Wasn’t really a fan of football back then but it’s a story.

I grew up in Buffalo in the 90s, didn’t know how playoffs or the league worked, mostly the one thing I knew about football was touchdowns were good. Well, maybe after their second or third afc championship victory the bills were going to another Super Bowl, huge news for wny, to me it was business as usual because in my naive mind I thought that’s just something the bills do every year anyway.

When I was a kid, they built the stadium in my neighborhood. We could not afford a ticket when it was finished. I was 10 years old when I showed up 6 hours early for the game with snowballs and waited for the Miami busses. They were 300lb men with scared looks on their faces. I started the snowballs with a tiny pebble for sound effects. This is how Bills Mafia started.😛🫣😛

No one’s gonna wanna hear it, and for the love of all things holy I swear I’m NOT trolling:

I went to 2 Bills vs Pats games when Brady played for them when he was winning rings and—while I fucking hate the Pats—it was cool as fuck to see the GOAT play. Hard to stomach or not, there’s no denying he’s the GOAT and in 50 years if I’m still alive I’ll get to say I was there to see him play…even tho I didn’t go for him. He’s also a hell of a lot bigger than ppl ever talked about. I remember the one year my dad and I sat at the goal line in the front row and saw him (come up short but still got called a TD) rush for a TD. Dude is big. We all talk about Josh Allen bc he’s so physical but ppl don’t realize Tom’s just as big, just not nearly as mobile.

I know that’s not really a “bills story” so I’ll end with this: my dad and I went to the home opener last year when Jim lead the “let’s go Buffalo chant” and Marv came up and did his famous “where else would you rather be than right here right now”. The absolute deafening “right here right now” from the crowd gave me chills and still does.

Winter of 90. First family vacation ever to Disney in Florida. Out shopping one day and the most glorious all white Starter jacket with a giant blue Buffalo Bills logo covering the back catches my eye. Beg my parents to buy it for me. Say it’s fate that we found it in Florida(cause fuck the Dolphins). Parents give in. Wear jacket for 3 straight days in the Florida heat. Sitting in the plane on the way back when a stewardess comes up and asks my Mom if I can go with her because the pilot has requested my presence. Get into cockpit and the pilot says he saw my jacket when we were boarding and wanted to show me the front of the plane because he loves the Bills. Shows me everything in the cockpit while we talk about my favourite players and why we love the Bills so much. Never prouder to be a Bills fan. Still miss the jacket. Go Bills!!!

I was at the playoff comeback against the Oilers. Stadium was half-empty. It was cold. But it was magical!

My dad took me to a game in the 80s. I was 14~ish. It was snowing and rather cold. My dad asked my mom to make him a thermos of rum and cokes. She insisted on filling it with hot chocolate. I remember them playfully going back and forth a bit, but my mom insisted. It’s cold, you’re getting hot chocolate. We get to the game, my dad is tailgating and drinking quite heavily (I guess I get that from him). It’s game time, we walk in with her thermos (I guess you could do that back then). He has a few more beers and decides it’s time to sober up. Open the thermos…. It’s rum and coke. My mom came through for him. I had to drive home that day because he simply could not. I think I remember him crawling to the car 😂

I used to have one of those big foam chicken wings. It was October 2021 and we were leaving the Miami game when this drunk sort of staggers by me and goes “holy shit I love that chicken wing, I’ll give you a hundred bucks for it.” Just for fun I said “alright let’s see the money.” Swear to god this guy pulled out a crisp $100. I kind of miss that foam wing, though.