Outsiders don't get it, but how could they?
How could any normal human being understand the undying devotion that Bills fans have for their team? After all, the last time the Bills made the playoffs Y2K was actually a legitimate concern in America. Talk about anti-climatic.
But anyway, the first thing outsiders need to grasp before they can even start to fathom what it is to be a Buffalo Bills fan is to realize one simple truth: Bills fans aren't normal.
Yahoo! Sports recently published an article demonstrating the passion that Bills fans have for their hometown team ("There's no place like Buffalo in the NFL"). It's been a while since the Bills have been in the national spotlight, and I've never seen an "outsider" capture the spirit of "The 12th man"quite as well as Les Carpenter.
The NFL world has turned into a corporate playground for most teams across the country. The team-fan relationship has suffered because of it, but not in Buffalo.
Since starting at UB, I've met so many people from different parts of the state and country who constantly have used the plight of the Bills fan as an avenue to mockery. In my fourth year now, I've heard everything from Super Bowl jokes to Jim Kelly slurs, and because of the state of the franchise I've had to grin and bare it.
Can you imagine an entire city full of recharged citizens in the wake of this recent Bills revival? A business actually conducted research on its employees' performance in days following a win versus a loss. The days after a win produced considerable spikes in production.
Bills football is a way of life. It doesn't just happen on Sunday, it's a 365-day mission for a Super Bowl championship that's eluded this city like no other.
The newest Bills generation of fans doesn't have the same understanding of what it means to be a Bills fan, however. The Sabres have been the darling of the city over the course of the past decade, as the Bills have seemed suspended in mediocrity and, at times, absolute failure.
It'd be like being a Detroit Lions fan and never experiencing what it's like to get to the mountaintop. The Bills may not have won a Super Bowl, but the dynasty that was the early '90s Bills was one of the most dominant football teams ever assembled. The Sabres have never had a team as dominating as that team was.
Most young fans have lived through the dark days of the Buffalo Bills and don't have the same allegiance. But what a rebirth can do is slowly educate the youth of the fan base on what it means to be a Bills fan, and what a win on Sunday really means.
No win was a better example than the comeback "W" against the Patriots. Fans in attendance at that game learned first-hand what it's like to ride the wave of emotion that is Bills football. The mood of the city is just different when the team is relevant.
Before the NFL season began, the only thing people were talking about around here is how good the Sabres could be. Only three weeks in, the Bills have regained the top spot, and if this team is for real, buckle up Buffalo, because this is going to be one hell of a ride.
In the meantime, enjoy the journey. It's what defines us as a city and bonds us as a community. Let's Go Buffalo.
Email: matthew.parrino@ubspectrum.com
