BB2004 Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 One thing I've seen here and in talking with fellow fans is the utter dismay at the direction of the team. It seems that the longer you've been a Bills fan, the more hurt you are by the 2008 season and the decision to keep Jauron. The newer fans seem more optimistic - keep supporting the Bills and eventually they'll get better. Is there a fatigue factor in how you think? I'm curious to find out. Tell me: How long have you been a Bills fan? (Be honest - if you're 30 you haven't been a Bills fan for 30 years - when did you really become a fan?) What's your out look on the Bills now? Done with being a fan? Optimistic that with a few small tweaks we'll win the division on the next couple of years? Where are you on the spectrum? I have been a loyal Bills fan since the fisrt super bowl in 1991 when I was about 9 years old and have been following them non stop ever since. My outlook on the Bills is catiously optimistic. I would love to be the head coach of this team. Anyway, I think we have a handful of good players on our team but the biggest ting I would like to see for 2009 is the growth and leadership of Trent Edwards to lead this team to the postseason, a place the Bills have not been in nine years. No matter what happens, the Buffalo Bills will always be my favorite team.
GG Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 45-ish. Fan since '77. My article summed up the feelings. This season was different.
LabattBlue Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 Age - 49 Outlook - Still wishing for a Sabres or Bills championship in my lifetime, but caring less as the years go by.
BillsWatch Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 I am 47, played where stadium is, watched Bills football off-and-on in 70s when on TV, lost interest when medically I was no longer able to play in high school and picked it up again occasionally in college in 80s. Moved from Buffalo in 85 and was told by a friend who moved to VA in 87 that Bills played every week in bar called Greevey's and was hooked again. Saw live gave for first time in mid-90s, started my own Tribute to Tasker after that game in 95 or 96 and started a Bills Backers chapter in 97. Outlook: My enthusiasm has decreased not just due to the Bills but in change in industry and fandom. Industry has become all about the mighty dollar and how much they can milk fans out of last dollar. "Fans" are no longer traditional fans anymore but couch monkeys who KNOW they know more than professionals because they PROVED it with fantasy football and Madden mixed in with the Anti-Fans who have more enthusiasm during losses for it PROVES their pessimistic outlooks.
BillsWest Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 My age is 46, and I'm a Billaholic. I have been since the early 70's. In that time I've probably seen more bad teams than good. I'm optimistic that some day the ball will bounce the right way; the field goal post will blow three feet to the right at just the right time; or that every one of the Bills players will play up to their draft position or better. Until then, I'll keep working on my addiction to some of the worst front offices in all of sports.....Buffalo, Los Angeles Clippers, SF Giants.
lets_go_bills Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 I still love 'em. A lot. I can't turn my back on them, I can't walk away. While I'm becomming more and more convinced that this team won't win until Ralph is not the owner, I still get filled with optimism as each new season approaches. Being 22 I'm not old enough to remember much about the Super Bowl years (but I met Jim Kelly in 1993 when I was 7), but I've always been a fan, as my dad always has been and raised me to be one. I've only really been following the Bills since 1998, when I was 12, and my enthusiasm has grown each year since to the point where I live and breathe Bills football. Right now, this is certainly the low point of my fanship with the Bills. It is not easy to be a fan and I'm really hurting.
JPicc2114 Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 Im 23, but I remember Norwood missing that fieldgoal but i was only like 4. So i guess ive been a bills fan for just about 20 years.
Long Time Fan Posted January 2, 2009 Posted January 2, 2009 I am 70 still vey active, live in charlotte, nc, been a fan since 1960, was ticket holder from 1960-1985,moved away and now view on sunday ticket. I will always be an avid bills fan, have had many disappointing seasons and last was one but still loyal to them/ I think it will take more than a "simple or small tweak " but I am hopeful that what ever it takes to be competetive will be done.
Kevin Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 I am 31. I have been a Bills fan all my life. Not very optimistic towards next year with the schedule and all. I will keep rooting for the Bills, but I am starting to lose some of the passion.
