Why are you still a fan? [Archive] - BillsZone.com

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Bufftp

09-19-2007, 08:12 AM

Stewie

09-19-2007, 08:17 AM

I'm a fan because its the Bills, duh.

casdhf

09-19-2007, 08:21 AM

There isn't another team, imo.

mybills

09-19-2007, 08:24 AM

eyedog

09-19-2007, 08:27 AM

I'm used to it. If you were around in the 70's and mid 80's you know what I mean. No turning back now.

BlackMetalNinja

09-19-2007, 08:28 AM

You pretty much summed it up for me as well Ted. Except the rest of my family are Rams fans before Bills fans.

bigbub2352

09-19-2007, 08:43 AM

i bleed red white and blue always!!

gr8slayer

09-19-2007, 08:45 AM

Hell yeah I'm a fan...... Doesn't mean I have to like all the decisions made by the team.

09-19-2007, 08:47 AM

Because there is nothing worse than a fair weather fan.

The King

09-19-2007, 08:48 AM

Theres no point in waivering, but when the team plays like this there no point in planning my Sunday around them either.

Gunzlingr

09-19-2007, 08:54 AM

There isn't another team, imo.

I agree.

I don't get worked up if they win or lose, and watch when I can. It is just a game afterall, it doesn't affect my everyday life (tho it would be nice if they could start winning like they did in the early 90s but with a Superbowl win or 4 :D ). Hopefully next year I get to go to the Ralph for the Bills-49ers game. It will be like my hijira (sp?) to Mecca. :D

BillsPride12

09-19-2007, 08:59 AM

For any poker players out there, I think I have to refer to the term "pot-committed". At this point I've put so much into it, so many heartbreaking losses, so much smack talk from others, being at so many depressing games, so much money spent on tickets and merchandise, there just is no turning back. I've invested too much into this team to turn my back on them now. I'm in it for the long haul:cheers:

OpIv37

09-19-2007, 09:02 AM

I'll be a Bills fan until I get an ulcer, which I won't, because I don't get pissed off the way so many people do. If I got to that point, I'd stop watching. Besides, football & beer go good together, but beer & anger doesn't. Looks like I'll be a fan till I die, even if it's from alcohol poisoning.
:gobills:

to me, this is counterintuitive and illogical. You say you're a fan, but you don't get pissed if they lose? You don't get pissed when the team makes stupid moves or whe the same players continuously fail to perform? All these prevent you from getting what you supposedly want: Bills victories. But you don't care when they happen? I don't understand how you can want good things to happen to the Bills but blow it off when bad things happen.

as far as the question at hand, it's getting harder and harder for me to answer it. I grew up in Rochester watching the Bills during the glory years. It seemed like more than just football- the entire city had a buzz about the Bills and I wanted them to win the Super Bowl so bad. Ever since, I just can't imagine not watching the Bills. I've been a fan for something in the 17-18 year range and I'm not about to give up now.

What makes it difficult is that it's become less and less gratifying. That sense of hope seems to be getting continuously dimmer. Even against Denver, I figured we would lose but thought we had at least some chance of winning. Weeks like last week and this week are tough for football because it feels like we have no chance of winning whatsoever. I watch the games anyway, but it makes it really hard to get excited about the games.

MikeInRoch

09-19-2007, 09:13 AM

OpIv37

09-19-2007, 09:22 AM

Here's the worst part. Let's say that Elam misses the kick and we win against Denver. What is the emotion? For me, the biggest emotion would have been relief - relief that we didn't blow it, relief that we aren't going to start the season with an 0-X record (and it looks like X might get pretty big), etc.

It's not just that game. Wins don't make me happy any more, especially wins against bad teams.

I hear ya- the reason for that is because the team has given us no reason to think the wins are going to get us anywhere. We finished last season 6-4. We finished 04 7-2 and had a 6 game win streak in there. But it still doesn't get us to the playoffs. It just delays how long it takes for us to crash and burn.

