Greetings Bills Mafia! Wait, guys, help me out—what day is it today?
*Checks phone*
Oh, WOW—it’s Monday?? Please forgive me, but this weekend has been one of the wackiest in Buffalo sports that I can remember. I also went to bed last night with a nasty head cold that is still sticking around late into the next afternoon (I promise it’s not Covid).
Just to recap in case you’ve been in social media jail the past month (although to be quite fair, that sounds nice): the Buffalo Bills are 4-0 for the first time since 2008, Josh Allen is headlining legit MVP candidacy, Sunday’s game against the Titans was rescheduled to Tuesday due to a COVID-19 outbreak within Tennessee’s organization, and the Sabres snagged the top NHL free agent by signing Taylor Hall in the Bills’ gameday absence yesterday. Did I get all the juicy stuff? Oh, that’s right; I can’t forget the almost uniform response from Bills Mafia chastising Marc Miller on twitter for bashing Dak Prescott’s dislocated/fractured right foot injury he suffered against the Giants.
*Sips chicken broth*
Good showing Bills Mafia.
Now on to the meat and potatoes of this introductory meal: who am I and why are we here?
Firstly, a little bit about myself to provide some background. I hate rhetorical questions so I’m already breaking my own rules on this first blog article, but I guess that just shows how rusty I am at this whole thing. Maybe it would be better if I just went through a brief biological history about my Bills fandom.
Well, it ironically started during probably the most iconic moments in the history of the franchise. January 27th, 1991, my mother is VERY pregnant with me and I’m able to witness the beginning while still in the womb. It’s a problem that plagues almost every Bills fan that’s 30 or younger: I was just too young to remember any of the great Bills teams of the Kelly era.
I was bred to be a Bills fan growing up just like many other kids in the neighborhood. There’s baby pictures of me in Bills gear at training camp back when it was at Fredonia. I knew nothing else; there was no other team to even think of rooting for. And honestly, I embraced it willingly.
My first taste of understanding football came around Christmas 1999 when I unwrapped a Sega Saturn from Santa. Of the stack of games that came with it was Madden ’97. I could easily write thousands of words about this experience alone, but in short, I still wasn’t given the gratification of the 4x Super Bowl teams.
Yes, the Bills’ made the playoffs that year at 10-6 (I of course didn’t know any of that yet), but the team wasn’t the same. Jim Kelly wasn’t the same, Thurman wasn’t “great” anymore, Andre Reed was old and Quinn Early couldn’t come close to the level James Lofton provided at the #2 WR spot. As far as the defense goes, Bruce Smith was still amazing, but familiar names were lacking otherwise: no Mark Kelso or Nate Odomes, and no Darryl Talley or Cornelius Bennett.
Luckily, I have my grandfather to thank for giving me my only chance at exposure to the great teams. Bless him for recording every Bills game he possibly could ever since buying a VHS recorder in the 80s. It was my way of seeing the 51-3 stomping against the Raiders in the 1991 AFC Championship game, the “greatest comeback” against Houston, and more. At this point, my fandom had been limited to just a fascination of a team I never witnessed.
Fast forward to my senior year in high school and it will bring us to 2008, the last time the Bills started a season 4-0. Trent Edwards was being praised as the possible QB the team was always searching for (we know how that ended so I’ll spare us the painful details). My loyalty unwavering, I had unfortunately become numb with rooting for a team that just never made the playoffs. Ever. Those first four games are the first time I remember being excited for a Bills football season. Crushed.
Todd Collins, Alex Van Pelt, Flutie (loved him), Johnson, Bledsoe, and J.P. Losman all came before Trent. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Brohm, EJ Manuel, Thad Lewis, Kyle Orton, Tyrod Taylor, Nathan Peterman... the list of QBs to follow that 4-0 start were excruciating to witness. It led me to believe this franchise really was doomed or cursed. I was a young kid just looking for something positive to brag about to my friends Monday morning. Are we depressed yet?
Don’t worry! Fast forward a couple years and here enters Josh Allen. I admit myself, I said on my old podcast that the Bills should target Josh Rosen, but I wasn’t alone. The Bills were ridiculed for their decision to go with possibly the rawest top talent in the draft. A visit to training camp that year and seeing how Josh carried himself in interviews had me easily swayed the other direction, however. I was fully committed.
The year is now 2020. Covid, politics, economics, and celebrity deaths have stricken this year as no bueno. Josh Allen and the Bills have been the shining beacon of hope that has been keeping me going these last 4 months. I’ve always felt the need to express my opinions on the Bills to anyone who would listen. It’s why I did a podcast with a buddy of mine for almost two years. If you follow me on twitter, you know that my thumbs can’t resist firing off takes left and right on my Bills. The “itch” is back however, and 280 characters just isn’t enough to contain me.
Welcome to the first installment of my weekly Bills blog and thank you for joining me! I’ll be posting much shorter weekly articles, reflecting on the atmosphere of Bills Mafia from my point of view.
I’m no longer that young kid wishing for his dad to stop yelling at the TV. I am a youngish man, and these are the “Thoughts of a Youngish Bills Fan”.
Let’s go Buffalo!
Follow me on Twitter: @TheYoungish.
-Justin Young
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