I've been getting very nostalgic about my experiences with the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills lately. Maybe its me getting old. Or, feeling empathy and compassion for Jim Kelly and his family as they continue to be #KellyTough. Maybe its Andre Reed's well deserved induction into the pro football Hall Of Fame. Then again, maybe its my deep rooted respect for Terry and Kim Pegula's passion to buy the Bills and to live out Ralph Wilson's legacy to keep the team in our community where they belong.
Maybe its a combo platter of all of the above.
Like you, I have my memories.
December 8, 1991 lives on in my memory bank as one of the best sports days that I ever encountered in my lifetime.
The Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres were offensive juggernauts in their respective sports back in the day. Machine Gun Kelly and Pat Lafontaine were the faces of each respected franchise. Run-n-gun was the order of the day. Man, those days were awesome to be a Sabres and Bills fan!
Those were dizzying times for rabid fans like me. My two favorite teams were playing a patented high octane brand of offense. Kelly to Reed was mystifying. Lafontaine to Mogilny was electric.
I used to call those days “Sunday Fundays”. The Bills and Sabres used to play a lot of games on the same Sunday. I would start out the day tailgating with friends at Rich Stadium. We would watch the Bills slay opponents on home turf, then we’d run downtown to grab a belt and a bite at Garcia’s Irish Pub or Pat McGinty’s joint, and then catch the 7pm puck drop at The Aud
So, back to December 8, 1991.
On that day, the Bills didn’t have a 1pm home game. They played on the road in Los Angeles against the Raiduhs. We piled into the bar for the 4:15pm kickoff. Kelly and the Bills were brutal that day. They couldn’t get their K-Gun to fire until late in the game.Trailing 27-14 after three quarters, Scott Norwood and the Buffalo Bills mounted an insane comeback for force OT. The Bills would go on to win the game 30-27 in OT. The bar erupted into “Lets Go Buffalo” and “SUPERBOWL BOUND” chants. The vibe in the air was contagious and intoxicating.
On the way into The Aud, Sabres fans were screaming the “Shout” song as they filed through the turnstiles to the beer vendors.
This was no average Sabres home game. It was a grudge match that instantly turned into an old fashioned donnybrook complete with a half dozen fist fights, game ejections and a couple hundred thousand F-bombs being tossed between the Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames.
Earlier that season in mid-November, on the road in Calgary, Flames defenseman Jamie Macoun had broken the jaw of Sabres star Pat Lafontaine. Rick Dudley and the Sabres were about to exact their revenge on Macoun and hold him accountable for his gratuitous disrespect for St. Patrick. It didn’t take long for the gun powder keg to explode. At 17:34 of the first period, all Hell broke loose. The Battle Royale erupted on the ice and on the Calgary bench. The Sabres were in their house and they were not going to let Macoun off the hook.
This game was one of the most entertaining games that I had ever witnessed. It was legendary.
Referee Don Koharski dished out 147 penalty minutes in the brawl. 10 game misconducts in all. The crowd ate it up like blue cheese on Duff’s “suicidal” wings. The atmosphere was mayhemic in The Aud that night. The tension and passion were so thick, you could cut it with a surgical, steel sword. The Sabres lost the game 4-2, but they won the fights in the war.
Sabres and Bills fans danced, hugged, high-fived and screamed the “Shout” song at deafening decibel levels, in unison as they streamed out of the building that night.
Needless to say, there were nearly 100,000 people who woke up on Monday mornings with no voices, to say nothing of pounding hangovers!
It was well worth it! We were just doing our rock-n-roll duty.
Those were the days my friends, we thought they’d never end. We haven’t had that spirit in these parts for in two decades. That was the norm for us fans back then. Winning was the standard. We were spoiled by all of the success that our Sabres and Bills had given us. Those were the good times. Damn good times.
Can we rekindle that roaring inferno of passion ever again?
Hope springs eternal now that the Pegulas are the front runners to become the new owners of the Buffalo Bills.
With Terry and Kim Pegula as the owners of the Sabres and Bills, these good old days can be re-installed. The fans of both teams would love emotional roller coaster of attending the 1pm Bills games, then heading down to the arena for a 7:05 puck drop.
We can all assemble at The Ralph for the 1pm Bills game, then make our way down to "&16", Pegula's gorgeous new sports bar at HARBORcenter for our Sabres pregame meal and adult beverages. Then, its into the arena to watch Reinhart, Ennis, Foligno, Gionta, Gorges, Moulson, Hodgson and the rest of the Sabres spank that night's opponent.
All things old will be new once again.
Please, Terry and Kim.
Can I have my “Sunday Fundays” back?
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Jon Bon Jovi can write all of the cheesy letters to Bills fans that he wants to.
I don't believe the guy. He, Tannenbaum, and Rogers will would eventually move the Bills to Toronto? How does he explain the three feasibility studies on three separate sites in the GTA to house a new, state-of-the-art NFL stadium that he and his partners have commissioned?
It ain't gonna work. Its over, Jonny! Go back to Joisey. Buffalonians see right through your act. Go buy another NFL team and move it to Vaughn or Missisauga. You ain't layin' your greasy paws on our Buffalo Bills!
Beat it, pal!
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