POV: You Attend Chiefs vs. Bills In Buffalo

There's little argument to be made that the best modern day NFL rivalry is Chiefs/Bills, or more so Josh Allen/Pat Mahomes. While the postseason has only gone KC's way, the overall matchup between the two teams since they were awarded the NFL's two biggest stars as signal callers is 5-5.

They've played seven times since the infamous playoff game that changed the NFL overtime rules forever, and just one of those seven games has been decided by more than one score (last regular season when Buffalo won by 9).

So everyone knew this Sunday was a big one. Forget how porous the Bills have looked defensively at times, or how un-KC-like the offense looked to start the year, they both came in to the biggest regular season game on the NFL calendar in great form, ready for battle. And instead of watching the game on TV, my girlfriend (who's a big Bills fan and has been dying to officially become indoctrinated into the Mafia) and I made the trip to see it live.

Buffalo is a joke of a town, but damn do they love the Bills. Half of downtown is closed on Sundays, and whether that's because Bills' gamedays are religious holidays or because there's probably only double digit people that visit the city on a non-Bills Sunday is not any of my business. But every restaurant, every convenience store, grocery or hardware store is decked out with Bills signage. It's pretty fucking cool. As was some of the signs scattered across Orchard Park.

We lost track of time at our tailgate and missed Pinto Ron's signature ketchup and mustard bath, but did make it to the Hammer Lot in time to take a shotski and see 10s of pickup truck beds overflowing with beer cans. I heard more "Fuck the Chiefs" than the Pilgrims said in the 1620s, but the hate in general wasn't directed at Chiefs fans brave enough to attend. It was more of a herding call, one that was blurted out into the ether for other Bills fans to hear and animalistically howl back at in agreement.

Case in point here, which was a popular pitstop for Bills fans heading into the stadium to take a picture of or take part themselves.

Oh yeah, we actually went to the game too. Jim Kelly and the Bills QB before Jim Kelly (sorry no one knows your name) came out and did the pregame ritual of reiterating the slogan of the 80s/90s Bills teams "where else would you rather be than..." before the 70,000+ fans scream "right here, right now" which was sick.

Every Bills TD was met with "Shout" which is an objectively incredible and perfectly interactive song for a stadium that’s sitting more than double the amount of people than the population of the town it's in. Honestly the song is still stuck in my head three days later.

I sat right in front of potentially the most obnoxious fan I've ever witnessed in person, who was possessed by the dark lord while vehemently screaming "you motherfucking suck" and "let's motherfucking go" and "this is what we motherfucking do" on repeat like a scratched CD. Naturally I assumed he was one of the mafia cult leaders. Just so much motherfucking.

I took a video of just one play all game, where I thought the possibility of getting a stadium-wide cheer was potent to try to capture the noise. I picked a pretty good play.

That video doesn't do it justice, but no video/pictures ever do.

The game ended and what turns out is a Bills tradition, "Mr. Brightside" came on the speakers as the entire crowd, whether staying seated or walking out, belted the chorus in unison.

Buffalo is a magical place...for football at least. If you haven't had the chance to go, you should, cause it's worth it. The people are great and the atmosphere is electric. It kind of has a small town college feel to it, since you're in the middle of nowhere with two roads in and out that lead to the western NY's Sunday cathedral.

I'm glad I got to experience the small market feel of the old stadium, a blue collar stadium that's littered with metal benches, open air, and decades of heartbreak for a group of people that live and breathe their football team before they move across the street next year. And for one day, I was glad I was a part of them.

Do good. Be good. God Bless. Go Bills.

P.S. Thankfully for the Bills they won, as their 6-2 record still finds them in second place in the AFC East. Don't worry, I still know where my allegiance lies.