We all have those fond memories that stick with us forever. Maybe it’s a game-winning touchdown in the corner of the Lambeau Field end zone right in front of you. Maybe you were one of those Bills fans on Jan. 3, 1993 climbing the fence to get back into The Comeback. Maybe it’s something as simple as enjoying your first beer at a tailgate with your dad.
Specific moments made us all fall in love with this sport.
A year ago, we had some fantastic responses here on the discussion forum. With this 2022 season closing in fast, let’s hear again.
I grew up in New Jersey and we had had season tickets for the Giants. Our seats were about 10 rows from the top of the stadium in the corner of the end zone. In 1977, the Giants hosted the Bears on the final week of the season. The Giants were horrible and the weather was brutal (snow, sleet, cold) but Walter Payton needed 199yds to break OJ Simpson’s single season rushing record.
I was eight years old so any chance to go to a NFL game was a treat but this was also a chance to see history.
My dad didn’t want to go. Terrible weather. Terrible Giants. The Sunday before Christmas. Oh and we’re Packer fans. For him, not a lot pulling him to Giants Stadium. Perfect day to sit by the fire and watch football on TV. As an adult, I now get exactly how he felt. As an eight year old, I thought he was crazy to pass up this chance. I begged him. We went.
We were the two people that telecasts like to show during a timeout. Sitting alone at the top of the stadium at an irrelevant late season game.
The game was terrible. Payton didn’t come close (47 yards). The weather was miserable. But in the end, it was one of my greatest memories with my dad. To me, it was a magical day. Just the two of us in the upper tier. Free hot dogs at the concession stand since we were the only ones in the section, NFL football and the two of us braving the weather like a couple of warriors.
My dad died six years later at the age of 38 of lung cancer. I am so thankful that he pulled himself off of the couch on that Sunday. It’s one of the best memories of my life.
As a Giants fan since the mid 80s, I have plenty of fond memories. But there is one particular memory that stands above many because it is much more personal. That would be the Giants’ come-from-behind 32-31 win over the Bucs in the 2019 regular season. My wife and I lost our son Presley to stillbirth about a month prior to that game. The Giants started out 0-2 and I just really wanted something to celebrate as a fan because sports are such an escape. That win gave me so much joy that day. When Matt Gay missed that FG attempt at the end, I jumped up off my couch and screamed. And then my eyes began to well up. It was truly a gift in such a dark time in my life. And a regular season game became an emotional release that really an incredibly difficult time a little easier to get through. There’s just nothing like football.
My fondest memory as a football fan happened on 12/12/1992. I was 9 years old and had watched for a couple years as Jim Kelly would always give his warm up football to a kid in the crowd when he was done. I was standing in the front row watching all these legends warm up not knowing at the how lucky I was.
When he completed his warm up throws with Steve Tasker he turned around and ran right to me and handed me the ball. I was so excited. Everyone was slapping me on the back and celebrating with me. It was a moment I’ll never forget. Thinking back now, another funny moment was my mom calling my dad collect on the pay phone in the concourse to tell him.
I still have the ball, now signed, and the coin they gave away at the game.
I was at the "over the line of scrimmage" Packers/Bear game, sitting about where the line of scrimmage was. The emotions in the stadium were amazing. First the roar of the crowd during the play, the touchdown being scored-it got even louder. Then the silence when the flag was seen on the field. The wait for the review was excruciating. Then the announcement that the play was OK and the roar of the crowd all over again. It took me a week to get back my voice from yelling so loud! What made it even sweeter was a Bears fan had to drive back down to Milwaukee with us, listening to radio after show-he actually was pretty good about the ribbing we gave him. He was really quiet......And Ditka never recognizing that Packer victory in their press guide was icing on the cake. Majic Man fever was amazing that day!
I've got three...first is kinda inconsequential; in the early 1990's my son won tickets on the radio to a preseason Packer game vs the Dolphins at Milwaukee County Stadium. Seats were right down behind the dugout that the Packers came out of and it was cool seeing them up close and personal. And then Sean Jones came out and I was shocked at how absolutely huge he was. That's all I remember from the game lol.
The next two...first is college; 2013, UW vs #1 Ohio State at Camp Randall. David Gilreath electrifies the crowd by returning the opening kick for a TD. Set the tone for the whole game, and the Badgers took the upset win. My brother in law and I were jumping up and down like kids.
The last was actually on TV. I'd been a Packer fan since the 60's, so the seventies and eighties were just horrible. Then came Wolf, Holmgren, Reggie, Favre, et al...and the Super Bowl vs New England. Desmond Howard had been the catalyst for so many great moments that year, but his TD return in that game had me jumping up and down in the living room.
Ooh...one more...went to a game at Lambeau where Charles Woodson recognized a formation with a single wide to his side. A linebacker started to slide out, and Wood frantically waved him back. At the snap he broke towards the line, the rcvr took a step back for the quick throw, and Charles picked it clean and took it in for the TD. He was just a master at baiting the other team into mistakes like that.
The poor performing Packer teams in the late 1960s caused my uncle Robert to unleash a routine string of F' bombs and other assorted vulgar words that impressed upon me as a 9 year old the necessity for fan's mental health that the Pack play well on Sundays.
