Journal entry 1

  

  Some say sports are merely games with little to no bearing on the public's day to day life. Those same people have likely never been to a Bills tailgate on gameday ! Nyc is the city of dreams, LA is the city of angels and Buffalo is the city of the Buffalo Bills. For a city to have an identity there often has to be some sort of shared traits or commonalities exhibited within the city, for a Buffalonian the Bills are not merely a sports team, the Bills are a defining characteristic of their community as well as a uniting force. That is why, without fail, every single time the Bills play in buffalo the stadium is not only jam packed, but the atmosphere before the game is electric, full of excitement, love, joy and maybe even a few broken tables. To add to the base excitement that accompanies Bills home games, the undefeated, rival, Miami Dolphins were coming to town. The Dolphins were the only team in the AFC entering week four undefeated and the Bills fans understood the significance of the game. Justin, a 43 year old lifelong Bills fan, went as far to say “this game could determine who is the favorite to win the AFC east.” Justin pointed out if the Bills were to win they’d jump into first place in the East with a win/tiebreaker over Miami already in the bag. If the Fins pulled out the road win, they’d remain in first in the East, they’d have a two game lead over the Bills and possess the tiebreaker with the next game Vs Buffalo being in Miami! A man standing next to me chirped In right when Justin finished talking, he said “When we show up the Bills show up too.” 

I asked if he could clarify what he meant by that. The man, who I later found was named Aidin, stated “If we bring the energy to the game, the bills feed off that energy to win games, than the city feeds off of those wins to keep the energy.” And energy is exactly what was brought, the parking lot of Highmark stadium was completely full, bills jerseys could be seen as far as the eyes could see, music was roaring, footballs were flying, meats were grilling and inside voices were left inside. This experience before the game elevates the overall experience from just a football game, to a community experience, an ability to feel at one with your city and get out the frustrations of the week before. The word that stuck with me was “outlet”. I interviewed a 19 year old college student named Mike, Mike said tailgates are often his “biggest outlet to get out all the feelings”. Where else can you scream as loud as you want, jump through tables, get violently drunk before 12 pm and not stand out at all ? Seeing everyone with that same energy only adds to the feeling of oneness, as Mike stated it’s a “constant reminder you aren’t alone and that other people need to get sh*t off their chest and let out anger too” tailgating as is much about bonding as it is about football. Yes most of the fans in the parking lot would run through a brick wall if given the chance to guarantee a Bills win, but even when the Bills lose you know they will be back because it is a part of them. The Bills recent trend of success is seen as the culmination of years of pain and suffering throughout the city finally being rewarded, Mike went as far as to say “this gives us hope, we see the bills win, we know how far they’ve come, and we know we can win too.” If the Bills mafia was still standing during the tough times, just imagine how high they must be standing now as the “new kings” of the AFC east. 

Last photo credits to Joshua Bessex of buffalo news