A Post about the Millenial Generation

[Peevo]

I don't post here often at all. I'm sure I'm probably gonna get flamed to all hell for this post. But after witnessing this nuclear holocaust of a football game last night I have to get some thoughts off my chest. Any Buffalo sports fan born on or about 1985 or after, I was born in '87, must be suffering from an inferiority complex the size of the Atlantic. Seriously. We have NEVER witnessed anything close to a winner. I was 2 years old when Norwood missed the field goal. I have no recollection of any Bills playoff games of that era, let alone any of the regular season games of the "days." The only playoff games I can remember vividly remember watching, were '98-'99, when I was literally 12 years old, worrying about Star Wars, Magic Cards, and Final Fantasy VII.

 

I'm SICK OF LOSING EVERY YEAR, EVERY TIME. I can't take it anymore. These teams, Sabres, Bills, et all find ways to make me miserable time and again, every year. I just want FOR ONCE in my life, to sip a beer, and watch a Bills playoff game. Just one. Seriously. We can get killed 53-3, I don't care. I just wanna watch the Bills in the playoffs and appreciate it. The older generation at least can look back and say, "well at least I can remember when..." Anyone from 16 years of age on can only remember heartbreaking loss, after blowout, after heartbreaking loss, after blown call et all. We haven't had a winning season since I was a senior in High School, and even then, we choked vs Pittsburgh's 3rd stringers. Yes, this is a rant. I'm offering no analysis or contribution to yesterday's meltdown. But I really don't care. I'm sick of this. Someone convice me how to stop caring so much, so I won't be this depressed again. There needs to be SOMETHING to do here besides drink and watch sports. Good job Bills, you've reaffirmed all young fan's cynicism, fatalism, and distrust in anything you guys do. Call me a baby, a whiner, fine. But seriously, if anyone is below the age of 30 reading this, I think can somewhat identify with what I'm talking about. JUST ONE WINNER. That's all I want and Ill never complain again. I promise.

[stuckincincy]

I don't post here often at all. I'm sure I'm probably gonna get flamed to all hell for this post. But after witnessing this nuclear holocaust of a football game last night I have to get some thoughts off my chest. Any Buffalo sports fan born on or about 1985 or after, I was born in '87, must be suffering from an inferiority complex the size of the Atlantic. Seriously. We have NEVER witnessed anything close to a winner. I was 2 years old when Norwood missed the field goal. I have no recollection of any Bills playoff games of that era, let alone any of the regular season games of the "days." The only playoff games I can remember vividly remember watching, were '98-'99, when I was literally 12 years old, worrying about Star Wars, Magic Cards, and Final Fantasy VII.

 

I'm SICK OF LOSING EVERY YEAR, EVERY TIME. I can't take it anymore. These teams, Sabres, Bills, et all find ways to make me miserable time and again, every year. I just want FOR ONCE in my life, to sip a beer, and watch a Bills playoff game. Just one. Seriously. We can get killed 53-3, I don't care. I just wanna watch the Bills in the playoffs and appreciate it. The older generation at least can look back and say, "well at least I can remember when..." Anyone from 16 years of age on can only remember heartbreaking loss, after blowout, after heartbreaking loss, after blown call et all. We haven't had a winning season since I was a senior in High School, and even then, we choked vs Pittsburgh's 3rd stringers. Yes, this is a rant. I'm offering no analysis or contribution to yesterday's meltdown. But I really don't care. I'm sick of this. Someone convice me how to stop caring so much, so I won't be this depressed again. There needs to be SOMETHING to do here besides drink and watch sports. Good job Bills, you've reaffirmed all young fan's cynicism, fatalism, and distrust in anything you guys do. Call me a baby, a whiner, fine. But seriously, if anyone is below the age of 30 reading this, I think can somewhat identify with what I'm talking about. JUST ONE WINNER. That's all I want and Ill never complain again. I promise.

 

Self-esteem is the keystone of modern education.

[stevewin]

Cry me a river - all these whiny Gen Xers coming on here saying how bad they had it in the 80's. Try growing up with the Bills in the 70's - that requires real fortitude....

[Peevo]

Cry me a river - all these whiny Gen Xers coming on here saying how bad they had it in the 80's. Try growing up with the Bills in the 70's - that requires real fortitude....

 

You didn't read my post. I was born in '87. I have, well, no recollections of the 80's. Sorry I was 2.

[stephenjames716]

I was born in 80 and remember wide right in XXV as one of the first times I cried over a loss. As bad as these losses are to take, we are lucky enough to have professional sports teams, and when they win it feels damn good. Our time will come.

