Being a Buffalo Bills fan has not been easy over the last decade. Terrible draft picks (Mike Williams, Erik Flowers, and J.P. Losman to name a few), quarterback woes, games in Toronto, watching the hated New England Patriots whup Buffalo every year, and most significantly no playoff appearances, have caused me more anguish than a Bruce Smith blindside sack. The Bills have been like a bad relationship you can't part with. You keep going back hoping she will change but it always ends in the same fashion: disappointment. Despite all the pain, I was looking forward to this year's draft. I had my sights firmly set on Notre Dame's quarterback Jimmy Claussen at #9. And the Bills select....C.J. Spiller? WTF? We have Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson! We don't need a running back we need a quarterback! Even more upsetting was that Claussen was still available in the second round and Buffalo passed on him again! What is Buddy Nix thinking? After the hiring of Chan Gailey, the acquisition of no significant free agents in the offseason, and a horrible draft I said that's it, I'm done, I can't support this team anymore. Anyone who knows me knows that I completely fore swore the Bills and decided to support the other team I like, the Green Bay Packers. I was just tired of getting burned. But like any moment of pique it passed and I've had time to cool off. I also got some good encouragement from my best friend John. He reminded me that he is a New York Jets fan and aside from 1982 and a few good years in the 90s, the Jets have had some pretty slim years in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even the early 2000s. Yet he sticks by his team. (He's also a Baltimore Orioles and New York Knicks fan so....ouch. His only saving grace lately besides the recent success of the Jets is that he's a Georgetown Hoyas fan too.) He chastised me saying that I'd been spoiled by the Bills four Superbowl appearances in the 90s. I have to admit he's right. You stick with your team through thick and thin. Look at the Bengals fans of the 1990s. Those fans are die hard. Impressive considering that the "Bungles" were mostly dead during Clinton's presidency. And so with weariness and hope I pull out my Thurman Thomas jersey and other assorted Bills paraphernalia and officially return to the fold. With one caveat. There has been much talk in recent years of the Buffalo Bills moving to another city. If that happens i cannot in good conscience support the team anymore. However until that time I consider myself officially back. I mean Ralph Wilson has gotta die some time right? Right? Go Bills!Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Alright Buffalo Bills I Forgive You
Being a Buffalo Bills fan has not been easy over the last decade. Terrible draft picks (Mike Williams, Erik Flowers, and J.P. Losman to name a few), quarterback woes, games in Toronto, watching the hated New England Patriots whup Buffalo every year, and most significantly no playoff appearances, have caused me more anguish than a Bruce Smith blindside sack. The Bills have been like a bad relationship you can't part with. You keep going back hoping she will change but it always ends in the same fashion: disappointment. Despite all the pain, I was looking forward to this year's draft. I had my sights firmly set on Notre Dame's quarterback Jimmy Claussen at #9. And the Bills select....C.J. Spiller? WTF? We have Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson! We don't need a running back we need a quarterback! Even more upsetting was that Claussen was still available in the second round and Buffalo passed on him again! What is Buddy Nix thinking? After the hiring of Chan Gailey, the acquisition of no significant free agents in the offseason, and a horrible draft I said that's it, I'm done, I can't support this team anymore. Anyone who knows me knows that I completely fore swore the Bills and decided to support the other team I like, the Green Bay Packers. I was just tired of getting burned. But like any moment of pique it passed and I've had time to cool off. I also got some good encouragement from my best friend John. He reminded me that he is a New York Jets fan and aside from 1982 and a few good years in the 90s, the Jets have had some pretty slim years in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even the early 2000s. Yet he sticks by his team. (He's also a Baltimore Orioles and New York Knicks fan so....ouch. His only saving grace lately besides the recent success of the Jets is that he's a Georgetown Hoyas fan too.) He chastised me saying that I'd been spoiled by the Bills four Superbowl appearances in the 90s. I have to admit he's right. You stick with your team through thick and thin. Look at the Bengals fans of the 1990s. Those fans are die hard. Impressive considering that the "Bungles" were mostly dead during Clinton's presidency. And so with weariness and hope I pull out my Thurman Thomas jersey and other assorted Bills paraphernalia and officially return to the fold. With one caveat. There has been much talk in recent years of the Buffalo Bills moving to another city. If that happens i cannot in good conscience support the team anymore. However until that time I consider myself officially back. I mean Ralph Wilson has gotta die some time right? Right? Go Bills!
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Being with the Bills is akin to the battered housewife. I love them too much, even as they hit me in the face with bad decisions and terrible personnel moves. It makes me wonder how normally I am a rational person, yet I seem to be a bi-polar nightmare when discussing the Bills.
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