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Jerry Sullivan sums up the mentality of the more optomistic fans like myself, who have "a pathological will to believe".....
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What is it with you Buffalo people, anyway? The Bills haven’t made the playoffs since the 1999 season. They’ve teased you and tormented you. They’ve promised you the moon and lassoed misery instead. You have every reason to be wary and skeptical. So the question is, why?
Why would the Bills be on the verge of selling 50,000 season tickets for the first time since the last of the four Super Bowl years in 1993? How come, in the midst of persistent mediocrity and unrealized expectations, would interest in this team be at the highest point in a generation?
Everyone has a theory: People are afraid of losing the franchise. Marginal Sabres fans are turning back to the Bills. The Toronto deal is creating a surge in Canadian sales (it’s there, but minimal). There’s a rising population of goofballs who want to drink and misbehave on Sundays in the fall.
“I think it’s a combination of many factors,” said Bills chief operating officer Russ Brandon. “But it always comes back to the passion this region has for the Bills.”
Brandon deserves to take a bow for this, too. The season-ticket base didn’t grow overnight. It’s the result of a calculated, 10-year plan that began around the time Brandon arrived in 1998, when season-ticket sales were in the 31,000 range and the organization was trying to push suites and club seats.
Doug Flutie certainly sparked interest in the short term. But it was the moves to regionalize the franchise in Rochester and be more creative with group sales that helped revive the ticket base. The rise has actually been fairly steady, through the disappointing Donahoe years until the present.
But as Brandon points out, it wouldn’t be possible without the abiding passion of Bills fans, who have continued to support the team despite years of bumbling coaches, underachieving players and Ralph Wilson’s insistence on reminding us that Buffalo is an economic sinkhole.
The fact is, people believe in this team. Give Buffalo fans the slightest reason for hope and they’ll allow you to lead them by the hand. There’s a general perception that the Bills are building toward something. It’s a stretch, but there are parallels to the 1988 team of 20 years ago.
There’s a fresh quality to the roster. Many of the key players — Donte Whitner, Trent Edwards, Marshawn Lynch, to name three — are well short of their prime and haven’t had time to be perceived as disappointments. So there’s a great sense of possibility, of promise unfulfilled.
Why would the Bills be on the verge of selling 50,000 season tickets for the first time since the last of the four Super Bowl years in 1993? How come, in the midst of persistent mediocrity and unrealized expectations, would interest in this team be at the highest point in a generation?
Everyone has a theory: People are afraid of losing the franchise. Marginal Sabres fans are turning back to the Bills. The Toronto deal is creating a surge in Canadian sales (it’s there, but minimal). There’s a rising population of goofballs who want to drink and misbehave on Sundays in the fall.
“I think it’s a combination of many factors,” said Bills chief operating officer Russ Brandon. “But it always comes back to the passion this region has for the Bills.”
Brandon deserves to take a bow for this, too. The season-ticket base didn’t grow overnight. It’s the result of a calculated, 10-year plan that began around the time Brandon arrived in 1998, when season-ticket sales were in the 31,000 range and the organization was trying to push suites and club seats.
Doug Flutie certainly sparked interest in the short term. But it was the moves to regionalize the franchise in Rochester and be more creative with group sales that helped revive the ticket base. The rise has actually been fairly steady, through the disappointing Donahoe years until the present.
But as Brandon points out, it wouldn’t be possible without the abiding passion of Bills fans, who have continued to support the team despite years of bumbling coaches, underachieving players and Ralph Wilson’s insistence on reminding us that Buffalo is an economic sinkhole.
The fact is, people believe in this team. Give Buffalo fans the slightest reason for hope and they’ll allow you to lead them by the hand. There’s a general perception that the Bills are building toward something. It’s a stretch, but there are parallels to the 1988 team of 20 years ago.
There’s a fresh quality to the roster. Many of the key players — Donte Whitner, Trent Edwards, Marshawn Lynch, to name three — are well short of their prime and haven’t had time to be perceived as disappointments. So there’s a great sense of possibility, of promise unfulfilled.
Yup. Dumber than dirt. 
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