Suggestions for pre-game ritual recommendations

[jpdex12]

Gentlemen,
I am proposing that we put our heads together and vote on the best pre-game ritual that we could recommend to the Buffalo Bills that their fans would love to see them do for each game. After we get a few good ideas together we could start a poll (thread) and vote on which couple of recommendations we have to present. Someone needs to do some research as to who from the Bills we can email our ideas to in order to make sure this is not a wasted effort. Word would spread that the Billszone.com has created or helped plan the opening for a game. You know how Bills Digest and other medias love to latch onto a story like this and publisize it!
If this sounds like a stupid idea, then say so, but I would love to see The helmet at the mouth of the tunnel and no one could see the players until they enter the field. We would have to have blue, white or red smoke billowing from the helmet and some kick ass music like Godsmack "Straight out of line" or something like that as each player was introduced. Of course a few individual players could do a little extra dance on their way out (Ray Lewis like). Then when they all take the field they could huddle at mid field and bounce while facing the other team as sort of an intimidation factor while some other ripping song played.
Let's hear the feedback fellas!

[Dozerdog]

:::

[jpdex12]

:::Not Lombardi like talk is it Dozer?

[The_Philster]

have the players do bowling ball shots on their way out of the tunnel :up:

[jpdex12]

have the players do bowling ball shots on their way out of the tunnel :up:Is this a Buffalo thing? Bowling ball shots..................is a shot glass not heavy enough?

[Pride]

Attend a Baltimore Ravens game... you will get a TON of ideas!

From what I remember... they had:

1. Opposing team introductions
2. A Chicago Bulls like introduction... with stadium bumping music and beats
3. On their 2 huge jumbotrons, they had a movie playing specifically designed for the intro. It included big defensive hits, big offensive plays... the team getting ready, and the coolest part, players looking into the camera with pissed off faces
4. The entire stadium started chanting with the video and music... the stadium felt alive! It was incredible
5. They introduced individuals (which I prefer) as oposed to the whole team. This particular day, they did the offense... but still finished with the heart and soul... Ray Lewis, who did his patented dance coming out of the tunnel.
6. Their national anthem was incredible, and was done very tastefully.


It was the most incredible pregame festivity I have seen... and I was ashamed to come back to the boring ole ralph 2 weeks later. The Bills organization needs to step it up in the multimedia/marketing department... I feel a major let down prior to EVERY game.

[Dozerdog]

Ashamed? Geesh! You make it sound like we burn american flags before kickoffs at the Ralph.



Go to a Broadway musical if you want that crap.

[helmetguy]

Ashamed? Geesh! You make it sound like we burn american flags before kickoffs at the Ralph.



Go to a Broadway musical if you want that crap.
Save the multi-media extravaganza for fake ****...like wrestling.

[Pride]

You do realize that others may think differently than you two old dinasours! Some of us were brought up with technology, entertainment, and not the dull drab world of western NY.

We do want to be entertained. Who says that the only entertainment at a football game should be between 1 and 4? Entertainment doesnt hurt sports, if it is done properly.

If that was the case... you would be just as happy with a camcorder recording of the field, as opposed to nice coverage by ABC/CBS/FOX. You wouldnt need to hear announcers, you wouldnt needs stats displayed on the screen.

I think some of you guys are afraid of change, or use "We dont want that crap" as a way of making you believe you don't.

All I know is, the Raven's fans were more passionate about their team during the game than Bills fans are. Yes! I did say it! Bills fans are NOT what they think they are. They think that because they deal with snow and wind.... they are great fans. Meanwhile, while we sell out games.. half of the stadium is filled with opposing fans (Steelers, Patriots), or people dont show up.

Bills fans need to stop living in their dull and dreary dream world, and wake up!

[OpIv37]

I think they need a healthy mix- some of the Baltimore stuff was over the top. I was so sick of that "We must protect this house- We Will" thing by the end of the third quarter.

[Pride]

Yes, I agree, that was a bit over the top. To do it prior to every defensive series is one thing... but every 3rd down? too much!

[Italian Stallion]

I think Pride hit it dead on....us younger guys have grown up with the technology and feel a need for all that kinda stuff before a game....call it fluff or whatever you old guys call it, but it gets the crowd louder and more into the game right off the bat.

I think the blue and red smoke is a good idea, and probally wouldn't cost that much either....also i think the helmet right up against the tunnel is a good idea, but then how would the oposing team get out onto the field??

-I think we need some more buffalo clips on the jumbotron, possibly to some loud rock music...the running buffalos in the snow always got me going....

-Also, not only should they do individual intros, the should incorporate a highlight or two of the player before they come out of the helmet...

