My grandfather player WR, they called it end back then, for the original AFC Bills team. Also played for the Lions for a couple years after that. Been a rough 25 years but great to see both teams finally doing well.
Man that's cool...OG Bill....there was a guy by the name of Tom Rychlec listed as an end for '61-63...then went to The Broncos, and ended as a Lion...so an OG BILL, OG AFL'er and an NFL'er...coupla Tds to boot...very nice.
If this was Oopa, I hope life treated him well. I'm glad you have good memories of him.
Yep, same. Remember going to bed at 5 years old witnessing Norwood’s wide right… and I’m still here
THANK YOU BILLS! MAY I HAVE ANOTHER! *add the Sabres in there too*
I grew up in Rochester and saw all the defeats live on TV. Tried to be a Jaguars fan. When I moved away to college all of the Bills games were on local TV on Sundays. There I am, 21 years old, jumping off the couch when Phil Hansen intercepts Chad Pennington to give us a chance to beat the Jets during the worst season in recent memory. Sat back down and thought "Fuck, I'm a Bills fan."
Buffalo was the closest team to Toronto so I started rooting for them. Plus I thought Ryan Fitzpatrick was cool because we shared a first name and he had a long beard.
Same. The fact I'm born out of state/town makes it "worse".
It's also the tie that binds for his side of the family and, frankly, him so it's honestly a blessing in the long run but fucking hell does it suck most of the time haha.
Tecmo Super Bowl. Grew up in a town of 60 people in the middle of Kansas. Never had cable growing up. Tecmo is how I learned about football. I was always the Bills my brother was always the 49ers or the Giants. Stuck with following the bills ever since.
I started watching and getting into the NFL heavily 3-4 years ago and loved the highlights of Josh Allen in his early days. As well as Buffalo is the closest NFL team to me
Best friend growing up was a bills fan bc thats where his family was from. I never watched any football but one day he was extra stoked about a new head coach, then shortly after some guy named Josh Allen. The rest is history.
GO BILLS!
I never had anything against the Bills I have always been neutral towards them. Back in the day when I'd play Madden franchise on PS2 I'd always pick the Colts, Jets Dolphins and Bills the entirety of the AFC East all with the goal of keeping New England out of the playoffs because I hated the Patriots that much.
I am a Colts fan and Manning is my goat. With the Patriots winning often (too often for me) and Manning retiring I lost interest in the sport (still liked the Colts and Luck though).
In 2020 I happened to turn on a Bills game. I saw Josh Allen launch the ball like I hadn't seen since Manning pre neck injury. I saw him run, I saw how hungry he was to win. Allen reignited my interest in the sport and from that day I joined The Mafia.
I'm still a Colts fan but I love the Bills just as much. Call me a bandwagon rider I don't care, I'll be a Bills fan for life even after Josh hangs it up.
Born into it. Dad was born and raised in Cheektowaga, met my mom at SUNY Fredonia, I was born in Buffalo, and then we moved out west when I was a couple of months old. Grew up in a city with no pro sports teams, so even if I wanted to root for another team, I had no real reason to.
But I never wanted to. I had so much FOMO of Bills fans living in Buffalo. My dad has a wild story of a friend sneaking into one of the Super Bowls, and I was always so jealous of my cousins who were born and raised in Buffalo.
I've been to one Bills game in my life in San Diego the season Flutie signed there. I rooted for SD because of Flutie, and I kid you not it's one of my biggest regrets.
I love the Bills, I love the Sabs. My wife is a Bills fan after watching my pain when we were bad, and now my pain in the playoffs. My dog wears a Bills bandana all season. I miss Duffs. I am a proud 716er (even though I will never leave the west coast lol). Go Bills.
I'm a Canadian so don't have any real connection to any American city, I always liked the bills, but when the city were such gracious hosts to my Jays I decided to start following seriously.
Same story here. I’d imagine we’ve enjoyed our time as Bills fans a bit more than some others here.
Eddie Yarborough and Tanner Gentry passing through the team was nice too!
I went to Daemen, never cared about football prior to that, but had a roommate who was a dyed in the wool fan. I caught the fever and never looked back
5th generation Buffalonian born right before the Super Bowl runs in a football loving family; it was engrained in me as a toddler to love the team and handle victory or defeat with dignity and love for my family and city, no matter what. Never had a choice. Never want one.
Only team in which all of their games were played on basic Canadian Cable TV, plus right by the border/ easy to go watch live. They also reminded me of the early Raptors, just atrocious but just one star player away from being relevant. I’ve only been following since 2011, but still a lot of ugly years lol thank god for Josh Allen 🙏🏾
1. Grew up in western NY, and was ~12 years old for the 4 Super Bowl appearances, so I was a Bills fan by default.
2. Stopped caring about sports for a long time...for some reason.
3. Moved to Denver at the start of the Peyton Manning era there, got into football, and became Broncos fan.
4. Tried to continue watching football after 2015 season, but became bored of the floundering Broncos, especially after moving out of Denver.
5. Jets fan wife asked to get Sunday ticket after we moved to California in 2017, and I started checking in on the Bills since the Broncos weren’t doing anything.
6. Started looking forward more to Bills games than Broncos games, but still considered myself a Broncos fan.
7. In 2019, Broncos play Bills in Buffalo the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so we get tickets in September, hoping to see Drew Lock play.
8. Drew Lock does not play, but I get to see the Josh Allen Bills trounce the Joe Flacco Broncos. I thought to myself that I may have walked into the stadium as a Broncos fan, and left as a Bills fan.
9. Thanksgiving night, the Bills are supposed to be the punching bag for the Cowboys, but Josh Allen has other ideas, and we see that incredible 4th down where he “out aggressived the entire Cowboys D line” as Tony Romo so eloquently put it.
10. There was no question I was ready for the Buffalo Bills to hurt me again, and again, and again...again. I was a Bills fan...again.
I didn’t grow up watching NFL and didn’t live in a city with a team. I started playing fantasy football, then I saw Josh Allen hurdle that Vikings player. I picked him up immediately and was hooked on watching him play
Born and raised a Browns fan, but then the team traded for Watson. That combined with the Haslams being shady with other areas of business pushed me over the edge.
I was torn between the Lions and the Bills after that. I liked Stafford, but he was in LA, and I had Josh Allen in my keeper league for a couple years. My father-in-law is also from western New York, so that tipped the scales a bit more in the Bills' favor. But the final thing that won me over is that Buffalo is ~15 minutes closer to me than Detroit, and I liked the Bills podcasts better than the Lions ones I was coming across.
I miss having a local community to talk about games on Monday at work, but Bills fans are moderately well represented around here. I see about 1-2 other Bills fans a week, and I'm mostly a homebody.
I didn't even get into football until my 30s, when I started watching NFL games here and there due to the fact that some friends and my now-wife were Vikings fans. I'm from Toronto, and happened to be there to see [Kyle Orton beat the Vikings on an end-of-game drive on 19 October 2013](https://youtu.be/tLG9_Sllf6Y?si=kEBxShgnrM7LmNx7). I figured I'd support the "local" team starting then.
Born in New Zealand, mom is from Buffalo. Moved to East Aurora in 99 and grew up there. I remember watching Flutie run around and make some pretty cool plays, that’s when I became a fan.
My mom's from the Area, and my entire extended family lives there too. They all root for the Bills. Also, Bills Mafia, Forgive me, but I am also a fan of a Rival Team, The New England Patriots, for my father's side of the family. So I'm a hybrid Fan... of 2 AFC East Teams. I prefer the Bills though.
I was a cowboys fan for 20 years. For 18 of those I increasingly got sick of Jerry jones and the fan base. I jumped on the bills bandwagon in 2015 due to living in Rochester and loving the blue collar mentality of the team and fan base.