[BuffaloWings]

I was born in 80 and remember wide right in XXV as one of the first times I cried over a loss. As bad as these losses are to take, we are lucky enough to have professional sports teams, and when they win it feels damn good. Our time will come.

I didn't cry over that one, but I came closer & closer to doing so after each SB loss and gut-wrenching loss.

 

Hopefully, you're right....our time will come. These losses get more excruciating because of the team's history. This is how Red Sox fans felt for years.

[LabattBlue]

Cry me a river - all these whiny Gen Xers coming on here saying how bad they had it in the 80's. Try growing up with the Bills in the 70's - that requires real fortitude....

 

 

I have almost 80 years of combined seasons of following the Bills and the Sabres with no championships to show for it. Boo Freakin' Hoo for the Millenial Generation.

[BarkLessWagMore]

I was born in 80 and remember wide right in XXV as one of the first times I cried over a loss. As bad as these losses are to take, we are lucky enough to have professional sports teams, and when they win it feels damn good. Our time will come.

 

 

And that right there sums it all up. Unbridled (and often unwarranted) optimism is what it means to be a Buffalo sports fan. Hang in there Peevo and welcome to our little cult.

[RayFinkle]

Cry me a river - all these whiny Gen Xers coming on here saying how bad they had it in the 80's. Try growing up with the Bills in the 70's - that requires real fortitude....

Gen Xers? Dude was born in 1987.

[KD in CA]

I have almost 80 years of combined seasons of following the Bills and the Sabres with no championships to show for it. Boo Freakin' Hoo for the Millenial Generation.

 

 

83 and counting for me....makes me think of the poster here with the most appropriate screen name:

 

Sisyphean Bills

[mjbb64]

I for one absolutely agree with Peevo. Sure we are whiners, complainers, and eternal optimists about our sports teams, but does that mean we should not expect to see a good product for our money. I was born in 1985. I do remember the first Super Bowl loss, but I also remember growing up experiencing the closest thing to football excellence that you could get without winning the big one. Sure, I grew up with the expectations of having a good football team, and now that I don't, I am upset. How can you blame me? Every year, some guy in Dallas, my exact age, gets ready for another football season just like I do. We both expect victory and nothing less. The only difference between us is that year in and year out, they are competitive. Don't give me, "Dallas hasn't won a playoff game since 1997," because there is a difference here. As much as I loath saying this, Dallas doesn't accept losing. The Bills as an organization, cannot get rid of the losing mentality that hangs over them. Whether its ownership, management, coaching, or player personnel, something is wrong in Buffalo and I am not happy about it. Not happy isn't the proper phrase; I am disappointed to the point of anger and humiliation. While, I know, this is sad that I invest so much into a professional sports team, that's who I am, and I guarantee that is many of you on this board. The Bills represent all of us in different ways, but most of all they represent the mentality of this city. I heard all of the "Try being a Bills fan in the 70's, kid" talk from my father. It shouldn't have been acceptable then, and to me, it is certainly not acceptable now.

[49er Fan]

Uhh, my team hasn't had a winning record since '02

 

They were 2-14 in '04.

 

SF had DENNIS ERICKSON as head coach for two years. ('03-'04)

[SectionC3]

I don't post here often at all. I'm sure I'm probably gonna get flamed to all hell for this post. But after witnessing this nuclear holocaust of a football game last night I have to get some thoughts off my chest. Any Buffalo sports fan born on or about 1985 or after, I was born in '87, must be suffering from an inferiority complex the size of the Atlantic. Seriously. We have NEVER witnessed anything close to a winner. I was 2 years old when Norwood missed the field goal. I have no recollection of any Bills playoff games of that era, let alone any of the regular season games of the "days." The only playoff games I can remember vividly remember watching, were '98-'99, when I was literally 12 years old, worrying about Star Wars, Magic Cards, and Final Fantasy VII.

 

I'm SICK OF LOSING EVERY YEAR, EVERY TIME. I can't take it anymore. These teams, Sabres, Bills, et all find ways to make me miserable time and again, every year. I just want FOR ONCE in my life, to sip a beer, and watch a Bills playoff game. Just one. Seriously. We can get killed 53-3, I don't care. I just wanna watch the Bills in the playoffs and appreciate it. The older generation at least can look back and say, "well at least I can remember when..." Anyone from 16 years of age on can only remember heartbreaking loss, after blowout, after heartbreaking loss, after blown call et all. We haven't had a winning season since I was a senior in High School, and even then, we choked vs Pittsburgh's 3rd stringers. Yes, this is a rant. I'm offering no analysis or contribution to yesterday's meltdown. But I really don't care. I'm sick of this. Someone convice me how to stop caring so much, so I won't be this depressed again. There needs to be SOMETHING to do here besides drink and watch sports. Good job Bills, you've reaffirmed all young fan's cynicism, fatalism, and distrust in anything you guys do. Call me a baby, a whiner, fine. But seriously, if anyone is below the age of 30 reading this, I think can somewhat identify with what I'm talking about. JUST ONE WINNER. That's all I want and Ill never complain again. I promise.

