Tailgating at Ralph Wilson

Tailgating at Bills games is another world. I expect the crazy to be taken up a notch with Them being out and having a chance to knock us out. Anyone i have spoken to that has been to multiple stadiums (Metlife, Ford field, whatever the fuck the Dolphins call their stadium now, the big house, the dome in Syracuse for myself) it's like a college stadium feel with a pro team playing. The stadium is on a single road with parking lots and people letting you park on their lawns on each side. There are 4 or 5 bars if you are looking to have a few drinks afterwords. I don't know about clubs and that in buffalo as i usually stay on the Canadian side (4 clubs, 2 casinos and a weak dollar that would make your trip a lot cheaper). If you stay in Niagara Falls Canada you have about a 45 minute drive to the stadium and if you stay in buffalo it's about 25 minutes. As far as Bills fans, they are completely nuts but for the most part friendly. I have missed 1 Jets @ Bills game in the last ten years and only had one real issue with something trying to start something and his own gf smacked down him immediately. As far as other games the only time i see more then yelling (all in good fun) is when the fan of the opposing team starts acting like a jackass. I personally tailgate in a lot behind the bar called kettles. It's a slightly further walk from the stadium (maybe 5 to 10 extra minutes and you are drinking while walking anyway) but they always have spots, you can use the bathroom in the bar and it gives you a target if you are co-coordinating multiple cars. Any other questions let me know.

 

Damn this makes me really wanna go. I've always had a strange fascination with the shittyness of the Bills and the undying loyalty of the dumb bros that root for them.

Too bad Buffalo is 5 hours away

 

Yeah - I second that. Great report! Makes me begin to consider a trip, when I would not have otherwise. Think about it - going here is a trip back in time, to an era that is vanishing. The classic, no frills, go to the game for the tailgate and the actual watching of the game and camaraderie that lacks in many of today's corporate, suite-ridden NFL modern stadiums. They were doing it this way and playing here while we were at Shea, the Pats in Schaefer Stadium, and the despised Dolphins in the Orange Bowl.

 

It really is something to experience. One of the reasons the Bills in Toronto thing failed is that it was a corporate bullshit event and lacked all the character of a Bills tailgate.

 

are you aware of any bus trips being put together for the game? with how cheap the tickets r going for and the importance of the game I figured tons of buses would be going up from the NYC area but I haven't heard of any yet

 

I went to a Bills game a few years ago once again it was around this time of year. Meaningless game so no fights everyone in a decent mood . The parking lot has limited parking ,I would say half of the people literally park outside people's houses and on their lawns . You will see people holding up signs outside houses and then you park on their lawns ( its insane ) .
2 great places for wings but not so close to the stadium Anchor bar or Duffs ,,,but be prepared if you order any wings in buffalo " Medium " is volcanic hot,,,,,,,have fun

 

As i believe i said in another thread, i tailgate in the lot behind Kettles. It's $20 a car always plenty of room and tends to be a bit easier to get out post game. I have done the parking on lawns thing before which also works out pretty well. Some lawns will have huge BBQ's ready to go so you just throw on your meat. As well as kiddy pools of ice for your booze (you know to keep it cool in the sweltering heat of January in Buffalo). And lot C (directly across from the stadium) is the rowdiest. i have not gone here as a Jets game (i have no fear wearing green in Buffalo but common sense is a thing) i assume it would be fine but i play it safe.

 

No way! People sell their own parking on their lawns AND set-up grills and ice to encourage tailgating on their property - to strangers? That's about the best thing I've ever heard. You don't even hear that about Lambeau. That is superb. However, they may not be as friendly towards opposing teams fans. What do they charge for this normally?

Don't tell me you can go into their house to use the facilities ; )

 

Actually one of the times i did it ended up being 4 jets cars. Still very friendly. A couple will charge more and do let you use the bathroom. There is at least one that has added a small bathroom in the garage so they can charge more. $10 to $20 depending on distance to the stadium. Those who do it use it to pay off season tickets and make a couple extra dollars. It really is only a very small group of assholes that cause any trouble with opposing fans. Mostly just harmless trash talk which ends with a hand shake and a friendly good luck. Two worst thing i have witnessed was sitting in the cheap seats (more drunks, less security) and they were playing the niners in a year they both sucked. The niners were up like 17-7 and this one fan started being a loud mouth, cheering every little thing and talking tons of trash. he deservedly got filled by a couple guys. The other was Jets vs Bills and some asshole was in line for the urinal trough in a Dan Marino jersey running his mouth. A couple gentleman assisted him in turning the trough into a slip and slide.

 

That's it. I'm putting the house for sale and moving up there. It may take twenty years, but eventually I'd convert (who am I kidding? Can't wash the green off) These are unbelievable things you're telling me. Woody Johnson would sue for eminent domain so he could get the parking revenue. From what you're saying, I'd bet some of these stadium neighbors are AirBnB hosts - you can probably rent a room in their house, tailgate in their yard, and meet their college age daughter! (went too far there) LOL

The story about the Marino impersonator being tossed into the piss trough is about the best thing I've ever heard. If you're lying, please keep it up! HAHA

 

It's all true. It really is another world. One of the reasons the Toronto Bills thing wouldn't work is that fans did not want to let this atmosphere die.

