Monday morning quarterbacking

Being a faithful fan isn't always easy. I first became a Buffalo Bills fanatic when the team went to four Super Bowls in a row, back in the first half of the nineties. That's band-wagon stuff, for sure. Who doesn't love a team that simply keeps winning? (OK, they never won any of those Super Bowls, but they had to win one heck of a lot of games to get there.) It's ten years later now, though, and the players who steered the Bills to victory back then are long gone, most of them retired. A whole string of superstars has come and gone during the decade passed. The league is different now, too. Parity and free agency have made it very tough for any one team to dominate the NFL. Just ask Tom Brady and the Patriots how things are going this year.

But I still love my Bills. They've lost more games than they should have already this season. Injuries have claimed a half-dozen key players, on both sides of the ball. One week the offense is hot, the next it's the defense, and the next it's neither. Then there's the whole 'quarterback controversy' thing, which seems to happen to at least half the teams every year. That's football. The thing is, win or lose, the game is a blast to watch. Maybe the tailback cracks off a huge run. Maybe Lee Evans or Eric Moulds make a spectacular catch. Or one of the linebackers zooms in for a blind-side sack. Or causes a fumble. Or blocks a punt. It's all good.

What's even better, though, is when the team you know and love, the guys you root for and suffer for, actually WIN THE GAME! Win the game you figured they'd lose, because the other team (Kansas City Chiefs this week) was supposed to be 'better.' It's all good when your underdog not only emerges victorious, but do so with a convincing bang. This week was all that. We got the turnovers and the sacks. We dictated the pace of the game. We were the only team to score a touchdown, two actually. The 'better' team ended up with one little field goal. How great is that? We won, we won, we won. (contented sigh) It's good to be a Bill's fan. At least for this week. Next week is another story. For now, I'll just enjoy it. See you here tomorrow for Trivia.