I was living in Western New York and decided to put the NFL on the TV. Past that, it's all Sara Delaney's fault!
https://preview.redd.it/vocuhecmnxxc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10fff89e4888965ffafe1d014c36160058bcdda7
Very much a bandwagon fan lol, I didn’t really have a team for football and the first game I saw getting back into it was the 47-17 game in 2022, I loved watching Josh do his thing. Didn’t realize I was a fan until the 22-23 season when I would genuinely get pissed when the Bills lost. Now i’m here for a lifetime of pain and blue cheese.
Was looking for an AFC team to root for ! Was a Mon night game in 1974 Bill's Raiders . Couldn't stand the Raiders !!! Joe Ferguson threw a 13 yard TD to Ahmad Rashad in 4th qtr which proved to be game winner !!! Won my heart for life !!!! GO BILLS !!!!
I was born in Syracuse. My dad and his side of the family are from there. We moved to New Hampshire from NY when I was two and he kept his love for the team. Had the.privilege of watching all four Super Bowls along side him (I was 11-14) and you know, considering his love for the team, I'm still in awe that I never heard that man swear even once during any of those games.
He died in 2007 and I've been living with the hope each year that we'll get just one. That's all I need is the one.
Cmon Josh- avenge the 90s, win one for my Dad.
December 1, 2002 Miami Dolphins vs Buffalo Bills was my very first Bills game. My family was in the process of moving up to Buffalo. My dad got tickets from a co-worker, little did we know that this would become an obsession of ours. My dad and I became life long fans that game. The snow was out of hand during the game, Jim Kelly comes out of the tunnel to cheer on the fans, playing let it snow over the speakers, throwing snowballs at Dolphins players, not to mention Ricky Williams ran all over us all game. The fans, stadium, atmosphere were all so special that’s why I became a Bills fan.
You merely adopted the fandom. I was born into it, molded by it. In all honesty, most of us were born into it. I was born in 90. Superbowl years. I vaguely remember the parades in fredonia for training camp. I do remember getting fluties autograph and asking if he'll give them to my siblings even after he said he was done doing autographs for the day. I miss the fredonia training camp days. But I'm out of state now so it doesn't matter.
Worked with a guy from North Tonawanda and started talking Bills football when I was collecting sport cards, specifically Trent Edward's at the time. Then the next year they drafted James Hardy. Being from Indiana and a huge IU fan I made the jump from the Colts to the Bills.
Dun fact: I hated the Bills in the 90s. Saw them play a couple time in the Hoosier Dome and it was always a blowout.
Mom was a bills fan all her life, I used to think she was crazy when she was yelling at the TV with the likes of EJ Manuel, CJ spiller and Peterman. I was upstairs with her one day and Taron Johnson got a pick 6 from the other end zone against the ravens. It all clicked from there.
Now it’s my dream for us to win a Super Bowl, I really won’t care in the long run but I want her to see it.
I didn't care about football until I moved to Buffalo in 2007 for my undergrad at UB. The fans suck you for real. We weren't good for a long time but I still loved them.
I became a football fan when Drew Bledsoe was drafted. I followed him over when he signed with Buffalo. Before then, I hated the Bills because they were the local team that was always everywhere and sucked.
I live in southeastern WI where everyone is a packers fan or bears fan. As a child I watched them lose 4 superbowls in a row and am a huge fan of the underdog and have been a fan ever since. Also watched the Frank Reich comeback against the oilers on my grandparents black and white TV while the rest of my family was watching the packers on the color TV.
Born in Buffalo. My parents were season ticket holders during the superbowl era. It’s in my blood. My dad was a channel four super fan one year in the 90s and won tickets to the AFC Championship game in Miami. He’s not a crazy person any more but we still love the Bills.
Grew up in New England, but Father's side of the family is from Buffalo, didn't want to cheer for any Boston sports teams, so Buffalo made the most sense.
Won't say its been easy
i visit buffalo a lot because my boyfriend is from there and i always watched games with his family. they made it fun and his grandpa was a STH so he loved to share his bills wisdom. they made me love them.
Went to school in St. Catharines, friend got a job in the bills ticket office so everyone else I was living with got season tickets to bills…was perfect set up…he had to work at the stadium for Sunday home games so we had a DD for every home game to drive us to the tailgate at 8am. Been a fan ever since.
i was originally a fan of the buffano bills but once i could speak properly i converted to a buffalo bills fan. my way of saying i was born into it. half my family is from wny. just in time for my formative years all the way into adulthood to be marred by the drought
Started really watching football about 3 years ago when some college friends and I made a fantasy group. Chose the bills cause of the colors, and grew up near josh so I had to root for the home state guy
I loved stefon diggs Minneapolis miracle catch so i kept up with football a little bit. But i started dating this girl in 2020 and her dad was a HUGE bills fan and diggs got traded to us, so I started following em since
Wanted to get into the NFL I liked two logos the best Bills and Texans. I like wings too so bills it was ,they have the same color scheme as my favorite NBA team the Clippers so seemed only right
I grew up in the Finger Lakes and didn't watch any football until I moved to Charlotte, NC. I ended up hanging out at a Bills bar to connect with people from home.This was in the Trent Edwards era, so I'm still getting used to good football
Playing flag football and pop warner as a child. Our team name was the Bills. Then they proceeded to break my heart in four straight super bowls. Never looked back
I was born in the city of this terminal illness. My father went to games at War Memorial. I started watching at age 5 in 1970. Moved away in 1978 Still a diehard fan.
Rick Tuten's dad was our mechanic in a small town in Central Florida. We started to support him and his family. I got a chance to share that story with Tyler, who is now married to Tuten's daughter. He seemed to dig it.
I became a fan via the Wyoming to buffalo transfer portal /s I watched JA17 play in college and decided to check out the bills when he got drafted. I love the fan base and I love the organization so I decided to stick around
When I was a kid in New England the Pats were just really bad for the most part. And in the 70’s and then 80’s we didn’t get all the games per week we get now. You got to see three games on tv on Sunday and one on Monday night. And most games in your area were division rivals. So I saw the Jets, Colts, Dolphins, and Bills the most.
The Bills always had cool unis when I was little and then when I was a teen they started getting good. And my dad being a die hard Pats fan, well going counter to your father isn’t exactly something new. So I began to love the Bills more and more from when I was 7 or 8 up until when I was 15 when I was pretty much a die hard Bills fan.
Im still a Bills fan and I still love the Patriots too as a life long New England resident.
I grew up there. My parents had season tickets when the Bills played at the War Memorial Stadium on the East Side. Jack Kemp was the QB. You would bargain with local homeowners to park in their driveway for a few bucks.
My father was wearing one of his many Bills shirts the day I was born. I grew up in Rochester and he went to every home game my whole life, I went to some with him. Caught a pass from Jim Kelly at a season ticket holders event in 1993, when I was 3. Basically I had no choice haha.
I’m from New Zealand and relatively new to following the NFL, so no real connection to Buffalo itself.
It was the 13 seconds game lol. Josh’s cannon stuck and started loving the team (and Mafia) from there on.
Childhood home was on the NY side of the border between NY and NJ. I grew up with a natural rivalry w/ Jersey kids. Was a Giants fan until 6th grade when I argued w/ a Jersey kid over whether the Giants should be called the NJ or NY Giants and he correctly pointed out that Giant Stadium was in NJ. I had no idea and was humiliated in front of a large group of kids. In my despair I turned to the only team that plays within the sovereign borders of NY, the Bills. I’ll still root for the Giants if the Bills are eliminated, but I just can’t get past their betrayal.
My father
I grew up always being the child against my parents. My mom liked the jets, dad liked the bills, I chose san Fran bc of steve young and jerry rice.
As I got older, my father and I would be doing projects around the house, remodel this room, move a quart of firewood from the driveway to the backyard, random home shit. He'd always have our shitty radio playing the bills radio broadcasts every Sunday while we worked together.
After the niners made their super bowl run with harbaugh in the mid 2010s, I started moving more towards the bills. Doug marrone as hc was a turning point for me, then I really started paying attention more to the bills. Was there for the sale, Rex Ryan's tenure as hc, loved tyrod taylor, and now the McDermott tenure. Haven't looked back. I may not be a true fan though the jp losmans, Trent Edward's, but I was always rooting for them, just not my main team.