If we had won at Denver, it would have been a crappy game that we lost on opponent's mistakes. Don't get me wrong- I'd much rather have the win, even a crappy win. But beating Denver in that fashion would not have been encouraging and we still would have gone on to get stomped by Pitt. And we would have known that we'd get stomped by Pitt by how we played against Denver, even with the victories.

Or, to simplify: when this team does win, they're not the kind of encouraging wins that inspire confidence for the upcoming games. It's more like "oh, man, it took a lot of luck to pull that one out."

MikeInRoch

09-19-2007, 09:26 AM

We had maybe one of those last year. The second Jets game was a "good" win.

Mitchy moo

09-19-2007, 09:28 AM

I was born in Buffalo and grew up there. I tried to watch every Bills game since I was ~8 years old, family and friends included (for ~30 years now). I watched them get better and worse, I even seen my mom cry after the wide right kick and she never ever cried over any game, that's when I really knew how serious this was and what it meant to all of us buffalonians. They can make fun of us and knock our team but they cannot take our pride.

I will be holding a RIP sign for my mom at a SB in the future that will say "You don't have to cry anymore mom, we won this one RIP". When you see that sign shed a tear, you'll be crying with me.

Jeff1220

09-19-2007, 09:29 AM

I've been a hardcore fan since I was 4. Even then, I used to get all worked up and emotional over Bills games. When it's been that long, it's part of who you are. I can't change it, just as I can't change who my brother or sister is - nor would I want to. Just as people have a family members who are addicts or have other issues, you don't stop loving them because of it. You might be disappointed in or angry with the family member, but you keep hoping and praying for them just the same. That's pretty much how I feel about the Bills.

Don't Panic

09-19-2007, 09:35 AM

Although its unconditional at this point, I'd be lying if I said my total allegiance didn't waver from time to time. Its not that I'll ever lose my love for the Bills, but the frustration sometimes makes you lose a little passion for following the game. Still, I come back for more. Something tells me I'll continue to for a very long time, above and beyond any other sports team, championship or no championship. All that being said, it would be a lot nicer to have a good product on the field to watch.

Jan Reimers

09-19-2007, 09:43 AM

That's like asking, "Why do you still love your children?" They make mistakes, they disappoint you at times, but you don't abandon them just because they are not perfect.

I've loved the Bills since 1960. I'm supposed to become a Colts or Pats fan just because we've had some adversity?

When your team is down, you should support them even more.

justasportsfan

09-19-2007, 09:58 AM

Hell yeah I'm a fan...... Doesn't mean I have to like all the decisions made by the team.
I'm not so sure about you based on your comments about Ralphy and the team moving.

DaBillzAhDaShiznit

09-19-2007, 09:59 AM

I'll be a fan as long as the Bills are in Buffalo, and after that who knows.

That said, I sure as heck am not going to waste my Sundays (especially when the weather is good) watching them get blown out with no hope in sight for improvement, and I sold my tickets to the Monday night game and the Miami game, because of the poor product on the field (it's my little meaningless protest).

DraftBoy

09-19-2007, 10:08 AM

I cant even begin to describe why I am, I just am, and thank god for allowing me to be one

gr8slayer

09-19-2007, 10:13 AM

I'm not so sure about you based on your comments about Ralphy and the team moving.
It's no secret. Winning cures all and we've been worse at winning than any team in the better part of the last decade. Be more specific about my comments abou the team moving. If you are implying that I am for moving the team you my friend need to get your head checked.

Wys Guy

09-19-2007, 10:17 AM

It has been 8 years since the Playoffs. Crappy teams, crappy moves. False expectations, dashed hopes. It is begining to look like Moses's time in the desert was a walk through lush gardens compared to being a Bills fan.

For me I am fan by birthright. I was born in the Buffalo area to family of Bills and football fans. I have fond memories of my grandfather, father brothers, and family friends watching Bills games, pre-game week expectation and conversations. It is in my DNA.

No one season determies my loyalty. A season is just another brick in the long wall that makes up my experiance as a Bills fan.

I also have natuaral affinity to rooting for (helping) the underdog, the downtrodden and abused. Probably helps me in rooting for the Bills.

