Are you ready for some Football?

Nov 18, 2008

We finally made it to the ultimate goal of our journey…  Monday Night Football in Buffalo.
Ah, the Ralph Wilson Stadium…  The proud fans…  Tailgating with the whole family….

Burning grocery carts with anything you can find in the parking lot.  Could there be anything better?

There are now 6 of us, all checked in at our headquarters, the Buffalo Airport Red Roof Inn.  A magnificent facility if there was ever one, we left as soon as everyone was ready because we didn’t want to indulge too much.
First stop:  supplies.  Jerry and I had stopped earlier at a scary cornerstore near Main Street, where I got three XL white T-shirts for 9.99$ and, most importantly, a case of beer.  18 cans of Coors, the Banquet Beer.  A Legend since 1873.  12$.  Fan-tas-tic.  Although this guy doesn’t seem to agree.
Now, in Canada, Coors is truly a legend as nobody has actually seen one lately.  Contrary to its Light cousin, the Coors never took off in Canada.
I remember when they were both first introduced – they were, in Quebec anyway, the first long neck bottles of beer on the market.  Which was really annoying for the little guy that I was, working in a “dépanneur,” because the single bottle beer racks were a tad too short for these long necks.  So it meant that we had to insert them slowly one-by-one in the rack, instead of sliding them fast to fill up the row.

At any rate, Coors is a very ordinary beer. Some call it “Rocky Mountain Spring Water”, and if that were true I’d move there, because it is very tasty water.  But it ain’t a very tasty beer.

It does have more taste than the Light however, which is to show what advertising can do to a beer brand.

The Coors is the kind of beer that can be drank all night long – especially if the goal is to not remember it.
I can’t comment on the appearance, as tailgating means drinking from the can, but I can tell you that you can almost taste corn in there.  Nothing memorable, though.
As for the food available for our tailgating, we did great.  We went to a Tops grocery store to pick things up – and on a top shelf, I spotted a fantastic unfolding grill for 5 dollars! We got that, some charcoal, some sausages, some buns, a couple bags of chips and some condiments, more beers, and off we went to the Ralph Wilson Stadium.

What a superb view we had from our parking lot spot!  After zigzagging through the broken bottles, we establish our camp and proceeded to crack a few beers.

We then proceeded to set up the grill.  One might think that a 5$ grill would be easy to assemble, but the geniuses that were with me took their time to figure it out, and even tried to take some shortcuts by, for instance, not screwing the legs on.  A breeze brought everything down, of course.

But they figured it out eventually.  Then, we proceeded to light it up.  Not as easy of a task as some might think, as Ian and Glen almost set a car on fire in the process. It was a windy day, however, so let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.  But soon, Matty was working the grill.  The nice smell of the meat in a tube started to spread around our little camp, slowly taking over the underlying odour of cold urine, spilled beer and other human-produced fragrance.

I have got to say that our sausages were pretty good.  Juicy, tender, well cooked, they warmed our soul and gave us the necessary courage to get inside the stadium.

We, of course, were already very well liked, thanks to the chicken wing hat I had previously purchased.  It is a Buffalo classic, and when you wear it, they instantly recognize you as one of them.

A Bills’ game is always an excellent adventure. One never knows how many fans will get arrested or thrown out of the stadium.  The fans can get very rowdy in Buffalo, and on Monday Night, they’ve been entertaining themselves all day and are still going strong.

Some games, the action is in the stands, not in the stadium.  The yellow coats of the security crew are running around the stadium faster than the Bills receivers.  But this year, it was cold, and the fans were calmer then usual.  We, however, miraculously avoided the snow the poured all around the area all day, but the skies over the Ralph Wilson Stadium held on.

Buffalo QB Trent Edwards poured even more cold water on the fans as he threw three interceptions in the first quarter.

Still, the fourth quarter began with a 16-13 score.

Cleveland scored a TD first, but on the following kickoff, Buffalo returned the ball for a TD.

The Browns added another field goal to give the Brown’s a 26-20 lead, which was then followed by a Buffalo drive leading to a TD, 27-26 for the Bills.

The next Cleveland drive brougt them down the field to a spot that gave their kicker a chance to win the game with a 56-yard field goal. Kick is GOOD. 29-27 Browns.

The Bills didn’t give up, and another drive gave the Bills kicker Ryan Lindell a chance to be the hero, from 47 yards out.  Perfect snap, perfect hold. Kick is… WIDE RIGHT, WIDE RIGHT!!! Bills lose. 29-27.

Still, a great time.  And better yet, we didn’t have to go out and enjoy Buffalo’s lively night life.

Also, a movie is coming out about the day, but there has been some delay. The fans are eagerly waiting.

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