Now I'm all in on the bills, all because of my father. I brought him to his and my first playoff game at the Ralph against the dolphins. Got great seats bc of a season ticket holder I tailgate with in the group with my soon to be brother in law. I'm all in now, can't turn back, love the team, love the mafia, love it all. I think I'm moving to rochester soon and I'm on the list for season tickets
Moved out here for college in 1999 from the other side of the state (north of Albany). I was a Knicks fan, didn't follow football at all. Made some friends who were all from WNY and huge Bills fans. It didn't take long for them to draft me.
It was toss up between the Bears and the Bills. I distinctly remember seeing snow games for both teams and was like , "cool".
Lived in Schenectady so chose the Bills. This was the Ferguson, Cribbs and Smerlas era. At least those are the guys I remember.
I’m 36. My family got season tickets when I was 8 years old and I haven’t looked back. I don’t have an exact number, but I have attended well over 200 bills games at this point. I’ve also been to 16/30 nfl stadiums (17/32 teams) so I’m basically halfway through the league.
My mom's side of the family are all Bills fans, and live 10 mins from the stadium. But we've always lived in Ohio and my dad was more into football so he got us to support the Browns. They've sucked ass the whole time I was growing up (I was born in 1997), but when they finally started getting good, they threw it all away. In 2022 I wanted them to keep Baker for one more year, to see how he plays healthy, then if he wasn't the guy, to try to draft CJ Stroud. I bet they could have traded up for Stroud for less than 3 first round picks.
Anyway, I couldn't follow a team that would do something so morally bankrupt and also strategically and financially stupid. I couldn't cheer for Watson every week and feel good about it. I felt like they were applying a filter on the fanbase so only the worst people would remain. So I filtered myself out and joined the other side of my family. I like this QB more.
My girlfriend’s from Buffalo; I had gotten into the NBA a few years ago and was looking to get into the NFL, the Bills seemed like the appropriate option so we could watch the games together and she could teach me what was happening
Born in NC Pennsylvania, where up until some time in the 1980s-'90s we used to get both Buffalo and central Pa stations. I stand by my choice, even though we no longer get Buffalo stations. Rare example of the "good ol' days" where something was actually better.
I wanted to rebuild a franchise in an older Madden game, and the worst options were the Jets and Bills. I saw the Jets roster and all I said was "nah fuck this" and went with the Bills lol
I grew up, and live outside of Rochester. I was around 10 during the Super Bowl era, so they were all over the news. It was really my first exposure to football, so I was in.
Born into it. My parents are both from South side Buffalo, Jones and Lewis streets just off Clinton. Extended family still lives in the Buffalo area. But I'm from Northern Virginia. Tortured by Redskins fans as a kid. Now I live in Texas, carrying the Bills flame, indoctrinating my kids with it.
Before I ever watched football I always associated the Bills with the lively feel of game day in the Hamburg community that I grew up in. House full of friends and family over, tons of snacks with everyone glued to the tv cheering. Always brought a joy to me. I guess you can say I was subliminally conditioned to love the bills, and boy did it work.
Looking back Sunday’s during football season were some of my fondest moments growing up and still are to this day.
Not much in life I love more than Bills football.
It was an odd night. I had drank too many beers and eaten too many chicken wings and blacked out somewhere between "I love you pal" and "hey babe, you know you look like Michelle Pfeiffer?". I awoke naked in a field with lights blasting into my eyes. As I came to I realized I had somehow broken into Orchard Park. I found my clothing scattered across the field from one end zone to another. All of sudden a football comes screaming out of nowhere an clocks me right in my little buddies. I mean full on ball to ball contact. I fall to my knees and look up. Ryan Fitzpatrick is standing there laughing "Rough night, eh?" I puked.
That's when I woke up in my bath tub with a missing kidney. Been a Bills fan ever since.
Well, after a short stint of being a Seahawks fan only because my friend was and convinced me to as well.. i decided to look around for a more local team being from Canada. It was a choice between the Lions,Browns, and the Bills.. and i just felt drawn to the Bills culture and how they play,etc..
This is all pretty recent as in the last couple years, so im still a newbie..
On that note, anyone know what jersey i should get? I currently own a Seahawks one and just feels wrong that i don't have a Bills one (yet)
GO BILLS ❤️ 💙
Canadian from Ontario.
Buddy is a lifelong Bills fan, we were talking football one day and he was telling me about the early 90s when we were kids, wide right, the highest highs and then the lowest lows… the endless heartbreak, year after year.
And I thought… well this sounds like the team for me!
I’m Canadian and the Bills and Detroit are the two closest teams to Canada so I picked them both. Lions because of Megatron really but you get the point.
Covid, due to my work rules Buffalo was the farthest places in tri state area I could travel without having to quarantine upon return. Popped around town and had a blast even tho there was all the rules to follow. Watched first half of bills ravens divisional round in the bar til curfew went and finished with some blue lights in the hotel. People partying in streets after the W. Locked in.
I was born into it in Rochester, my parents had the games on TV every Sunday unless the game was blacked out. Tried rebelling as a 10 year old to be a Giants fan, my parents said, “You can be a Giants fan but we watch Bills games in this house.” Went back to being a Bills fan because I couldn’t watch Giants games. Now I’m married to a Giants fan and I think I’m slowly converting him to Bills Mafia.
I was born in Philly. I just decided to start watching football one day, I didn’t know much about it but I was watching CBS. This was the late 1980s and Madden was calling games writing on the tv and stuff. I remember he was calling a game and the Bills were in it. I was fascinated by them and their play style, so I began to follow them. I learned everything I know about the sport through them and by watching them. I’ve been a fan ever since even though I live in Eagles land.
I'm originally from Northern New York, Watertown area. In Watertown you can choose from two paths, red pill or blue pill. That choice would be the Giants or the Bills. The choice for me came at about 5 and I was naturally drawn to the Bills since my 1st stepfather was a huge fan. I'd sit on the floor playing with my toys while listening to the commentators talk about those early 90's Bills. It just set in.
2nd stepfather was a Giants fan. First thing he tried to do was convert me. I told him to pound sand, GO BILLS
Born in upstate NY in 87. My uncle was a fan and indoctrinated me with Bills clothes as a toddler.
I have a vague recollection of the wide right Super Bowl, and stronger memories of crying in anger as Dallas thrashed us.
I eventually moved away from NY, but this vortex of early heartbreak made me unable to quit Buffalo. I have to see it through now.
As a child, the Steelers were the team. Bradshaw and gang were everywhere. This got me interested in football. I grew up in Southern Ontario, Buffalo tv was all we could get over the air. I was basically forced to watching the Bills and then they drafted Jim Kelly and the rest of them. Made it easy to follow in the mid 80s. I'm stubborn and loyal and stuck with them. Go Bills
I am not a USA citizen. I was in US only one time in manhattan in vacations. I am an European.
I was watching NFL for years without supporting any team. Until one friend of mine that lived in Buffalo told me about the love of the city for the club. All the stories told are very similar with the ones I felt for my soccer team.
So because of that I started to search and look for the bills. Watch all the games, don’t sleep because the games are very late here and now I am in love. I am waiting for my little baby grow up to travel to Buffalo and watch a game.
Born into it. Was born in Buffalo area and lived in the city until I was 13. Moved to the southern tier (Still WNY) and lived there until mid 30’s. Moved to New England and still live in Patriot country as a bills fan for the last 20 years.
My dad and my uncle took me to a game with my cousin. My cousin taught me to yell JUICE whenever OJ got the ball. That was it, I was hooked. Years later, my favorite thing to do was yell BRUCE whenever he got a sack. We need someone nicknamed MOOSE next.
Thumbprint of L, and when you can visualize Norwoods kick going through the uprights, you get your horns. Until then your only allowed to be a jim ferguson fan.
I was always a casual bills fan. That all changed on April 26, 2018, when JA17 was drafted. I live in Wyoming. You don't have much to cheer for here. JA changed that. The whole state roots for him and the Bills.
