Who doesn’t love a good fairytale? Apparently some in the media, for reasons I’ve yet to completely understand. Despite this very special Buffalo Bills team extending their ‘Cinderella’ season and heading to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in the AFC Championship matchup, some media folks decided to double down on their dislike for all things Buffalo, and particularly Josh Allen.
The bitterness started for most of the naysayers when opinions became sharply divided about Josh Allen’s ability to succeed in the NFL before the 2018 NFL Draft. The constant cackling continued to grow over the last three seasons. You know it’s real when the official Buffalo Bills Twitter account goes after the infamous Nick Wright from ESPN.
Now this is some peak level trolling…
There’s been some interesting psychodynamics that have developed over the years between the Bills fan base and media reporters/analyst covering the team.
The city of Buffalo and its fan base have been stereotyped for decades as being ‘lovable losers’. The weather, the depressed economy, the “mistake on the lake” and of course our forever beleaguered sports teams have made us easy targets. Some of it is self-inflicted, but much of our collective identity is frankly misunderstood by outsiders who think they know us, but don’t really get what we’re all about.
So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised to find some of these same biases about our fan base re-emerging…especially when the Bills suddenly look like a ‘Cinderella’ team after a couple of decades of relative dormancy.
Nobody’s really interested in poking a skunk when your team is mediocre.
Now the Bills are the talk of the town and some of us find ourselves experiencing vertigo trying to wrap our heads around it all.
Our identity as a Buffalo sports fan is steeped in the tradition of defending why we remain loyal to our beloved team no matter how terrible they might be. We value loyalty through adversity. And yes, at times we are our own worst enemy.
As Bills fans, we could write the book on living through a dynasty of despair. Our scar tissue is at least four inches deep at this point.
So how are we to navigate the treacherous waters of success? It’s such an unfamiliar state, especially for older Bills fans who lived through other decades of despair from the 1970s through the mid-80s?
Winning cures everything and the one thing the Buffalo Bills have not done is win a Lombardi Trophy. We got to base camp four times but could not reach the summit. It’s time to rectify that so we can move on.
And there’s more good news! When the Bills suddenly emerged on the national scene this season, some in the national media chose to illustrate the best side of our fan base; our unique way of donating money in the name of good or bad things that happen for the Bills.
Leaning into love when adversity strikes or sharing a moment of gratitude is a far better message to send out to the world about BillsMafia than breaking tables in a fit of drunken fury. We are truly grateful for the improved reflection of our fan base.
Perhaps the ‘Cinderella Bills’ are challenging not only the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend, but the entire Bills fan base to step out of our expectations of failure and past hurts. Time to give the heave-ho to the giant chip on our collective shoulder and enjoy a rare moment of pure joy.
No matter what happens from this point forward, this has been a glorious season for the Buffalo Bills.
~The Caboose~
2 Responses
Love you Robyn! Thanks for this beautiful piece!
Thanks, Juan. Love you too!