 

I was born in 1979, so I fully appreciate the run from 1987 through 1996. I went to every playoff game with the exception of the wild card game against the Oilers in 1988, and have attended a vast majority of the regular season games since 1990. The last time the Bills hosted a playoff game was in 1996 - I was a senior in high school. Since that time, I've had three graduations, moved from Buffalo to Geneseo to Buffalo to Rochester to Buffalo, and worked four jobs in my professional field. At the time of that game, Bill freakin' Clinton was still a first term President, Doug Flutie still played in Canada, we hadn't heard of Monica Lewinsky, the millennium, George W. Bush (oh, for those days), 9/11, etc. Kind of amazing, isn't it?

 

Anyhow, this current run of mediocrity sucks. It just plain sucks. It was nice to go to the stadium on a Monday night - kind of reminded me of the Dallas game last year, which was the closest thing I've seen in terms of atmosphere to a playoff game since the "run," but this playing not to lose routine is getting old. On some level, at some time, if you're going to lose and going to suck and going to struggle, you may as well do it in a blaze of glory. I'm not talking about hiring some idiot proclaiming that we're going to have the best defense in the history of the NFL (been there, 3G), or drafting a bunch of "skilled" morons from the U to loaf around at running back and field punts on the 1-yard line. I'm talking about playing to win the d*mn game. Like trying to get that extra first down when you have the ball on your opponent's 34 with a minute left at the end of a long cold night with the wind in your face. Like showing some fire when, I don't know, you have half a dozen bad calls go against you at New England (as usual). Like disciplining a player for a stupid penalty, or a stupid fumble or getting in someone's face--referee or player--when something unacceptable happens. Like, just one time, showing an unwillingness to do anything other than win, rather than succumb to the fear of losing.

 

Whatever we're doing right now, it isn't working, and it's time for someone in Orchard Park to get upset about it.

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

I was born in '88, and I can relate to you. The only playoff experiences I remember are Pittsburgh destroying us, the loss in Miami due to that bullshlt personal foul call on Andre Reed, Todd Collins coming off the bench to lose to Jacksonville, and Home Run Throw Up. Add to that that I'm a Mets fan, and yeah...I'd love to know just once what its like to root for a winning sports team.

 

"Someone convince me how to stop caring so much." Couldn't have said it better myself, man. I truly wish I wasn't so emotionally involved with this team.

 

I always pulled through the heartbreaking losses knowing that our day had to eventually come...but with this Toronto thing looming over us, all our labor and grief may be for nothing.

 

Ah well, keep fighting, keep hoping. What more can you do?

[murra]

I addressed this issue immediately after the game here.

[Buftex]

I was born in 1965...my earliest memories of the Bills was the year Dennis Shaw was our starting QB, 1972. That is 36 years of Bills for me. In those 36 years, the Bills have made the playoffs 13 times. Each of those 13 years ended in misery...no big deal...be thankful you have only had to endure it for about 18 years.

 

In truth, the Bills history has been mostly disappointing, with lots of great moments sprinkled in between the monumental losses. But, as long as they are the Buffalo Bills, I will be with them...

 

In the major sports, my teams are/were (in order) the Bills, Sabres, Celtics, and the Expos (when I still cared about baseball). In all my time on this earth, the Celtics are the only one that ever won a championship. I was sitting in the middle of Texas, on a hot skanky night in June when the Celtics won a championship this year. I was thrilled, but, here, there was absolutely nobody who cared but me...it felt kind of hollow...if the Bills or Sabres ever pull off this impossible feat, I know I won't be alone, no matter how far from home I am...

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

I was born in 1965...my earliest memories of the Bills was the year Dennis Shaw was our starting QB, 1972. That is 36 years of Bills for me. In those 36 years, the Bills have made the playoffs 13 times. Each of those 13 years ended in misery...no big deal...be thankful you have only had to endure it for about 18 years.

 

In truth, the Bills history has been mostly disappointing, with lots of great moments sprinkled in between the monumental losses. But, as long as they are the Buffalo Bills, I will be with them...