Sure I am frustrated. Today I have no great expectation of anything positive occuring Sunday in New England. The realities of both teams only lead to the expectation of the Bilsl being on the recieving end of a blood bath. No mercy and all pain.

Yet once Friday comes something will change. A little ember of hope will be sparked. No rational reason, it will just occur. The winds of Saturdays college football will fan that ember and by Sunday there will be roaring flames of irrational exubrance for the BILLS.

GO Buffalo!

Why am I still a fan?

A very good question Bufftp!

I am still a fan because the Bills have been my team since the time I went to my first game in '82. Prior to that I'd been a Skins fan since back when I began watching football in the early '70s. The world was a lot bigger then and D.C. was as far away for me as Buffalo was living in Rochester. I became a Skins fan because as a child I liked the colors and thought that the name Redskins was cool. After I attended my first Bills game I became a fan of my local team. I followed both teams, one in each conference for a while, but gradually change loyalties to the Bills exclusively and wanted them to beat the Skins in the SB that year big time.

I have put a lot of time and money into the team over the years. I have organized large trips from both Rochester and D.C. in the past to see games in Buffalo, often for groups of near 100 people. Obviously I prepurchased tickets for those as well.

I still have my Conehead mask that I used to wear to games during the '90s era Polian team. I painted a Bills logo on either side of it. Fans used to "rub the cone" for good luck at the games. I no longer wear it because of the glory that it's seen and therefore don't want to taint it.

My interest is in jeopardy however. When we as fans seem to care significantly more than the actual owner of the team, that's a problem for me just as when customers of a store seem to care more about that owner's business than he does. I do not patronize such establishments.

At the same time, I will not "jump ship" to become the fan of another team. When, not if, but when, the Bills leave town, my rooting interests will become general and my time will be spent just watching "the best game" on Sunday if one appeals to me. I will also continue with FFLs.

Right now we have an owner that doesn't seem to care and one that continually makes both risky as well as extremely questionable decisions largely for reasons of his own comfort as opposed to what's best for the team. How long as fans are we supposed to sit still for this morass that now has seemingly bottomed out, yet with no relief in sight?

I am fed up to my eyeballs with the way this team is run and therefore subsequently coached having seen only either utterly unqualified coaches and assistants pass through in a "lottery" type of approach to staffing the coaching spots for the most part, or coaches as known losers.

I noticed what was going on that would bring us to exactly where we are as a franchise today and warned about it in print repetitively since about five seasons ago now. I began analyzing and writing as such both as a mouthpiece for other fans that we starting to get fed up and yet that had no one in the media pointing out the obvious folly of it all. My goals were to heighten awareness enough to put pressure on the team (Wilson ultimately) to change their losing ways. I've never been one to focus on being politically correct, putting savoire faire ahead of reality, or to pull punches. I obviously did not achieve my goals as such. My desire to document what this team does is vanishing as there really isn't even much to analyze anymore as it's all the same in Groundhog Day fashion and has been for years.

What is to root for anymore? That this team overcomes such incredible talent differentials on a regular basis? That we sell out games merely for purposes of selling out games lest the team move thereby holding that over our heads in "you'd better pay for crap or I'm taking my game and going home?" Or are we rooting for Wilson's bank account to fatten up?

Because clearly we're rooting for little else given the attitude and performance of this team from top to bottom meaning not merely on the field every week but in terms of management, coaching, personnel management, etc. We are near or actually define the bottom of the league in so many ways right now in so many areas that there's no way we can be competitive within the next two or three seasons. In every likelihood, and due to the fact that problem stems entirely from the corporate culture, one of losing, it won't be changing beyond that either.

As some may know, my prediction for the last season the team is in Buffalo is '10. My theory is that Wilson will pass away during his 40th anniversary season, and that the team will be sold the following offseason to a Toronto consortium of one sort or another, and that the team plays its final season in Buffalo the following season, then moves.