Jul 18, 2022·edited Jul 18, 2022Liked by Tyler Dunne
This may sniff of recency bias, but even if that’s the case, I'm happy to say that a sports experience can still leave this great an impact on me, even if I'm older than every athlete I was watching on the field that day.
My fondest memory as a football fan is the Bills’ long-awaited home playoff game victory—at full capacity—over the Patriots. Everyone knows what happened in the game, and I can describe it no better than The Ringer’s Danny Heifetz, who wrote in his post-game story, “The Buffalo Bills delivered their most definitive victory in the 21st century on Saturday, atomizing the Patriots 47-17.” The sentence is a reminder of the Bills’ icy manipulation in arctic conditions, and a reminder that I’m still far from Heifetz’s class as a writer. “Defecating” is an adjective I may have considered using...but that’s wrong. “Atomized” is perfect—and, like Heifetz, classier.
But as most fond football memories go, they go beyond the game itself. For I also attended the other Bills vs. Patriots game defined by maniacal weather that season: the wind-logged Monday nighter in December. My lead-up to it was quintessential Western New York: drinks the night before at Hunt’s Pub in sleepy Caledonia; lunch the next day at Elmo’s, and a decision to tailgate the instant lots opened amidst a frigid hurricane. It turned to be one of the most fun tailgates I’ve ever experienced at Orchard Park. (Judge for yourself: https://twitter.com/EdMcGrogan/status/1475129505429831685)
Everyone knows what happened in that game.
Had the Bills not recovered from that shit-the-bed performance in the weeks that followed—including a win in Foxboro that foreshadowed John Allen’s next meeting with the Patriots—I’m not sure I would have driven to Orchard Park on the morning of the Wild Card game to risk another in-person embarrassment. When you attend a sporting event, you put something on the line, and it goes beyond the requisite financial commitment. The experience will be greater, positively or negatively, when you’re in the arena.
It would be a night of firsts: The first time I started my tailgate away from the lots, but rather in the parking lot of a new friend-of-a-friend’s home on Kathaleen Street (technically in Hamburg). We brought the firewood in our six-hour drive. The first time we tried to shotgun beers but discovered that the sweet Canadian nectar froze just seconds later. It was Looney Tunes-level cold that afternoon. But the walk to the stadium, through the revelry of ECC, was still warming.
But nowhere near as heartwarming as the realization that hit me—another first—as I walked out of the stadium following that cathartic ass-kicking.
“This place can actually be happy,” I told a longtime friend who helped lead me to Bills fandom about 20 years ago.
It was, truly, an exorcism. And given the opponent, the setting, and the build-up—not just from the Monday Night Football dud to the Wild Card Weekend delirium, but in the 20 years of New England dominance beforehand—it felt like the Super Bowl had just been played in Buffalo. And the Bills had won it, going away.
That sense of satisfaction stayed with me through the rest of the chilly night—to the last beer, to the victory cigar, to the stay at a spartan hotel nearby. And, truthfully, it stayed with me all through the following week. Because for some reason, I didn’t take the Bills’ epic collapse in Kansas City as hard as I would have thought. (A few months removed from it, I sadly realize the opportunity squandered.)
I chalk that up to three reasons:
First, the undeniable ascent—and performance that evening—of Allen.
Second, the Bills’ defeat New England the week before, capping two straight seasons of superiority over their longtime rivals.
And third, because in the moment that began with 0:13 remaining in Arrowhead Stadium, I wasn’t in the arena.
My very best FB memory is a high-school game in 1965 that none of your readers would likely know. So my 2nd-best FB memory is attending Super Bowl 6 in 1972 in New Orleans at old Tulane Stadium, which seated 81,000. It was, and remains, the biggest stadium I have ever seen. The Cowboys, with Roger Staubach, defeated the Dolphins, led by Bob Griese, 24-3. It was the first of 5 SBs the Cowboys won. The Cowboys' roster included Lance Alworth and Mike Ditka, both playing their last NFL season, and both caught TD passes from Staubach. SB 6 was also the only SB where the loser did not score a TD, until 47 years later, in 2019, when the Patriots beat the Rams, 13-3.
Ty - my GBP consciousness began with a single play involving Bart Starr. Glory Days of Lombardi might as well be Grecian Olympics to me. I was shocked 15 was still playing cuz the GBPs were so inept thanks to two words: Dan Devine. Flash forward past years of utter hopelessness, speckled with occasional tease. Then, miraculously, the impossible appeared before my eyes as Desmond Howard broke the 50 and I knew 4 and 92 would slam the iron door - cue John Facenda - "and Green Bay would be champion again."
You had to live thru it to understand that level of bliss.
1978, Shea Stadium, Patriots @ Jets. I was a young Patriots fan, we lived in NY and my dad took me to my first game.
We sat high in the upper deck behind the end zone. I remember some of the older fans commented on the size of the holes the Pats O-line were creating (Hannah-Gray left side) and Pat Leahy missing a chip shot field goal towards our EZ at the end securing a victory.
Wanting to soak up every last second, although my dad said the game was over, we stayed to watch the Pats take a knee.
That was the same day as the Herm Edwards miracle of the meadowlands as we later learned.
We learned it’s never over until it’s over that day.
