Bills’ fans in Canton (photo courtesy of fansided.com)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio held its’ 51st annual induction ceremony over this past weekend, and with former Buffalo receiver Andre Reed among the inductees, the Hall’s grounds and the ceremony inside the stadium basically turned into what resembled a Bills’ home game. Rain dampened the afternoon of the day of the induction, but it didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the many Bills’ fans roaming the party area around the Hall. There was a sprinkling of team jerseys of the Giants, Buccaneers, Raiders and Seahawks among the party crowd, and even a couple of Cardinal jerseys, but the number of fans representing the Bills was overwhelming. The ceremony itself was clearly a Buffalo event. The crowd made it overwhelmingly a Bills’ event, as they came to honor one of the stars of the team’s glory years in Reed. It’s been a tough off-season for the Buffalo fan base, with the passing of long-time owner Ralph Wilson and the uncertainty of the team’s future with the franchise up for sale, the cancer struggles of another glory years hero, Jim Kelly, and the season-ending injury to one of the current team’s young stars, Kiko Alonso. It was almost as if the team’s fans needed the ceremony as a therapy session, to grab onto something positive to offset all the negative happenings surrounding the club. ESPN’s Chris Berman helped flame the Buffalo celebration by leading a “nobody circles the wagons…” cheer with the crowd, and totally amping things up when it came time to induct Reed. The night’s biggest cheers involved Buffalo moments that included Reed’s induction and speech, and the introduction of Kelly at the start of the ceremony. There were over 100 Hall members present, and they were introduced alphabetically at the beginning of the night. Kelly was given a long standing ovation when he was introduced. The guy I felt most sorry for was one of my childhood heroes, former Browns’ running back Leroy Kelly. His introduction following Jim Kelly’s was almost an afterthought, and was lost in the emotion of the fans still cheering for the former Bills’ quarterback.
When Ralph Wilson started the Bills’ franchise back in 1959, he was a businessman looking to own his own team, after serving as a minority owner of his hometown Detroit Lions for awhile. I’m sure he had little inkling of the monster his franchise would grow into as part of the country’s favorite pastime these days. His $25,000 investment is soon to be sold for probably over a billion dollars. I’m also pretty sure he never envisioned that the team would become so much more to the city than just a sports franchise. Over time, his Bills became a family, with an enduring bond among the fans, among the players and between the owner, players and fans. There’s a common thread of love for the team that spans generations. The love and emotion the fans have for their team shows when the entire Hall weekend is dotted with “Bon Jovi-Free Zone” signs and t-shirts. Fans from other cities may have been scratching their heads over the meaning of those signs, but all Bills’ fans present know what they’re all about. Sure, the Pittsburgh Steelers, fans and former players, would argue that their franchise is tops when it comes to support for their team, but it’s easy to love a team that’s won six Super Bowl titles. Bills’ fans and former players share a bond that’s endured many long periods of losing. Even in the glory years there’s the spectre of four Super Bowl losses, but the players from those teams seem to share a bond of love and loyalty like no other. Probably the closest thing to the special bond Bills’ fans have is the long-suffering fan base of baseball’s Chicago Cubs. Bills’ fans approach every coming season with optimism, and more times than not the optimism is crushed by another year of mediocrity or worse. But like those teams of the 1990s that never gave up, the fans come back re-energized and enthusiastic the following year. Like Berman said, nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills, and their fans.