Why should we care if it moves is this is all we're going to get? Seemingly it is all that we're going to get since Wilson has already said that the team will be sold when he passes. A show of hands as to how many fans really, really believe that A., a WNY interest will buy this team at that point over say an interest in a city that the NFL wants to expand to, ...AHEM..., Toronto; and B., how many believe that the rest of the league's owners, or a vast majority of them would actually approve a sale to someone that wants to keep a team in a region where mere marketing ticket sales becomes an effort the size of getting to a Super Bowl or even winning one?

This team is losing me. It's not going to get more from me than it and it's owner put in. Right now that's not a whole lot.

Meanwhile, fans that do not get paid anything at all for analyzing football and probably a fraction of what those entrusted with what this team does, in their regular jobs, know football far better than those collecting millions and hundreds of thousands of dollars and could easily do a better job on a part-time basis in that way.

It's a simple formula for success in the NFL. Sure, a variety of things can happen to deter a SB win even if that formula is followed, such as getting outperformed by another team adhering to that same formula yet perhaps with simply doing it better and perhaps even some luck here and there.

But one thing's for sure, that when that formula is entirely and categorically ignored by people that think they somehow know better than those that are ultimately successful and have been, then their teams have little to no practical shot at succeeding to that level.

When they manage their teams 180-degrees counter to that formula, well, what we have is what we now have in Buffalo.

As fans we owe the team our loyalty I believe. But also, the team owes us competence, at least a minimal level of it and that at present isn't even coming close to being provided. That to me, invalidates, at least temporarily, the unwritten "contract" that underlies my basis for loyalty.

So, if the "benefit" of my being a fan is to have to sit and watch a clinic on futility and "how not to do things" every Sunday in perpetual and repetitive exercises in futility merely hoping for the unlikely (deep balls and big special teams plays that only come irregularly and unpredictably), while the team categorically ignores the fundamentals of team building and play that is both critical as well as deeply established as criteria for the ultimate success of NFL franchises, as any basis for hope, then I simply have better things to do with my time.

Unless the Pats game is on local on Sunday, for the first time in years I will miss a game and simply not care. I'll be happy to log on and see what's going on throughout the game although I think that most of us already know what pending disaster awaits.

Am I still a fan? You bet!

Is Ralph Wilson? I question whether he is or not. As I see it he is merely an owner of a business worth near a BILLION dollars that is biding his time and last remaining days with no intentions or concern anymore for what his business actually provides consumers of it. I think it's clear that his interests are exclusively for his own family. Well then, so are mine. I buy products that fill either a need or a desire. This team does neither. It only provides aggravation and misery and the solutions are as plain as day and visible to me making it twice as frustating.

So Wilson can focus on his family and I will focus on mine. I don't expect him to make my family his focus and he shouldn't expect me to make his my focus. If he has something worth paying for down the road, I will reconsider. But at present this business has nothing I want or need. And based on Wilson's core beliefs apparently, that isn't going to change prior to his passing at which time the team will no longer be the Buffalo Bills.

justasportsfan

09-19-2007, 10:23 AM

It's no secret. Winning cures all and we've been worse at winning than any team in the better part of the last decade. Be more specific about my comments abou the team moving. If you are implying that I am for moving the team you my friend need to get your head checked.

yeah the next owner could have a brain businesswise and not care about the area and move it to Toronto or some major city where he may make more cash..
your reply

As long as he puts a winning team on the field I really don't care..

:huh:

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=134296&page=2&highlight=toronto

gr8slayer

09-19-2007, 10:27 AM

your reply

:huh:

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=134296&page=2&highlight=toronto
How can you care? It's something that's out of yours/my hands. I just want to see my favorite team win, if another owner comes in here and moves the team then so be it. But he better be a winner for an owner. That doesn't mean I'm for moving the team.......

justasportsfan

09-19-2007, 10:29 AM

How can you care? It's something that's out of yours/my hands. I just want to see my favorite team win, if another owner comes in here and moves the team then so be it. But he better be a winner for an owner. That doesn't mean I'm for moving the team.......wasn't talking about the entire thread but that particulare reply.
based on your reply you don't care if the new owner moves the team as long as they have a winning team. Your words, not mine. Unless you used the wrong choice of words.

gr8slayer

09-19-2007, 10:36 AM

wasn't talking about the entire thread but that particulare reply.
based on your reply you don't care if the new owner moves the team as long as they have a winning team. Your words, not mine. Unless you used the wrong choice of words.
Again, how can you care? It's not your money, if you have the cash then please, by all means, buy the Bills and keep them where they are. Since you and I combined don't have even half what it would take it's out of our control.