I planned a family vacation during the Bears 2007 playoff run. So rather than change plans I flew my family down to Ft Myers on Saturday. Flew back to Chicago same day. Went to game on Sundaytt and flew back right after game. Bears beat the Saints. Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones ran over the Saints that day. Such a great atmosphere after they won. Never hugged so many strangers that day.
Oh gosh, great topic, Ty. I'll try to limit myself to a top 5 as a Packers fan.
1. The "Dez didn't catch it" playoff game at Lambeau, Packers vs. Cowboys - Was in the stadium for that one and it was my first Packers playoff win in person, having taken two tough L's to the Giants in '07 and '11 respectively. Electric crowd, great atmosphere, and an awesome Packers team.
2. Packers playoff W vs. Seahawks, Jan 2020. A particularly fond memory with dad, tailgating with great friends before the game. A few big plays from the Packers D and an incredible catch on the final drive for a first down helped seal the victory. Who knew it would be the last time we'd see the inside of a stadium for almost two years?
3. Packers vs. 49ers, 2010, Donald Driver's signature play. You know the one. Packers are in the blue throwbacks and Donald breaks about 8 tackles on his way to a 50+ yard TD. Dad and I were at the game... and in line for brats, watching it unfold on the tiny TV in the concourse. Can't win 'em all.
4. Super Bowl XLV and the "afterparty". I was a senior in college for the Super Bowl victory and spent that Sunday, as I did every Sunday through college and my young adult life, at mom and dad's watching the Packers. Following the victory, we piled in the car and went down to Water St. in Milwaukee to party with the city. Now that I am married with kids, Packer games back home aren't as frequent an occurrence (certainly 7 or 8 times per season, but no longer every single weekend as it had been), but that particular victory always takes the cake.
5. Return to Titletown - Following the Super Bowl victory, we sat out in the cold with 72,000 of our closest friends to welcome the team back to Lambeau - a memory I'll never forget.
Honorable mention - Favre's last game, NFC Championship vs. Giants - I know I mentioned this up above, and the heartbreak factor knocks it down the list, because it would have been an easy #1 with a Packer victory. Still, an incredible memory with dad. We took a bus up from Fon Du Lac that was split halfway between Packers and Giants fans, and sat in the 3rd row in the south end zone behind the goal post. My two most vivid memories - my beer freezing in the top of the bottle and having to poke it through with my finger on the way back down from the concourse to our seats, and a guy who easily ran 350 lbs. crying and the tears freezing into his bushy beard, as we turned to walk out of the concourse after the Lawrence Tynes kick went through in OT.
Favorite football memory was my first NFL game. I was 9 years old and my Dad took me to Rich Stadium to see the Bills play the Broncos in November 1987. That also happened to be Cornelius Bennett's first NFL game. Bennett shot out of the gates like a cannon and the Bills jumped all over Elway and the Broncos. I was mesmerized by the crowd, the atmosphere, and the enthusiasm. I remember there being a feeling in the air that something special was brewing with that group, even a 9 year old could feel that excitement. I was immediately hooked and have been a lifelong, die-hard Bills fan ever since. I still watch every game and consume all sorts of content about the team. Haven't lived in WNY in over two decades, but the team is such a strong connection point back to the home area.
Couldn't be more excited to bring my 7 year old daughter & 5 year old son to their first NFL game on 10/9/22, with Grandpa, in the same stadium I got to experience my first game. Although we live in Vikings country, my crew loves the Bills!!
Keep up the great work Tyler, I really enjoy all the content at Go Long.
Ty, it's a real pleasure to read and hear you and Jim talk ball each week. Not just as a welcome distraction from all the madness going on in the world, tho of course it's that too. But I'm hard pressed to think of a major sports franchise with as bleak an outlook for hope than the GBPs during those years. Bruce Clark choosing Canada over Green Bay echoed its league wide view as a Gulag in Siberia. The resurrection of hope was no less than miraculous in a for profit league where the money naturally seeks major markets. Yet happen it did. Starting every July, people who hold the most divisive, polar-opposite views, instantly forget them with the mere sight of the other wearing the "G" and for the next 3 hours all pull the same direction with your new best friend. September begins a hope renewed that podunk Green Bay can be a giant killer, the David that slays Goliath. Therein lie the unspoken sermon each Sunday at the First Church of Lambeau & its patron Saint Vince, lol. PS: they also serve beer lol
One of my favorite football memories when I was a 8-9 year old kid was off the field. The Sheraton Cheektowaga Hotel lobby in fact. Where the mid-90s Bills stayed Saturday nights before home games. While we scouted out a good place to see or say hi to Jim, Thurman, Andre or Bruce. It was Bills linebacker Mark Maddox who befriended a few of my relatives and would take time to actually sit down and talk with all of us after team meetings broke. How cool !
On one occasion, on the eve of the '95 Wild Card thrashing over the Dolphins. Our large talkative group somehow had Fran Levy (Marv's wife) in the chat. A moment later Marv joined, and shook hands with everyone.
Of course I fired off a question, "Coach, are we going back to the Super Bowl!?" He replied: "Well, let's take it one step at a time." Like many things in life, right answer.