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 35, and I'm so sick of this franchie's ineptitude that I can't wait for new ownership to either turn the ship around or move the damn thing out of town.
bflobarry Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Longwinded answer. Sorry - touching a nerve. 50 years old. Initiated around '67-'68 at the old Rockpile. 4th row, 50 yard line, visitor's side. Namath, Unitas, Lamonica, etc. within spitting distance. Still didn't have full grasp of the game. TV games would get boring, and usually by halftime, I was outside playing front yard football with brothers and neighborhood kids. Developed better attention span a couple of years later and became a fan(atic), digesting Courier Express articles in the morning paper before school, and Buffalo Evening News columns in the p.m., after school - around the time OJ started his breakout season and was in a race with the Redskins Larry Brown for the 1972 season rushing title. This was when Saban started his 2nd tour with the team and there was hope of a good team for the first time since 1966. They made one playoff appearance (1974) before Wilson tightened the purse strings and managed to run Saban out of town - again. Then came the "exciting" Jim Ringo, Harvey Johnson years before proven winner Chuck Knox arrived as our next great hope in 1978. Once again, conflicts with GM Stew Barber and Wilson, and the refusal to pay for good players prompted Knox to leave after building a playoff team. A few more years of despair with Stephenson and Bullough, before Bill Polian's decision to bring in Marv Levy, and once again brought hope. Only this time, not false hope. Real hope for a great team. The first time in almost 30 years. We all know what happened then. Starting with the dismissal of Polian, a gradual decline and then back to the same old pattern. I've been to at least one game a year for several years before moving to Atlanta in '86. Had season tickets a few times since then. Been to at least 30 of the last 35 season openers. Been to many of the great games, including first Monday night game in '73, Raiders spectacular opener in '74, Miami opener in '80, Rams defeated in '79, ganes in Tampa, Cinci, Atlanta, Miami, and many many others. Lots of great memories in spite of the bungling from the front office. This season, with all it's anticipation and promise of a return to playoff caliber football, was a kick in the teeth. Stood up at the alter. That empty feeling when you walk into your home and find it's been ransacked. Violated. I've had it. Right now, I'm ready to cancel my 11 year NFL Sunday Ticket subscription and give up altogether on this team. I feel like we're being played by Wilson & Co. I think the Kelly glory years was a fluke. There's no sign in sight of the team reaching those lofty levels again any time soon. The retention of Jauron and staff make the clear statement that mediocrity is an acceptable achievement by the Buffalo Bills. Sorry, Ralph, but not so for the fans. Our expectations are higher than your measure of success. Right now, not looking forward to another season of getting let down. Usually when the last game is played, I'm left wanting more. This year it couldn't end soon enough for me. I feel like the 2008 team robbed me of my innocence and I don't know if I'll ever be duped into that sense of off-season optimism again. Who knows? I may pull a Brett Favre and get all optimistic and rejuvinated when the days get longer and smell of fresh cut lawn is back in the air. There was something about the futility of this past year that I sense for a lot of us, was the straw that broke the camel's back. It's compromised our allegiance to our beloved team. Next year? I just don't know. Great, from-the-heart post. Speaks for a lot us, I'm afraid...
cantankerous Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 25 years old. Became a fan in 90' and I'm not optimistic at all because what's the point? This franchise will never do what it takes to "win at any and all costs" I still get tricked into being optimistic each and every year, though next year it will be hard to be.
My Friends Call Me Tebucky Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 27, probably a fan since about 1987...remember pretty much every game since like 1988. The worst part of being a Bills fan born 1979-1982ish was the sh-- you had to endure in middle school in the midst of the run of Super Bowl losses. Nothing worse than losing the Super Bowl in 6th or 7th grade as a kid and having to endure getting teased by classmates about it. And sh--, I'm from the Rochester area...it would be one thing if it were somewhere else. Anyway, not optimistic at all. Average personnel men (at best), average coaching (that's being kind), playing in a division where one team has a Hall of Fame QB and HOF Head Coach and a ton of money to play with just crushes my view of the impending future. The Jets being able to go out and buy free agents at will doesn't help our prospects either.
The Dean Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 I'm 48 and have been a fan for 37+ years and, sad to say, I'm no longer surprised by their failure. Yet I still cheer on Sunday, 'cuz that's what we do. I'm 51 and have been a Bills fan since I can remember. I don't remember the first 2-3 seasons, obviously. But, I certainly remember watching Cookie Gilchrist. Went to some games in '64 and won '65 season tickets in a raffle. Like Mark, I am never surprised by the Bills failure, but am devastated, just the same, when it happens. I've been though MUCH worse than what we've seen the past few years. From 1967-1972 the Bills won no more than 4 games in any season and only won 1 in two of those seasons. While I'm not happy, I can deal with what they are going through now, with relative ease. I find the bandwagon sensibility of some here offensive. You might as well be Pats* fans.
