Do You Billieve?
The Light Lens
- By T. TOURIS-
Hanging in my shop is a dusty, wrinkled Buffalo Bills pennant dated from 1997. This was given to me by my young children as a birthday or Christmas gift, I can’t remember, but it’s remained a shop fixture since then. Little did I know that it would mark the beginning of a long and dark epoch in Buffalo Bills’ history.
Football historians often compare the Buffalo Bills period between 1997 and 2017 to the Soviet Union’s Gulag system under Stalin. During this time, thousands of people were sent north and forced to work under unbearable conditions. The harsh conditions and torment suffered by Bills players from this period is well documented. The number of former Bills quarterbacks suffering from PTSD, is suspected to be in the hundreds.
Fans who lived through these years have to deal with chronic physical and mental challenges brought on from two decades of a diet consisting solely of Labatt Blue.
The arrival of a new regime at One Bills Drive in 2017 signaled a merciful end to this brutal era. In four short years, the Gulag-like system has been dismantled and Bills fans will be able to watch what may be an historic game in the comfort of their own homes. No longer will they have to seek warmth by jumping through flaming tables.
Maybe it’s time to show that old pennant some respect and give it a good dust off.
Go Bills!
