Parenting Lessons From the 1990s Kids Who Grew Up Bills Fans

Schultz, who has three boys who range in age from 4 to 11, recalls the brutal loss against Kansas City in a divisional-round playoff game last season. The lead changed three times in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, including when Allen threw a go-ahead touchdown pass with just 13 seconds left. Victory seemed assured — until Patrick Mahomes led Kansas City into field-goal range and Harrison Butker drilled a game-tying 49-yard kick as regulation expired. Kansas City then won it in overtime.

“It was just this roller coaster of emotion,” Schultz said. “You can’t help but get caught up in it. But then when it’s over, you have to step back and remind your kids that this is a game. We’re here to have fun. Nobody’s throwing anything at the TV or anything like that.”

When Hamlin collapsed during a Jan. 2 game against the Bengals, Amanda MacBlane was watching at home with her children. She has talked to them about brain injuries and won’t let them play tackle, but the family hasn’t quite reconciled its love for football with its brutality.

“We were talking over the next few days about how many heroes there were in this story,” she said. “The Bills and Bengals throwing aside the competition in the name of the health of another player. The first responders who kept Damar alive. All the many people came together to take care of each other.”

She also told me that her read from talking to Bills fans nonstop over the past few weeks was that if the team were to lose in the playoffs, people would take it much more in stride because Hamlin’s injury had brought home what really matters.

I spoke to Calleri in mid-November, days after the Bills had lost a sloppy game to the Minnesota Vikings, 33-30, in overtime.

“There’s a lot of hype around us this year,” he said. It’s easy to let that take you over, but then there are games like Sunday’s. After it was over, he told his 8-year-old son, Elwood, “Yeah, I really wish we had won today but it’s OK. You’re not going to win every game, right? You accept it and move forward.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/sports/football/buffalo-bills-fans-parents-kids.html