Through the wonders of Facebook we all can still remain acquaintances with Maddox who regularly has charitable raffles and was named the Bills 2021 Legend of the Year for his foundation's efforts.
The league is made up with plenty of good guys like Mark, a scrappy 9th round pick who became a good special teamer to a reliable starter and made a nice ten year career out of it.
Hey Tyler, I grew up a Packer fan, so winning Super Bowl XXXI is at the top for me. I was 16 and as a Wisconsin sports fan, I had never seen a pro team from our state win a world championship. I also got to watch the game in our family living room with my older brother who got me into sports to begin with. I got to share that experience with him. Special night.
Actually, watching the Packers through all those great years in the '90s led me to pursue a career in journalism. Loved to write. Loved reading Sports Illustrated and the local sports section. I worked as a sports writer (full-time) for several years and currently freelance writing sports on the side. Well, fast forward some 25 years later and I'm working for a Packers publication. I get to interview several of those great players from the SB XXXI team! I get to write about their memories. I'm tickled when George Koonce tells me "thanks for taking the time to talk to an old Packer." Are you kidding? The pleasure is all mine.
Also, the '89 Packers will always have a special place in my heart. The "Cardiac Pack!" They were the team that got me excited about football as an 8-year-old kid. More specifically, the "Instant Replay Game" in November when they knocked off the Bears is an awesome memory. Chicago fans still think Majkowski's foot was over the line when he threw the game-winning TD pass to Sterling Sharpe. They finished 10-6 and just missed the playoffs but what an exciting season after so many dreadful campaigns in GB.
The 2007 NFC Championship game between the Packers and Giants is memorable to me, even though the result made the bitter cold even more unbearable. My memories (albeit not fond) are how the drinks my wife and I had brought with us from Brett Favre’s old steakhouse restaurant froze by the time we had walked from the restaurant to the Lambeau entrance gates. We both had mixed drinks in plastic cups for the walk to the stadium and they were frozen by the time we reached the stadium. My other strong memory from that game was how miserable Favre looked on the sidelines, I had never seen him affected by the cold like that. Conversely, Eli Manning seemed relatively oblivious to the elements. I just remember saying to my wife on a few occasions the difference between the demeanor of the two QBs - Favre looked like he couldn’t wait to get back into the locker room and Manning looked relatively unfazed. I didn’t notice Tom Coughlin’s famously red face until seeing clips of the game afterwards.
I caught a glove Terry Mickens threw into the crowd as he and the Packers left the Super Dome as SB XXXI champions. It's in a box frame on my wall, signed by Terry. Most people who see it say "Who the hell was Terry Mickens?" :)
December 26, 1993: Lambeau Field: Packers against the Los Angeles Raiders
“Welcome to Lambeau Field! The temperature is 0.”
A roar from the crowd went through the stadium.
“The wind chill is -20!”
Another roar went up. My first game and it was really cold. I got steaming hot chocolate and by the time I got to my seat it was cold.
While this game is known for LeRoy Butler’s Lambeau Leap, that’s not what stuck out in my mind.
In the second quarter Sterling Sharpe caught a pass from Favre and took it in for the score… nope, instead he was tackled at the one yard line. However, as he was being tackled, he reached the ball across the goal line. The official disagreed. Replays showed that Sharpe was right. Edgar Bennett took it in on the next play so no big deal, right?
Not for Sharpe, the rest of the game he was gesturing to the official about the play. He’d stick out his hand as if stretching over the goal line, then with his other hand, he’d draw a line and then signal a touchdown.
You could see the official getting more and more irritated throughout the game.
Although I was present at the 51-3 beatdown of the Raiders, the "Comeback" game, and the 4 Bills Super Bowls (with my Dad sitting next to me for all), I would actually like to write about a vivid childhood memory. I was no older than 7 or 8 when I was introduced to the unforgettable game of "Rough and Tumble". I'm sure there were a dozen other names, but I guess the one that best describes it was "Kill the Guy with the Ball". Now I have always felt that football was the ultimate "team" game. This game was the total opposite of that. The premise was simply you against EVERYONE...sometimes as many as 8-10 kids. It was fantastic. We would actually cut silver dollar size holes in the crappy T-shirts we wore. Designed for, you guessed it, to be torn to shreds by the would-
be tacklers. We all thought it looked so cool, but more importantly...it made you look tough. As corny as it sounds, I really feel my life lessons started way back then. We would all get pretty bruised and battered, but it was an absolute blast and very well worth it. Occasionally, you would carry, on your back, 2 or 3 of the lighter kids to that makeshift end zone...just to keep the ball in your possession and do it all over again. Totally exhausting, but very exhilarating. I wouldn't trade those days for the world.
Just further proof that football is SO much more than just a game.
Been fortunate to see a lot of games - super bowl wins, AFT title game win in the RCA Dome, Monday night football in Champaign to name just a few. But, being in the right field bleachers as Favre ran right towards us. Man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mo78kkqeB4
I've never seen a regular season NFL game live, so for me it was seeing a preseason Giants/Steelers game. Just being in the stadium was so exciting! Last year I got tickets to see my two favourite teams play and couldn't attend because of Covid, so I'm stoked for whatever my first NFL game winds up being. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Also, watching the Rams win the Superbowl last season. As a long suffering Canucks fan, I literally didn't know how to react to winning a championship. Super exciting.
