Why are you a Bills Fan?

[The_Dude]

Because when I was 5, my moms roommate was a Bills fan and we won a lot then. I was unaware of the pain I was signing up for. 

[GG1]

What else do you do when you grow up in Buffalo?

 

First game was '80, after the team started out 5-0 and were facing the Colts at home.  Tailgating cemented the experience, especially after seeing my slightly inebriated English teacher in the parking lot 🙂

 

Of course Bills lost that game.

[Ann]

1 hour ago, LB3 said:

Born into it. I was seven when the Bills made their first Super Bowl. I grew up thinking the Bills would just always be in the Super Bowl. We would go to one or two games a year. The best was when my dad would get his company tickets. Midfield about 15 rows up. We always made sure to get in as early as possible. One game OJ was there doing some pregame sideline reporting. My older brother was a huge fan so he was shouting at him. OJ looked at him, smiled and gave a big thumbs up. We still joke about whether the black glove he was wearing that day was the one. I've remained a diehard optimist about the team my entire life.

When my grandfather got work tickets the seats were 12 rows up, midfield. As you say, the best! You could hear the players talk, see everything, nothing was blocked... just primo seats.

[Muncher]

Born into it. Grew up in the Southtowns (near the stadium). My Dad's employer had a box so I'd go up to the box and visit Mom and Dad (they bought me a cheap seat outside) and they'd bring me into the box and feed me beef on weck and mini hot dogs.  When I didn't attend games we'd listen on the radio (back then the games were blacked out if we didn't meet the sellout rule). That was in the 70's and 80's. Our lives centered around Bills football. Hasn't changed and now I have a son who loves the team as well. There's nothing better.

[Ninety-4]

It's a disease with no cure.  Tried really hard after leaving Buffalo in the 90's to distance myself, and there was a period of years of dismal teams that followed that provided an opportunity to cut the cord.  There were a few teases along the way and then McBeane happened.  Want a championship for the people of Buffalo so badly.

[Billsandhorns]

Born and raised in Texas and when I started getting into Football all I heard was Cowgirls, Cowgirls, Cowgirls. I got tired of it. Started looking at other teams and the Bills were good at the time. ( yes, I was  a bandwagon jumper. But never jumped back off.) 

[Niagara]

In Sweet Home HS, football is/was king. Gradually, followed it, and eventually grew to like it. In time understood it better. But there are so many levels of understanding. I am probably only in middle level. It is fun just following the conversations of really knowledgeable posters.

I go back to the time when games were at the Rockpile, and the argument over where to put the stadium. Lancaster with a dome, open air in Orchard Park or Crossroads in the city. I think open air in Lancaster would have been best for the time. A copy of the Astrodome would have been obsolete 20 years ago. Lancaster might have been a better location for Rochester and Canadian fans than OP. Both Lancaster and OP are better sites for tail gating. 

[bdutton]

Since birth... I was raised in a Bills family.  My parents had season tickets in the Rockpile.  Lived in West Seneca.  I would cut out the full page pictures of Prominent Bills players from the center section of the Buffalo News Sports Page to hang in my room.

 

My uncle was a die hard fan and regularly took me to games at Rich Stadium back when you could get end zone seats for under $10.

[Cinga]

As much as anyone else, I was born into it, sort of... I grew up in N Boston about 3 miles from the stadium and no one else in my immediate family other than younger brother were into the Bills, but we were a very close extended family. It was those Sundays spent in Derby at my aunt and uncles house that got me going. Born in 58, I was still pretty young for the Championship years, but i do remember laying on the living room floor there with the other "men" as my cousins helped me understand what was going on. Swerved away a bit in the 70s, hell, my teem years so I was way too busy racing cars and chasing girls for the Bills, but I do remember well OJs 2003 yard season. 

Once i graduated high school I left NY for the Marine Corps and them college. I went to school in S Florida, and was in the Orange Bowl for the game Fergy finally broke their streak there over us. It was like a dream and my girlfriend at the time actually grabbed my shoulder on the way out and said "Charlie, it's time to wake up and get ready to go to the game". 

