From 'Go Bills' to 'Gone Bills': A fan's perspective on a crushing playoff loss
From Go Bills to Gone Bills. What happened?
I really don’t know.
All I know is that sitting in Highmark Stadium Sunday, watching the snow melt on the garbage bag spread across my legs, watching the Bills being pushed around by the Cincinnati Bengals, wasn’t a happy experience.
Indeed, it may have been an experience so depressing, so strange, that it should be ignored, never talked about, a little like politics or religion at Thanksgiving dinner.
If only. This is 2023. We live in the Age of Analysis. Commentary abounds when ignorance might be bliss.
Your strange Uncle Harry, the guy who warmed the J.V. football bench at Aquinas, will tell everyone and anyone that the Bills need new coaches, new players, new uniforms.
“Wait a minute,” you’ll say to Harry. “Didn’t the Bills win 14 games this season. Didn’t they overcome snowstorms and the traumatic injury of a teammate? Didn’t we all love them before Sunday’s game? Shouldn’t we give them a break?”
No way, suggests Harry, as he backs you into a corner and deplores the pitfalls of a Cover 2 defense. Having no idea what a Cover 2 defense is, you’ll try to change the subject by telling Harry his toupee is ajar.
Won’t work. Harry pounds his finger into your chest. He insists you establish the running game.
You’re surprised. You wonder why it’s your job to establish the running game.
The Bills’ running game, as well as their passing game, never got established Sunday.
By midway through the fourth quarter, it was clear that a comeback for the ages was not going to happen. My friend Tom Bushnell and I, as well as thousands of fans, headed for an early exit.
As we walked down Abbott Road, Tom, who has supported the Bills for decades, declared that the game was so bad that he was freed from caring, that he was released from all worry and all football concerns.
It was a surprisingly Zen moment, a moment that seemed to be shared by the thousands of Bills fan who, heads down, were also trudging to their cars.
Only one guy screamed words that can’t be printed here. But he was young and perhaps this was his first brush with heartbreak.
Others put the game in perspective as they quietly compared the loss to other losses by the Bills. (And losses by the Buffalo Sabres, as well. Buffalonians know despair.)
Alas, by the time we got to the car, by the time we started listening to fans calling in to Schopp and the Bulldog, it was obvious that the Zen moment had passed.
The Bills bandwagon was emptying out. The analysis had begun. It’s probably going to go on for at least seven months and the moment when Uncle Harry and everyone else declares the Bills to be Super Bowl favorites. The running game will be established, the Cover 2 abandoned. All will be well, at least for a little while.
Warmer feet
Several of you passed along foot-warming tips after reading in my last column about my cold feet at the Bills game against Miami on Jan. 15. As suggested for the Cincinnati game, I inserted toe warmers and wore three layers of socks. I didn’t just survive. I thrived. Ah, the glories of layering. Thank you, readers.
Remarkable Rochesterians
Let’s add the name of this hockey pioneer to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at: https://data.democratandchronicle.com/remarkable-rochesterians/:
Kim Insalaco (1980- ): A bronze medalist in the 2006 Olympic Winter games as a member of the women’s ice hockey team, she was also on two Ice Hockey World Champion teams. A native of Rochester who grew up in Greece, she began playing on boy’s teams as a youth, including at Greece Athena High School, before transferring to Choate Rosemary Hall, where she starred in soccer, track, and hockey. At Brown University, she played hockey for four years and was captain for two years, and she played soccer. She is now the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Advancement at Brown. Earlier, she was a senior director of development at Georgetown University and an associate head hockey coach at Cornell University.
From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott, writes Remarkable Rochester, who we were, who we are. He can be reached at jmemmott@gannett.com or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454
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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills fans move from 'Go Bills' to 'Gone Bills.' What happened?
