Family Time
boys will be boys
At one point, when the league offices were imposing more and more structure on the league, the NFL, for a time, was referred to as the No Fun League. I was raised in Western New York, which is home to the most loyal of fans and for whom the glass slipper has never quite fit. For Bills fans, regardless of the heartbreak, hope springs eternal.
The team has experienced a renaissance with a new quarterback Josh Allen. In the meantime, the eternal optimist fans remain as loyal as ever. I don’t post that often about sports but tonight is more about family and fun so remain patient if sports are not your gig.
The NFL has done an amazing job recognizing the importance of parity and competitive balance. It seems to be the only sport where there is a genuine chance consistently for the smaller market teams to thrive. Even though there are always top-tier teams, on any given week, the underdogs can win.
I left the Buffalo area in 1982 but remain true to the hometown team. For me, there was something completely unrelated to football that made last season a blast and this season one of hope and excitement. Last year, I decided to poll my brothers and some of my cousins to get together beforehand on a Zoom call and just be cousins again. While we all, to varying degrees want the hometown team to win, I think the fun is just the gab that ensues with “Dolan Football Chat”.
I started writing this before the first game of the season when hope springs eternal. Who knows when I will finish it and will the Bills still be filling us with excitement? I think they will, mostly because our weekly chats aren’t about football at all.
The Bills opened the NFL season against the defending Superbowl Champion Rams in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. I am writing in the week before. The Bills are the preseason favorite to win the Superbowl but while Vegas might feel that way, we long-time fans are careful to not let our hopes get too high. One note of optimism though is the Bills are favored on the road to beat the Superbowl Champions on opening night. The spread is 2.5 points so maybe the Bills will need a late field goal to cover the spread. Eternal Bills fans have mixed emotions about last-second field goals though and recurring bad dreams of Scott Norwood and wide right.
I would imagine unless there is some sort of catastrophic series of injuries the Bills will be favored whether home or away in EVERY GAME this season even though the schedule includes both of last year’s Superbowl participants and many other top-tier teams. I do not delude myself to believe this means they will win every game. The people who make a living picking the winners will expect them to win each game though.
Our motley crew numbers six this year; myself, my two brothers, and three cousins scattered about the country. I, of course, live in Minnesota while my brothers live in suburban Buffalo and Detroit. My brother in Buffalo is the only one of us still in the area we were raised. My cousins who participate live in the rural Finger Lakes of NY, suburban Philadelphia, and Staten Island, NY. I think I enjoy our usual Sunday morning chats more than the games. I hope that the group might even grow but I must admit this group sure gets on well.
So here’s to another season of hopefulness, family connection, great laughs, and unlikely predictions. This is what Dolan Football Chat is all about. I am grateful for another season of laughs and for getting to know my cousins a little bit better.
To my brothers and cousins, see you on the wire up to 21 times in the next six months. Seems like a wonderful plan. I think we can top last year AND LAST YEAR WAS A BLAST.
I am not sure when I will actually post this so I will keep adding to the pile.
Wow, so I found this post in my DRAFT folder. The Bills are now 3-1 after (1) a convincing thumping in La-La Land of the Rams, (2) a convincing beating of the Tennessee Titans in the home opener, (3) a disappointing close loss against the Miami Dolphins, and (4) a thrilling come-from-behind victory against the Baltimore Ravens. If the Bills continue to play the way they are, they will look back on the loss in Miami as shrouded in controversy as the quarterback should have NEVER BEEN ALLOWED back into the game after a scary concussion. Our priorities are often shown to be bizarre. My novice understanding of concussion is that four weeks is a good mid-range and safe amount of time to give our brains time to recover. It is different I guess if you throw a ball for a living.
This season, I have upped my game in tracking the picks and am taking my role as “commissioner” seriously. Bragging rights amongst cousins sounds like the right dose of competition to me. How much do I enjoy this? I built a spreadsheet to track our chats, predictions, and results. Many years ago I was in a Fantasy Football League. The best part was that the last-place finisher was awarded a toilet seat. Perhaps that will need to become our new tradition as the season proceeds.
The Bills’ next two games are at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers and then a return to Kansas City. One of our group is going to the game against Pittsburgh. Win or lose, the stadium is an electric atmosphere. I have this post scheduled for Tuesday, October 18th. It will only be a couple of days after playing the Chiefs in Kansas City where our season came to an abrupt end last year. For those of you that don’t subscribe for sports coverage, we will get back to regular programming on Saturday the 22nd. I do believe that Football happens to be an experience that a lot of people do enjoy watching whether just for the commercials or the halftime show of the Superbowl. This year it will be Rihanna. She has not had a public performance since 2018 so her return to the limelight will make it another halftime show to remember. Besides, as a word lover, I get to write that this will be the first time the Superbowl halftime show headliner is a Barbadian!!!
Guilty pleasure time because of the segue about Rihanna and her birthday tattoo. Not many shows are as funny as the Simpsons. This is their take on tattoos and Christmas. This is a worthwhile expenditure of 3:39.
One More Thing…
At the risk of a media reference that shows my age, “one more thing” has nothing to do with Lieutenant Columbo. My favorite team beat up the Pittsburgh Steelers and for an encore made their 3rd trip to Kansas City in the last two years. The mighty Chiefs ended the Bills’ season last year through some last-second heroics and winning a coin flip. To the rest of the NFL, Kansas City is a place NO ONE ELSE has won a game in over a year (except of course the Bills twice!). While the Chiefs have a wonderful quarterback, he has now accumulated four interceptions in the last three games against Buffalo’s finest on his home field. Our new kid on the block has only managed ten touchdowns without an interception in the same period. All that is left for Josh Allen to be better at is winning a coin flip. The locals love our quarterback as our secret Superman. He cannot leap tall buildings but defensive backs are no problem. Two weeks off and the season will continue. I will miss next Sunday and no call with my brothers and cousins as the Bills get a week off. If they decide they just want to chat, I am all for it. Here is a short video for Bills fans everywhere that will have to do for the next two weeks. It is provided as the property of NFL Films via YouTube.
The Poll & Music
Lots of music to choose from tonight. A bit of Rihanna since I hope she’ll be performing in a Superbowl the Bills participate in. Here’s some cool music from a band popular as a jazz fusion source growing up in Buffalo. It’s been forty years and I still enjoy Spyro Gyra! Finally, here’s a reprise of an R&R band from Buffalo (the Goo Goo Dolls).
What’s Next
My next post is titled “Suburban Crawl”. Attitude can make almost anything fun!
Whoa I had no idea hopes were so high for the Bills this year! As you know I am retired Bills Mafia and still root for the team but I still picked option A bc I’ve had it with hope and the heartbreak!
I saw a feature last year or two years ago regarding the Bills Mafia. I was entertained by it. I didn't know that was such a thing. I'm all for a team that has fans who, through good times and bad, stick by their team. God only knows Packer fans saw those years before 2000 rolled around. I'm not quite sure about the slamming one's body into a table, but whatever pulls your chain. It's fun to see a team doing well and fans being able to enjoy the sport on a higher level. With baseball, if the Yankees lose tonight, the two juggernauts of the playoffs will be out of the picture and I am just fine with that. It does get old after a while. Let the little guy win from time to time. Nice sports posting, sir.