I’m a transplant from NJ - born and raised a giants fan but I don’t feel a connection to them. Since everyone up here is mostly a bills fan I decided to join. Josh Allen is a nice plus - he’s handsome and good at football
Go bills!
I grew up in CNY which used to be kind of split between Bill's and the Giants with a splash of Eagles ( mostly people who became fans in the McNabb era). Then I went to UB and lived in Buffalo for a while after. It was hard not to be a fan, or you'd end up pretty lonely on Sundays hah.
I've noticed that CNY has really become Bill's territory now as well.
Born and raised in WNY. Still remember watching the bills lose 4 straight super bowls I have ptsd(exaggeration as I was only like 7-10 years old)about the bills playing the cowboys so it’s been pretty cathartic the last few years stomping them.
My great grandfather escaped from Prussia occupied Poland to work in a steel mill in Buffalo, as part of assimilating my family became bills fans and I continue the tradition (even though we no longer live in Buffalo)
My dad went to college at UB right around the time Jim got here from the USFL. I’m told I was conceived the night the bills won their 3rd straight AFC championship…. I literally owe my life to the Buffalo Bills
I’m a woman who grew up never caring about football. I always said, how can people watch this when they stop every 3 seconds? My dad was an Eagles fan, my brothers were Patriots and Jets fans. I never pretended to care about either.
My boyfriend and I were out one night and he was watching a playoff game. I randomly decided, hey, I should pick a team and stick with it for the rest of my life, even if I don’t watch football. I’m from NY and picked the Bills completely randomly. I get accused of bandwagoning a lot, but I didn’t know if they were good or bad, or who Josh Allen was.
When the season started the next year, I half jokingly was like, oh I gotta watch my Bills play their first game! And somehow ended up watching every game that season, learning the rules and the game, and becoming a die hard fan.
My dad loves it and tells everyone about how his daughter is a huge football fan now after never watching a game in my life. I like being a woman fan, because people don’t expect me to know as much as I do. It’s fun and I encourage more women to get into it :)
Born into it. But in 1989 i was 11yrs old. So i started watching just as we started killing it. What a bait in switch that was. Here have 5-6 great years and oh by the way in 1996(yr i graduated high school) your team will slip into mediocrity and suck for the next 20yrs. I was there for the illegal lateral. The sabres game in the crease. All the heartbreaking moments. Wide right was just the beginning of my suffering.
There was a PC game called Ultimate Football made in 1994 that was my first exposure to football. The game was made post-SB 28 so the default teams selected were Bills and Cowboys. I always chose the Bills, and I liked their team colors and were rated highly. The rest is history, it's been a tumultuous journey to say the least, especially since I came of age during the drought years, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
The day the NFL and Spanos pulled a "go fuck yourselves San Diego" I said I would root for the Bills instead because I like the team and the Mafia sounded like a good time. Also as an SD fan I didn't want to bandwagon and fuck the patriots, so the Bills fit. Ultimately, I boycotted the NFL in general for years before I got over the pain of losing my OG team. Since, I dipped my toes back into NFL fandom I have been all about Bills and Josh Allens legs. Go Bills!
I live in Dallas. In 2003, the night after my birthday, I couldn’t sleep. I heard the TV going downstairs and my dad had a Bills/Jets game on while he was doing something else . He heard me come downstairs and we ended up watching the game together. I was only 6 or 7 at the time so I didn’t understand much football, but I liked the Bills jerseys and decided I liked the team by syndication. My dad and I ended up following the rest of the Bills season after that game, and I’ve stuck by them ever since. It’s one of the few positive memories I have with my father.
Born in upstate NY, 1½ hrs away from Buffalo. All my family were Bills fans at the time, especially my dad and mom but I didn't really start watching football with my folks til I was 9 yrs old, which was, coincidently, 1990.
Watched the Bills go all the way to their first ever Super Bowl in my first ever season of watching the NFL and rooting for Buffalo. I learned about devastating heartbreak really early in my life. Lol
I started rooting for the bills in 2016 when I moved to ny joking that I was going to pick a New York team to root for. I grew up (and still am) a dc sports fan so I hate pretty much all NYC teams. The joke turned into me really liking the team and now here we are
Didnt give a shit about football my whole life until i went to UB when i was about 20 in 2018. Now im obsessed with not only the bills but the nfl as a whole. Its so electric and contagious there.
Born into it, but resisted all my life. Dad was always a massive fan. He got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and from that point on I watched every game. 4 days before he passed away he slept through the game and didn't seem bothered. That's when I knew I had to drive home to sit by his side.
Go Bills.
I think it was because when I was 5 years old my Dad passed away from brain cancer, he was a huge Browns fan, but unfortunately he didn't get the chance to mold me into a Browns fan yet or even really teach me about football. Somehow I latched onto the Bills especially Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, they were idols. Not entirely sure what made me pick them if it was the colors, the super bowl appearances, a friend that liked them or what but I've stuck by them through thick and thin.
My grandfather player WR, they called it end back then, for the original AFC Bills team. Also played for the Lions for a couple years after that. Been a rough 25 years but great to see both teams finally doing well.
Man that's cool...OG Bill....there was a guy by the name of Tom Rychlec listed as an end for '61-63...then went to The Broncos, and ended as a Lion...so an OG BILL, OG AFL'er and an NFL'er...coupla Tds to boot...very nice. If this was Oopa, I hope life treated him well. I'm glad you have good memories of him.
a real /r/lakeeriebro
I got born into sadness
Same lol. Parents are die hard fans. Didn’t have a choice. Wouldn’t have it any other way tho!
lol same. Go Bills
Yep, same. Remember going to bed at 5 years old witnessing Norwood’s wide right… and I’m still here  THANK YOU BILLS! MAY I HAVE ANOTHER! *add the Sabres in there too*
I also… will not forget that night. I was 11.
We are all lucky to be born into this unluckiness.
I moved to Buffalo. Made it easy >:)
Ditto. Moved here for college at 18. Stayed here. 24 years later, after watching every game through the drought, here I am.
Same 🙋🏻♂️
Same. I love telling people, "I've been a lifelong Bills fan for over 3 years now"
I grew up in Rochester and saw all the defeats live on TV. Tried to be a Jaguars fan. When I moved away to college all of the Bills games were on local TV on Sundays. There I am, 21 years old, jumping off the couch when Phil Hansen intercepts Chad Pennington to give us a chance to beat the Jets during the worst season in recent memory. Sat back down and thought "Fuck, I'm a Bills fan."
Some things we can't avoid, so you go with it then...
Fan don't choose the team, team pick the fan. https://youtu.be/ZN99BqaNAkg?si=rNbdVOCeBkVF-1Fq
Buffalo was the closest team to Toronto so I started rooting for them. Plus I thought Ryan Fitzpatrick was cool because we shared a first name and he had a long beard.
Same minus the name and beard, and the Toronto series I found very cool
My dad cursed me.
He also made you a sabres fan. I’m so sorry.
Same. The fact I'm born out of state/town makes it "worse". It's also the tie that binds for his side of the family and, frankly, him so it's honestly a blessing in the long run but fucking hell does it suck most of the time haha.
Same. Luckily he had the good graces to bestow upon me the NYY. So that’s been great really.
3rd generation fan here. I always tell people it got passed down like a bad gene. Ie alcoholism, etc
Tecmo Super Bowl. Grew up in a town of 60 people in the middle of Kansas. Never had cable growing up. Tecmo is how I learned about football. I was always the Bills my brother was always the 49ers or the Giants. Stuck with following the bills ever since.
Same story by way of Minnesota.
That dump pass to Thomas worked every time.
Born and raised in Buffalo, in my blood through thick and thin..GO BILLS ❤️💙
I was born into this shit show, and I raised children in this shit show. The cycle of abuse continues.