I grew up in New Jersey and we had had season tickets for the Giants. Our seats were about 10 rows from the top of the stadium in the corner of the end zone. In 1977, the Giants hosted the Bears on the final week of the season. The Giants were horrible and the weather was brutal (snow, sleet, cold) but Walter Payton needed 199yds to break OJ Simpson’s single season rushing record.
I was eight years old so any chance to go to a NFL game was a treat but this was also a chance to see history.
My dad didn’t want to go. Terrible weather. Terrible Giants. The Sunday before Christmas. Oh and we’re Packer fans. For him, not a lot pulling him to Giants Stadium. Perfect day to sit by the fire and watch football on TV. As an adult, I now get exactly how he felt. As an eight year old, I thought he was crazy to pass up this chance. I begged him. We went.
We were the two people that telecasts like to show during a timeout. Sitting alone at the top of the stadium at an irrelevant late season game.
The game was terrible. Payton didn’t come close (47 yards). The weather was miserable. But in the end, it was one of my greatest memories with my dad. To me, it was a magical day. Just the two of us in the upper tier. Free hot dogs at the concession stand since we were the only ones in the section, NFL football and the two of us braving the weather like a couple of warriors.
My dad died six years later at the age of 38 of lung cancer. I am so thankful that he pulled himself off of the couch on that Sunday. It’s one of the best memories of my life.
As a Giants fan since the mid 80s, I have plenty of fond memories. But there is one particular memory that stands above many because it is much more personal. That would be the Giants’ come-from-behind 32-31 win over the Bucs in the 2019 regular season. My wife and I lost our son Presley to stillbirth about a month prior to that game. The Giants started out 0-2 and I just really wanted something to celebrate as a fan because sports are such an escape. That win gave me so much joy that day. When Matt Gay missed that FG attempt at the end, I jumped up off my couch and screamed. And then my eyes began to well up. It was truly a gift in such a dark time in my life. And a regular season game became an emotional release that really an incredibly difficult time a little easier to get through. There’s just nothing like football.
My fondest memory as a football fan happened on 12/12/1992. I was 9 years old and had watched for a couple years as Jim Kelly would always give his warm up football to a kid in the crowd when he was done. I was standing in the front row watching all these legends warm up not knowing at the how lucky I was.
When he completed his warm up throws with Steve Tasker he turned around and ran right to me and handed me the ball. I was so excited. Everyone was slapping me on the back and celebrating with me. It was a moment I’ll never forget. Thinking back now, another funny moment was my mom calling my dad collect on the pay phone in the concourse to tell him.
I still have the ball, now signed, and the coin they gave away at the game.
I was at the "over the line of scrimmage" Packers/Bear game, sitting about where the line of scrimmage was. The emotions in the stadium were amazing. First the roar of the crowd during the play, the touchdown being scored-it got even louder. Then the silence when the flag was seen on the field. The wait for the review was excruciating. Then the announcement that the play was OK and the roar of the crowd all over again. It took me a week to get back my voice from yelling so loud! What made it even sweeter was a Bears fan had to drive back down to Milwaukee with us, listening to radio after show-he actually was pretty good about the ribbing we gave him. He was really quiet......And Ditka never recognizing that Packer victory in their press guide was icing on the cake. Majic Man fever was amazing that day!
I've got three...first is kinda inconsequential; in the early 1990's my son won tickets on the radio to a preseason Packer game vs the Dolphins at Milwaukee County Stadium. Seats were right down behind the dugout that the Packers came out of and it was cool seeing them up close and personal. And then Sean Jones came out and I was shocked at how absolutely huge he was. That's all I remember from the game lol.
The next two...first is college; 2013, UW vs #1 Ohio State at Camp Randall. David Gilreath electrifies the crowd by returning the opening kick for a TD. Set the tone for the whole game, and the Badgers took the upset win. My brother in law and I were jumping up and down like kids.
The last was actually on TV. I'd been a Packer fan since the 60's, so the seventies and eighties were just horrible. Then came Wolf, Holmgren, Reggie, Favre, et al...and the Super Bowl vs New England. Desmond Howard had been the catalyst for so many great moments that year, but his TD return in that game had me jumping up and down in the living room.
Ooh...one more...went to a game at Lambeau where Charles Woodson recognized a formation with a single wide to his side. A linebacker started to slide out, and Wood frantically waved him back. At the snap he broke towards the line, the rcvr took a step back for the quick throw, and Charles picked it clean and took it in for the TD. He was just a master at baiting the other team into mistakes like that.
The poor performing Packer teams in the late 1960s caused my uncle Robert to unleash a routine string of F' bombs and other assorted vulgar words that impressed upon me as a 9 year old the necessity for fan's mental health that the Pack play well on Sundays.
This may sniff of recency bias, but even if that’s the case, I'm happy to say that a sports experience can still leave this great an impact on me, even if I'm older than every athlete I was watching on the field that day.
