With the Bills at 4-0, Michael Tracy figured the bandwagon would start to fill up quickly.
So a week after a Josh Allen apology form went viral, Tracy posted a fan transfer form to ensure an “orderly bandwagon onboarding.”
The form asks which team the fan is transferring from and why, including check boxes for “heard you were the world’s best fanbase,” “I don’t like PFF” and “I’m impressed with Josh Allen as a QB.”
Under requirements and expectations, the form notes, “Learn Shout song,” “Shout ‘Go Bills’ to anyone in Bills gear” and “Learn we are the ONLY team in New York.”
Each section requires an initial by the fan, including recognizing Jim Kelly, Marv Levy and the 1988-92 teams as demigods, and being triggered by “wide right” or the Music City Miracle. Among the hills to die on involve wings and blue cheese and that the Patriots cheat a lot.
People are also reading…
And a list of people and places that must be defended, including Allen, McBeane, Wall of Famers, Ryan Fitzpatrick, the City of Buffalo and WGR sideline reporter Sal Capaccio.
Okay, #BillsMafia, we're at the point where we need to establish an orderly bandwagon onboarding... so I created a form to use. Retweet to distribute!@SalSports #BuffaloBills #LetsGoBuffalo pic.twitter.com/jLjbfTw1tP
— Mafia Mike (@DistractedMan) October 5, 2020
“I got a good laugh out of the Josh Allen apology form the past couple weeks on Twitter,” said Tracy, an Air Force veteran who lives in Florida. “Having seen that, I then saw some genuine tweets from people announcing they were really impressed by Josh’s season start and had decided to throw their fan support behind him.
“It got me thinking about how many more people would be doing that as we progress into the season with the momentum we’ve built. I actually began building it late Friday, but wanted to see how we handled the Raiders before throwing it out there. It wouldn’t have hit the same if we’d lost.”
Tracy said he was not expecting his form to go viral, but just wanted to share the team’s success with fellow Bills fans.
“Maybe as a fun tool people can tag their friends whose teams aren’t doing so well? It’s just a good feeling to be able to be in this situation – particularly in the year we’re having,” he said. “I think we’ll see our fanbase grow by a lot with our success, and I guess this also serves as a nod to fans like me who stuck with the team through the long stretches of mediocre performance and withstood a lot of teasing and criticism for that loyalty.”
And Tracy has been loyal. He grew up in Rochester, but said he sports were not a big thing for him. That changed with the Jan. 6, 1990, playoff game against Cleveland while he was serving in Turkey in the Air Force.
“Being about 5,600 miles from home, I found it easy to be rooting for this connection to my home – particularly with some fellow Western New Yorkers showing me the raw energy of what we now call Bills Mafia,” he said. “Between that and the rising dynasty I was watching on the screen, I was hooked! I’ve been a fan ever since, but never lived in New York again after my enlistment ended.”
Tracy said he drives the three hours to Miami to attend every Dolphins game he can, most notably games against the Bills. He was in Hard Rock Stadium for the Week 17 game in 2017 that ended the drought.
He also routinely watches Bills games at a bar called “Harry Buffalo” with about 100-plus other Bills fans.
“Down here, I’ve found a small cluster of local Bills fans in my company, so it helps with feeling so far away from Orchard Park,” he said.