Tcali Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 I'm 51 and have been a Bills fan since I can remember. I don't remember the first 2-3 seasons, obviously. But, I certainly remember watching Cookie Gilchrist. Went to some games in '64 and won '65 season tickets in a raffle. Like Mark, I am never surprised by the Bills failure, but am devastated, just the same, when it happens. I've been though MUCH worse than what we've seen the past few years. From 1967-1972 the Bills won no more than 4 games in any season and only won 1 in two of those seasons. While I'm not happy, I can deal with what they are going through now, with relative ease. I find the bandwagon sensibility of some here offensive. You might as well be Pats* fans. steve grogan is godlike
Spiderweb Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 I've been a fan ever since the 1966 season in which the Bills lost badly to Kansas City in the AFL Championship. We could have been the first AFL team to go to what was a few year to be known as the Super Bowl. Alas....... I'm 53........(with a coming birthday right around the corner), and agree with the "Dean" wholeheartedly with respect to bandwagon fans.....
/dev/null Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 Since before your sun burned hot in space, and before your race was born, I have awaited a question. When will the Bills win the freakin Super Bowl
H2o Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 One thing I've seen here and in talking with fellow fans is the utter dismay at the direction of the team. It seems that the longer you've been a Bills fan, the more hurt you are by the 2008 season and the decision to keep Jauron. The newer fans seem more optimistic - keep supporting the Bills and eventually they'll get better. Is there a fatigue factor in how you think? I'm curious to find out. Tell me: How long have you been a Bills fan? (Be honest - if you're 30 you haven't been a Bills fan for 30 years - when did you really become a fan?) What's your out look on the Bills now? Done with being a fan? Optimistic that with a few small tweaks we'll win the division on the next couple of years? Where are you on the spectrum? I'm 32 years old and I've been a Bills fan for 20 of those years. My outlook on the team? Uhhhh, grim. I don't know. We have alot of young players, but I'm not sure they're the right young players. Whitner needs to look to make plays on the ball more. Simpson takes bad angles on plays all of the time. Posluszny looks like he's playing out of his natural position. Peters looks like the second coming of Richmond Webb one year and like an average player the next. Dockery is an overpaid slug. TrINT looks like a decent QB and then it was like he lost his glass slipper and the clock struck 12. Marshawn and Freddy are one of the best, but misused RB tandems in all of the NFL. Our coach is a heartless statue of a pansy on the sidelines. Our owner is a cheap, past his age of rational thinking miser who sells us out to Toronto to give our opponent an extra home game. Stroud was a good pick-up, but we still need a second DT to start the games next to him. Does our team even have Defensive Ends? Could've fooled me. McKelvin is going to be a Pro Bowl player within the next 3 years and McGee is solid. Youboty looked like he was coming around this year until his injury. Greer is decent, but will get more money on the open market than he will here. If we bring back Youboty we'll have a GOOD young secondary of McGee, McKelvin, Corner, and Youboty. That's about the biggest bright spot besides our RB's. Hopefully we can sign Freddy to a 3 or 4 year deal to keep him and Lynch together. Other than the CB's and RB's our team is for the most part and the schedule next year ain't looking too pretty.
NWPABillsfan Posted January 3, 2009 Posted January 3, 2009 I'm 49 and live just about 30 miles south of Erie pa. I was a Dallas fan until I graduation from High school in 1978 I than decided I was going to start following a "Local" team so the next football season I watched Pitts. and Cleveland and Buffalo. I than decided that "THE BILLS" were the team for me. So since than I have made it too aleast 2 games a year. I am not very hopeful about next year but I will be there supporting my team until they move to another city or what ever happens too them. I believe as some have said here that it might just take a few more good draftpicks and a few more good free agents and we can be in the play-off again.Maybe a bit more optimistic than some others on here but I guess I just was always been told to stick with things until they come out the way you want them too.I guess I'm a top notch never give up guy. So until they move or I move on to that football field in the sky I will always be there rooting my team on. Go Bills
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