#89 Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 You mean like This? And This. The jets kid was like Namath - the only one who was looking at the camera and not where he was suppose to
Chandler#81 Posted October 9, 2008 Author Posted October 9, 2008 You mean like This? And This. Man! This brings back great memories!
Wacka Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 Born in '57. I remember going to my cousin's house to watch the 1965 AFL Championship game on their color TV. My uncle worked at the Chevy plant on Delevan and he was the only one who could afford a color TV.
49er Fan Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 Born in '71. I remember the Bills making the playoffs in '80 under Knox because everyone in WNY was excited about it. In the AFC Divisional Playoffs, the game was in San Diego and Buffalo was up on the Chargers 14-3 at halftime. But the Bills were shut-out in the 2nd half and the Chargers scored 17 unanswered to win 20-14. Joe Ferguson was pretty awful, getting picked off multiple times. Dan Fouts passed for over 300 yards and threw a late 50-yard bomb to a guy named Ron B. Smith to seal it. Tough loss, but not bad considering the team they were up against - the Coryell offense featured Fouts, John Jefferson, Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow - 3 future HOFers and a 1st-team All-Pro in Jefferson. The next year, I moved to San Francisco and fortuitously watched the 49ers win 13 regular season games and their first Super Bowl.
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted October 9, 2008 Posted October 9, 2008 Born in '67, I remember OJ and 2003 yards in 1973, but the first real memory is from the 1974 opener. My Dad went to the game with his friend, and I tried to stay up listening to it on the radio... fell asleep with the radio on, but when I woke up my dad had draped over me the Bills pennant he bought for me at the game. For some reason when I think of that story it gets all dusty and my eyes water.... weird, huh? Go Bills!
stevewin Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 My first Bills memory was being very young going to a game at the Rockpile. I remember it was muddy - and at some point we were behind the Jets bench. My Dad pointed out Joe Namath and said "That's Joe Namath - remember this - that you saw him up close in person!" - and I always have
rockpile Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Born in '53. My Dad was a Bills fan and co-founded the Buffalo Bills Boosters Club, Inc, the rest are all "Bills Backers". I remember training camps but I am not sure where they were held. My earliest memory of the Bills is watching them practice while eating a popsicle, sittinging top of a huge mound of dirt. We got bored and played "King of the Hill". I went to a few dozen games at the rockpile. I hated getting stuck behind a pole in the covered end zone. Once we saw some the Bills play local disk jockeys in an off season basketball game - I think for charity. The Bills used to have to pick up jobs in the off season because many did not make enough playing to live on! I used to love watching people fight over FG's and extra points kicked into the stands (no goal post nets). I met Tom Day in 1964 and was hooked for life. I remember working at Foit's on the lake shore in Hamburg and Ed Rutkowski came in for dinner. He was the "disaster" QB at the time. Had to listen to MANY games on the radio. I remember my dad watching on AFL game on one TV, an NFL game on a smaller portable TV, and listening to the Bills on the radio. When we got a motorized roof antenna we watched a lot of CFL games too. Lots of great memories.
The Senator Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Born in '53. My Dad was a Bills fan and co-founded the Buffalo Bills Boosters Club, Inc, the rest are all "Bills Backers". I remember training camps but I am not sure where they were held. My earliest memory of the Bills is watching them practice while eating a popsicle, sittinging top of a huge mound of dirt. We got bored and played "King of the Hill". I went to a few dozen games at the rockpile. I hated getting stuck behind a pole in the covered end zone. Once we saw some the Bills play local disk jockeys in an off season basketball game - I think for charity. The Bills used to have to pick up jobs in the off season because many did not make enough playing to live on! I used to love watching people fight over FG's and extra points kicked into the stands (no goal post nets). I met Tom Day in 1964 and was hooked for life. I remember working at Foit's on the lake shore in Hamburg and Ed Rutkowski came in for dinner. He was the "disaster" QB at the time. Had to listen to MANY games on the radio. I remember my dad watching on AFL game on one TV, an NFL game on a smaller portable TV, and listening to the Bills on the radio. When we got a motorized roof antenna we watched a lot of CFL games too. Lots of great memories. WOW, RP - big TV, portable, radio, and throw in the 'motorized antenna' - that was the definition of 'hi-tech'! (I still marvel at those electro-mechanical relay remote things that made the VHF dial spin ) Remember when 'data storage' was paper tape? I used to be able to read ASCII and Baudot tapes off the M32/M33 ASRs...then, along came those fancy PDP-8's, core memory, VT100s, and that newfangled mag-tape... OMFG...I'm Cincy!!!!! (JK ) Here's a memory to help thru the bye week... 1966 - The Game Nobody Saw Now those guys were players who played for absolute love of the game (plus about $6,000.00 a year), and left their hearts on the field when it was over... Ernie Freakin' "The Big Cat" Ladd... Link
KRC Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Here's a memory to help thru the bye week... 1966 - The Game Nobody Saw Now those guys were players who played for absolute love of the game (plus about $6,000.00 a year), and left their hearts on the field when it was over... Ironically, the 1965 AFL Championship Game is the subject of next week's Historical Game of the Week, since we are playing the Chargers.
Chandler#81 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Posted October 10, 2008 Here's a memory to help thru the bye week... 1966 - The Game Nobody Saw Now those guys were players who played for absolute love of the game (plus about $6,000.00 a year), and left their hearts on the field when it was over... Ernie Freakin' "The Big Cat" Ladd... Link Great article! I guess I hadn't realized the TV competition against the NFL that day, as I was only an AFLer. McGuire was also an ex-Charger and has great stories to relate about this game as well. He also supplied the key block on Byrd's punt return. I know this game film is still around as I saw it about 10 years ago on Buff channel 17's marketing drive. Wish they'd show it again..
