?

I was in the tunnel-end zone so this is probably half of it, but people were just booing, yelling, screaming 'you f---ing suck' in front of kids, etc especially when they didn't go for the field goal near the end, and when the team went back into the tunnel the treatment was worse. I don't know. I think the team tried their darndest and they are still learning, players and staff alike. Maybe I excuse them too much. But I thought it was a lousy way to say thanks for giving us a fairly exciting season. If I were a player it wouldn't make me that interested in staying. It's worlds apart from the reception the crowd gave TKO, for example, end of the season before he signed.

 

I just miss the positivity around Bills games -- you get it at the tailgates and I probably need to hit those up with some of the cooler people around here. Seems like it must make it a lot more fun.

[RuntheDamnBall]

i ABSOLUTELY agree with you regarding the drunken fans. or rather, the NEGATIVE drunken fans. i remember going to games in the mid-80s and there were plenty of drunks there, but everyone was pretty nice too. now, you get a group of kids who seem to have their first taste of beer in the parking lot and try to fight everyone at the game.

 

the only thing i disagree with you on is the booing at the Titans game. the way the team MIS-HANDLED the clock and horrible play calling and NOT trying to kick the field goal, it seemed like they voluntarily just gave up. remember, that game was going to keep the little spark that was our playoff hopes alive. and the team just seemed to completely shut down at the end of the game.

 

but i do agree. a good chunk of Bills "fans" need a major attitude adjustment towards the positive.

I did think the coaches mishandled the clock. But they made many positive strides this past season and it was no way to let the players leave the field for the last time we'd see them this season. Boo the play, for sure. Boo the players when they're leaving and taunt them en route to the tunnel, swear at them? It just left a bad taste in my mouth as we left the game, made my $50 seem less well spent.

 

Like Bill from NYC and some others around here, I like going to games win or lose. Sure, you want to win, but if you can handle and shrug off the bad times the good ones feel so much better.

 

Were this a team like Detroit, I might feel differently.

[DrDawkinstein]

I did think the coaches mishandled the clock. But they made many positive strides this past season and it was no way to let the players leave the field for the last time we'd see them this season. Boo the play, for sure. Boo the players when they're leaving and taunt them en route to the tunnel, swear at them? It just left a bad taste in my mouth as we left the game, made my $50 seem less well spent.

 

Like Bill from NYC and some others around here, I like going to games win or lose. Sure, you want to win, but if you can handle and shrug off the bad times the good ones feel so much better.

 

Were this a team like Detroit, I might feel differently.

 

 

yeah, being where you were in the stadium, you may have had a different perspective on it than i did. i agree with you. i like going to games to. i just think peoples shoulders are sore from shrugging off bad games so often though...

 

ill still keep it positive going into this season!

[Sketch Soland]

So what you would call a "good fan" is really a financier of the Bills then, huh?

 

No, but I'll address this below.

 

It's called a free market. Anytime the Bills want people to buy tickets maybe they can start managing the team as if they're all drunk constantly and all caught up in their own press statements at Bills.com.

 

WTF does that even mean? I guess you mean, "If they did everything I would have told them to do when they did [completely retarded decision] back then we would be kicking arse and taking names right now but for some reason those bastard front office quacks never asked me back then what to do about [100% obvious situation] so I can't understand why with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight now why those bastard front office quacks didn't make [100% obvious decision] back then?"

 

Funny thing though, their continued risky decisions just never seem to pay off.

 

Okay, so never watch a game again, buy tickets for a game, or post on this board because "their risky decisions never seem to pay off". You seem to think NFL football is a hooked on phonics textbook that any 2nd grader can master with a frikkin' crayola.

 

In the meanwhile, just to show us all what a great fan you are, how about buying an extra four seats or so, or wait, better yet, just send the team a check for one, two, or five thousand dollars and tell them that you appreciate how they are running the team and you really enjoy the games as they are.

 

Then scan a copy of the cancelled check and come show us what a big and marvelous fan you are!

 

Okay, let's take a look at the text i bolded:

 

you're not a fair weathered fan if you cancel your tickets, tickets are not cheap and usually people decide to cancel them when they are not happy with the product they are paying for

 

My opinion is that this attitude is representative of what a fairweather fan is. It's not so much the not renewing season tickets as much as it is the willingness to just deprioritize your fanhood for the rather petty reasons of disagreeing with Front Office Maneuverings or that we're not going in the "right direction". We're not talking about economic hardship here. This is not an issue of giving up tickets because you can't afford them. Diehard Fandom is not a product that is up for renewal each year, imo. But, hey, people can do whatever they want: you can keep playing devil's advocate for the Chicken Little Crackhead Brigade and whomever can cancel their season tickets for whatever reason that their little hearts desire. First and foremost, diehard fans derive great PLEASURE from watching or going to Bills games and would not change those Sundays for the world. If you do not feel that way, and you can take it or leave it, then you are a fairweather fan and I personally feel you should GTFO of this forum because your whiny crap is really hackneyed and tired, imo.

 

What this means is i'm attacking an attitude, not a person's relative economic status or financial investment in the team. And anyway, I can't believe that I actually have to argue the fact that someone giving up their season tickets for a non-economic or non-personal hardship reason is not the textbook definition of a fairweather fan!