My fondest memory as a football fan is the Bills’ long-awaited home playoff game victory—at full capacity—over the Patriots. Everyone knows what happened in the game, and I can describe it no better than The Ringer’s Danny Heifetz, who wrote in his post-game story, “The Buffalo Bills delivered their most definitive victory in the 21st century on Saturday, atomizing the Patriots 47-17.” The sentence is a reminder of the Bills’ icy manipulation in arctic conditions, and a reminder that I’m still far from Heifetz’s class as a writer. “Defecating” is an adjective I may have considered using...but that’s wrong. “Atomized” is perfect—and, like Heifetz, classier.
But as most fond football memories go, they go beyond the game itself. For I also attended the other Bills vs. Patriots game defined by maniacal weather that season: the wind-logged Monday nighter in December. My lead-up to it was quintessential Western New York: drinks the night before at Hunt’s Pub in sleepy Caledonia; lunch the next day at Elmo’s, and a decision to tailgate the instant lots opened amidst a frigid hurricane. It turned to be one of the most fun tailgates I’ve ever experienced at Orchard Park. (Judge for yourself: https://twitter.com/EdMcGrogan/status/1475129505429831685)
Everyone knows what happened in that game.
Had the Bills not recovered from that shit-the-bed performance in the weeks that followed—including a win in Foxboro that foreshadowed John Allen’s next meeting with the Patriots—I’m not sure I would have driven to Orchard Park on the morning of the Wild Card game to risk another in-person embarrassment. When you attend a sporting event, you put something on the line, and it goes beyond the requisite financial commitment. The experience will be greater, positively or negatively, when you’re in the arena.
It would be a night of firsts: The first time I started my tailgate away from the lots, but rather in the parking lot of a new friend-of-a-friend’s home on Kathaleen Street (technically in Hamburg). We brought the firewood in our six-hour drive. The first time we tried to shotgun beers but discovered that the sweet Canadian nectar froze just seconds later. It was Looney Tunes-level cold that afternoon. But the walk to the stadium, through the revelry of ECC, was still warming.
But nowhere near as heartwarming as the realization that hit me—another first—as I walked out of the stadium following that cathartic ass-kicking.
“This place can actually be happy,” I told a longtime friend who helped lead me to Bills fandom about 20 years ago.
It was, truly, an exorcism. And given the opponent, the setting, and the build-up—not just from the Monday Night Football dud to the Wild Card Weekend delirium, but in the 20 years of New England dominance beforehand—it felt like the Super Bowl had just been played in Buffalo. And the Bills had won it, going away.
That sense of satisfaction stayed with me through the rest of the chilly night—to the last beer, to the victory cigar, to the stay at a spartan hotel nearby. And, truthfully, it stayed with me all through the following week. Because for some reason, I didn’t take the Bills’ epic collapse in Kansas City as hard as I would have thought. (A few months removed from it, I sadly realize the opportunity squandered.)
I chalk that up to three reasons:
First, the undeniable ascent—and performance that evening—of Allen.
Second, the Bills’ defeat New England the week before, capping two straight seasons of superiority over their longtime rivals.
And third, because in the moment that began with 0:13 remaining in Arrowhead Stadium, I wasn’t in the arena.
I’ll make sure I am next time.
My very best FB memory is a high-school game in 1965 that none of your readers would likely know. So my 2nd-best FB memory is attending Super Bowl 6 in 1972 in New Orleans at old Tulane Stadium, which seated 81,000. It was, and remains, the biggest stadium I have ever seen. The Cowboys, with Roger Staubach, defeated the Dolphins, led by Bob Griese, 24-3. It was the first of 5 SBs the Cowboys won. The Cowboys' roster included Lance Alworth and Mike Ditka, both playing their last NFL season, and both caught TD passes from Staubach. SB 6 was also the only SB where the loser did not score a TD, until 47 years later, in 2019, when the Patriots beat the Rams, 13-3.
Ty - my GBP consciousness began with a single play involving Bart Starr. Glory Days of Lombardi might as well be Grecian Olympics to me. I was shocked 15 was still playing cuz the GBPs were so inept thanks to two words: Dan Devine. Flash forward past years of utter hopelessness, speckled with occasional tease. Then, miraculously, the impossible appeared before my eyes as Desmond Howard broke the 50 and I knew 4 and 92 would slam the iron door - cue John Facenda - "and Green Bay would be champion again."
You had to live thru it to understand that level of bliss.
1978, Shea Stadium, Patriots @ Jets. I was a young Patriots fan, we lived in NY and my dad took me to my first game.
We sat high in the upper deck behind the end zone. I remember some of the older fans commented on the size of the holes the Pats O-line were creating (Hannah-Gray left side) and Pat Leahy missing a chip shot field goal towards our EZ at the end securing a victory.
Wanting to soak up every last second, although my dad said the game was over, we stayed to watch the Pats take a knee.
That was the same day as the Herm Edwards miracle of the meadowlands as we later learned.
We learned it’s never over until it’s over that day.
I planned a family vacation during the Bears 2007 playoff run. So rather than change plans I flew my family down to Ft Myers on Saturday. Flew back to Chicago same day. Went to game on Sundaytt and flew back right after game. Bears beat the Saints. Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones ran over the Saints that day. Such a great atmosphere after they won. Never hugged so many strangers that day.
Oh gosh, great topic, Ty. I'll try to limit myself to a top 5 as a Packers fan.