Funny story, I had made a quiz of Buffalo Bills questions and promised myself I wouldn't marry a woman that couldn't pass the quiz. My eventual bride was from CA, but passed the quiz unbeknownst to me at the time, with the help of a couple of my younger brothers. Anyway, I was back in NY for a while around the late 80s until 91 and left again to make better money in Georgia. That's where the moniker comes from btw, Cinga is Charlie in GA. 

 

Anyway, i love WNY, it's in my very soul. It has everything I wanted in life, except a better paying job. I hated the taxes too which also made GA a great escape, but sometime fate intervenes since I'm now in MD which isn't much better than NY. But in all my travels the Bills have given me a part of my past to hold on to. Pretty much the rest of my family have left too with only a couple cousins still there. Might sound sort of crazy, but I've seriously thought of buying a home there to retire to but don't tell my wife. I think she is hoping for Florida or something.... 🤣

[Dolphinflavoredtuna]

From the area.  LOVE the area!!!  There’s no place to me as special as Buffalo.  I was engrained in my work there and was blessed to work closely with the organization, the players and the personnel, which only served me to love it more.  I’ve gotten to work closely with several teams.  There’s a lot of good vibes you get in organizations like Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Green Bay if I had to name my top 3.  Then there’s the bad vibes which I would rank in order from worst as Jacksonville, Chargers (no matter where they are) and most recently, the Jets who have just absolutely let themselves go to crud both as a team and facility.  But as for Buffalo...  There’s just no place that compares, in my opinion.  The fans, atmosphere and culture (even when losing).  Buffalo is very special.

[3rdnlng]

I got hooked laying in bed listening on the radio to the Bills come back and beat the Raiders on MNF in '74. I grew up in WNY but I was never a fan of the Bills per se but only sorta liked them. That victory made me a fan and I've been one ever since. I wasn't a Sabres fan at all until I became a fan of hockey. Grew up without it around me but my soon to be wife took me to a club game in Erie, PA. I really liked it and then we started going to Erie Blades games. It was a natural move to step up to the Sabres and then the Braves. I was often given super tickets through business for the Sabres and had floor seats available for the Braves basically anytime I wanted since the president of our company was on their board. 

[KD in CA]

My folks and older sibs were living on Long Island in the mid-60s.  Dad worked for a big, global company that transferred people around a lot.  Legend has it that his next assignment had two possible destinations: Geneva (yes, Switzerland) or Buffalo.   Whelp....six months after the move I was born and a couple years later the Bills drafted this big shot running back out of USC who became my childhood hero.  The rest is history.

[Fansince88]

3 hours ago, Cinga said:

As much as anyone else, I was born into it, sort of... I grew up in N Boston about 3 miles from the stadium and no one else in my immediate family other than younger brother were into the Bills, but we were a very close extended family. It was those Sundays spent in Derby at my aunt and uncles house that got me going. Born in 58, I was still pretty young for the Championship years, but i do remember laying on the living room floor there with the other "men" as my cousins helped me understand what was going on. Swerved away a bit in the 70s, hell, my teem years so I was way too busy racing cars and chasing girls for the Bills, but I do remember well OJs 2003 yard season. 

Once i graduated high school I left NY for the Marine Corps and them college. I went to school in S Florida, and was in the Orange Bowl for the game Fergy finally broke their streak there over us. It was like a dream and my girlfriend at the time actually grabbed my shoulder on the way out and said "Charlie, it's time to wake up and get ready to go to the game". 

Funny story, I had made a quiz of Buffalo Bills questions and promised myself I wouldn't marry a woman that couldn't pass the quiz. My eventual bride was from CA, but passed the quiz unbeknownst to me at the time, with the help of a couple of my younger brothers. Anyway, I was back in NY for a while around the late 80s until 91 and left again to make better money in Georgia. That's where the moniker comes from btw, Cinga is Charlie in GA. 