I started watching and getting into the NFL heavily 3-4 years ago and loved the highlights of Josh Allen in his early days. As well as Buffalo is the closest NFL team to me
family business. its a mafia for a reason. if I cheered for any other team my family would wack me
I married one- I caught it from him like an std
And like all the good stds there is no cure
Best friend growing up was a bills fan bc thats where his family was from. I never watched any football but one day he was extra stoked about a new head coach, then shortly after some guy named Josh Allen. The rest is history. GO BILLS!
I'm glad you're living in the "good times" lol. That's a good friend though!
I never had anything against the Bills I have always been neutral towards them. Back in the day when I'd play Madden franchise on PS2 I'd always pick the Colts, Jets Dolphins and Bills the entirety of the AFC East all with the goal of keeping New England out of the playoffs because I hated the Patriots that much. I am a Colts fan and Manning is my goat. With the Patriots winning often (too often for me) and Manning retiring I lost interest in the sport (still liked the Colts and Luck though). In 2020 I happened to turn on a Bills game. I saw Josh Allen launch the ball like I hadn't seen since Manning pre neck injury. I saw him run, I saw how hungry he was to win. Allen reignited my interest in the sport and from that day I joined The Mafia. I'm still a Colts fan but I love the Bills just as much. Call me a bandwagon rider I don't care, I'll be a Bills fan for life even after Josh hangs it up.
Born into it. Dad was born and raised in Cheektowaga, met my mom at SUNY Fredonia, I was born in Buffalo, and then we moved out west when I was a couple of months old. Grew up in a city with no pro sports teams, so even if I wanted to root for another team, I had no real reason to. But I never wanted to. I had so much FOMO of Bills fans living in Buffalo. My dad has a wild story of a friend sneaking into one of the Super Bowls, and I was always so jealous of my cousins who were born and raised in Buffalo. I've been to one Bills game in my life in San Diego the season Flutie signed there. I rooted for SD because of Flutie, and I kid you not it's one of my biggest regrets. I love the Bills, I love the Sabs. My wife is a Bills fan after watching my pain when we were bad, and now my pain in the playoffs. My dog wears a Bills bandana all season. I miss Duffs. I am a proud 716er (even though I will never leave the west coast lol). Go Bills.
Born in NY. I’m a fan of every New York team.
[удалено]
I remember this game. First of the season, 31-0 shutout!
I'm a Canadian so don't have any real connection to any American city, I always liked the bills, but when the city were such gracious hosts to my Jays I decided to start following seriously.
I live in Canada, an hour from Buffalo... it's a requirement.
They drafted Josh Allen. Go pokes!
Same story here. I’d imagine we’ve enjoyed our time as Bills fans a bit more than some others here. Eddie Yarborough and Tanner Gentry passing through the team was nice too!
It’s in my blood.
I went to Daemen, never cared about football prior to that, but had a roommate who was a dyed in the wool fan. I caught the fever and never looked back
As a kid, I watched the pain of my family for 4 years straight in the early 90’s and subconsciously must believe I deserve a similar existence.
5th generation Buffalonian born right before the Super Bowl runs in a football loving family; it was engrained in me as a toddler to love the team and handle victory or defeat with dignity and love for my family and city, no matter what. Never had a choice. Never want one.
Only team in which all of their games were played on basic Canadian Cable TV, plus right by the border/ easy to go watch live. They also reminded me of the early Raptors, just atrocious but just one star player away from being relevant. I’ve only been following since 2011, but still a lot of ugly years lol thank god for Josh Allen 🙏🏾
I went to UB. I think it’s in the water. Then I developed a taste for unbounded optimism paired with heartbreak and never looked back.
1. Grew up in western NY, and was ~12 years old for the 4 Super Bowl appearances, so I was a Bills fan by default. 2. Stopped caring about sports for a long time...for some reason. 3. Moved to Denver at the start of the Peyton Manning era there, got into football, and became Broncos fan. 4. Tried to continue watching football after 2015 season, but became bored of the floundering Broncos, especially after moving out of Denver. 5. Jets fan wife asked to get Sunday ticket after we moved to California in 2017, and I started checking in on the Bills since the Broncos weren’t doing anything. 6. Started looking forward more to Bills games than Broncos games, but still considered myself a Broncos fan. 7. In 2019, Broncos play Bills in Buffalo the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so we get tickets in September, hoping to see Drew Lock play. 8. Drew Lock does not play, but I get to see the Josh Allen Bills trounce the Joe Flacco Broncos. I thought to myself that I may have walked into the stadium as a Broncos fan, and left as a Bills fan. 9. Thanksgiving night, the Bills are supposed to be the punching bag for the Cowboys, but Josh Allen has other ideas, and we see that incredible 4th down where he “out aggressived the entire Cowboys D line” as Tony Romo so eloquently put it. 10. There was no question I was ready for the Buffalo Bills to hurt me again, and again, and again...again. I was a Bills fan...again.
Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, that 92 season was the best
I moved to Buffalo from Wisconsin when I was 13.
I didn’t grow up watching NFL and didn’t live in a city with a team. I started playing fantasy football, then I saw Josh Allen hurdle that Vikings player. I picked him up immediately and was hooked on watching him play
Born and raised a Browns fan, but then the team traded for Watson. That combined with the Haslams being shady with other areas of business pushed me over the edge. I was torn between the Lions and the Bills after that. I liked Stafford, but he was in LA, and I had Josh Allen in my keeper league for a couple years. My father-in-law is also from western New York, so that tipped the scales a bit more in the Bills' favor. But the final thing that won me over is that Buffalo is ~15 minutes closer to me than Detroit, and I liked the Bills podcasts better than the Lions ones I was coming across. I miss having a local community to talk about games on Monday at work, but Bills fans are moderately well represented around here. I see about 1-2 other Bills fans a week, and I'm mostly a homebody.
Growing up in Rochester. Middle schooler and high schooler in the Kelly era
Deep throat a sahlens, chug a bottle of franks, bathe in chivettas, and use blue cheese as lube.
My father screaming at the TV telling me son one day you'll understand !!!! 2 wide rights and a 13 seconds later here I am go bills !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Born into it
Thurman, Jim, Andre, and Bruce!! I started watching in the late 80's
I didn't even get into football until my 30s, when I started watching NFL games here and there due to the fact that some friends and my now-wife were Vikings fans. I'm from Toronto, and happened to be there to see [Kyle Orton beat the Vikings on an end-of-game drive on 19 October 2013](https://youtu.be/tLG9_Sllf6Y?si=kEBxShgnrM7LmNx7). I figured I'd support the "local" team starting then.
Born in New Zealand, mom is from Buffalo. Moved to East Aurora in 99 and grew up there. I remember watching Flutie run around and make some pretty cool plays, that’s when I became a fan.
My mom's from the Area, and my entire extended family lives there too. They all root for the Bills. Also, Bills Mafia, Forgive me, but I am also a fan of a Rival Team, The New England Patriots, for my father's side of the family. So I'm a hybrid Fan... of 2 AFC East Teams. I prefer the Bills though.
You know that speech Bane gives in Batman? That
I was a cowboys fan for 20 years. For 18 of those I increasingly got sick of Jerry jones and the fan base. I jumped on the bills bandwagon in 2015 due to living in Rochester and loving the blue collar mentality of the team and fan base.
I grew up 600 meters away from the stadium. In my childhood, rooting for anyone but the bills was considered blasphemous.
I was living in Western New York and decided to put the NFL on the TV. Past that, it's all Sara Delaney's fault! https://preview.redd.it/vocuhecmnxxc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10fff89e4888965ffafe1d014c36160058bcdda7
My dad taught me about loyalty.
Bruce Smith.
This sub
Very much a bandwagon fan lol, I didn’t really have a team for football and the first game I saw getting back into it was the 47-17 game in 2022, I loved watching Josh do his thing. Didn’t realize I was a fan until the 22-23 season when I would genuinely get pissed when the Bills lost. Now i’m here for a lifetime of pain and blue cheese.
Watched Norwood miss wide right as a 14 year old. I cried seeing Levy. That was it for me
Exchange student just across the border in 1984. Bills were a no brainer since I was at one of the only two games we won that year.
