When Bills Fans Lose Favorite Players, It ‘Hits Different’

Especially since the start of NFL Free Agency circa 1992-3, fans from all franchises had to accept the fact their favorite players might be on the move at any given point in time. That point was made loud and clear to Buffalo Bills fans when our beloved Thurman Thomas donned a Dollies uniform in 2000.

I’ll never forget the moment I first saw Mr. Thomas trot out on the field wearing those hideous colors. I’m certain other fans remember the moment as much as they remember where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated. It was THAT traumatic. What can I say?

It’s a Buffalo thing.

It’s well established around the NFL that Bills fans are like no other fan base on earth. We get it. BillsMafia’s reputation is deeply entrenched in the minds and hearts of players and fans across the world. We have a global personality that is literally larger than life and we love it.

So when the time comes to accept the reality of losing players we’ve come to love as family, we mourn them like professional weepers at a funeral. It’s as if a piece of our heart is cut out… and like all good families at funerals, we’ll find a way to argue about who is to blame for such a horrible reality.

Losing players like Tre’Davious White, Jordan Poyer, Mitch Morse, and others in one gigantic CUT to right size the salary cap feels like the death of an era. White and Poyer were among few left from Sean McDermott’s rookie season as a head coach.

News that players like Mitch Morse are already being courted by other teams makes many Bills fans cringe. Players like Morse who we embraced with passion shopping themselves around the NFL like they’re looking to swipe right just has a sleazy sort of feel to it all.

Truth be told we know the NFL really does stand for “Not For Long”, for many reasons. Loyalty and love of team only goes as far as the next contract extension. The obscene amount of money we throw at the NFL as fans changed the culture from one of ‘love of sport’ to one of ‘love of greed’.

It is what it is.

It doesn’t matter how much $ense it makes to us rationally… as we hang on to every word @Cover1’s @GregTompsett’s tweets on the ‘X’ about salary cap implications… because it’s really the emotional attachment we’re feeling about losing a player and not the $$ that bothers most of us.

Players like Isaiah McKenzie find themselves adored in Buffalo because we lavish love and attention on players no matter their role on the team. The ‘Face of the Franchise’ knows he can return to Western New York at any time in the future and there will be people welcoming him with love. And food.

I know my heart hurts thinking about losing Tre’Davious White. Tre White was Sean McDermott’s first draft pick and was the first player to show WHY this new coaching regime with Sean McDermott would be different than many of his predecessors. But it’s like a bygone era… that time when we all felt giddy with hope our moribund football franchise was finally rising from the ashes.

Western New Yorkers are known for being highly emotional about the Buffalo Bills. When other cities were getting new NFL franchises, we held our breath they wouldn’t take our franchise away from us. Until the Pegulas came along, that fear was a daily reality.

And we are nothing if not loyal to a fault as a fan base.

So even though it’s a business, don’t expect Bills fans to be any less loud and obnoxious about the loss of a favorite player. We feel everything to the core. Especially about the Buffalo Bills. It’s how we roll.

Editor’s babble: You can find more of this nonsense on Xwitter @RobynMundyWYO.