 

In the major sports, my teams are/were (in order) the Bills, Sabres, Celtics, and the Expos (when I still cared about baseball). In all my time on this earth, the Celtics are the only one that ever won a championship. I was sitting in the middle of Texas, on a hot skanky night in June when the Celtics won a championship this year. I was thrilled, but, here, there was absolutely nobody who cared but me...it felt kind of hollow...if the Bills or Sabres ever pull off this impossible feat, I know I won't be alone, no matter how far from home I am...

At least you've had the pleasure of watching them make their way through the playoffs 4 times.

[wardigital]

It is curious to me, at least from my perspective, to see how when a younger generation of Bills fan proclaim, "We've got it bad. Real bad." that the older generation of Bills fans immediate and almost unanimous response is "You ain't see nothing yet."

 

Bills fans are a real family -- even the most jaded national sports broadcasters will submit that Buffalo comes together over it's sports teams. The team is a reflection, I think, of how the citizens of Buffalo think the rest of the world sees them viewing themselves. But I don't think that it is healthy, or entertaining, or interesting, or fun (which are what sports are all about) to compete over which type of fan has had it the worst.

 

What really bothers me, personally, about the Bills team is this -- and I think that this is why this loss is so damaging in comparison to others. Firstly, we've had worse losses, we've had more miraculous losses, we've had more painful moments, and the ditch has indeed been deeper.

 

In retrospect, the lowest of lows were far lower than we are now. In 1997, with the Super Bowl era Bills drifting into the twilight, the first real prospects of the city of Buffalo not even having a team came up -- a franchise in mortal danger a decade and a year before where we are now. In 2001, the Bills were a miserable collective of misfits, has-beens and never will bes: No player who could even consider themselves a starting quarterback, no offense, no hope.

 

Things have been bad, real bad. Drew Bledsoe brought a whole bunch of hope, and a whole bunch of points, but I could have ran for 150 yards on those defenses.

 

Last year we found ways, time and again, amazingly, to snatch defeat from the jaws of the victory -- against Denver, against Dallas.

 

And it's all hurt, but not this way -- the games that I've mentioned and the situations have always sucked, and it's always felt bad, but we've never hung our heads like this; this outpouring of emotion has never been so targeted, so specific, so beyond anger that it can only be described as exhaustion.

 

Here is why, I think: In my opinion, it hurts the worst, because we trusted this team. Unlike the others. The younger generation of Bills fans have never known a real winner, or even the facade of a real winner, and as such have come to understand that being a Buffalo Sports fan is accepting failure *most* of the time. That is what it is in any small market, in any situation that teams similar to the Bills and Sabres find themselves in. So all the time, they've drank the kool-aid... the constant, nonstop rebuilding, time and again, willing to accept that success is just another year off, because there have been so many faces and so many changes and the younger generation truthfully only remembers the Super Bowl stars as old men place-holding positions for younger, abler athletes.

 

And just like them, the older generation has come to accept mediocrity as a part of Buffalo Sports for an entirely different reason: Because in being a Buffalo sports fan for 25 or 35 or 45 years, they have no choice but to. That's life. Hell, even the best teams lose most of the time, and Buffalo sports have not always provided the best teams.

 

But there was something special about the story of this team, something that felt like a coming together. And I think that at 5-1, they held onto it just long enough where, no matter how fragile the Bills community has been, everyone collectively had to say that they were believing again. And so we sit at 5-5, and the summary is, and everyone is thinking, "Do I really have the energy, do I really have the motivation to go through this one more time? Again?"

 

Because if you can't trust a team at 5-1... if you can't get yourself amped and truly believe for a team then, on it's next in a long line of quarterbacks, led by the next in a long line of coordinators, hired by the latest in a long line of coaches, then when can you? When can you believe? If not now, when?

 

For about eight years, the Bills were a model NFL franchise -- and even then they couldn't break the glass ceiling. And when other then that have the Buffalo Bills ever given you a reason to believe? It's like a girl you met real young, and chased your whole life, and have never, even gotten real satisfaction. Sooner or later, decades... you have to ask yourself how worth it is it really?

 

I will never not be a Bills fan. But the older I get, the less I can enjoy it. Somewhere along the line, all that enthusiasm and hope starts to drift away, starts to lose itself in other things. Sometimes you don't get the girl, and that's ok.

 

I think we'll all always love the Bills, no matter what. But how often have they ever loved us back?

[JPicc2114]

All i know is.. I used to rip people's faces off with the Bills in Techmo Super Bowl