1. The "Dez didn't catch it" playoff game at Lambeau, Packers vs. Cowboys - Was in the stadium for that one and it was my first Packers playoff win in person, having taken two tough L's to the Giants in '07 and '11 respectively. Electric crowd, great atmosphere, and an awesome Packers team.
2. Packers playoff W vs. Seahawks, Jan 2020. A particularly fond memory with dad, tailgating with great friends before the game. A few big plays from the Packers D and an incredible catch on the final drive for a first down helped seal the victory. Who knew it would be the last time we'd see the inside of a stadium for almost two years?
3. Packers vs. 49ers, 2010, Donald Driver's signature play. You know the one. Packers are in the blue throwbacks and Donald breaks about 8 tackles on his way to a 50+ yard TD. Dad and I were at the game... and in line for brats, watching it unfold on the tiny TV in the concourse. Can't win 'em all.
4. Super Bowl XLV and the "afterparty". I was a senior in college for the Super Bowl victory and spent that Sunday, as I did every Sunday through college and my young adult life, at mom and dad's watching the Packers. Following the victory, we piled in the car and went down to Water St. in Milwaukee to party with the city. Now that I am married with kids, Packer games back home aren't as frequent an occurrence (certainly 7 or 8 times per season, but no longer every single weekend as it had been), but that particular victory always takes the cake.
5. Return to Titletown - Following the Super Bowl victory, we sat out in the cold with 72,000 of our closest friends to welcome the team back to Lambeau - a memory I'll never forget.
Honorable mention - Favre's last game, NFC Championship vs. Giants - I know I mentioned this up above, and the heartbreak factor knocks it down the list, because it would have been an easy #1 with a Packer victory. Still, an incredible memory with dad. We took a bus up from Fon Du Lac that was split halfway between Packers and Giants fans, and sat in the 3rd row in the south end zone behind the goal post. My two most vivid memories - my beer freezing in the top of the bottle and having to poke it through with my finger on the way back down from the concourse to our seats, and a guy who easily ran 350 lbs. crying and the tears freezing into his bushy beard, as we turned to walk out of the concourse after the Lawrence Tynes kick went through in OT.
Favorite football memory was my first NFL game. I was 9 years old and my Dad took me to Rich Stadium to see the Bills play the Broncos in November 1987. That also happened to be Cornelius Bennett's first NFL game. Bennett shot out of the gates like a cannon and the Bills jumped all over Elway and the Broncos. I was mesmerized by the crowd, the atmosphere, and the enthusiasm. I remember there being a feeling in the air that something special was brewing with that group, even a 9 year old could feel that excitement. I was immediately hooked and have been a lifelong, die-hard Bills fan ever since. I still watch every game and consume all sorts of content about the team. Haven't lived in WNY in over two decades, but the team is such a strong connection point back to the home area.
Couldn't be more excited to bring my 7 year old daughter & 5 year old son to their first NFL game on 10/9/22, with Grandpa, in the same stadium I got to experience my first game. Although we live in Vikings country, my crew loves the Bills!!
Keep up the great work Tyler, I really enjoy all the content at Go Long.
Ty, it's a real pleasure to read and hear you and Jim talk ball each week. Not just as a welcome distraction from all the madness going on in the world, tho of course it's that too. But I'm hard pressed to think of a major sports franchise with as bleak an outlook for hope than the GBPs during those years. Bruce Clark choosing Canada over Green Bay echoed its league wide view as a Gulag in Siberia. The resurrection of hope was no less than miraculous in a for profit league where the money naturally seeks major markets. Yet happen it did. Starting every July, people who hold the most divisive, polar-opposite views, instantly forget them with the mere sight of the other wearing the "G" and for the next 3 hours all pull the same direction with your new best friend. September begins a hope renewed that podunk Green Bay can be a giant killer, the David that slays Goliath. Therein lie the unspoken sermon each Sunday at the First Church of Lambeau & its patron Saint Vince, lol. PS: they also serve beer lol
One of my favorite football memories when I was a 8-9 year old kid was off the field. The Sheraton Cheektowaga Hotel lobby in fact. Where the mid-90s Bills stayed Saturday nights before home games. While we scouted out a good place to see or say hi to Jim, Thurman, Andre or Bruce. It was Bills linebacker Mark Maddox who befriended a few of my relatives and would take time to actually sit down and talk with all of us after team meetings broke. How cool !
On one occasion, on the eve of the '95 Wild Card thrashing over the Dolphins. Our large talkative group somehow had Fran Levy (Marv's wife) in the chat. A moment later Marv joined, and shook hands with everyone.
Of course I fired off a question, "Coach, are we going back to the Super Bowl!?" He replied: "Well, let's take it one step at a time." Like many things in life, right answer.
Through the wonders of Facebook we all can still remain acquaintances with Maddox who regularly has charitable raffles and was named the Bills 2021 Legend of the Year for his foundation's efforts.
The league is made up with plenty of good guys like Mark, a scrappy 9th round pick who became a good special teamer to a reliable starter and made a nice ten year career out of it.
Great memories!
Hey Tyler, I grew up a Packer fan, so winning Super Bowl XXXI is at the top for me. I was 16 and as a Wisconsin sports fan, I had never seen a pro team from our state win a world championship. I also got to watch the game in our family living room with my older brother who got me into sports to begin with. I got to share that experience with him. Special night.