Anyone who dosn't like this then oh well....I pay good money for the tickets, i expect to be entertained for the whole game....because we all know the actual outcome is never a sure thing

[jpdex12]

I think Pride hit it dead on....us younger guys have grown up with the technology and feel a need for all that kinda stuff before a game....call it fluff or whatever you old guys call it, but it gets the crowd louder and more into the game right off the bat.

I think the blue and red smoke is a good idea, and probally wouldn't cost that much either....also i think the helmet right up against the tunnel is a good idea, but then how would the oposing team get out onto the field??

-I think we need some more buffalo clips on the jumbotron, possibly to some loud rock music...the running buffalos in the snow always got me going....

-Also, not only should they do individual intros, the should incorporate a highlight or two of the player before they come out of the helmet...

Anyone who dosn't like this then oh well....I pay good money for the tickets, i expect to be entertained for the whole game....because we all know the actual outcome is never a sure thingI think that we are getting somewhere now. The pregame doesn't have to be some kind of freak show or drag out too much but the team needs to realize that if they build up the energy more during this time, they get the crowd into it more and it will help the team even more. The media does call our fans the 12th man and sometimes I wonder why? I don't notice the enthusiasm that the early nineties had anymore. I know we had better teams then but do we have to wait around for a team that makes it to the playoffs or super bowl before we start to show more heart?
Everyone (Dozer and a few others) is entitled to their opinions and I respect that, but we don't wear suits to games anymore like the days of old. The players are of a different age as well and they get their shwerve on by listening and getting hyped to modern music and pregame rituals.
Our fans do need to get a little more into these games. IT sucks when there are enough fans wearing friggin Steeler's yellow in our stadium to make you wonder what city you are playing in. I was pissed on Jan.2nd to see that. I am sick of the fair weather fans that sit in their seats and complain also. Ignorant fools with no patience.
We have just heard from other posters that there are other stadiums that do this pregame ritual thing better and we need to improve.
The opposing players will be let onto the field before we blow up the helmet in the tunnel.
Regardless....the Bills need to do more to build up the emotions in the Ralph before a game. Can we make it happen?

[ExWNYer]

I think Pride hit it dead on....us younger guys have grown up with the technology and feel a need for all that kinda stuff before a game....call it fluff or whatever you old guys call it, but it gets the crowd louder and more into the game right off the bat.

BS. Situations dictate a crowd's enthusiasm. A 7-0 team will have a crowd more pumped than an 0-7 team. A Bills/dulfelons game will have a crowd more excited than a Bills/Cards game. That's reality. I don't have anything against technology, glitz, or whatever you want to call it...it's fine. But too much of a "good thing" is not good. I was at the Bills/Ravens game this past season. It was overblown and over produced, much like the irritating and mind-numbing Sports Center. The Ray Lewis "dance" is a joke...that POS is the epitome of what's wrong with today's athlete. Raven fans are not better than Bills fans. They're front runners, not cut from the same cloth as Baltimore Colts fans.
BTW, for all the good in technology and progress, there's also something to be said for tradition.

[Pride]

You guys keep mentioning tradition...

what tradition does the ralph/bills have?

Tradition of NOT being exciting?

The bills have changed everything... mostly for worse!

Now, if we were Green Bay... you could speak of tradition. Buffalo? Name 1 thing that is done in pregame that is considered tradition? And dont tell me the stupid UPS truck!

[ExWNYer]

You guys keep mentioning tradition...

what tradition does the ralph/bills have?

Tradition of NOT being exciting?

The bills have changed everything... mostly for worse!

Now, if we were Green Bay... you could speak of tradition. Buffalo? Name 1 thing that is done in pregame that is considered tradition? And dont tell me the stupid UPS truck!

The point is that just because there's smoke and loud music and stupid dances that doesn't necessarily mean it's better or the game day enhanced. Time marches on and things change. I don't have a problem with that...I enmbrace new things but I also don't like change just for changes sake. If you're enhancing something great, but using the Ravens as your model is pi$$ poor. Again, overhyped and overproduced. Too much "style" and not enough substance.
BTW, I don't see anyone holding up "The Ralph" as the model for tradition but B-more ain't no great shakes, either!

[jpdex12]

BS. Situations dictate a crowd's enthusiasm. A 7-0 team will have a crowd more pumped than an 0-7 team. A Bills/dulfelons game will have a crowd more excited than a Bills/Cards game. That's reality. I don't have anything against technology, glitz, or whatever you want to call it...it's fine. But too much of a "good thing" is not good. I was at the Bills/Ravens game this past season. It was overblown and over produced, much like the irritating and mind-numbing Sports Center. The Ray Lewis "dance" is a joke...that POS is the epitome of what's wrong with today's athlete. Raven fans are not better than Bills fans. They're front runners, not cut from the same cloth as Baltimore Colts fans.
BTW, for all the good in technology and progress, there's also something to be said for tradition.Is this why you moved to Virginia?