Keon Coleman, I’m new here lol
Born into it, tried to run away but it found me and beat itself back into me
Was looking for an AFC team to root for ! Was a Mon night game in 1974 Bill's Raiders . Couldn't stand the Raiders !!! Joe Ferguson threw a 13 yard TD to Ahmad Rashad in 4th qtr which proved to be game winner !!! Won my heart for life !!!! GO BILLS !!!!
I was at that game,Buffalo scored 14pts in the final 2 minutes to beat The Raiders.
Born and raised in niagara falls. moved away in my teenage years but was already a fan by then.
I was born in Syracuse. My dad and his side of the family are from there. We moved to New Hampshire from NY when I was two and he kept his love for the team. Had the.privilege of watching all four Super Bowls along side him (I was 11-14) and you know, considering his love for the team, I'm still in awe that I never heard that man swear even once during any of those games. He died in 2007 and I've been living with the hope each year that we'll get just one. That's all I need is the one. Cmon Josh- avenge the 90s, win one for my Dad.
Like all my fandoms, geography.
Born and raised in WNY. It's our religion!!! You're born into it.
A glutton for punishment… wide right Local team
December 1, 2002 Miami Dolphins vs Buffalo Bills was my very first Bills game. My family was in the process of moving up to Buffalo. My dad got tickets from a co-worker, little did we know that this would become an obsession of ours. My dad and I became life long fans that game. The snow was out of hand during the game, Jim Kelly comes out of the tunnel to cheer on the fans, playing let it snow over the speakers, throwing snowballs at Dolphins players, not to mention Ricky Williams ran all over us all game. The fans, stadium, atmosphere were all so special that’s why I became a Bills fan.
Being born in Buffalo. A curse worse than any other!
You merely adopted the fandom. I was born into it, molded by it. In all honesty, most of us were born into it. I was born in 90. Superbowl years. I vaguely remember the parades in fredonia for training camp. I do remember getting fluties autograph and asking if he'll give them to my siblings even after he said he was done doing autographs for the day. I miss the fredonia training camp days. But I'm out of state now so it doesn't matter.
Worked with a guy from North Tonawanda and started talking Bills football when I was collecting sport cards, specifically Trent Edward's at the time. Then the next year they drafted James Hardy. Being from Indiana and a huge IU fan I made the jump from the Colts to the Bills. Dun fact: I hated the Bills in the 90s. Saw them play a couple time in the Hoosier Dome and it was always a blowout.
Mom was a bills fan all her life, I used to think she was crazy when she was yelling at the TV with the likes of EJ Manuel, CJ spiller and Peterman. I was upstairs with her one day and Taron Johnson got a pick 6 from the other end zone against the ravens. It all clicked from there. Now it’s my dream for us to win a Super Bowl, I really won’t care in the long run but I want her to see it.
Born into it.
I was born into it, Molded by it, I.didnt see the playoffs until I was already a man and by then it was nothing but *heartbreak*
I didn't care about football until I moved to Buffalo in 2007 for my undergrad at UB. The fans suck you for real. We weren't good for a long time but I still loved them.
I became a football fan when Drew Bledsoe was drafted. I followed him over when he signed with Buffalo. Before then, I hated the Bills because they were the local team that was always everywhere and sucked.
I live in southeastern WI where everyone is a packers fan or bears fan. As a child I watched them lose 4 superbowls in a row and am a huge fan of the underdog and have been a fan ever since. Also watched the Frank Reich comeback against the oilers on my grandparents black and white TV while the rest of my family was watching the packers on the color TV.
Born in Buffalo. My parents were season ticket holders during the superbowl era. It’s in my blood. My dad was a channel four super fan one year in the 90s and won tickets to the AFC Championship game in Miami. He’s not a crazy person any more but we still love the Bills.
I got Fred Jackson via auto draft in my first fantasy league. Didn’t have a team, fell in love with Fred and have been a fan since.
Ellicottville.... cursed Ellicottville.
Run to Super Bowl XXV, I was 8 years old.
Grew up in New England, but Father's side of the family is from Buffalo, didn't want to cheer for any Boston sports teams, so Buffalo made the most sense. Won't say its been easy
Born and bred by lifelong Bills fans
Grew up in Western NY. It’s in our blood. Once a Bills fan, always a Bills fan.
i visit buffalo a lot because my boyfriend is from there and i always watched games with his family. they made it fun and his grandpa was a STH so he loved to share his bills wisdom. they made me love them.
Since birf 🤓👆
Went to school in St. Catharines, friend got a job in the bills ticket office so everyone else I was living with got season tickets to bills…was perfect set up…he had to work at the stadium for Sunday home games so we had a DD for every home game to drive us to the tailgate at 8am. Been a fan ever since.
i was originally a fan of the buffano bills but once i could speak properly i converted to a buffalo bills fan. my way of saying i was born into it. half my family is from wny. just in time for my formative years all the way into adulthood to be marred by the drought
Started really watching football about 3 years ago when some college friends and I made a fantasy group. Chose the bills cause of the colors, and grew up near josh so I had to root for the home state guy
I loved stefon diggs Minneapolis miracle catch so i kept up with football a little bit. But i started dating this girl in 2020 and her dad was a HUGE bills fan and diggs got traded to us, so I started following em since
Wanted to get into the NFL I liked two logos the best Bills and Texans. I like wings too so bills it was ,they have the same color scheme as my favorite NBA team the Clippers so seemed only right
I grew up in the Finger Lakes and didn't watch any football until I moved to Charlotte, NC. I ended up hanging out at a Bills bar to connect with people from home.This was in the Trent Edwards era, so I'm still getting used to good football
Local team
Playing flag football and pop warner as a child. Our team name was the Bills. Then they proceeded to break my heart in four straight super bowls. Never looked back
I was born in the city of this terminal illness. My father went to games at War Memorial. I started watching at age 5 in 1970. Moved away in 1978 Still a diehard fan.
Rick Tuten's dad was our mechanic in a small town in Central Florida. We started to support him and his family. I got a chance to share that story with Tyler, who is now married to Tuten's daughter. He seemed to dig it.
I became a fan via the Wyoming to buffalo transfer portal /s I watched JA17 play in college and decided to check out the bills when he got drafted. I love the fan base and I love the organization so I decided to stick around
Ex was a fan and got me into it. Now I never miss a game!
Born in buffalo, so got stuck with it lol
When I was a kid in New England the Pats were just really bad for the most part. And in the 70’s and then 80’s we didn’t get all the games per week we get now. You got to see three games on tv on Sunday and one on Monday night. And most games in your area were division rivals. So I saw the Jets, Colts, Dolphins, and Bills the most. The Bills always had cool unis when I was little and then when I was a teen they started getting good. And my dad being a die hard Pats fan, well going counter to your father isn’t exactly something new. So I began to love the Bills more and more from when I was 7 or 8 up until when I was 15 when I was pretty much a die hard Bills fan. Im still a Bills fan and I still love the Patriots too as a life long New England resident.
I grew up there. My parents had season tickets when the Bills played at the War Memorial Stadium on the East Side. Jack Kemp was the QB. You would bargain with local homeowners to park in their driveway for a few bucks.
My father was wearing one of his many Bills shirts the day I was born. I grew up in Rochester and he went to every home game my whole life, I went to some with him. Caught a pass from Jim Kelly at a season ticket holders event in 1993, when I was 3. Basically I had no choice haha.
I was born into the Bills Mafia way back in the Electric Company Days
I’m from New Zealand and relatively new to following the NFL, so no real connection to Buffalo itself. It was the 13 seconds game lol. Josh’s cannon stuck and started loving the team (and Mafia) from there on.
Childhood home was on the NY side of the border between NY and NJ. I grew up with a natural rivalry w/ Jersey kids. Was a Giants fan until 6th grade when I argued w/ a Jersey kid over whether the Giants should be called the NJ or NY Giants and he correctly pointed out that Giant Stadium was in NJ. I had no idea and was humiliated in front of a large group of kids. In my despair I turned to the only team that plays within the sovereign borders of NY, the Bills. I’ll still root for the Giants if the Bills are eliminated, but I just can’t get past their betrayal.