 

Unfortunately it may, if one day they get a new Buffalo area stadium.

I see you're in Toronto. Many years ago I predicted (incorrectly of course) that the Argonauts would become an NFL team. That was back in the early 90's SkyDome days, when all the Blue Jays games were sold out, and Bruce the fraud McNall bought the Argonauts. I thought he bought them on speculation. At that time, the SkyDome was the premier stadium in North America. I made that prediction ignorant of the proximity of Toronto to Buffalo though. I guess the Wilson's would never have allowed it.

 

But, back to Ralph Wilson Stadium… Think they're the last place with a piss trough in the NFL? Probably are. Happy a Marino impersonator got to slide in one.

Who here has had the pleasure? I recall Fenway's, and Wrigley's. Schaeffer Stadium might have had them too. Back when I attended Rutgers, the stadium had them too. That's pretty old school. I'd imagine the old old Yankee Stadium probably had them. I don't remember.

 

Yeah as a kid i thought the Argos would jump leagues as well. This is when the Jays were winning world series and the Leafs were contenders. The Bills coming to Toronto just wouldn't be the same. I've heard a lot of rumours he wants to move them closer to buffalo proper and possibly on the water front. this would open up public transit as well as make it easier on Canadians (estimated 20 to 30 % of tickets sold). The Ralph is unique but low capacity and about 30 minutes from the city pending traffic. As for the trough, nothing friendlier then being shoved aside as an extra dude squeezes in next to you to relieve himself.

 

I've definitely been to a football game at a stadium that had troughs.... can't remember which one.... But one guy had to go so bad he got into the trash can and let er rip. And some other guy saw this little kids wang and kept yelling to everyone how big it was.. Uhhh.. drunk people.

 

I gotta say I disagree on their friendliness towards opposing fan bases.......

were you there for the Jets season finale game in Buffalo for the awful 2012 season? I only ask because while the game was completely meaningless for both teams that day, the buffalo fans were complete trash that afternoon. Idk if it was because the game was meaningless and the normal human beings sold all their tickets to the idiot fringe or not but the stadium truly was disgusting that day. I was taking a piss in the trough simply wearing a Jets hat and some motherfucker pissing next to me whips his dick over and pisses on my feet "whoops!" and high fives his friend. Took everything in me not to take a swing but the bathroom was jammed packed nut to butt with Jills fans, I would've gotten slaughtered!

Tim Tebow was a particular rallying cry for the drunken idiots.. I was like "fuck I don't like that POS too!

I've walked through the lots on the way to the stadium, just walking, with my bills fan friends and gotten full beer cans, snow balls, garbage, etc thrown at me over the years. They aren't typically the hunky-dorey, good guy types that you are describing all that often in my experience. just saying...

 

We have had completely different experiences. I will not refute at all what you said because i have witnessed things of this sort but i honestly have had almost entirely positive experiences. i have also been with friends who are fans of other teams (fins, vikings, green bay) who have had the same as me. i do have one Chiefs friend who went with his wife and experienced enough harassment that he'll never go see the chiefs there again and his wife outright refuses to go back to the stadium. And that 2012 game is actually the only i have missed in a decade. Usually i don't see the behavior to other fan bases get ugly unless it's instigated but there certainly are some ass-hats who like to ruin it for everybody.

 

its gotten worse there in recent years. It used to be much friendlier, kind of how you describe. For some reason they are becoming prouder of the idiotic shit where they used to be prouder of all the cool stuff like you describe. maybe I'm getting old, Idk.

if you enjoy the experience they have there and I don't blame you as I sometimes do as well, my advice to you is to savor it because its not going to be like how it is now for long. Its getting dangerous as hell, there has been deaths, there is always arrests honestly it could be worse.

Last time we played there, which would be 2 years ago now, I got there late; my friend got tickets from his job at the last minute. We drove up as fast as we could and probably got there midway through the 1st quarter. Getting there to the parking lots late and sober really opens your eyes. It was fucking carnage in the parking lot and while most people were in the stadium we saw folks in the parking lot wandering around drunk off their asses and lost (the stadium was right ahead of them thats how drunk they were), women crying, couple looking like they were trying to get it on lol. Like the dark side of a rock concert haha.

grantland did a good piece on this stuff a couple years ago:
http://grantland.com/features/the-deaths-robert-sitter-david-gerken-jr-buffalo-bills-game/

That shit won't continue, I mean it just won't. Also, putting a stadium downtown and eliminating the tailgating atmosphere that they have now is honestly a good thing in my experience. Right now people drive miles to get smashed off their asses, that's setting up for bad news. Put it downtown, people can still drink at the local establishments, they can take transit to the stadium, etc. Its not only better for the city economically but its safer for everyone. And honestly its just as fun. people do that at Sabres games in the very same city and its fun.

now that I've shit on everyone's fun hahaha I'll just say I'll be there sunday myself probably drunk haha