[ExWNYer]

Is this why you moved to Virginia?

What's that got to do with the price of tea in China???
I didn't move to VA, my family did when I was a kid...went to school here, family's still here, got a job here, end of story. If we'd have stayed in WNY and things had worked out I would have stayed there. I still have friends and relatives up there and get up at least once a year for a game and when I can.
If you have a point, please make it. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the the game atmosphere issue.

[The_Philster]

Is this a Buffalo thing? Bowling ball shots..................is a shot glass not heavy enough?

this (http://www.billszone.com/mtlog/archives/2004/07/29/the_one_and_only_pinto_guy.php) should help explain the bowling ball shot thing...more at my site (http://www.madbbs.com/users/philster/Pinto.htm) video included

[jpdex12]

What's that got to do with the price of tea in China???
I didn't move to VA, my family did when I was a kid...went to school here, family's still here, got a job here, end of story. If we'd have stayed in WNY and things had worked out I would have stayed there. I still have friends and relatives up there and get up at least once a year for a game and when I can.
If you have a point, please make it. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the the game atmosphere issue.No problem dude. I would have said good bye to the family and stayed in Buffalo.

[ExWNYer]

No problem dude. I would have said good bye to the family and stayed in Buffalo.

So you would have dropped out of school, abandoned your family, and lived on the streets at the ripe, old, unemployable age of 14 just to stay in Buffalo?
OK. :liar: :clap:

[Pride]

Say what you want, but while I love Western NY.... I woudl never want to live there. Taxes are outrageous, Unemployment is extremely high, and the jobs that are there, do not pay enough.

Great place to visit.... bad place to live. IMO.

[jamze132]

I heard a lot of great ideas that could be incorporated but whatever the Bills choose, I just hope it includes aerobatic cricus freaks and clowns. :crazy:

[dannyek71]

execute Rian Lindell before the first game!

[jpdex12]

I heard a lot of great ideas that could be incorporated but whatever the Bills choose, I just hope it includes aerobatic cricus freaks and clowns. :crazy:Or maybe some topless cheerleaders with Size "C" breasts.

[Cntrygal]

My personal pregame ritual normally includes driving to the bar. I am hoping to get back to another game this season though.

[The_Philster]

My personal pregame ritual normally includes driving to the bar. I am hoping to get back to another game this season though.

Hoping? :huh:

[Cntrygal]

Hoping? :huh:


I may be on "vacation" during that time frame.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I'm an "old fart" who's really "Old School"--i.e. I believe that most players in the NFL should be told what Paul Brown told Jim Brown when he spiked the ball after scoring his first TD in practice, "Son, next time, act like you've been there before" (J.Brown never spiked the ball again in his much storied career!)--but I also understand what the younger guys, who are used to having everything made into a "big production number" are saying: the sport has turned into more than just a game--it's become an entertainment and, for the bucks that people are paying to see a game, there's no reason why the team shouldn't try to make the experience of going to the stadium as entertaining as possible, especially if the additional entertainment helps to "jack up" the fans and players and make the "home-field advantage" that the team enjoys even greater. While I'm not a fan of the kind of self-promoting dancing around that Ray Lewis and T.Owens do, if it doesn't intrude on the game itself, I wouldn't object to the team creating pre-game rituals of any kind that would help to "psyche up" the crowd and the team.

I particularly like the idea of using the Jumbotron screens to show great plays by Bills past and present as a lead-in to player introductions--perhaps with offensive plays shown on one screen and defensive plays on the other.

I also like the idea of having the team emerge from the tunnel through a red, white and blue smoke screen.

Last year, the BZ front page featured an article from a Kentucky newspaper about a white bison and his mother who escaped from the farm where it was being raised. According to the story, the farmer who owned the bison said that he had a deal in place for the bison, one of only two presently in the US, if he could train the bison, to become the mascot of the Buffalo Bills to accept and wear a bit that would allow him to be controlled by human handlers. I know the U. of Colorado has a brown bison mascot that it uses to lead its team onto the field before home and bowl games. I think that it would be very cool if the Bills could have a white bison as a mascot that they could similarly use to lead the team onto the field--perhaps with individual introductions of the starting offense or defense following, with the players emerging through a red,white and blue smoke cloud that would begin immediately after the bison charges out of the tunnel with the mass of the team behind him as the smoke starts.

Well, it's just a thought.

[The_Philster]

I may be on "vacation" during that time frame.

:pray: