Impressions of My First Trip to Buffalo -

Being a Bills fan in Missouri for the last 34 years hasn’t been the easiest. From wearing blue on Chiefs “Red Friday,” to paying for the NFL Ticket year-after-year, to getting harassed Monday mornings every time the Bills lose a heartbreaker; being an out-of-market Bills fan can be hard, but maybe the hardest part about it is not being able to watch your team in person with a stadium full of other Bills fans. I’ve seen the Bills play in person countless times in Arrowhead, but getting harassed while paying incredible amounts of money for a ticket isn’t worth it for me anymore.

My Bills fandom started in the summer of 1989 when I went to stay with my grandparents for a week in the small Kansas town of Leoti. My grandfather took me to the local bank and introduced me to Steve Tasker, who played high-school football with my dad in the late-70’s. Steve shook my hand, asked me my name and signed a piece of paper for me, “Matthew—Best wishes & be good! Go Bills!”

This encounter with the Special Teams Ace HOOKED me and embarked me on my three-and-a-half-decade and counting love affair with the Buffalo Bills.

My 7-year old son, Henry, has followed my footsteps and claims the Bills as his favorite team too. This past May, his mother and I asked what he wanted for his birthday. He didn’t hesitate—“I want to see a Bills game in Buffalo!”

My son’s exuberance was all I needed to finally pull the trigger on making the trip. My wife and I decided the best weekend to go was October 1 versus the Dolphins. So we booked flights, Air B&B, tickets and a car.

We flew into Buffalo JUST in time to meet Steve Tasker at the BFLO store, which was within 10 minutes of the airport. Steve was gracious, talked to Henry and took pictures. I met Steve Tasker at the age of 7 and so did my son. Pretty cool.

From there, we stopped at Duffs for some wings and beer and then drove up to Niagara Falls. The Falls were better than advertised and my son recited all the trivia that he had read about them to me and his mother—including the amount of people to survive going over the falls and the fact that over 3000 tons of water flow over the falls every second!

After Niagara Falls, it was time to go to our Air B&B. I was a little skeptical when my wife reserved our place as it was the third floor of a 110+ year old house close to Amherst Street. But once we met Lou, the owner and his family, we knew we’d love our stay.

We’d had our weekend plotted out in advance, but Lou connected us to some of the hidden gems of Buffalo. He suggested Wellington Pub for wings and beer (it was incredible) and then hitting up the Hurtel Street Festival. The festival was perfect. It saw most of Hurtel Street blocked off with vendors, a band and many open establishments that the whole family enjoyed.

Finally, Sunday had come. We got to Highmark Stadium early to park, meet up with our concierge, Lance (Built in Buffalo President) and take in all the sights and sounds that is a Bills Tailgate and it was better than advertised.

I met up with several friends I’d made over the years on Twitter, drank from the cannonball in the Hammers Lot, took pics with the family in front of the Bills Mafia house and enjoyed awesome food and drinks provided by Gameday Hospitality Buffalo.

It was the perfect pre-game and I was sad to see it end, but the plan was to go into Highmark Stadium by 11:30am so that we could get settled and just take in the aura of the place I’d envisioned in my head being at for decades.

We sat in the 9^th row of section 102. Everyone around us was warm and welcoming—they were so excited that we were at our first Bills game in Buffalo and we heard so many incredible stories from several season ticket holders.

Finally, the game started and everyone knows the outcome—the 48-20 dismantling of the Dolphins!

As we said our goodbyes to the people sitting around us and left the stadium, the energy was something I’ll never forget. My hand hurt from the high fives. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face watching the Bills Mafia in unison spreading positive energy—much of it was alcohol-fueled, but it didn’t matter. THIS FAN BASE IS THE BEST!

When we got back to the house, Henry played with Lou’s son on the trampoline while Lou’s family and mine had a couple Labbott Blues and talked Bills football.

We then went out and had some excellent wings and beers in Allentown before calling it a night.

The next morning I took Henry to the Buffalo Zoo, which was only a 10-minute walk from our house. Just like everywhere else, everyone was welcoming and warm.

We then packed up and headed to the airport, where we sat down at Anchor Bar for ONE LAST order of wings and Blues. Just as we were getting our food, I spotted Bills legend, Drew Bledsoe. I worked up the courage to have my wife snap a pic. The perfect ending to an incredible trip.