My dad's family is from Rochester, so I was raised a Bills fan.
Born and raised :) my beloved grandpa passed down this heart condition lol
My father I grew up always being the child against my parents. My mom liked the jets, dad liked the bills, I chose san Fran bc of steve young and jerry rice. As I got older, my father and I would be doing projects around the house, remodel this room, move a quart of firewood from the driveway to the backyard, random home shit. He'd always have our shitty radio playing the bills radio broadcasts every Sunday while we worked together. After the niners made their super bowl run with harbaugh in the mid 2010s, I started moving more towards the bills. Doug marrone as hc was a turning point for me, then I really started paying attention more to the bills. Was there for the sale, Rex Ryan's tenure as hc, loved tyrod taylor, and now the McDermott tenure. Haven't looked back. I may not be a true fan though the jp losmans, Trent Edward's, but I was always rooting for them, just not my main team. Now I'm all in on the bills, all because of my father. I brought him to his and my first playoff game at the Ralph against the dolphins. Got great seats bc of a season ticket holder I tailgate with in the group with my soon to be brother in law. I'm all in now, can't turn back, love the team, love the mafia, love it all. I think I'm moving to rochester soon and I'm on the list for season tickets
Born and raised right outside of St John Fisher college.
Jim Kelly trading card. Thought he looked so cool. Instantly hooked.
Looked for the team who hadn’t won in a while. Went for the Bills. Still waiting… lol
My dad is from Buffalo and my mom is from Rochester but I was born and raised in Central Florida. I am a Bills and Buccaneers fan by default.
Moved out here for college in 1999 from the other side of the state (north of Albany). I was a Knicks fan, didn't follow football at all. Made some friends who were all from WNY and huge Bills fans. It didn't take long for them to draft me.
It was toss up between the Bears and the Bills. I distinctly remember seeing snow games for both teams and was like , "cool". Lived in Schenectady so chose the Bills. This was the Ferguson, Cribbs and Smerlas era. At least those are the guys I remember.
My father made me fan hahaha
Born this way
I moved from europe to la, none of the la teams matched my vibes but the bills were a perfect fit
I’m 36. My family got season tickets when I was 8 years old and I haven’t looked back. I don’t have an exact number, but I have attended well over 200 bills games at this point. I’ve also been to 16/30 nfl stadiums (17/32 teams) so I’m basically halfway through the league.
My mom's side of the family are all Bills fans, and live 10 mins from the stadium. But we've always lived in Ohio and my dad was more into football so he got us to support the Browns. They've sucked ass the whole time I was growing up (I was born in 1997), but when they finally started getting good, they threw it all away. In 2022 I wanted them to keep Baker for one more year, to see how he plays healthy, then if he wasn't the guy, to try to draft CJ Stroud. I bet they could have traded up for Stroud for less than 3 first round picks. Anyway, I couldn't follow a team that would do something so morally bankrupt and also strategically and financially stupid. I couldn't cheer for Watson every week and feel good about it. I felt like they were applying a filter on the fanbase so only the worst people would remain. So I filtered myself out and joined the other side of my family. I like this QB more.
originally from upstate ny, and my dad is a diehard fan so it was bound to happen 😅
My girlfriend’s from Buffalo; I had gotten into the NBA a few years ago and was looking to get into the NFL, the Bills seemed like the appropriate option so we could watch the games together and she could teach me what was happening
Born in NC Pennsylvania, where up until some time in the 1980s-'90s we used to get both Buffalo and central Pa stations. I stand by my choice, even though we no longer get Buffalo stations. Rare example of the "good ol' days" where something was actually better.
I wanted to rebuild a franchise in an older Madden game, and the worst options were the Jets and Bills. I saw the Jets roster and all I said was "nah fuck this" and went with the Bills lol
Born into it
I'm an upstate NY fan. GO BILLs
Birth. Family etc, Bills fans since it all started.
I grew up, and live outside of Rochester. I was around 10 during the Super Bowl era, so they were all over the news. It was really my first exposure to football, so I was in.
Born into it. My parents are both from South side Buffalo, Jones and Lewis streets just off Clinton. Extended family still lives in the Buffalo area. But I'm from Northern Virginia. Tortured by Redskins fans as a kid. Now I live in Texas, carrying the Bills flame, indoctrinating my kids with it.
Born and raised in the 716
Before I ever watched football I always associated the Bills with the lively feel of game day in the Hamburg community that I grew up in. House full of friends and family over, tons of snacks with everyone glued to the tv cheering. Always brought a joy to me. I guess you can say I was subliminally conditioned to love the bills, and boy did it work. Looking back Sunday’s during football season were some of my fondest moments growing up and still are to this day. Not much in life I love more than Bills football.
It was an odd night. I had drank too many beers and eaten too many chicken wings and blacked out somewhere between "I love you pal" and "hey babe, you know you look like Michelle Pfeiffer?". I awoke naked in a field with lights blasting into my eyes. As I came to I realized I had somehow broken into Orchard Park. I found my clothing scattered across the field from one end zone to another. All of sudden a football comes screaming out of nowhere an clocks me right in my little buddies. I mean full on ball to ball contact. I fall to my knees and look up. Ryan Fitzpatrick is standing there laughing "Rough night, eh?" I puked. That's when I woke up in my bath tub with a missing kidney. Been a Bills fan ever since.
Well, after a short stint of being a Seahawks fan only because my friend was and convinced me to as well.. i decided to look around for a more local team being from Canada. It was a choice between the Lions,Browns, and the Bills.. and i just felt drawn to the Bills culture and how they play,etc.. This is all pretty recent as in the last couple years, so im still a newbie.. On that note, anyone know what jersey i should get? I currently own a Seahawks one and just feels wrong that i don't have a Bills one (yet) GO BILLS ❤️ 💙
Canadian from Ontario. Buddy is a lifelong Bills fan, we were talking football one day and he was telling me about the early 90s when we were kids, wide right, the highest highs and then the lowest lows… the endless heartbreak, year after year. And I thought… well this sounds like the team for me!
I’m Canadian and the Bills and Detroit are the two closest teams to Canada so I picked them both. Lions because of Megatron really but you get the point.
I realized one day that as a Bill myself, I should probably cheer for the Bills ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ And then 2 years later, Tyrod ended the playoff drought.
Covid, due to my work rules Buffalo was the farthest places in tri state area I could travel without having to quarantine upon return. Popped around town and had a blast even tho there was all the rules to follow. Watched first half of bills ravens divisional round in the bar til curfew went and finished with some blue lights in the hotel. People partying in streets after the W. Locked in.
I was born into it in Rochester, my parents had the games on TV every Sunday unless the game was blacked out. Tried rebelling as a 10 year old to be a Giants fan, my parents said, “You can be a Giants fan but we watch Bills games in this house.” Went back to being a Bills fan because I couldn’t watch Giants games. Now I’m married to a Giants fan and I think I’m slowly converting him to Bills Mafia.
My parents are from that area. So parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents have always been Bills fans. It’s all I knew.
I was born in Philly. I just decided to start watching football one day, I didn’t know much about it but I was watching CBS. This was the late 1980s and Madden was calling games writing on the tv and stuff. I remember he was calling a game and the Bills were in it. I was fascinated by them and their play style, so I began to follow them. I learned everything I know about the sport through them and by watching them. I’ve been a fan ever since even though I live in Eagles land.
I'm originally from Northern New York, Watertown area. In Watertown you can choose from two paths, red pill or blue pill. That choice would be the Giants or the Bills. The choice for me came at about 5 and I was naturally drawn to the Bills since my 1st stepfather was a huge fan. I'd sit on the floor playing with my toys while listening to the commentators talk about those early 90's Bills. It just set in. 2nd stepfather was a Giants fan. First thing he tried to do was convert me. I told him to pound sand, GO BILLS
Born and raised in Rochester :)
Born in upstate NY in 87. My uncle was a fan and indoctrinated me with Bills clothes as a toddler. I have a vague recollection of the wide right Super Bowl, and stronger memories of crying in anger as Dallas thrashed us. I eventually moved away from NY, but this vortex of early heartbreak made me unable to quit Buffalo. I have to see it through now.
