The Buffalo Bills have won the AFC East division for the first time in 25 years, winning their first home game in almost as long. Thousands of jubilant Bills fans waited for hours in the cold to greet the team, which arrived at Buffalo airport at 1:30 am after beating the Denver Broncos on December 19 to capture the division title. The die-hards were restless after being banned from Bills games all season. Whether Bills Stadium will join the 13 others admitting fans in ahead of the playoffs may now depend on the wisdom of Howard Zucker – the public health commissioner, who dismisses Covid’s now infamous March 25 New York guideline banning nursing homes. to designate. positive residents.
I grew up in Buffalo in the 70’s and 80’s, lean times for Bills fans. When I entered college in 1990, the team promptly made it to the Super Bowl, but lost when Scott drove Norwood’s shot for a field far to the right at the last minute. The Bills returned to the Super Bowl during my second, junior, and senior years, but lost every time. In 1995, when I was 23, the Bills won the division, but lost to Pittsburgh in the second playoff round. I didn’t know I would be 48 until my team won the AFC East again.
Suffering is integral to being a Buffalo sports fan and so is loyalty. Possibly other than the Green Bay Packers, I can’t think of a team more closely intertwined with the city’s identity and fortune than the Bills. In another hellish year, the team and its believers – affectionately known as the “Bills Mafia” – finally have reason to be hopeful and proud.
The coal in our Bills stockings is the absence of fans in the stadium. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been sending mixed signals about opening Bills Stadium throughout the season. On September 30, he said he would tour the stadium and meet with the team leadership to “discuss” the issues surrounding reopening. On November 6, he returned and said that Dr. Zucker – whose order in the nursing home resulted in the deaths of at least 6,200 people – had told him it would be “reckless” to let fans back into the stadium, which has a capacity of more than 71,000.
The governor never came to tour the stadium, but recently said he “would love nothing more” than attend a Bill’s home playoff game. He insisted that Dr. Zucker’s Department of Health had to greenlight every deal to open the stadium, including a tentative proposal to admit about 6,700 fans.