On this football Sunday in Buffalo, a community will come together and have plenty of reason for optimism amidst an all-too-familiar backdrop.
Grief, heartbreak, tragedy – the adversity has kept coming, kept hitting hard, continuously challenging a region that can’t seem to escape bad news.
Expect a stirring scene at Highmark Stadium for this game against the New England Patriots just six days after Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s heart stopped in Cincinnati.
Three days after Hamlin collapsed, doctors in Cincinnati told the media the 24-year-old was awake and could communicate by writing. His first words: “Did we win?” Yes, Damar, they told him. “You’ve won the game of life.”
A day after that, Hamlin Facetimed with his teammates in the locker room. “Love you, boys,” he said.
Emotions have been all over the map this week – and, in many ways, for months in Western New York.
The pictures on Monday – of big, young, strong professional football players crying, covering their faces, praying and holding hands as medics administered CPR on their teammate – told that night’s story far better than any words. The game with major playoff implications never finished.
Monday Night Football – with Buffalo’s Bills challenging for the top seed in the AFC – was supposed to be something to savour for a city coming off a historic blizzard that killed at least 42 in Western New York last month.
It was supposed to be a distraction for a community that just witnessed the horror of five children dying in a New Year’s Eve house fire.
All of this mere months after 10 people were shot dead in a supermarket in a despicable incident targeting the Black community.
It was all, in a word, awful.
There are long-standing problems in this border town. There is segregation. There is poverty. There are political divides and policing issues.
But there also is undeniable grit, a sense of being there for one another and an underdog mentality that is perhaps best showcased by the city’s sports teams and their passionate fans – with Hamlin’s fight being the latest example.
The Bills, of course, famously lost four Super Bowls in a row and not so long ago finally ended a 17-year playoff drought. The Sabres, meanwhile, haven’t won a Stanley Cup and are currently on their own 11-year post-season drought.
When it comes to sports, however, there is now real reason for hope. The Bills are 12-3. Do-everything quarterback Josh Allen, who once was ignored by all the major colleges, is the ideal leader for a sporting city that has legitimate Super Bowl dreams. Along with outstanding hands and moves, star receiver Stefon Diggs brings an infectious swagger that means so much to a smaller market. The team appears poised to contend for years.
The young Sabres, meanwhile, are on the rise. They have one of the most exciting players in hockey in Tage Thompson, who scored three goals in an overtime win in Washington on Jan. 3, the day after No. 3 – Hamlin – collapsed on the field.
By sheer size, Buffalo doesn’t fit the profile of most major-league sport cities.
But good luck finding another market where nearly half of televisions are tuned into their football team week in and week out. Good luck finding another city where residents clear snow off players’ driveways to let them get to the stadium. Good luck finding other fans willing to drive six-plus hours and cross the border twice to watch them play a ‘home’ game in Detroit because of a massive lake-effect storm.
Sure, a small number of idiots jump through tables after consuming too much beer in the parking lots in Orchard Park, N.Y.
But that’s not the Buffalo I know from my 15 years as a season-ticket holder. I know a town that sees its grocery stores filled with fans in Bills gear before and after games. I know a town where saying ‘Go Bills’ is the most common greeting – in fact, those were the final words from a police officer after he gave me my first speeding ticket in a decade on the way to a game this pre-season.
I know a town where people cry for joy on WGR 550 sports radio when they find out the team isn’t going to be owned by Donald Trump or Bon Jovi or anyone interested in moving the team out of Buffalo. I know a town where the warm and friendly servers at Danny’s South – the brunch spot near the stadium – remember who you are, after being unable to cross the border for two seasons during the pandemic.
The great majority of Bills Mafia is loud, proud, caring and giving – just look at the amount of money ($7 million and counting) raised for Hamlin’s toy drive, the local children’s hospital after Allen’s grandmother died, former Cincinnati QB Andy Dalton’s charity after the Bengals’ miracle touchdown against Baltimore ended Buffalo’s playoff drought … the list goes on.
The giving nature also describes Buffalo as a whole. Along with the heartbreak of the blizzard came stories like the one of a man who broke the windows of a nearby school and helped stranded motorists get inside for warmth and food until they could get home. He left a note explaining his actions and apologizing to the school – signing it simply “Merry Christmas Jay” – before police asked for help to identify him so they could honour the local hero.
While there certainly has been good news on Hamlin in the past few days, he has a long, difficult road ahead. So too does this City of Good Neighbours in many ways. Sunday will not change that. A Super Bowl will not change that.
What a return to football will do, however, is provide that sense of community, that sense of comfort we all long for when times are tough.
“When he does recover, I think it will be such an incredible reminder of how resilient the city is. Buffalo is really tough and will continue to be, even when it hurts,” Lydia Dominick, the founder of Buffalo Gives, told CNN’s Miguel Marquez this week while fighting back tears.
“The year we’ve had here, it’s just been one thing after another after another,” Jillian Hanesworth, Buffalo’s poet laureate, told Marquez. “We’ve really proven ourselves to each other. Regardless of what community I’m from, if something happens to you, I’m going to show up. That’s how we feel about our team, too. They show up when things happen in the city.
“We are a family.”
In a big single by a well-known Buffalo band, Goo Goo Dolls front-man Johnny Rzeznik sings: “And you asked me what I want this year. And I try to make this kind and clear. Just a chance that maybe we’ll find better days.”
Well, Buffalo had a better day on Thursday when the doctors spoke and the photos showed the smiling faces of players at practice. An even better day came Friday when Hamlin communicated with his teammates.
“How … I know we’ll be able to overcome is (because) we have to. Just like we’ve done many times before in this city and the people of Western New York that have dealt with what they’ve dealt with,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said Thursday. “That’s what we do. I’ve never been around a city or a region like this that is so in sync, their teams and their fanbase … This is what Western New York and the fans of the Buffalo Bills, this is what we do.”
Hamlin, in so many ways, is what Buffalo is all about – a late-round pick from a hard-scrabble neighbourhood near Pittsburgh who worked so hard to achieve his dream of playing in the NFL. Now, the Pitt product needs that same work ethic to overcome his biggest battle yet.
The NFL plans to honour Hamlin with a pre-game moment of support, along with other initiatives, at all stadiums this weekend.
But all eyes will be on Buffalo, where Bills fans are sure to let Hamlin know how much he means to them. They’ll be doing their part in continuing to show what makes this city so special on what promises to be an emotional afternoon for everyone.
