Category: Buffalo Bills (Page 4 of 12)

I Get It. I’m With You. My Favorite Football Team Stinks.

10 March, 2011 / Kat

A sarcastically fun facet to being a Buffalo Bills fan living in Massachusetts? Every time the local TV stations have to find B-roll (the video footage that rolls while a reporter speaks over it) of a New England Patriots player, they use footage from a Bills-Patriots game.

Example: this morning, the local news I watch led off their broadcast with a story on Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather facing serious allegations regarding a fight at a party and a possible shooting. They used footage of Meriweather playing the Bills – which, granted was probably some of the only footage of him actually doing his job on defense. But still.

When Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was breaking out spastic moves that show he has no rhythm in South America this week, a station juxtaposed it with him throwing a touchdown…against the Bills. There are a ton of Brady touchdowns out there. He’s sort of the reigning NFL MVP. But no. They had to use the Bills footage.

I get it. The two AFC East foes play each other twice a year. There is a lot of footage to be had, especially footage in the Patriots favor. But come on. It’s becoming like the never-ending joke on Geico commercials, where the caveman is faced with the stereotype that cavemen are idiots at every turn. Bills fans in Boston have to face the idea that their team pales in comparison to the superior Patriots endlessly and at the most unexpected of moments. I wake up this morning not even thinking about football, sit up in my bed, turn on the morning news and…look! The Bills blew that coverage again. The Patriots intercepted the Bills. Ugh. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Really. All I wanted to see was the weather.

On Losing Your Voice

27 February, 2011 / Kat

Since I was a little girl, I’ve been plagued with sore throats. Since ninth grade, those sore throats have included bouts of laryngitis. My voice either takes a vacation completely, or it turns me into a dead ringer for Peppermint Patty – so much such that my father would ask me at least twice a day to say, “Hi, Chuck.”

In college, a nurse at Binghamton University’s Student Health Services once recommended that I drink plain pineapple juice whenever I suffered from a bout of laryngitis or a sore throat. She explained that pineapple juice has a lot of vitamins but low acidity, so it was better for a sore throat than high-acid orange juice. The nurse had heard the advice from a vocalist, and had been dispensing it to suffering college students ever since.

Who treasures their voice more than a singer? I figured the advice had to be legit, and it was.

Since then, I always keep a six pack of pineapple juice cans in my refrigerator. Recently, I’ve found a combination that works even better than pineapple juice alone: pineapple juice and green tea. I drank a glassful of it the other night when my throat felt like the Great Chicago Fire and I could barely talk. I headed straight to bed after downing a glass of this mix, and woke up with my voice back full force and no sore throat the next morning (unfortunately, the rest of the cold still had a hold on me full force.) Coincidence? I think not.

I mix a can of pineapple juice with green iced tea. Trader Joe’s makes an excellent unsweetened green and white tea mix, and that is what I’ve been using for this mix.

I fill my sports glass of the moment with ice (today’s selection: a 1980s Buffalo Bills – Coca-Cola glass), pour in the entire can of pineapple juice (you don’t have to use the whole can, but try at least half), and then top off with the green tea.

Volia! Down this, and you’ll be chatting up your friends, significant other, or in my case, your cat, in no time.

Irish Shirts Are Smiling: The Buffalo Bills’ St. Patrick’s Day T-Shirts

18 February, 2011 / Kat

Welcome to the start of year another ongoing series that I’ll attempt to get me to pay attention to my own blog more. I’m calling this one Irish Shirts Are Smiling, and it’ll be a spinoff of last year’s ever-so-popular, “Who Cares If Your Team’s Colors Aren’t Green,” which was a look at three examples of St. Patrick’s Day 2010 hockey t-shirts. This year, I’m starting earlier and I’m going to open it up to all sports, not just hockey. And I swear, I’m going to keep up with this series because St. Patrick’s Day is my mother’s, who is half Irish, favorite holiday. So here’s a blog series for you, Mom, since I can’t come home and have corned beef with you.

Given that this series is devoted to my mom, one of the most devoted Buffalo Bills fans I know, I figured I would begin with a look at the Bills’ St. Patrick’s Day offerings, first advertised Thursday via email.

Buffalo Bills 2011 St. Patrick's Day Shirt

The men's "Celtic Buffalo" shirt for 2011. Available for $25.

Perfect for spending March 17th sipping a Labatt Blue or Genny Cream Ale and enjoying a beef on weck, this hunter green shirt hits you over the head with shamrocks. It’s pretty clear cut – you’re a Bills fan and you’re Irish, or at least want to be. This shirt is just eh. I think it could sell, especially among die-hards, and it’s not horrible looking. But unlike most Bills wear, it’s not tugging at my heart strings, making me want to buy it before the team no longer exists.

Bill Belichick Made The 2011 Buffalo Bills Calendar

31 December, 2010 / Kat

This morning, my husband took his annual mission to the mall’s calendar kiosk to pick up his “Star Trek: Ships of the Line” calendar for 50% off. While there, he found a Buffalo Bills calendar located in the depths of the “random team” pile, left lonely with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Panthers and Toronto Raptors calendars.

“Look what I found,” he said eagerly, handing me the calendar.

“The Buffalo Bills, a year in futility,” I smirked. “Sure, let’s get it.”

I didn’t look closely at the calendar until I got back to our apartment. I hold onto my mother’s old superstition that you are not to open a calendar until New Year’s Day, so I wasn’t about to tear off the plastic. Instead, I took a more careful look at the back, which previews every month’s cover athlete.

Hey, it’s Marshawn Lynch! And Bill Belichick’s favorite, Josh Reed! (In case you missed it, check out that link for Belichick’s Reed gaffe from last week.) There’s Shawn Nelson and Roscoe Parrish! Continue reading

Keeping The Faith: Why I Hold On To the Bills

3 December, 2010 / Kat

The glimmer of hope at the Bills-Pats game on September 26th. (Photo taken by Kat)

This is what being a Buffalo Bills fan in Boston is like.

It is going to work for sixteen Mondays every year and having your boss throw his hands in the air, sigh heavily and say, “Kat! Those Bills! So close!”

It’s your newest star wide receiver Tweeting his best Nancy Kerrigan impression (StarGames and Jerry Solomon, jump on that like a trampoline and sign him up.)

It’s your mother-in-law asking you for sixteen Sundays every year if your team lost again and asking you why you don’t root for that “Brady fella.” Continue reading