The Bills move, there's no point *****ing about it. Still, doesn't mean I'm for them leaving, I'm not for any city losing their NFL team.

justasportsfan

09-19-2007, 10:39 AM

Again, how can you care? It's not your money, if you have the cash then please, by all means, buy the Bills and keep them where they are. Since you and I combined don't have even half what it would take it's out of our control.

The Bills move, there's no point *****ing about it. Still, doesn't mean I'm for them leaving, I'm not for any city losing their NFL team.

So if you don't care why are you here?

Stop mumbling, I know you care or you wouldn't be here unless you only care when they're winning and don't care if they move because you are a fairweathered fan.

Tatonka

09-19-2007, 11:00 AM

im in to self mutilation.

so i will always be a bills fan.

i do sometimes wonder, how nice would it be to be a pats fan...

but then i throw up in my mouth and realize, it is just not possible.

mybills

09-19-2007, 11:01 AM

to me, this is counterintuitive and illogical. You say you're a fan, but you don't get pissed if they lose?

Of course you'd think it was illogical to not get pissed off. :rofl: It's a game. Not getting an ulcer is more important. :up: Besides, I started watching in 1969, I've seen worse. :ill:

OpIv37

09-19-2007, 11:53 AM

Of course you'd think it was illogical to not get pissed off. :rofl: It's a game. Not getting an ulcer is more important. :up: Besides, I started watching in 1969, I've seen worse. :ill:

well, if you claim to want something, and you're denied it, then denied again, and again, and again... but that doesn't bother you, how much did you really want it in the first place?

I know I'm young compared to some here and I missed some stretches of Bills football that were equal to or worse than what's going on now, but the fact that it's been worse in the past is no excuse.

camelcowboy

09-19-2007, 12:13 PM

The bills are one of my first memories crying after that norwood kick with my bills blanket that i still have today. Don't ask me to tell you why im still a fan, because i don't think about it. The moment i do think about it is the moment i might come to my senses.

THATHURMANATOR

09-19-2007, 12:16 PM

I am still a fan because I am not a little Bandwagon *****!

Meathead

09-19-2007, 12:29 PM

a piano fell on my head while i was watching oj get drafted and from then on the die was cast

Bufftp

09-19-2007, 12:38 PM

a piano fell on my head while i was watching oj get drafted and from then on the die was cast
I can attest that is a true story.

RockStar36

09-19-2007, 01:00 PM

I've been a fan since I can remember even liking football. I'm a loyal fan that sticks by the team and city through tough times.

Night Train

09-19-2007, 01:06 PM

Bufftp

09-19-2007, 01:07 PM

Because my real Dad starting send me letters at age 6 to meet him near the scoreboard at every home game.

40 + years later, I keep showing up at the scoreboard every home game and he always stiffs...and I'm stuck with these freakin' tickets !
He is there hiding behind a concession stand, pointing his finger at you and laughing.
Hope that helps, you can thank me later.

don137

09-19-2007, 01:16 PM

While I as a fan wonder if we ever will be comptetitive in the near future that does not mean I don't love this team. I realize their is little to no chance of them winning this Sunday but I will be watching and cheering for all 60 minutes.
I am sure some fair weather fans will turn it off early or go do something else on Sunday. Those are probably the same fans that missed the greatest comeback in football history.