Actually, watching the Packers through all those great years in the '90s led me to pursue a career in journalism. Loved to write. Loved reading Sports Illustrated and the local sports section. I worked as a sports writer (full-time) for several years and currently freelance writing sports on the side. Well, fast forward some 25 years later and I'm working for a Packers publication. I get to interview several of those great players from the SB XXXI team! I get to write about their memories. I'm tickled when George Koonce tells me "thanks for taking the time to talk to an old Packer." Are you kidding? The pleasure is all mine.
Also, the '89 Packers will always have a special place in my heart. The "Cardiac Pack!" They were the team that got me excited about football as an 8-year-old kid. More specifically, the "Instant Replay Game" in November when they knocked off the Bears is an awesome memory. Chicago fans still think Majkowski's foot was over the line when he threw the game-winning TD pass to Sterling Sharpe. They finished 10-6 and just missed the playoffs but what an exciting season after so many dreadful campaigns in GB.
The 2007 NFC Championship game between the Packers and Giants is memorable to me, even though the result made the bitter cold even more unbearable. My memories (albeit not fond) are how the drinks my wife and I had brought with us from Brett Favre’s old steakhouse restaurant froze by the time we had walked from the restaurant to the Lambeau entrance gates. We both had mixed drinks in plastic cups for the walk to the stadium and they were frozen by the time we reached the stadium. My other strong memory from that game was how miserable Favre looked on the sidelines, I had never seen him affected by the cold like that. Conversely, Eli Manning seemed relatively oblivious to the elements. I just remember saying to my wife on a few occasions the difference between the demeanor of the two QBs - Favre looked like he couldn’t wait to get back into the locker room and Manning looked relatively unfazed. I didn’t notice Tom Coughlin’s famously red face until seeing clips of the game afterwards.
I caught a glove Terry Mickens threw into the crowd as he and the Packers left the Super Dome as SB XXXI champions. It's in a box frame on my wall, signed by Terry. Most people who see it say "Who the hell was Terry Mickens?" :)
December 26, 1993: Lambeau Field: Packers against the Los Angeles Raiders
“Welcome to Lambeau Field! The temperature is 0.”
A roar from the crowd went through the stadium.
“The wind chill is -20!”
Another roar went up. My first game and it was really cold. I got steaming hot chocolate and by the time I got to my seat it was cold.
While this game is known for LeRoy Butler’s Lambeau Leap, that’s not what stuck out in my mind.
In the second quarter Sterling Sharpe caught a pass from Favre and took it in for the score… nope, instead he was tackled at the one yard line. However, as he was being tackled, he reached the ball across the goal line. The official disagreed. Replays showed that Sharpe was right. Edgar Bennett took it in on the next play so no big deal, right?
Not for Sharpe, the rest of the game he was gesturing to the official about the play. He’d stick out his hand as if stretching over the goal line, then with his other hand, he’d draw a line and then signal a touchdown.
You could see the official getting more and more irritated throughout the game.
Just a beautiful memory…
Although I was present at the 51-3 beatdown of the Raiders, the "Comeback" game, and the 4 Bills Super Bowls (with my Dad sitting next to me for all), I would actually like to write about a vivid childhood memory. I was no older than 7 or 8 when I was introduced to the unforgettable game of "Rough and Tumble". I'm sure there were a dozen other names, but I guess the one that best describes it was "Kill the Guy with the Ball". Now I have always felt that football was the ultimate "team" game. This game was the total opposite of that. The premise was simply you against EVERYONE...sometimes as many as 8-10 kids. It was fantastic. We would actually cut silver dollar size holes in the crappy T-shirts we wore. Designed for, you guessed it, to be torn to shreds by the would-
be tacklers. We all thought it looked so cool, but more importantly...it made you look tough. As corny as it sounds, I really feel my life lessons started way back then. We would all get pretty bruised and battered, but it was an absolute blast and very well worth it. Occasionally, you would carry, on your back, 2 or 3 of the lighter kids to that makeshift end zone...just to keep the ball in your possession and do it all over again. Totally exhausting, but very exhilarating. I wouldn't trade those days for the world.
Just further proof that football is SO much more than just a game.
You too. Go pack!
Been fortunate to see a lot of games - super bowl wins, AFT title game win in the RCA Dome, Monday night football in Champaign to name just a few. But, being in the right field bleachers as Favre ran right towards us. Man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mo78kkqeB4
I've never seen a regular season NFL game live, so for me it was seeing a preseason Giants/Steelers game. Just being in the stadium was so exciting! Last year I got tickets to see my two favourite teams play and couldn't attend because of Covid, so I'm stoked for whatever my first NFL game winds up being. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Also, watching the Rams win the Superbowl last season. As a long suffering Canucks fan, I literally didn't know how to react to winning a championship. Super exciting.
BJ Raji's hula dance after his pick 6 in the 2010 NFC Championship Game against the Bears. Our house in Boston erupted.
1) Eagles-Jets preseason 2010
2) 4th and 26
3) Miracle at the Meadowlands #2
4) Nick Foles beat Tom
One time I saw a touchdown happen