For Sale, One Toilet Trained Fan

The Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL have done something to a fan that is rare.  It is so rare that it was actually news worthy.  A life long fan of the Leafs was so sick of his team’s poor performance on and off the ice that he decided to auction away his allegiance to another team.  Lee Kirby, from Keswick, ON,  has vowed to rid himself of all of his Maple Leafs clothing and possessions and dress himself in his new team’s attire.

As a Bills fan I do have to admit that I have had moments when I questioned my allegiance to the Buffalo Bills.  With the exception of Detroit and Oakland, no team has made so many poor drafting, developmental, and coaching blunders as Buffalo.  Year in and year out we are made to suffer through band aid fixes for what are clearly stitch worthy gashes left on this team.  I know and have experienced the emotions and feelings Lee Kirby is going through.  I know what it is like to go into every season with a false sense of optimism thinking ‘this is the year it all comes together,’ especially when you know that the team has not done nearly enough in the off season to warrant that thought.  I know what it is like to see every marquee free agent sign with other teams, and at times worse teams, and think ‘why couldn’t we sign him?’  But, going to Kirby’s extreme is where we differ.

Although I have come close to changing my allegiance, I have not actually been creative enough to auction it off, or treasonous enough to follow through with switching teams.  But again, I have come close.  It was back in 2006, I was finally fed up with Buffalo’s complacency and seemingly fine attitude toward mediocrity.  I had finally decided that enough was enough and I was going to choose my new team.  My main goal was to find a team that would fulfill a few key goals.  They could not have won a Super Bowl in the last 20 years, because then I would just be a bandwagon jumper.  This team needed to have players I actually liked.  I didn’t care if the team was bad, I just needed them to have a legitimate reason for it.  I also wanted a team that didn’t squander their draft picks.

Let’s not forget, in 2005 Buffalo had no number one draft pick because we traded up the previous year to get J.P. Losman in the first round.  In 2004 obviously Lee Evans was a great pickup, but the J.P. disaster will always overshadow that.  In 2003 there was Chris Kelsay in the second round (sorry need to pick on him when I can).  In 2002 we got the great Mike Williams to play LT, sort of.  Don’t even make me mention the draft of 2000.  It is hard to predict which players will develop and flourish and which ones will end up being a bust.  With Buffalo it seems to be closer to being a bust on a much more consistent basis.  Was John McCargo really worth a late first round pick?  It is an interesting side note that the three players Buffalo drafted through rounds 5 and 6 in 2006 are starters and only 1 out of their first 4 picks covering the first 4 rounds in that same draft is starting.

I had finally found my team and was ready to pledge my allegiance.  I bought a t-shirt, I started reading on their history, and even found time to get to know the guy who was going to be my new favorite player.  The transition was going to be seamless.  But I still felt a loyalty to my Buffalo Bills.  Something made me keep coming back.  I decided to give Buffalo a fair shot.  I would base my moving teams on how Buffalo spent their first pick in the draft.  Their were rumors that Buffalo was going to take the best player on the board, or an offensive lineman, which was going to be a reach.  Some had said WR and as the draft wore on some even said QB Matt Leinart as he was dropping faster than Enron stock.  But the one thing that turned me around was hearing who Buffalo had selected with their first pick, it was Donte Whitner.  They had finally spent a high pick on an area of high need, not only that but on a position that can be hard to fill through free agency.  Two thoughts rushed through my head.  Did I just have my Oprah A-ha moment?  Then, how the heck do I even know about Oprah’s A-ha moments?

At that moment I realized that although it is nice to get to enjoy the playoffs year in and year out, it is so much more satisfying when you haven’t been there for a while and finally reach it.  Even though my team makes mistakes on a daily basis, so do I, and that hasn’t stopped my wife from loving me so why should I abandon my team.  I finally understood what my place was as a fan.  No matter how much I disagree with what Buffalo has done, I could never actually bring myself to leave the only team that ever really meant anything to me.  When one really becomes a fan of a team, it doesn’t matter how bad they are (see the Browns), or how often their team misses the playoffs (see the Lions), or even how bad their personnel decisions are (o.k. now you can refer to the Bills).  What really makes a fan is their ability to get upset about all of their team’s mistakes and be able to forgive and forget because it is game day.  To be able to let it all go and cheer with the rest of the 55,000 or so other people who are exactly like you.

I cannot bring myself to fully understand selling my allegiance to another team, because there is far too much history.  Not the history of a storied franchise, but real historical moments.  My daughter was born during a Bills game, a 35-7 loss to New England and yet still one of my favorite games of all time.  I had my first beer at a bar watching Buffalo play Miami and getting to really understand the significance of that rivalry.  The moment I knew that I could never live without my wife was a Bills vs. Jets game.  As sappy as it sounds, the Bills have been their through thick and thin for me, and it wouldn’t feel right to just throw that away.  So as Lee Kirby sells his sports fan soul on Ebay, all I can wonder is, ‘was he really a true fan to begin with’, because in the end it takes more than just time, a few attended games, and some jerseys to be a real fan.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that no fan or even casual fan is being used by their favorite team.  Lee Kirby was not being used by the Leafs by any stretch of the imagination.  No one forced Lee to watch those games or buy that jersey.  Just like many of us we do have the choice of who to root for and who’s jersey to buy.  I am a Bills fan through and through and do not own one Bills jersey (although I am in the works for a Steve Tasker one).  Maybe we as fans are just greedy.  We use sports and our favorite teams everyday.  We project on our teams when we are upset about our taxes.  We turn on the game and get lost in it just to forget about work, even if it is for only a few hours.  We use sports as a catalyst to break awkward moments when meeting new people.  We go to games to feel that camaraderie and sense of belonging that only 55,000 other rabid fans can give you.  

The more I read the story about Lee Kirby, the more I realized how satisfied I am to be a Bills fan.  Yes, we may bring new meaning to the word mediocrity on the field.  We may also bring new meaning to inept off the field.  But we also bring new meaning to loyalty when it comes to our fan base.  As it turns out, Mr Kirby, that is something you will never find on Ebay, a real fan for sale.

Tags: Steve Tasker