 

Anyway, i love WNY, it's in my very soul. It has everything I wanted in life, except a better paying job. I hated the taxes too which also made GA a great escape, but sometime fate intervenes since I'm now in MD which isn't much better than NY. But in all my travels the Bills have given me a part of my past to hold on to. Pretty much the rest of my family have left too with only a couple cousins still there. Might sound sort of crazy, but I've seriously thought of buying a home there to retire to but don't tell my wife. I think she is hoping for Florida or something.... 🤣

Do you get up here for games?

[IDBillzFan]

My story is kind of weird because I grew up in the Catskill mountains, nowhere near professional sports.

 

But my father was an avid gambler, and Sunday was one of the few times we would have the TV on. I'm going back to the mid-70s; Phyllis George, Jimmy the Greek, and Brent Munsberger.

 

The Bills were playing the Patriots*. My father had the Bills minus a few points because it was the TV game. They were up by a few when Ferguson got hurt and was replaced by Gary Marangi, who came into the game and proceeded to throw something like four picks, ultimately costing my father the win. My father was a bad loser, and he angrily told me "The only good thing about that effin' quarterback is he's an effin' Italian. Mark my words, he'll never last in the NFL."

 

So every week I would look for Buffalo scores and updates to see if Marangi was playing. It wasn't long before he was gone, but I just kept following the Bills. Ultimately I went to college in Rochester and met other Bills fans, which just elevated everything.

 

Turns out Marangi coaches high school football near my brother in Long Island, so I've been navigating attempts to put them together so I can add an autographed Marangi jersey to the man cave.

[Cinga]

3 hours ago, Fansince88 said:

Do you get up here for games?

Haven't since the Chan Gailey years but had planned on it this year. Was going to come up for a preseason game and take in the Erie County Fair as well as a class reunion. Went to Hamburg and they have one every year for all classes. Anyway, the Rona changed those plans so maybe next year if the timing all works out again... 

[Muncher]

7 hours ago, DC Tom said:

Really, started caring when I started college in '87, and had to root against local Jets fans.

 

Though I've hated Miami for far longer.  

Started college in 1987 also. I always pictured you as a bald headed fella sitting on a rocker on the front porch yelling at kids. No offense....I assume you don’t like rockers. 

[Muncher]

2 minutes ago, DC Tom said:

 

Used to, but I keep falling off 'em recently.

Grizzly, Jet or Powermatic??

[Fansince88]

18 minutes ago, Muncher said:

Grizzly, Jet or Powermatic??

His rocker....He is off his rocker.

[Uncle Joe]

Uncle Joe
     Back in 1964 and 1965 my Uncle Joe used to work for Swift meats in New Jersey. We would regularly go to their house for Sunday dinner. While family would sit around the dinner table and converse before dinner, I would sneak off with Uncle Joe and watch football. During the Bills AFL championship years, he would point out all the good plays and players during the Bills games. I was hooked. In 1970 we moved to Oregon and the Bills had drafted OJ so I continued following the Bills to this day.
    In 1976 I made a trip back to New Jersey and I told Uncle Joe he’d still be proud of me still being a Bill’s fan. He looked at me a said, “I was never a Bill’s fan. I was showing you how good they were. I’m a Giants fan.”
       Basically my screenname is homage to my late Uncle Joe.  WW2 vet and radio/gunner on a B52.

[Fansince88]

Ok, got a few uninterrupted minutes so here we go. Born in 1970 on Long Island NY into a Jets family. Moved to NNY to Giants country in 1975. I watched a bit of football off and on most of my teen years but never really gravitated to a team at all. When I finished 7th grade I went to a small private school where I met a great friend of mine. he was from Jersey and also moved up here in rural NNY. Anyhow, he and I are the same age and have every thing in common. Our likes and dislikes. Both were gear heads and we both stood up for each other as best man in our weddings. So, many Sundays after church, his dad is a pastor and the guy that married my wife and I and many years later our youngest daughter we would hang out at his place and watch football together. One day he told me I needed to pick a team. I told him we have everything in common but I just cant pick the jets because they are not a NY team. I also decided I couldn't pick the Jets because they made my dad such an angry man over the years. well, just during the fall. So that year, 1988, I decided to follow the Bills. After all they are NY's team. That is how I became Fansince88. Incidentally, it should be made known, also Mets and Islanders fan.