Ned Flanders Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Man! This brings back great memories! More Scroll down the page a bit...
LewPort71 Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 64 AFL Championship from the Rockpile was not on local TV.....channel 2. Dad and a buddy from his work and I went to a state park in the Southern Tier. Hooked up a portable TV to the car battery and watched the game in the car. Also, I remember the rain of beer cans at the Rockpile when the fans were in a foul mood. I think this was a game against the Pats.
Chandler#81 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Posted October 10, 2008 Also, I remember the rain of beer cans at the Rockpile when the fans werein a foul mood. I think this was a game against the Pats. According to McGuire, the cans were FULL!
LewPort71 Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Yes they were....well some were... Some were opened and we got wet.... But thankfully not 'bonked' I also remember my dad breaking up a fight after a game on the way to the car. He was a big guy, but my mom was ticked off. "What if one of the fighting idiots had a knife' was her concern. Another memory... Going to Chin's Chinese restaurant on Main Street before a game. Started my love of Chinese food.
billsfreak Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 Born in 1962, my childhood days were spent as a Raider fan (Marv Hubbard was from my hometown-Salamanca). In Pee Wee football, I remember during a round robin (all teams play each other in shortened games), J.D. Hill was there signing autographs, probably around 1972 or so. My first Bills game was against Atlanta, the Bills won 3-0 on a Neil ODonaghue (spelling is probably wrong) and O.J. got his 10,000 yard. After the game, they cut their kicker (first time in NFL history that a kicker kicked a game winner and got cut) and he later went on with a somewhat long career with Tampa. I went the following week, it was freezing, the Bills lost to the Browns and Keith Moody ran a long punt back for a Touchdown. It was at that point when I started following the Bills and have been a diehard every since. After 20 years in the Navy, living around the world, and the last 15 years in Virginia, I still bleed red, white and blue in more than one ways than one.
JoeFerguson Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 I was born in 1980 in Buffalo. My name really is Joe Ferguson. My father is a Bills fan. His father was a Bills fan. My mother's father was a Bills fan. My uncle is a Bills fan. Do you think it's a coincidence that I was given the same name as the starting Bills quarterback? I don't have any one first memory of the Bills. I was born a Bills fan, it is my birthright. I have three brothers and they are Bills fans. When we were kids we moved throughout the country...California, back to Buffalo, Pennsylvania, Tennessee. I always proudly displayed my loyalty to the Bills. I wore all my Bills stuff to school in Pennsylvania the day after the first Cowboys Super Bowl and was really ridiculed for it. I have a hard time identifying with people who could just loosely follow the most successful team of the day (bandwagoners). Today if I meet a Buffalo native who says they aren't a Bills fan I really have a hard time understanding them. Abandoning the Bills is like abandoning your country, your roots. If you are a Buffalonian who doesn't root for the Bills, how can I trust that you won't stab me in the back someday the same way you've stabbed your hometown in the back? My grandfather and uncle have had season tickets since the 2nd year Rich opened. My grandfather died four years ago. I now attend all the games with my uncle. I have so many fond memories going to the game as a kid and watching all the crazy people drink themselves into a stupor (I thought it was funny). The coolest thing for me was giving high fives to perfect strangers every time the Bills scored. I still love doing that! There is a speech that Billy Crystal gave in City Slickers about how going to the Yankees game with his Dad was the best day of his life. I still get that same feeling of nostalgia every time I go to the Ralph, and will admit that on opening day I get a little misty during the national anthem. I love to call my dad and brothers on game day to lament about the highs and lows of the Bills. Bonding with your family over the Bills is probably something that sounds ridiculous to outsiders but completely normal for me and probably anyone reading this thread. For a while my girlfriend didn't quite understand it, but now I think she does. I buy in to all those NFL films videos with Tim Russert and Vincent Gallo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaEfWYqVy7Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PlWZDZboQw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PlWZDZboQw Sometimes I really feel like that "We are the BILLS" guy that loses it in this video: When the Bills win it all, I am going to admit right here that I will cry tears of joy. I was born a Buffalo Bills fan and I will die a Buffalo Bills fan.
Chandler#81 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Posted October 10, 2008 The coolest thing for me was giving high fives to perfect strangers every time the Bills scored. I still love doing that! IMO, the best part about being there!
LewPort71 Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 IMO, the best part about being there! Exactly,,,,,hopefully the Bills score a lot and there is LOTS of high fiving. The home opener (2008) had a lot of that too. It was my SIL's first NFL game ever and he got a kick out of the high fiving and SHOUT !
My Friends Call Me Tebucky Posted October 10, 2008 Posted October 10, 2008 I was born in '81. My first real memory of watching the Bills was actually a strike game against the Giants in '87. The first football game I ever really watched was probably the worst one as well. I think the Bills won 6-3 in OT or something. After that, I don't really have many memories until '89. I remember pretty well the Bills getting their asses kicked in Chicago in '88, and the AFC Championship game later that year.
Chandler#81 Posted October 10, 2008 Author Posted October 10, 2008 I was born in '81. My first real memory of watching the Bills was actually a strike game against the Giants in '87. The first football game I ever really watched was probably the worst one as well. I think the Bills won 6-3 in OT or something. Todd Schlopy!! SI did an article once on Lawernce Taylor claiming that was his very best game as a pro. Many players had crossed the picket line and he almost single handidly beat us that day as he attempted to stop the bleeding for the Champs. It was my son's first game as well.
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