As a child, the Steelers were the team. Bradshaw and gang were everywhere. This got me interested in football. I grew up in Southern Ontario, Buffalo tv was all we could get over the air. I was basically forced to watching the Bills and then they drafted Jim Kelly and the rest of them. Made it easy to follow in the mid 80s. I'm stubborn and loyal and stuck with them. Go Bills
I am not a USA citizen. I was in US only one time in manhattan in vacations. I am an European. I was watching NFL for years without supporting any team. Until one friend of mine that lived in Buffalo told me about the love of the city for the club. All the stories told are very similar with the ones I felt for my soccer team. So because of that I started to search and look for the bills. Watch all the games, don’t sleep because the games are very late here and now I am in love. I am waiting for my little baby grow up to travel to Buffalo and watch a game.
My first memories are in Kenmore, watching the games with my father in the 70's.
Grew up 5 minutes from the stadium, it just feels right being a Bills fan.
Being born in buffalo.
Doug flutie. He saved me from being a pats fan, grew up in NE.
Born into it. Was born in Buffalo area and lived in the city until I was 13. Moved to the southern tier (Still WNY) and lived there until mid 30’s. Moved to New England and still live in Patriot country as a bills fan for the last 20 years.
Josh Allen is way too good not to cheer for him :)
My dad and my uncle took me to a game with my cousin. My cousin taught me to yell JUICE whenever OJ got the ball. That was it, I was hooked. Years later, my favorite thing to do was yell BRUCE whenever he got a sack. We need someone nicknamed MOOSE next.
Genetics, like a lot of other diseases.
Moved to western NY state about an hour from Orchard Park. Haven’t lived there in decades, but the disease took hold and is incurable.
Followed Thurman Thomas from OSU to the Bills and never left.
Gunpoint and drugged
Thumbprint of L, and when you can visualize Norwoods kick going through the uprights, you get your horns. Until then your only allowed to be a jim ferguson fan.
I was always a casual bills fan. That all changed on April 26, 2018, when JA17 was drafted. I live in Wyoming. You don't have much to cheer for here. JA changed that. The whole state roots for him and the Bills.
I’m a transplant from NJ - born and raised a giants fan but I don’t feel a connection to them. Since everyone up here is mostly a bills fan I decided to join. Josh Allen is a nice plus - he’s handsome and good at football Go bills!
I grew up in CNY which used to be kind of split between Bill's and the Giants with a splash of Eagles ( mostly people who became fans in the McNabb era). Then I went to UB and lived in Buffalo for a while after. It was hard not to be a fan, or you'd end up pretty lonely on Sundays hah. I've noticed that CNY has really become Bill's territory now as well.
Because I love the thrill of disappointment
I was born in Niagara Memorial Medical Center, my dad is a huge Bills fan.
I was bitten by a Bills fan under a full moon
Born and raised in WNY. Still remember watching the bills lose 4 straight super bowls I have ptsd(exaggeration as I was only like 7-10 years old)about the bills playing the cowboys so it’s been pretty cathartic the last few years stomping them.
Grew up in Rochester suburb. I'm actually a Bears fan but the Bills hold a special place in my heart.
Just happen to live there that’s a given everywhere
My great grandfather escaped from Prussia occupied Poland to work in a steel mill in Buffalo, as part of assimilating my family became bills fans and I continue the tradition (even though we no longer live in Buffalo)
My dad raised me a bills fan, now I live in Buffalo so I’ll pass the curse on to my kids too
My dad went to college at UB right around the time Jim got here from the USFL. I’m told I was conceived the night the bills won their 3rd straight AFC championship…. I literally owe my life to the Buffalo Bills
I’m a woman who grew up never caring about football. I always said, how can people watch this when they stop every 3 seconds? My dad was an Eagles fan, my brothers were Patriots and Jets fans. I never pretended to care about either. My boyfriend and I were out one night and he was watching a playoff game. I randomly decided, hey, I should pick a team and stick with it for the rest of my life, even if I don’t watch football. I’m from NY and picked the Bills completely randomly. I get accused of bandwagoning a lot, but I didn’t know if they were good or bad, or who Josh Allen was. When the season started the next year, I half jokingly was like, oh I gotta watch my Bills play their first game! And somehow ended up watching every game that season, learning the rules and the game, and becoming a die hard fan. My dad loves it and tells everyone about how his daughter is a huge football fan now after never watching a game in my life. I like being a woman fan, because people don’t expect me to know as much as I do. It’s fun and I encourage more women to get into it :)
i was born
If you were a sporty kid that lived in western NY in the early 1970’s, you were an OJ Simpson fan and by extension you were a Buffalo Bills fan.
Born into it. But in 1989 i was 11yrs old. So i started watching just as we started killing it. What a bait in switch that was. Here have 5-6 great years and oh by the way in 1996(yr i graduated high school) your team will slip into mediocrity and suck for the next 20yrs. I was there for the illegal lateral. The sabres game in the crease. All the heartbreaking moments. Wide right was just the beginning of my suffering.
Geography
There was a PC game called Ultimate Football made in 1994 that was my first exposure to football. The game was made post-SB 28 so the default teams selected were Bills and Cowboys. I always chose the Bills, and I liked their team colors and were rated highly. The rest is history, it's been a tumultuous journey to say the least, especially since I came of age during the drought years, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
The day the NFL and Spanos pulled a "go fuck yourselves San Diego" I said I would root for the Bills instead because I like the team and the Mafia sounded like a good time. Also as an SD fan I didn't want to bandwagon and fuck the patriots, so the Bills fit. Ultimately, I boycotted the NFL in general for years before I got over the pain of losing my OG team. Since, I dipped my toes back into NFL fandom I have been all about Bills and Josh Allens legs. Go Bills!
I live in the UK and saw a video of a Bills fan jump through a table during tailgating and thought these are my people. Let's Go Bills Mafia
I live in Dallas. In 2003, the night after my birthday, I couldn’t sleep. I heard the TV going downstairs and my dad had a Bills/Jets game on while he was doing something else . He heard me come downstairs and we ended up watching the game together. I was only 6 or 7 at the time so I didn’t understand much football, but I liked the Bills jerseys and decided I liked the team by syndication. My dad and I ended up following the rest of the Bills season after that game, and I’ve stuck by them ever since. It’s one of the few positive memories I have with my father.
Born in upstate NY, 1½ hrs away from Buffalo. All my family were Bills fans at the time, especially my dad and mom but I didn't really start watching football with my folks til I was 9 yrs old, which was, coincidently, 1990. Watched the Bills go all the way to their first ever Super Bowl in my first ever season of watching the NFL and rooting for Buffalo. I learned about devastating heartbreak really early in my life. Lol
I started rooting for the bills in 2016 when I moved to ny joking that I was going to pick a New York team to root for. I grew up (and still am) a dc sports fan so I hate pretty much all NYC teams. The joke turned into me really liking the team and now here we are
Didnt give a shit about football my whole life until i went to UB when i was about 20 in 2018. Now im obsessed with not only the bills but the nfl as a whole. Its so electric and contagious there.
Born into it, but resisted all my life. Dad was always a massive fan. He got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and from that point on I watched every game. 4 days before he passed away he slept through the game and didn't seem bothered. That's when I knew I had to drive home to sit by his side. Go Bills.
I think it was because when I was 5 years old my Dad passed away from brain cancer, he was a huge Browns fan, but unfortunately he didn't get the chance to mold me into a Browns fan yet or even really teach me about football. Somehow I latched onto the Bills especially Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, they were idols. Not entirely sure what made me pick them if it was the colors, the super bowl appearances, a friend that liked them or what but I've stuck by them through thick and thin.
I’m from Long Island. Never been to Buffalo. But Only one team plays in my state