PcA125

09-19-2007, 02:59 PM

It is just something that is built in. You cant explain it, we are bills fans for life regardless of how they do.

shelby

09-19-2007, 03:27 PM

My feelings have already been expressed by many of y'all.
My brother in law brought me to Rich Stadium when i was 5. i've been hooked ever since.
i can't imagine rooting for another team, no matter how badly we may suck.
They rip my heart out time and again and i keep coming back for more.
i love rooting for the underdog.
:gobills:

SABURZFAN

09-19-2007, 04:04 PM

grew up in the WNY area and i've been through worse seasons.

Romes

09-19-2007, 04:23 PM

anything else just wouldn't feel right...i can't explain it anyother way

DynaPaul

09-19-2007, 04:24 PM

Became a fan during the 1987 season watching the games with my Pop who'd been a fan for a long time. I was 13 at the time. Lucky for me I came onboard just when the Bills were solidifying the core of players who took them to the Super Bowl 4 times. When they started kicking ass at the beginning of the 1988 season I was hooked. Never being a fair weather fan I've stuck with my team for the past 20 years through the 4 championship losses, Music City Miracle, the Flutie/Johnson War, and other trying times. The only way I'll pick another team to root for is if we somehow lose our Bills to a move.

Yeah, times have sucked over the past 7 years but eventually we'll field another team that we can feel really good about and enjoy watching on Sundays.

im4bflo

09-19-2007, 07:00 PM

Because IM 4 BFLO period!

YardRat

09-19-2007, 07:28 PM

Been there before, be there again. You have to take the lows and the highs.

Mad Bomber

09-19-2007, 07:46 PM

I'm a fan because I was born in Buffalo, NY. I grew up in Akron, NY (near Buffalo), I have been a fan since 1962 (the first year I can remember football). I went to my first Bills game in 1964.

As far as I am concerned, the ONLY team in the NFL that matters is the Bills.

I lived through the UGLIEST seasons that any football team has ever seen, but I continue to bleed red, white and blue.

As long as the Bills are in Buffalo, I WILL support them.

If they move from Buffalo, they are DEAD to me.

:gobills:

njsue

09-19-2007, 08:20 PM

Because I am not a quiter.

G Wolly

09-19-2007, 09:07 PM

Why am I a fan? I grew up watching the Bills since I was born during the Super Bowl-era Bills.

They still come back every year to give it their all, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Plus we have one of the most loyal fan bases of any professional sports team.

mybills

09-19-2007, 11:27 PM

well, if you claim to want something, and you're denied it, then denied again, and again, and again... but that doesn't bother you, how much did you really want it in the first place?

I know I'm young compared to some here and I missed some stretches of Bills football that were equal to or worse than what's going on now, but the fact that it's been worse in the past is no excuse.

What part of (I refuse to give myself an ulcer over a game) don't you understand?
What's this "excuse" crap?
Try living in New England before you judge me on my decision to keep my blood pressure normal. It's not as easy as I make it seem. Trust me.

McD

09-20-2007, 12:24 AM

Born and raised in Buffalo..grew up in the 70's pretending to be the Juice on every running play and Bobby Chandler "tip-toeing the end zone" on pass plays. Became Joe Cribbs and Jerry Butler in the early 80's of course :D Learned adversity first hand with this team in the mid-80's and then learned how sticking with something pays off with the most unbelievable run in franchise history. Now goin on 8 years of ineptitude which SUCKS...I'm not worried about me weathering the storm, and I hope it doesn't keep other people from jumping ship. This city...this team...needs us most right now. I'd love to continue being a BUFFALO BILLS fan...if they ever left, I'd be missing a HUGE part of me :(

Bufftp

09-20-2007, 07:58 AM

I like a common thread in this thread.
The Bills "are like family-brother, sister, child" and you just don't kick them to the curb when the going gets tough.

DBam

09-20-2007, 08:16 AM

There is no other city that deserves a championship more than Buffalo!! I have not lived in Buffalo for the past 15 years, but still feel just as connected. I am convinced that there will be a day when I travel back to the city for the most incredible Super Bowl celebration party! There is no other city that deserves it more!

justasportsfan

09-20-2007, 08:38 AM